Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
We heard in the lesson from the book of Daniel,
Daniel's prayer of supplication to God.
And Daniel was in exile, in the Babylonian exile with the rest of the Jews.
And he prays for forgiveness and mercy and for the speedy return of the Jews to Jerusalem
and the restoration of the temple.
And this all serves as an image of what happens to the soul who is in sin.
How the soul in mortal sin,
in mortal sin, separates and distances himself from God,
goes into a sort of exile and must pray and ask God for mercy
and can, of course, now in the new and eternal covenant,
receive the sacrament of reconciliation.
And it's a dreadful thing to die apart from God.
That's why Daniel was praying and crying out to the Lord
so that the Jews could return to their temple.
And so the sinner prays that the temple of his soul be restored
and be in God's grace so that he not die in exile.
And this is the terrible condemnation that our Lord gives to the Jews
in the gospel that we heard today.
He said that they will die in their sins.
I go and you shall seek me.
And you shall die in your sin.
Whither I go, you cannot come.
Our Lord is talking about his return to the Father.
And he's saying that those who die in their sins,
in mortal sin, cannot come with him.
But the Jews didn't understand all this discourse.
And our Lord explains why they will die in their sin.
He says,
You are from beneath.
I am from...
From above.
You are of this world.
I am not of this world.
Therefore, I said to you that you shall die in your sins.
You see, they were attached to the things of the earth.
And this is an admonition to each and every one of us as well.
Not to be attached and absorbed in the things of earth.
As our Lord said,
not to be of this world.
We have to be in the world,
but not...
not to be of this world.
Not to love this world
as if this were our true home.
We have to remember,
and we ought to really feel like
we are pilgrims in this world.
The Christian should never really feel
totally at home in this world.
Instead,
he should always feel
and recognize
that his true home is in heaven.
And so our Lord continues,
and continues,
and continues,
and continues,
and continues,
and continues,
and says to them
that they will die in their sins.
For if you believe not that I am he,
you shall die in your sin.
So because they are so attached to the world,
they aren't able to come to faith
and believe that our Lord is he,
as our Lord says,
that he is the Messiah,
the one sent to redeem the world.
And they specifically asked him,
well, who art thou?
And our Lord says these interesting words,
the beginning,
who also speak unto you.
He is the beginning,
the eternal word
through whom all things were made.
And they understood not
that he called God his Father,
again,
because they were so attached to the world
and immersed in it.
So this is a perfect lesson for us
during this Lent.
To practice greater detachment,
penance,
mortification,
and sacrifice
from food, of course,
and also from entertainment.
To give ourselves, moreover,
to prayer and spiritual reading
and receiving the sacraments.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
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Thank you for watching.