when it was evening after sunset they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons
the whole town was gathered at the door saint paul in his letter to the corinthians and his
letter to the galatians points out to all of us that it is better to serve god than to serve man
he points out in reference to his dialogue with saint peter himself as to whether the gentile
should be circumcised or not he asked do i preach in order to please man the answer is very clearly
no because saint paul stood up for what is most important that is he stood up for truth when he
knew it and today's gospel sheds profound light on this mystery to us for today's gospel is a gospel
about truth and most especially about truth incarnate the savior of the world and so we learn
that the sun was swallowed up for that is the meaning of the hebrew the hebrew expression
translated when it was evening that is the sun is literally seemed to be swallowed up by the sea
of darkness so that darkness truly reigns and indeed at the time of the lord's incarnation
darkness had reigned over the whole of the earth save those bastions of faith that were preserved
and most especially preserved by the holy mother of god who from the first moment of her conception
would bask in the light of truth and would maintain and hold that truth and still maintains
and holds that truth as she will for all eternity and so
youth becomes a very crucial and in the very next our verse when after we hear about the swallowing
up of the song that is the rejection of revelation by the chosen people and the gentile peoples alike
a saint paul will tell us for he says very clearly that all lay in sin and he points
out to the chosen people their sin is greater because they were not only guided by the natural
law b dijo så
they'reですね
their sin is greater because they were not only guided by the natural law but by the revealed law and so their rejection~~~
was more profound, more deep, and more cutting than the rejection of the Gentiles.
But in the very next verse, we are given hope, we are given strength,
for we learn that all will be cured if they come and gather at the door.
What door were they called to come to gather at?
No other than the door of the home of St. Peter, that most blessed of all apostles,
who in his profession of faith would become the vicar of Christ on earth,
and so he would be the vanguard, the guardian of truth.
And so the church here, we are told by revelation of St. Mark, is the pillar of truth,
and that pillar is guarded by one man and one man only.
And so it is to Peter that has been entrusted the defense of truth in matters of faith and morals.
And so truth becomes essential for all those who wish to work out their salvation
in the kingdom of God.
In fear and trembling.
In today's gospel, we learn that our Lord silences again the tongue of the serpent,
as he would always do.
Very rarely would he allow the devil to engage him in conversations.
Indeed, in the exercising of one individual, he simply declared very emphatically,
shut up and get out.
He would not dialogue with the demons,
for he knew that any time the demons tried to engage humans in conversation,
they do so with one agenda, that is, to lead them astray,
to lead them out of the light of truth into the darkness of evil.
And so the serpent's tongue this day is sealed up,
that it might not spread the venom any further.
And so it is very important for us to understand,
for our Lord, as it were, means to indicate to us,
in curing the fever of the mother of St. Peter, a very profound truth.
For any human being can say,
to have a fever who in his anger towards God stretches forth his hand to do harm.
But if reason restrains him, his hand will arise to serve the one true God.
This becomes very crucial for us to understand, especially in our day and age.
For calmness of demeanor is not a discerner of truth.
One may put forth the most diabolical lies in the most calm way,
almost matter-of-factly.
Calmness of demeanor does not discern truth.
We only need to know that the apostles were made up of many men.
Some of them were quite, as it were, cantankerous.
James and John, sons of thunder.
St. Philip and St. Bartholomew, quite different.
More calm, but yet guided by truth.
So it is not the demeanor by which we judge the truth.
And that becomes crucial.
In some areas of the church in which we attempt to compromise with the spirit of the world.
And indeed, the common one presents the notion that abortion is a fundamental human right.
The greater is the peril to his immortal soul.
It matters not whether we know him or not.
If he can present such diabolical doctrines that the murder of a child in its mother's womb,
is a fundamental human right, with calmness,
then he is in greater peril than the one who rails against it.
For he has sealed his heart and his mind
in a doctrine so contrary to the life-giving doctrine of Jesus Christ
that it must scare every member of the mystical body
and inspire them to true charity.
Not a false conciliarism by which we are being saturated in this very day,
in this very age.
Truth is very simply defined, very clearly.
We abide in truth when the mind conforms to reality
and reality is not within the human soul.
Reality is found every time outside of the human soul.
Human beings were created to seek happiness outside of themselves.
That happiness can be found only when we have found the truth incarnate.
When we have found the son of the blessed Jesus.
Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
And so, in our modern day, in our modern age,
in an attempt by Christians not to be considered contrary to the culture,
we learn that the FOCA Act, that is, the Freedom of Choice Act,
fails to adequately protect life among the most vulnerable amongst us.
Fails to adequately protect life?
It legalizes the murder of children.
In this, a defense from Christians,
in an official catechetical organ of a diocese,
it fails to adequately protect?
It doesn't protect human life at all.
It destroys life at its most precious moment in the womb of its mother,
and it allows children to go forward with the murder
of their children, and it allows children to go forward with the murder of their children.
It allows children to go forward with the murder of their children.
It allows children to go forward with the murder of their own child
without notifying their parents.
It annihilates the whole order that God has established,
most especially that order that is based on the life lived by the Holy Family in Nazareth.
It annihilates it.
It is not simply a bad doctrine or a bad act.
It is a blasphemous act.
And we describe it as not adequately protecting human life.
And so, we have much work to do,
because as we know, as was expected,
a recently elected leader of a great nation
lifted his government's ban on federally funded abortions
to be provided overseas.
And we do no service to the truth
if we try in a false concilius spirit
to say that our understanding
is perverted.
Our understanding of truth,
if we try to explain this nonsense by declaring
something is to be said about the different style
he employed in doing so.
No style justifies the murder of a child.
No style.
Indeed, there is no style involved
simply because he was more clever than his predecessors.
In doing it.
How can a Christian
who claims to love life itself
defend such actions
as to be commended because of the different style?
Or that the style of such a leader
is a conciliatory one
and indicates a commitment to cooperation
with ideological differences
within the framework of civility.
When can the murder of a child ever be civil?
When will the members of the mystical body
understand their calling
to defend human life
and how we defend it
by defending the truths that the Lord came?
Find one instance
in the public life of the Savior
in which he treated leaders of the people in this fashion.
The people were treated very differently by the Lord
than they were treated by the Lord.
The people were treated very differently by the Lord.
The people were treated very differently by the Lord.
Because a leader is always given the grace by God
to do what is right for the common good,
not what is wrong.
And so every leader who violates
the law of God
does so by violating their conscience.
God does not allow leaders
to take over the leadership
of any nation
without giving them the graces
to do what is right.
And their fundamental driving principle,
even the founding fathers of this nation,
is to protect and defend life.
And ultimately,
that can only be done
by defending and protecting
the truths of Jesus Christ.
And so,
cooperating with ideological differences,
there can be no cooperation
between Christ and Satan.
None.
If you are opposed to life,
as our Lord said,
you are opposed to me.
You are either with me
or against me.
And there can be no cooperation
between the doctrines of demons
and the doctrines of Christ.
None.
There can be no compromise
in the members of the mystical body
in this matter.
We cannot pray,
according to the teachings of the church,
for the success of the policies
of any administration
in any land,
in any country,
in any nation
that are so contrary
to the will of God,
so contrary
to the dignity of human life,
it is forbidden
to pray
for the success
of such an administration.
But,
we must always and everywhere
understand
that when someone puts forth policies
that are so clearly
and irrevocably contrary
to the divine will,
we cannot support
such policies
but we must pray.
We must, and we are obliged to pray
for the personal welfare
of such souls.
Most especially,
we must pray constantly
and sacrifice constantly
for their conversion
so that they come to know and understand
what Saint Maximilian Mary Colby
knew and understand
in regards to truth.
He wrote in the final issue
of the Night of the Immaculate
an article called,
An Article on Truth.
And it was then
that the Nazi government resolved
emphatically and irrevocably
to shut him down.
And ultimately,
he would be shut down
by the standards of this world,
but only to be freed
in the next world to work
for the salvation of his enemies.
And ultimately,
he would conquer from heaven
the single largest known mass murderer
in the history of mankind,
Rudolf Hess,
Commandant,
of the Auschwitz concentration camp,
who on his deathbed, basically,
because he had been determined
to have suffered execution for his crimes,
would ultimately request a priest
on the evening before he was to die
and ultimately be reconciled
with the church whom he had departed
years ago
because he was angry with God.
Saint Maximilian wrote,
No one in the world
can change truth.
What we can and should do
is seek truth
and to serve it
when we have found it.
The real conflict
is the inner conflict.
Beyond armies of occupation,
hecatombs of extermination camps,
there are two irreconcilable enemies
in the depth of every soul.
How different
is the language of the saints
to our modern Christian apologists?
Two irreconcilable enemies.
He doesn't even use the word differences.
He calls them enemies.
In the depth of every soul,
good and evil,
sin and love.
Let your yes mean yes
and your no mean no.
The saints are profound
in the simplicity
of their presentation of the doctrine.
And he continues,
In what use
are the victories
on the battlefield
if we ourselves
are defeated
in our innermost personal selves?
We can boast
that we have been victorious
because we have engaged the enemy
in some amorphous dialogue.
But what we have only done
is join their camp.
We think we have a victory
on the battlefield
and we have simply imperiled our soul.
And so,
when Saint Maximilian,
without mentioning,
the government he was critiquing,
but don't worry,
they knew who he meant,
did so,
he was shut down by worldly standards
but raised up
by the supernatural standards of God.
And when a leader of a nation
has declared publicly
that he is a follower of a certain philosopher,
Saul Alinsky by name,
then we can safely assume
he follows the doctrines
because he quotes them often.
Amongst those doctrines
in his chapter called Tactics,
he writes,
make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
You can kill them with this
for they can no more obey their rules
than the Christian church
can live up to Christianity.
Will we take up that challenge
and show the world that we can,
not by our own strength,
but by the grace of God,
because it is only that witness
of true Christianity
that is the hope of the world.
No matter how far a soul is
from the master,
their hope lies in our holding up
the standards of Christ
in our own personal life.
He further points out,
pick the target,
freeze it,
personalize it,
and polarize it.
So you pick one member of the church,
you freeze them,
you personalize them,
and you polarize them.
And that has already been done
with the vicar of Christ
because it has been told by us
of these leaders
that they will not let the man in Rome
tell them what to do.
And so we must always be on guard
when we adopt a false spirit of conciliarism
which means ultimately
to adopt falsehood contrary to truth.
We must always strive
to seek to imitate her
who received truth
from the first moment of her conception
and received it in an extraordinary way
on the night of the incarnation.
To always be open to receive truth
because it is only when we are open to receive it
that we can give it freely
as the Mother of God has given it to the world.
And so let us strive
to heroically defend
this truth
that was purchased for us
by the very blood of Christ
and Christ demands one thing of us
to defend that truth
with our own blood
as Saint Maximilian would do
in all the martyrs of the church
and all the souls
whether they suffered a blood martyrdom or not
who were victorious
in the struggle in this world.
To try to compromise,
to try to point out
that this is only one issue
amongst many issues
and if we cannot get them to accept this issue
we must work on the social doctrine
and what does our Lord say about that
communist understanding of Christianity?
The poor you will always have with you.
The poor will be taken and carried for
insofar as charity reigns in the soul.
Government handouts are not charity.
They destroy human dignity.
True charity recognizes
the heights that the human soul can attain
in the spiritual
and in the physical order.
Those heights are attained
when everything we do
from the simplest act of tying a shoe
to the building and construction of a cathedral
are done solely for the glory of God.
Every act can become a supernatural act
insofar as it is done
for the glory of God.
And that is how Christendom is built up.
But primarily it is built up
in the soul of the believer
because it is only when we receive it there
that we can go forth and manifest to the world
in the physical order
our belief in the incarnation
and so we produce beauty
because as Pope John Paul II pointed out
beauty is one of the proofs of God's existence
and so we must seek
to establish it
everywhere we go.
Saint Maximilian was an evangelist
because everywhere he went
he strove to instill
the love of truth
that is the love of Christ
in the hearts of men.
That is why the mother of God
is the most extraordinary of all evangelists
because she established truth
in the hearts of the pillars of the church
the apostles
and through them
she seeks to establish it until the end of time
and so let us resolve
to stay close to the pillar
and the safe God of truth
the vicar of Christ
whose prerogative was won for him
by the prayers and requests
of the mother of God.
And let us always strive
to defend Christ
by seeking to imitate
the Blessed Virgin Mary
so that like her
we cooperate in her mission
to become the spiritual mother
of the whole world.
There isn't a soul in the world
that the mother of God has abandoned.
We only block her mission
when we don't cooperate with her mission
and when we try to compromise
or pooh-pooh truth
by false notions
and sentimental justifications
of going beyond the defense of life
because we can't get through to him
on that matter
then we have entered
stealthily
and quietly
into the enemy's camp.
The sun
of God's grace has set
and the reign of evil
has been established in the soul.
But the soul
need not despair
for the sun rises
again every day
and it will rise
in the souls of the most hardened sinner
if we cooperate
in the mission of Christ
so that our sufferings
and our sacrifices
truly become united
to the suffering and sacrifice of Christ.
In order to do that
we must seek always and everywhere
to abide in truth
and the truth
has been declared to us
in this matter.
I do not quote
any personal theologian
or my own opinion
the Catechism of the Catholic Church
declares itself
that a nation who aborts its children
is a dead nation.
It is dead.
It is only a matter
of how God will carry out
the sentence.
It will become worse
if the members of the mystical body
don't cooperate
it will become better
if they cooperate.
We do not operate
by the force of numbers.
It is the conformity of our wills
to the will of God.
As the devil would point out
to Saint John Marie Vianney
if there were five priests
in the world like you
my reign would be ended
and Saint John Vianney
knowing his obligation
to defend truth
didn't fall for it.
He declared
that may be so
but I won't bite
on that bait of pride
because I know
that there are
more people
who are willing
to sacrifice their lives
for the salvation
of the world
than to sacrifice
their lives
for the salvation
of the world
because
the Lord
and his mother
did so first.
And so
the people
who are willing
to sacrifice
their lives
for the salvation
of the world
are not the same
as the people
who are willing
to sacrifice
their lives
for the salvation
of the world
who are willing
to sacrifice
their lives
for the salvation
of the world.