Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
We see in the first reading from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, he says,
Brethren, all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death,
for we are buried together with him by baptism unto death.
This dying with Christ used to be a very important thing.
It used to be symbolized in the rite of baptism, and still is today, but more rarely,
when they baptized by immersion, taking the person and completely submerging them under the water.
It was a symbol of going down into the tomb with Christ.
And this, of course, was done three times, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And then that third time of coming out of the water,
was meant to symbolize the resurrection of our Lord,
rising to new life and coming out of the tomb.
And so this being submerged and dying with Christ is, as St. Paul says, a death to sin.
That is, sin is destroyed in that person who has been baptized.
They've been entirely cleansed from original sin, if they happen to only be infants,
or from original sin and all actual sins, all personal sins, if they happen to be adults.
So there's an entire cleansing and a death to sin in that soul.
And a rising to new life with Christ.
What does that mean?
The new life of God's grace, of living in God's grace, of having divine life.
In someone's soul.
And so this is what St. Paul is saying.
If we have died with Christ, then we indeed ought to be dead to sin.
That is, we ought not to return to sinful lives.
Return to our vomit, as the scripture says, and as St. Francis used to say as well.
But we ought to always live.
We ought to live in God's grace, to be alive to God, to avoid sin, and to be alive to God,
to live lives that are holy and pleasing to God, to always and everywhere do what is pleasing to God.
This is the call of the gospel.
And now, each and every one of us, we only live once on this earth.
I know there are people.
There are people out there who believe in reincarnation, but the evidence does not seem to point in that direction.
So we only live once.
And this for a short time.
We're in this world only for a little while.
Relatively short time.
And so we don't want to get it wrong regarding these important things about dying to sin and living only for God.
But we want to get it wrong.
We want to get it right the first time.
Because we only get one chance.
And the way we live in this world has eternal consequences.
It's going to all determine how we will live for all eternity.
There are so many people out there who get caught up with the things of this world.
With their own happiness in this world even.
As much as that ought to be desired and we ought to strive after that.
But even still, what a small thing if one were to live unhappily in this world.
If they were then to live happily for all eternity.
This is what our Lord means when he says,
Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be given unto you.
Maybe not in this world, but at least in the next.
Everything else.
Everything.
Everything that everything refers to God.
So what a small thing to make the necessary sacrifices in this world.
To then enter into an eternity of joy.
But instead, so as so often happens as St. Thomas Aquinas says.
The great majority of people follow the road of nature.
That is, follow the path.
The path indicated to them by their fallen nature.
That fallen nature that they bear within their bodies.
And which leads them to be attached to the things of the world.
Which leads them to turn to sin.
And to those temporal passing ephemeral joys and pleasures that sin may afford.
But that ultimately leave the soul empty and unsatisfied.
So let's not be fooled by any of these things.
But always keep the big picture in mind.
We're in this world once.
It's very short.
Let's live correctly so as not to waste eternity.
In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And we pray.
Amen.
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