Salve, Regina, quater misericordiae.
Lazarus, come out.
Lazarus, come out.
Now, certainly, Lazarus would stink.
And so he does this in order that the pallor in the stench of death,
which signifies the corruption of the body, may better impress itself upon those present.
For the Lord truly this day will work a stupendous miracle.
And because there were many doubters present, always being fomented and riled up by the Pharisees and the scribes,
he would impress upon every one of their senses the sight in the very nostrils
that this man was truly dead, so much so that his flesh had begun to corrupt,
and indeed a great stench could be smelt when the stone was removed.
And so our Lord works this miracle in order that it may be seen truly as an act of divine power,
manifesting the infinite mercy of God.
In the mystical sense, the death of Lazarus signifies the death that signifies
all of us.
All of us buried in the habit of sin and, humanly speaking, despaired of,
that is, deprived of any hope for true life.
The restoration of true hope will begin at the time when the promise to our fallen first parents
would be fulfilled through the annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
when the word literally became flesh in order to dwell amongst us.
When all human hope was lost, the Lord then came as man.
Amen.
The Lord, to whom in truth all things are easy, came to manifest his power and mercy in difficulty,
that is, in a world fallen and corrupted by sin.
And so when there was no hope, no human hope, no amount of political effort,
no amount of any human effort could restore hope to mankind,
the mercy of God would literally come when the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
And this is the beginning of the fulfillment of all.
God.
I promise to our fallen first parents and all that he had reminded the chosen people of
through the ages, through the patriarchs and prophets of old,
that they were to set their minds and their hearts on one thing,
and when they saw that thing, or more properly, that person, the Son of God,
manifested in the flesh, their hearts again would be enkindled.
And so the Blessed Virgin Mary truly is the dawn that announces the light.
Our Lord declares of himself in today's gospel,
that he is the resurrection, that he is the true light.
And so we must turn to her who points the way to the true light,
in order that we may understand and enter in to the mystery that is manifested today.
For our Lord, when he begins to work this miracle, he cries out in a loud voice,
not as praying, but as one bidding and commanding,
Lazarus, come forth, truly the command of a kingly power worthy of God alone.
And that is the power of God.
And that is what Christ is manifesting to us this day,
that he is true king and true God,
and that this miracle is worthy only of the dignity of God,
and indeed, only God could work such a stupendous miracle,
that when the flesh was literally corrupting,
literally rotten on the bones of Lazarus,
Christ would come in order to rescue him from death and to restore to him life.
This great force and power that has called forth Lazarus,
also calls all of us forth.
For we too are buried, and we are called forth like Lazarus,
from death in sin to life in grace, that is, the life of Christ.
The custom of evil in which we are buried is today restored by the grace of Christ,
and a new life is given to us with the hope of eternal happiness.
As with Lazarus, we too are called, bound hands,
and bound with the hand of God,
and bound with the wrappings of sin.
Our faces are veiled with the pallor of ignorance,
and so we do not know God.
But we know him through one reason and one reason only,
that he has manifested himself to us.
He has literally revealed himself.
He has removed the veil of the Old Testament
and has come forth full-blown from the womb of the Virgin Mary
to manifest himself,
so that all the mysteries pointed out from of old
will be found fulfilled in Christ.
And indeed, many of the saints have pointed out
that in order for Christ to be the Messiah,
he would have to have fulfilled over 600 prophecies.
And indeed, in him, we see all of those fulfilled.
The final ones would be fulfilled
when he would offer his life on Calvary for our sake.
And so, Lazarus, bound, comes forth,
but he comes forth towards Christ still bound,
that is, to signify that he is retreating from the carnal vices,
but he is not yet free from the pains and trials
and tribulations of the flesh.
This training of the pains and the trials
and the tribulations of the flesh,
the penance we must do for our sins,
this suffering does not constrain the sinner
who is freed by the grace of God,
but it rules and directs the soul
who pays it voluntary obedience into the way of peace.
This voluntary obedience of the sufferings of this life
on none other than the way of Christ,
who voluntarily came himself
in order that he may take upon himself
and shoulder all the sins of the world.
And indeed, in the agony of the garden,
he will begin to manifest this most profound act of love
when all in an instant of time,
all the sins of all mankind
will be heaped upon the shoulders of the Lamb of God
and indeed, it will press the very blood from his flesh
and indeed, so profusely,
that without association,
the sustaining miracle of God the Father
in his sacred humanity,
our Lord would have been crushed and perished.
And yet, he endures and bears it
in order that he may manifest to us
the profundity of his love
that in an instant of time,
all the sins, all the blasphemies,
all the vile things committed against the sacred heart of Jesus
are pressed upon the soul of Christ
and he will rise from that agony
in order to begin his agony
that will culminate in the final,
the final act of his love,
the sacrifice of himself on Calvary.
And so, we too are to follow the royal road of Christ
who voluntarily came as man
in order to offer that sacred and pure humanity
for our sake.
We are like him, except,
and he is like us in all things,
except sin.
And so, where he had nothing to repair for,
his act was a pure act of love.
We have much to repair for,
for we have our sins to repair for.
And so, we too, like Lazarus,
bound by the sins and its effects on our souls,
come towards Christ
so that the bonds of Christ
may be released from us.
And the more we enter into this,
the more we become aware of our misery as sinners.
And the more we become aware of our misery as sinners,
the more we will depend on the grace and mercy of God.
And so, our Lord concludes by instructing those present
and most likely it was the disciples, the apostles,
to untie him.
To let him go.
And that is a command he gives to his church
until the end of time.
That as she is the vanguard of all truth
and the depository of all truth
and the administrator of the sacraments of God,
she too is to untie fallen man bound by sin.
And so, we must earnestly overcome the ignorance of our mind
by the study of our faith.
And we must overcome the sins of our flesh
by entering into that life of penance.
That life that the Lord came in order to embrace for us,
so that we truly may receive life in him.
And so, we go forth this day
confronted by this most stupendous miracle of the Savior
in order that we may come to know and understand
the mercy of God.
That the just God has mitigated his justice by his mercy
and we have this life in order to cooperate
with the mercy of Almighty God.
And so, let us journey with the disciple St. John
in the Synod Mary Magdalene to the foot of Calvary.
Amen.
Let us not try to go to Calvary alone.
For all those who attempted to involve themselves
in the mystery of Calvary
outside of the presence of the Mother of God
wound up mocking and blaspheming God.
And for the majority of the apostles,
they were too cowardly to take their place
because they did not recognize the value of the Mother
who alone can strengthen us in this journey.
And so, let us always and everywhere
where we contemplate the mysteries of our faith,
always do so in presence,
of the person of our Mother,
the Most Holy Virgin Mary,
so that we may truly come to understand these mysteries
as she came to understand them,
so that we may enter into the mystery
of our cooperation with the Redeemer and the co-redemptrix,
so that we too can become little co-redeemers of the world.
That is, uniting the little sacrifices and sufferings
we are asked to make,
uniting them to the greater sacrifice of Christ
in his Holy Mother,
so that we may be involved in that most important mystery,
the dispensation of the graces of God
until the end of the time.
When God acts, he does so in a most perfect way.
And so, humanly speaking,
we reflect upon a most profound mystery
that from our human eyes,
we would certainly think that God was crazy
to entrust the distribution of his graces
until the end of time
to the members of his mystical body.
And yet, that is precisely what he has done.
And so, let us always and everywhere in this world,
and so, it is the most effective way
to manifest the mercy of God.
And so, let us always be aware,
as Pope St. Leo the Great reminds us
in his Christmas homilies,
let us always be aware of the dignity
that we have received
in being raised up by grace
to be members of Holy Mother Church.
And let us always seek to cooperate,
knowing that we fail each and every moment of our lives,
and indeed, we fail each and every day of our life.
But we must always pick ourselves up
and manifest that true hope of a Christian,
not falling into the despair
that mankind is presently falling into,
so much so that those who seek
the highest office of their land
have no qualms about speaking
the most vile of all blasphemies,
as has recently been done
when one of those who aspire
to the paternal rule of a nation
has declared that in the Sermon of the Mount,
Jesus Christ has blessed
the union of homosexuals in marriage.
And we often don't reflect,
we have become dulled
by the shocking blasphemy
that such a statement is,
that can be perhaps
no more vile blasphemy
than that one.
And yet, we will go about thinking
that because of other things
he or she may promise,
we can vote for such a person.
We must offer penance for such a person,
but we must do everything we can
to prevent them from gaining power,
power in our land,
because true power can only be exercised
when it is exercised
in the manner that Christ exercises it today,
mercifully.
And no one who believes such vile things
about the Lord of all goodness
who came and took upon himself
the torments of his flesh
for the salvation of the world
could ever possibly condone
that sin that is so opposed to nature
that every saint,
every saint who has spoken on the matter
has declared
the public acceptance of such a thing
is a pure sign,
a perfect sign of a society
completely and totally
under the control of Satan
and his minions.
And they have one hope,
the same hope that the people had
at the time of this miracle,
for they too were under the rule of Satan,
for over them ruled also,
a ruler of the same mind
and the same heart.
And our Lord teaches us that himself,
for he refers to that ruler as a vixen.
And that is a perfect analysis
of every vice that he was involved in.
And he spoke the same vile words
and the same vile things.
And so, let us truly recognize
the kingly command of Jesus Christ.
Lazarus, come forth,
and in the coming forth
of Lazarus,
we too are all called to come forth
to turn from that life
which seeks to establish the rule
of Satan over society
in order that by our penances
and our small sacrifices
for his sake,
we may again reestablish
the kingship of Christ,
the Good Shepherd,
who comes to rule
not by his power,
but by his justice.
And that is why,
and we must always understand this,
that is why,
the Catholic Church cannot compromise
with any other faith.
For the Mohammedan believes
that God is raw power.
And in doing so,
they have no concept of the mercy of God.
We become his toys,
his instruments.
And when he is done with us,
like your dog,
you slay it.
And we must understand that,
that philosophically,
outside of Holy Mother Church,
all religion is corrupt.
All religion.
And we do not, as it were,
enter in to the religion of others
in order to bless their teachings,
but in order to delve in
to their false teachings,
to find the nuggets of truth
that God has preserved in all things.
And God even preserves truth
in the most furthest religion from him,
Satanism.
For ultimately,
the Satanist hates God,
as he should,
if he is a true Satanist.
And so,
there is a truth there
that we must build upon
in order to show forth
the tyranny of his rule over society
in order to replace it
with the love and mercy of God.
And so,
no religion in and of itself
leads to the Catholic Church.
It is to us to go forth.
We are a missionary people.
The mission ad gentes,
as the Second Vatican Council called it.
We are to go forth.
Not to be claimed by other religions,
but to claim all souls
for the kingdom of Christ.
Go forth,
our Lord tells us.
Lazarus,
come forth.
Lord, never,
never,
do you find Jesus Christ
commanding his disciples to retreat.
Never.
There is not one word of the Lord
that commands the disciples to retreat.
He always tells us,
go forth,
Lord,
you know the Jews
are attempting to kill you.
If they return,
they may accomplish such a thing.
And by the way,
you do realize
we might get slain in the process.
And the Lord responds,
if you dwell in the light
that is in the truth,
in the daytime,
you have nothing to fear.
For even if they take your life,
I will restore it
as he proves he can do
in today's marriage.
And so,
go forth,
untie him,
let him go.
That is the mission of the church
and every member
in the bosom of Holy Mother Church.
Go forth,
launch out into the deep.
All of the commands of the Lord to his church
are military commands,
commanding his soldiers
not to be fearful,
not to be fearful of the culture,
not to be fearful of the sins of the world,
their own sins,
but repent and go forth
because he knows
that when we go forth
imbued with the love of God,
that is,
returning to him our love
because he has first loved us,
he sends us forth
with himself on the right
and his mother on the left.
And so, we go forth
even as individuals
as a powerful army
because we go forth
with him and her
and all the mysteries
of the world.
and all the mysteries of the church
at our disposal
in order to bring all souls
out of the night
as he described it in today's gospel.
Out of the night,
out of the dark
and into the light
so that we too
may be raised from our sins
bound, yes, still
but with reformed wills
willing to accept
the humiliations of our falls
to pick ourselves up
in the name of the Holy God.
And so, let us go forth always
each and every day
trying to love the Lord a little more
who in an instant
of his earthly life
manifested to us
an infinite love
when he pronounced
those most profound words
spoken in scripture,
Father, it is consummated.
Those are words of love.
Those are words of a marriage.
And so, Christ is the bridegroom.
And he has bound himself
to his bride
in the sense
that he offers to us
all the gifts
that make us pure,
holy and immaculate brides
if we are only willing
to accept the humiliation
of our sins
and if we are only willing
to enter in
to the mystery of suffering.
He and his mother
will teach us
how to come to love it.
But first,
we must begin
by bearing it.
And so,
let us bear all things
for him
who first
bore all things for us
so that we may come to know
not the glory of this life
but a glory
that is infinitely greater
and the glory
that each and every
human soul
ever created
by the love of God
was called
to participate in.
The glory
of the beatific vision.
Let us always be aware
of the end
that God has created us for
for every creature
has a purpose
and that creature
cannot
find the happiness
it seeks
unless it fulfills
the purpose
that God has created it for.
All rational creatures
have one purpose
and one purpose only
in the mind of God
to be with him
for all eternity in heaven.
And in order to participate
in the resurrection,
we must first
travel the royal road.
We hear it constantly
that we are a resurrection people
and it is often used
in a blasphemous
sense
to justify
the eating,
the drinking
and the marrying
and the living
as the world
because we are
a resurrection people.
Let us always remember
that the resurrection
always comes after
the crucifixion.
Always.
And so
we cannot rise
to the life of Christ
unless we are first
crucified.
That is
abandon
the pursuit
of sinful pleasures
and the life
and worldly pleasures.
The pursuit
of trying to think
we can establish
heaven on earth.
Heaven
is on earth
when we enter
into the mystery
of Calvary.
Joy
and suffering
for the Christian
are one in the same.
Different things truly
but always intermingled.
God inspires us
with joy
to do the things
that he wants us to do.
But the minute
we enter into the labor
often because
of the
effects of original sin
and our own personal sins
they become difficult.
Will we persevere
so that we can experience
that greater joy?
For we see it
even in the natural order
that the joy
that inspires us
to enter into something
is inferior
to the joy
we feel
when that mission
is accomplished.
When we
sit back
and take rest
complacence
in the mission
and that is
an exact analogy
of what heaven
will be like.
Complete rest
but a joy
that is not of this world
but is a heavenly joy.
The joy
that we were created
to receive
that joy
that in this life
must be attained
through union
with Christ crucified
in order that we may truly
rise with him
and rise
and not stop rising
until we too
like the Lord
have ascended
to the home
of our Heavenly Father.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.