He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area with the sheep
and the oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers, and overturned their tables.
Today, our Lord is giving us an example of zeal, and zeal is a virtue that we must all exercise
in regards to our faith. But in order to understand zeal, and particularly some sins
that prevent us from being zealous for the Father's house, we must understand always and
everywhere that our flesh wars against the soul with an unceasing battle. It is constantly trying
to, as it were, drive us from the exercise of zeal.
The exercise of zeal and the practice of our holy Catholic faith. And ultimately, the flesh does so
by two means. By an instinctive horror that each and every one of us have for suffering,
and by an insatiable appetite that we have for pleasure. And this can manifest itself
on several levels. It is emotional when we fear something with pain or sorrow attached to it.
That is, we simply fear because we know that in order
to do certain things, there is a pain and suffering attached to it. It is intellectual when we refuse
to think of something with pain or suffering associated with it. We see this most especially
in a sentimental form of Christianity by which many refuse to meditate upon the sufferings
of our Lord and Savior with the expression that they prefer to dwell upon the positive aspect
of our Lord's life, not upon the negative aspect.
And yet, it is His suffering that is the most positive thing He has done for mankind.
It is willful when the soul is attached to the goods of the body, which, by an act of its will, it seeks and desires.
And so, it replaces the good things of religion with the things of this world and the illicit desires.
And in order for us to understand that our Lord came to show us not to proceed in this way,
we are reminded by one of the great catechists of this country in explaining this text from Scripture.
He said that would anyone here deny that Jesus Christ was true God and true man, to which all the students said no?
Will anyone deny, he said, that Jesus Christ was perfect in all things, to which no one declared no?
And then he reminded each and every one of the students that that included his aim.
And so,
he missed no one, that he directed the whip that he wove this day.
He missed no one.
He placed, as it were, according to the offenses right square between the shoulder blades or on the buttocks or on the lower part of the back,
each one according to the extent of their offenses.
And so, he teaches us by this act that we must always and everywhere have zeal for the Lord's house.
And we must be always on guard against those sins
that destroy zeal in the soul.
Primary among those sins that is destroying the zeal in souls
of many Catholics is the sin of superstition
and is often not a sin that we even
avert to because we, as it were, treat it in a superficial way
or we don't have a deep enough understanding as
to the true nature of superstition.
Superstition is a sin contrary to both the first commandment
and also the first article of the Creed.
It is essentially the attributing to a created thing
a power that it does not have.
And so it is superficial, for instance,
when we refuse to walk under a ladder thinking that something
will happen to us or refuse to cross the path of a black cat.
It is crass when mankind deals with devils.
That is, he calls upon devils in order
to gain something that he doesn't
want in order to gain something in an illicit fashion.
But that is not, as it were, the primary practice
of superstition in our day and age.
It is certain that the practice of the occult is on the rise.
But superstition can also be manifested by mankind,
for instance, in sciences.
That is, to attribute to the sciences a power
it does not have.
And so many believe that by the exercise of medical science,
we will one day overcome death.
And yet, death is not something that mankind can overcome,
for death is a supernatural reality
because it is a punishment for our sins.
And no soul created in this world can escape death.
It will ultimately have its say with each and every one of us.
In regards to this superstition of science,
we are particularly struck by the warning given by Albert Speer
in the book, The Secret of the Dead.
The Secret of the Dead, by Albert Speer at the end of the Third Reich,
that is, Nazi Germany.
When he wrote the memoirs of Nazi Germany,
he finished them with the most extraordinary statement.
He said that it is very difficult to recognize the devil
when you walk with your hand on his shoulder,
that is, to embrace him as a friend.
And in the next sentence, he says something extraordinary.
He declares that Adolf Hitler used technology
to mesmerize a nation.
For technology cannot have arbitrary reign over the human heart.
Technology must be entered into with a spirit of prayer.
For instance, in the home, before technology is brought in,
parents must discern,
will this help my children exercise virtue
or it will be contrary to virtue?
Based on this principle, many of what has been brought into the home,
simply to escape human labor, will be driven out.
For instance, is the dishwasher particularly necessary
or does it deprive our children of an opportunity to exercise virtue?
For we often think that manual labor is something
that human souls are created to escape.
And yet, it is often the opportunity that we have
to truly exercise virtue.
And so,
many souls have been tainted by this form of superstition
in which they attribute to sciences a power it does not have.
While it may mitigate the effects of our sin
by helping us, as it were, to deal with some of the ravages of the flesh,
it cannot, in the end, put them off.
And so, ultimately, we must ask the question,
is a painless death necessarily a good death?
And when we meditate upon that mystery
that we are called to meditate upon,
particularly in this liturgical season,
we come to the conclusion that no,
for it was the painful death of Jesus Christ
that delivered each and every one of us from our sins.
The next most common practice of this sin
is government control.
That is, the belief
that if the government controls
enough things,
it will bring about happiness in society.
And yet, it cannot,
because happiness ultimately
is the human soul's union with Almighty God.
And so, no government control in the end
can bring us the happiness we seek.
It can only bring upon us
the tyranny of Satan.
For true government is exercised
when governments recognize
the kingship of Jesus Christ,
but more importantly,
when they are motivated
by the eternal destiny of man,
when they truly, as it were,
are imbued with the spirit
that man was not created for this life,
but that this life was an opportunity given to man
in order that he may prove his love
of Almighty God.
And so, as it were,
if we fall into these sins of superstition,
we destroy zeal in the soul,
zeal for our faith.
And yet, it is completely contrary
to what our Lord does in today's Gospel.
For in challenging the Pharisees and scribes
and their form of superstition,
attributing to the political process
a power it does not have,
that is, to ultimately deliver us
from the effects of sins,
which ultimately is our death,
then, as it were,
our Lord would not have it anymore.
Why?
Because of his zeal for souls,
including the scribes and the Pharisees,
because our Lord knew
that with that type of thinking
and that type of mentality,
the soul is in grave jeopardy
of perishing for all eternity.
And so today,
he boldly exposes himself,
his life and his good name,
in order to defend the honor of God the Father,
whom he loves above all things.
And so,
our Lord is teaching us, too,
the first principle of charity,
to love God above all things
and then to love our neighbor
for God's sake.
And so,
in this day and age,
we are reminded also by our Lord
that often it is the zeal of our enemies
that we are to imitate.
The Lord even commends sometimes
the zeals of the enemy
who seem to work harder for error
than the members of the chosen people,
or the members of the mystical body
work for truth.
And so,
the propagators of revolutionary thinking
often suffer many things
in order to see the triumph of their thinking,
while the members of the mystical body
lay silent in their superstition,
which crushes the zeal
they are to exercise for their faith.
And yet,
in all this,
we must always and everywhere
understand one thing.
That we have the key
to transforming the world,
because the thing that should inspire us to zeal
is this knowledge,
that we have the doctrine of truth,
and hence,
we have the knowledge
of the unknown God,
who all propagators of revolutionary thinking
are truly seeking.
For the human soul
may have a misconception,
a false understanding
of the true nature of God,
and so,
it has been entrusted
to the members of the mystical body
to bring to them
the true knowledge,
and that is what we possess.
We possess,
as Saint Paul would tell the pagans of old,
when he was before their shrine
dedicated to the unknown God,
he would declare to them,
I know him.
And so,
he would begin to teach them,
and most particularly,
he would teach them
the doctrine
that saved the pagan world
from dying in absolute,
total,
and complete despair,
that is,
the doctrine of original sin,
that it is not possible for man
to reconcile himself with God his Father
without the aid of the grace
that comes to us
through the saving act of Jesus Christ.
And it was this
that would ultimately bring the pagan world of old
to its knees,
not by way of being crushed,
but by way of bending those knees
in homage
to the God who they did not know,
but who was revealed to them
through the apostolic labors
of Saint Paul
and all the early Christians,
and most especially,
that witness of a chaste,
pure love
exercised at all levels
of the mystical body.
In the priesthood,
and in consecrated virgins,
and in family life,
one man and one woman
truly bonded
by a union of love
and not seeking
the cravings of the flesh,
truly sacrificing themselves
for the common good,
and ultimately,
it was that universal example of love
in the members of the mystical body
that would bring the pagan worlds
to know
the unknown God,
and ultimately,
to love Christ
in his most holy mother.
And so,
during this season of Lent,
we must always try
to have the spectacle of Calvary
haunt us
and pursue us relentlessly,
for ultimately,
unless we have this perception of suffering,
we will not enter into suffering.
Often we think
that reflection upon our own suffering
is the way up to salvation,
but ultimately,
it is the way to self-love.
It is reflection
on the suffering of Christ
that allows us to enter in
to that mystery of his suffering
by uniting ours to him.
And so,
if the cross,
if Calvary,
truly haunts us,
and if we truly allow it
to pursue us
with a relentless pursuit,
then we allow love
to pursue us
because we allow Christ
and that act of his love
to pursue us,
and then we come to know
and understand truly
that mystery
that the Savior will declare,
I thirst.
And when our Lord declares those words,
he thirsts in the flesh.
That's why it is being crucified
for mankind,
for it is the one thing he has to offer
by way of suffering
in order to possess souls.
But more importantly,
our Lord declares,
I thirst in the heart,
and what he thirsts for is souls,
and we too must thirst always
and everywhere for souls.
And so,
let us put aside
the superstition of our day and age.
Let us put aside
the pursuit of science
as the ultimate answer
to bring happiness to mankind.
Let us put away
the false notion
that somehow we will be delivered
by a political Messiah,
whether it be in this time
or in a future time.
For there is no political Messiah,
there is no scientific Messiah,
there is only one Messiah,
and he is the Christ.
And he teaches us
what is truly valuable
in this world,
not the pursuit of success
according to the principles of the world
that is destroying
the hearts and the zeal
of so many children
when they are taught
to pursue their happiness
according to the dictates of this world,
then what is ripped from them,
the theological virtue of hope.
And so,
they begin to pursue
the things of this world
with an insatiable lust
and ultimately,
often,
many of them,
by the age of 16,
souls completely dead
to the supernatural order,
no zeal,
no heart for the struggle,
just lost in a morass,
in a sea of sin,
of depraved sin,
and often,
introduced to those depravities
by those who have been entrusted
with instilling in them
a desire for the supernatural.
For we must be thoroughly convinced
at every moment of our lives
that the human soul,
why it is finite that is created,
is created with an infinite longing
and infinite longings
can only be satisfied
with a union with God
for all eternity
which we know to be,
by faith,
the beatific vision.
That is the only purpose
why the human soul was created
and so,
we must always and everywhere
do what is necessary
to sanctify ourselves
at all levels
so that we truly can declare
at the end of our lives
that in this life
we came to know God,
we came to love God,
and we came to serve God
because we understood
what God had done for us,
delivered us from every sin
and from every evil,
and He did it by way
of the crucible of suffering.
And so, we too,
if we are to enter into
the kingdom of our Father,
must go by the royal road
chosen by the Savior
and His Most Holy Mother,
and that was the road of suffering.
True, deep, sacrificial suffering,
because that is the only thing
that has any value in this life
because it is what purchases
souls for God the Father.
And so,
let us put away
the sentimentalities
of our day and our age.
Let us not deceive ourselves
thinking that our Lord is somehow,
some type of comfort
for us to squeeze
when we're feeling depressed
and our emotions have the best of us.
He tells us very clearly
in today's Gospel,
He is someone that we must answer to
and ultimately,
the thing we must answer for
is in how we have responded
to His act of love.
He does not come to condemn us.
He comes to save us.
But in order to save us,
He established Himself
as our King and our Lord.
And so, we must follow His way
and put aside the mentality
that somehow,
we do not in the end
have to answer
to the justice of God.
He shows us very clearly
in today's Gospel
the price to be paid.
And better that we feel
the lash of His whip
in this life
than to feel it for all eternity
in the life to come.
And so,
let us strive
by trying each and every moment
of our lives
to embrace the road of suffering,
knowing that
in the end,
we will receive
a recompense beyond our imagining,
which St. Paul tells us,
I have not seen,
nor ear heard,
nor has it even entered into the heart of man
what God has prepared
for those who love Him.
And so,
we journey by faith in this life
in order that we may see it by vision
in the life to come.
St. Paul,
7th time we write
about faith