Our Lord is actually commending the Pharisees and scribes in today's Gospel by pointing
out that they know how to read the signs in nature, and indeed our Lord is pointing out
that they truthfully do so, for he put certain signs in nature so that man might know what
to do in this life, especially regarding the farming and earning a living off of the land.
But our Lord is taking them to task because they refuse to read the signs of the time.
That is, they should have been also able to discern who he was, that he was the Messiah
and that he had come to deliver mankind from their sins.
But because they would be obstinate and refuse to read the signs, they refuse to read the
signs of the time.
That is, the miracles our Lord would work and the purity of the teaching that he would
give, they would have a blindness over their eyes and they were unable to see the truth.
And so our Lord points out to them that they would ultimately have to pay a price for that.
And ultimately there are two prices that we have to pay for our stubbornness with God.
If our stubbornness is of a serious nature, that is, a mortal sin, and we do not repent
of that sin, by the time we depart from this life, we will be in a state of sin.
If we do not repent of that sin, by the time we depart from this life, then we will be
condemned to hell for all eternity.
And if we have not overcome our minor faults and failings, our venial sins in this life,
then our Lord tells us we will be handed over to the magistrate and we will not be released
until we have paid the last penny.
This is a clear reference to the Church's doctrine on purgatory, that if we have imperfections
when we depart from this life, but they are not serious enough to separate us from the
love of God, then we must be purified.
In the purifying fires of purgatory, and so we must always and everywhere strive to gain
union with God in heaven, for as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, we must always aim high
because if we miss our mark and we have aimed for purgatory, then there is only one place
that we can go to, and that is hell.
And so let us strive always and everywhere, not like the Pharisees and scribes and the
majority of the people living at the time when our lives are in danger.
Our Lord was visibly present to them, and they were unable to discern that he was the
Messiah and that he was also true man and true God.
Let us strive always and everywhere to gain union with him in heaven by following in complete
integrity all his doctrines and especially all those things that we are required to believe
in matters of faith and moral because the Church teaches them to us.
And so, especially now in our society, in our culture, it is incumbent upon us,
to listen to the Church and do accordingly, according to how she teaches us, and especially
that is when we go to the poll and cast a vote for the leader of our nation, we must
do so with a clean conscience, that is, we must do so in accord with the principles of
the Church, and even though there are several options that are available to a Catholic in
this vein, we must truly be able to discern the times, and hence we must cast our vote
according to a Catholic doctrine, and we must not determine how we are to elect a leader
of our nation according to economic policies, especially if one candidate is absolutely
opposed to the most important of all principles, that is, the principle of life.
And indeed, our Lord told us, amongst the most extraordinary things he had done, is
that he had come in order to give us life, but that was a supernatural life.
What the Pharisees and the scribes and the majority of the people then were doing was
living the natural life, and they did not know and did not understand because they
refused to know and understand that that natural life was given to them in order to serve the
supernatural end of mankind.
And so let us not fall to the modern era, that is, that form of naturalism that has
seemed to overcome the whole world, but let us always and everywhere truly discern the
times that the Savior has come, and he has come to give us supernatural life in order
to acquire that supernatural life.
We must not offend him, most especially, we must not offend him by the commission of the
mortal sin.
And indeed, there are certain ways that a Catholic can vote that are clearly, according
to the teachings of the Church, a mortal sin.
And so let us pray that we do not fall prey to the allurements of the modern world, and
let us also pray that all souls who go and exercise that most extraordinary responsibility
in their society do so in accordance with the law.
Thank you.
Let us pray that those who go to vote will always vote in accord with the principles
of Christ, so that they may not offend our Lord, and in not offending our Lord, they
may help to build a society, a society rooted in true charity, in which people love God
above all things, and they love their neighbor as themselves for God's sake, so that they
always are serving each other in accord with the principles of Christ.
And so let us be thankful that the Lord has come to us.
Let Him fine usł us and reveal to us the extraordinary truths that are necessary for
us to believe in order to save our souls.
And let us also see in all the teachings and doctrines of the Church the mercy of God,
for we know full well, even if we have not completely—or are finished our perfection
in this life, but if we have not offended God seriously, that is, separated ourselves
from his life, then there is a place of purgation by which we are purified from our faults in
failings, our deliberate venial sins, and ultimately after that purification, we gain that
purpose for which mankind was created, eternal union with God for all eternity in that place
where it cannot be taken from us. And so let us strive in this life not to have it taken from us
by all our thoughts, words, deeds, and actions, and most especially that we always and everywhere
seek through prayer to see that our actions are in conformity with the teachings of Christ
so that we show him that we were truly able to discern those things that are most important,
that is, the supernatural realities and the supernatural truths that Christ in Christ alone
has taught us and in teaching us he has taught all mankind so that we may marvel at that most
extraordinary gift of the church to mankind, that gift by which all generations and all peoples
have an opportunity to live.
She has an opportunity to know the truth, to love the truth, and to serve the truth because she has been given
the most extraordinary gift by God to be the only one who is always right in matters of faith and morals
and so we are certain that her teaching and her morals are the teaching and morals of Christ
and if we follow them, we are following Christ and so we truly show that we have received the greatest
of all things that the human soul can receive, that is, the Son of God himself.
And that in heaven, where we see him now by the eyes of faith, in heaven we will see him by vision
and so let us strive for that which the Lord has created us for, to dwell with him for all eternity
where we see him as he is.
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