Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
In today's Gospel, our Lord continues his discourse on the end times,
and particularly there is an allusion to the destruction of the temple in today's Gospel.
But our Lord also, in his words in the Gospel, gives us reason to be full of hope.
For our Lord says, consider the fig tree.
The fig tree is rather unique amongst trees because during the cold weather,
the sap not only retreats into the roots, but also, it seems, the sweetness,
the taste of the tree itself, the sweet taste of the fig,
retreats into the roots, and this is symbolic of the time spent by our Lord,
preparing, that is, laying the foundation to the patriarchs and prophets of old.
All that was to come when our Lord would come into the world was revealed to them,
and so the foundation was laid, but there was one thing that remained.
Our Lord says to us in today's Gospel that the fig tree begins to burst forth
and bring forth its fruit during the summer heat, and so,
the fig tree, while the foundation was laid, that is, the roots,
was waiting for the heat of the summer, and our Lord is none other than the heat of the summer.
And so, he says that when his warmth begins to touch the fig tree,
then its buds will blossom and its fruits will come forth.
That is why we have reason for hope for our Lord by using this parable,
is telling us that through his grace, we truly will do his works throughout the world until the end of time.
And so, our Lord gives us hope.
He gives us every reason to be hopeful this day,
for we can accomplish many things with his grace,
and he continues to warm his mystical body, the church,
and he will so until the end of time,
so that we have nothing to fear, but only heaven to look forward to.
For if we remain close to our Lord, then we need not fear the end times,
we need not fear any times, whether they be the good times or the bad times,
because the grace of God is sufficient to sustain us.
Indeed, St. Paul would find this out,
when he, by his own personal life, when he, by his own admission,
was complaining somewhat of the thorn in his side that he had to bear,
and our Lord reminded him, as he reminds us in today's Gospel,
that his grace is sufficient, and that by his grace, we truly can do wonderful things.
And also, our Lord gives us hope because he says,
heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will not pass away.
And why do we have great hope, especially in these final words,
my words will not pass away?
Because Jesus said,
Jesus Christ is the word incarnate, and his words mean life.
That is, when our Lord says,
I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
the soul is cleansed of original sin.
Those words have life-giving meaning.
When our Lord says in confession,
I absolve thee of thy sins, thy sins are forgiven.
And so, in every sacrament, a word is spoken,
and it is the word of Christ, because it is Christ who operates through the sacraments,
leaving out vice and Ladyぎn ....
And so, we truly have much reason to hope when our Lord says,
this is my body, then, truly bread and wine is changed into the very body,
blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And so, he sustains and works and will work until the end of time.
The greatest of all his miracles, the transubstantiation of bread and wine
into the very body, into his very body, blood, soul, and divinity.
Nowhere in the sacraments does anything stand in our cœur.
Who Esau was saved, we behold this sacrament for us today.
That is, according to the Holy Spirit, we are helped.
life, do the words of Christ have more meaning than when that mystery occurs. And so we truly
have much reason to hope, we have much reason to go forward, because especially in the sacramental
life of the Church, we receive the very life of Christ, because in receiving a sacrament worthily,
we receive in some way the Word of God into our hearts, into our minds, and into our souls. And so
let us rejoice this day, for the Lord is truly with us, in his kingdom is amongst us, and the
rays of his grace are constantly shining upon the Church, so that we can look forward to that day
that St. Paul speaks of, that our Lord will come again when he finds in his Church what he finds
in the Mother of God, that is, when he sees the Church holy and immaculate, i.e., in imitation of
his Mother, then he will come again, and then we will come to know the meaning of the words,
heaven and earth will pass.
But my words will not pass away, for the heaven and earth that we dwell in, that is, the one we can
see, will pass away with the glory of the kingdom of God, where we will dwell with him for all
eternity in heaven. And so we have much to look forward to, because we have much work to do for
the Lord. We have much to do to build up his kingdom again, but yet we have reason to hope
that this is precisely what our Lord wishes, because he is shining at this moment on his
mystical body.
And so we have much to look forward to, because he is shining at this moment on his mystical body,
the Church, and in using the analogy of the fig tree, he tells us very clearly that the buds,
the fruit will burst forth, that is, the good works performed through the mystical body of
Christ. And so each and every moment we do a good work, we do the work of Christ, and that is what
it means to be incorporated into the mystical body of Christ, that our works are not our own
works, that is, our good works, but they are the very works of Christ, going forth until the end of
time.
ministering to the needs of all souls, first and foremost on the spiritual level, but also on the
natural level. It is, is it not the Lord himself who sustains the fig tree and all, all the fruits
of the earth, all the animals of the earth by which man nourishes his body, and in some way
that is wrapped up in the mystery of his providential care, and also through the
mystery of the mystical body of Church, for we often don't reflect enough on the fact that our
Lord's influence is universal. He influences us in the spiritual life and in the temporal order,
and indeed, while many do not give him credit, the modern practices of farming that have found,
as it were, to bring, to bring forth such fruits from the earth were established first and foremost
by the Benedictines. It was they who began en masse to reclaim lands in order that they may be
farmed and that souls may be provided for. And so the primary work of charity,
feeding the poor, has always been the work of the mystical body of Christ because it was the
mystical body of Christ and members of that mystical body that began truly to produce from
the earth the abundant fruits that we have. And to this day, even though many do not know it, it is
not the United Nations, it is not the United States of America, it is not Russia, or it is not any
nation or all nations combined that do the most works of charity throughout the world. It is still
the Catholic Church that, even in the temporal order, does more truly charitable work than any
other institution in the world. And so we see very clearly our Lord's words being fulfilled,
that the fig tree will bring forth much fruit. Let us pray that it brings forth more fruit,
for even though we may rejoice in the harvest, we also know that the harvest is restricted by
our sins. And so we have to strive each and every day, each and every moment of our lives
by the grace of God, by the grace of God's kingdom, by the grace of God's kingdom. And so we have to strive
grace of God to overcome our sins and our sinful tendencies in order that the mystical body of
Christ may truly bud forth and all the fruits that the Lord wishes to distribute to the world,
whether they be of the spiritual order or of the temporal order, all those fruits may be received
by the souls in this world so that all of us may work out our salvation in fear and trembling and
so that all souls may find at the end of their lives the true meaning of those final words of
our Lord in today's gospel, that heaven and earth will pass away and be replaced by one of two
realities, the joy of eternal bliss in heaven or the pains of eternal damnation in hell.
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