St. Paul tells us of our Lord that he did not deem equality with God as something to
be grasped at, that is, because as the second person of the Blessed Trinity, he was co-eternal
and co-equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit from before time began in that mystery which
we know as eternity. He was the one true God, and so he did not have to repine for equality with God
because he has it. And so, in today's Gospel, we see our Lord working in a very precise manner,
for it is the conclusion of St. Mark's first chapter, and so we learn many things,
for we learn ultimately that mankind following, imitating Satan,
is to grasp, to usurp equality with God. And so, in the Gospel today, the man with leprosy
symbolizes Adam, and in Adam, all who have fallen. The leprosy of sin begins with the head
who fell when he desired the kingdom of this world by coveting equality with God. And so,
ultimately, our Lord wishes to prove to the people that he is the one who was foretold from of old,
foretold even before the day of our death. And so, in today's Gospel, we see our Lord
before Moses when God promised our first parents that he would send a Savior. And so, particularly
with St. Mark, we see the Lord clearly undoing that which was done. For previously, there would
be many devils who sought to give witness to Christ. Our Lord would silence them with one
command, that is, to be silent. He would not accept the testimony of devils, and so he silenced the
tongue of the ancient soul. And so, in today's Gospel, we see our Lord clearly undoing that which
was done by the serpent, whose tongue first led our first parents to fall. Then he cures the woman
who was first seduced, and he does that in the person of St. Peter's mother, who was lying in
bed with a fever, sick, with no one to touch her until the Lord came and delivered her from her
fever. And now he comes to the man, the man with leprosy, the man who listened to the evil
counsels of his wife, and in doing so would cause the fall of the whole human race. And so, in today's
and family. And so our Lord is showing us that the order of restoration will be the same as the
order of the fall. He came first to silence devils and then ultimately to undo that which was done in
our first parents. And so if we are to receive that mercy that the Lord came to give us, we must
proceed in the manner of the man in today's gospel. For one thing that is characteristically noted by
the man is that he does not presume. He presumes nothing of the Lord, for he says very clearly,
if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. That is, if you, Lord, will, then I will be made clean. And in doing so,
he recognizes that this is the true God. And then the man, in true humility, shows his wound to the
Lord and he begs for healing. That is ultimately a form of prayer by which he begs that the Lord
will heal him. And so...
Then the man confesses with devotion and faith all that has afflicted him. And so the Lord truly is
compelled to compassion by the testimony of the man. And when the scripture tells us that our Lord
touched the leper, it is striking, for the Lord needs to touch no one. But yet he takes the moment
to touch the leper, and it becomes very significant as the fathers and doctors of the church and the
church are saved. And so...
Then the man himself tells us, for he wished to point out to the leaders of the people that leprosy was a natural
uncleanliness, and that the law was not for him, but for fallen man. That is, he was to show them that he was
above the law, because he was the author of the law. And so, nothing could touch him. And that is the second
point of his touching. By touching, he could not be defiled. For as Moses prescribed, once touched, then he
should have at least hit himself until the evening. And so...
But the Lord touches the man, and no defilement enters into that sacred humanity, because he who
touches the defiled ones of this world, that is, all mankind, is himself not defiled. And so, he comes
not to be defiled, but to free others from that defilement that is to us. And then the Lord sends
the man to the priest, so that they would see that this man was not to be cast out from the temple,
but he was to be cast out from the temple. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from
the temple. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from the temple. And so, he comes
truly to be numbered among those who worship. And so, we see the significance and the profundity
of God's forgiveness of our sin. It never separates us from him, once our sins I've confessed, but
rather, we enter into that which we were created to do from the beginning. That is, worship our
good God and do all things according to his dispositions. Next, and finally, in sending him
to the priest, he shows that he was saved. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from
the temple. Next, he shows that he was saved. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from
the temple. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from the temple. And so, he comes
not to be defiled, but to free others from the temple. Next, in sending him to the priest, he shows
that he was saved. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from the temple. And so, he comes
not to be defiled, but to free others from the temple. Next, in sending him to the priest, he shows
that he was saved. And so, he comes not to be defiled, but to free others from the temple. And so, only a
means to go on with that healing of our souls. The Holy Spirit could have healed him, but to do it he would
that human beings can do on their effort. Rather, it is a perfectly gratuitous gift of God which
none of us has merited, and so it is not by working out our salvation by prescription that we are
saved, but by the mercy of God, and that becomes very important in our day and age, for there is
a temptation within the mystical body thinking, especially in seeking spiritual direction, that if
the director just gives us a list of all the things we must do in the course of the day, then we will
be saved. Indeed, it has become very commonplace to lay these heavy burdens, but rather we are
guided by certain principles which the Lord came to teach us, and then we are allowed to be free
to work out those chores that we have by the principles of God. For instance, we can take
one simple thing and see how burdensome it can become to man,
if unnecessary laws and prescriptions are applied to it. Say one has the task of taking out the
garbage. It is a simple thing to do, and ultimately it is done by common sense, but then someone comes
along and begins to prescribe, it has to be done this way, this form of garbage has to be put in
this colored plastic bag, this form of garbage has to be taken out at this time of the day, or that
time of the day. When you throw this away, you must wash your hands. When you throw that away, you must
spend an hour.
You must spend an hour outside in the fresh air, or when you do this, or when you do that. Finally, we take that simple task of taking out the garbage, and we almost throw our hands up in despair, for we see it cannot be possibly done according to the prescriptions of the law.
And ultimately, why is it that other men lay such heavy burdens on their back? Ultimately, it is a form of control, a form of tyranny, for they know it is impossible for us to
ultimately to be conformed to such nonsense. And so, no matter how well we may carry out a task, there is always something there for those who wish to tyrannize over men, to criticize, and to ultimately use against them. Indeed, we see this in extreme fashion within the tyranny of our modern days. For often we see tyrants have dealt who formerly were their friends very severely, that is, by their execution, because they have been
used a simple prescription, you took the garbage out at noon, that form of garbage was supposed to be taken out during the day, and the command is given, take him out and lynch him. And so, we see very clearly that those who wish to tyrannize over mankind often do this, that is, make unbearable burdens and place them upon the shoulders of men, not because ultimately they are really concerned with their salvation, but ultimately they are concerned with their own
greatness. And so, we must avoid this, because the Lord very clearly says to the man that he was not to go out and boast about it, that is, our Lord was saying he did not come in order to draw attention to himself, but that it was his actions that were to draw us to him, not our testimony, except that testimony known as good example, by which we seek to work out our salvation in fear and trembling, always giving witness. And so, the man does not
the Lord's precept because when he goes out and broadcasts he does not do so for
his own glory or the glory of anyone else who received the healing power of
God but rather he does it for the glory of God so that all may come to see him
and ultimately at the end of the gospel we learn the fruits of that for the Lord
could no longer go anywhere and except to be to be to have the people come to
him in flocks and so as members of the mystical body we too are striving to
work out our salvation in fear and trembling striving to draw attention not
to ourselves but to the Lord and when we lay those heavy burdens it is not the
Lord we are really concerned about but rather it is our own legacy and our own
perceived greatness and so we must strive always and everywhere to do
things for one purpose and one purpose only that is for the good Savior
who came and this day shows he came not to condemn sinners but that they have
might have salvation and he came to repair and he does so in the same order
in which mankind fell and so today our Lord ultimately is saying that one
promise from the beginning who would put enmity between the woman and her seed
and that of Satan is his seed that one is here present before you he has come
not to condemn but to forgive and so on.
So ultimately today's gospel teaches us two very important facts about our Lord
that we must keep constantly before our minds and before our hearts so that we
proceed with that true confidence that our Lord has come to deliver us and
there is nothing in this world that can take us from the love of God even if we
were even if we were called to give up our lives in martyrdom for the sake of
his truth.
He shows us that there is no gap between
the work of God in his command and indeed we see very clearly in our own
lives we are given a command that is something to do but that work doesn't
simply instantly appear before us it takes great effort and it takes great
perseverance in order to bring the command to fruition in the work but with
the Lord the command and the work are as one indeed it is the same thing when he
said be thou created the world is yours.
When the world was created there was no hesitation no gap between his command and his work and
so when he says be thou healed the man is instantly healed or when he commands demons
to shut up they instantly shut up and so the Lord truly is the son of God and his word
in his work and his word that is his command is truly the power of God and so when the
command when the Lord says that thou sins are forgiven in the sacrifice of the Lord
sacrament of confession, they are truly forgiven. And when he says, this is my body, then instantly
the bread no longer is present at the holy sacrifice of the mass, but rather the very body,
blood, soul, and divinity. For at that moment, the priest truly is in persona Christi, and ultimately
it is not his words he utters, but rather the very words of the Son of God that confect that
greatest of miracles in this life, his presence amongst us until the end of time, as he has
promised. And secondly, he came, and in today's gospel shows us that the incarnate word came
to stretch out his hand, to touch human nature, cleansing it from the errors of old. He truly came,
as the Old Testament describes, to tabernacle with man, to touch him, to be with him, in order to
guide him through the trials and the tribulations of this life.
In order that we may be happy with him for all eternity in the life to come. And so, let us not
give into those forms of covenants that our first father gave into. We are not here to give human
respect to any soul. We are here to give worship to God, and we are here to love him above all
things. And insofar as we are commanded by man, that command must be in conformity with that which
the Lord would knowingly command us to do.
And so, we have come not to serve men, but to serve God. And so, let us go forward as members
of his mystical body, with that true confidence that he is truly with us, guiding us, and that
we need not worry about compromise with the world, and compromise with those who seek to destroy the
teachings of Christ. For often, we have become so hamstrung in our efforts to Christ, we actually
debate, does this man who leads in the world, who leads in the world, who leads in the world, who
leads the nation, or does that man who leads the nation have the right to prescribe a law, the law
of contraception, the law of abortion? No, he has no right, none whatsoever. No human person has the
right to legislate against human life. They have no intrinsic right whatsoever. The only rights we
have are to seek to legislate the law of God, so that we bring true peace to the world. And so,
let us stop the nonsense.
Let us stop the nonsense of trying to compromise, especially in the political order. We must realize
the solutions to the problems in the world are not political. They are moral. And so, the mantra
from our politicians throughout the world, that they cannot legislate morals, then what in the
name of God are you a politician for? What are you called to be a leader of a nation for, except
to serve God? And so, let us stop the nonsense of trying to compromise, especially in the political
order. Let us stop the nonsense of trying to compromise, especially in the political order. Let us
stop the nonsense of trying to compromise, especially in the political order. Let us
see that that nation lives in good morals. And what, pray tell, how do you explain that when you
legislate the right to abortion, you're not legislating, by law, immorality? And so, if you
can legislate immorality, why can't you legislate morality? What purpose is the political order,
if not to see that a society is rightly ordered?
There is only one society whose order is right in this world, and that is, without apology,
the Roman Catholic Church. In her alone dwells all order and all goodness and all salvation.
What causes trouble in the church and the world is always the same sin. It matters not what form
the mass takes. If the Pope approves of it, it's the mass, period. One is not greater than the other.
It is the mass. It is the mass. It is the mass. It is the mass. It is the mass. It is the mass.
The sacrifice of Christ on Mount Calvary. It is the self-same sacrifice presented in an unbloody
manner. And we don't have the right to tell the vicar of Christ what he has to do in that regard.
He is the head liturgist of the church. He is the one who guides us in all things.
And we must truly come to know and to understand that.
Or we truly risk our own salvation and that of the whole world.
Christ did not come to save an elite few. He came to save all mankind.
But the Pope's got to stop those meetings with the pagans and the Buddhists and the
Mohammedans and whatnot. Who else is going to reach out to them with the word of Christ?
When we go forth in mission, we don't go with our own mission. We go with the mission of the
vicar of Christ, St. Peter's successor. Who else is going to reach those souls if it is not the
vicar of Christ? Well, that's right. Let's presume upon a miracle. Well, the Lord tells us to
presume upon a miracle is a sin of presumption. There is the ordinary apostolic work of the
church. And once that apostolic age is ended, in which those great miracles that preceded the
apostles in the pagan world occurred, St. Thomas tells us very clearly that that form of
Pentecost will not come about again because now the church has to get down and do the dirty work.
That's right. Souls willing to die in foreign lands for the message of Christ. And who sends
them? The vicar of Christ. And how does he send us? According to how the Holy Spirit guides him,
both in matters of faith and morals and in the prophetic that is pastoral,
guidance of the church. Or do we really, really, really, in the bottom of our hearts,
desire that those souls be abandoned and die in their sin? Do we really desire that? Is that what
we want? Yes, Pope, abandon them. Set up an elite place. Let's build citadels. Let's build medieval
castles. Put alligators in the moat so no one can come in. I believe the Old Testament image of the
church is the image of the church. I believe the image of the church is the image of the church.
The image of the church is an open city, the year of Jubilee, in which certain cities were declared
open. That is, access to everybody. And once you got in there, all debt, everything was wiped out.
I believe that is the image of the church because that is the scriptural image. And the scripture
is the word of God. And so we must not take any man's interpretation. The scripture is the word
of God. It guides us. And the Pope teaches us the tradition of the church,
that is not contained in scripture. Always, though, scripture has the seed of those truths.
That is how the church is portrayed. When scripture tells us that God desired to tabernacle with man,
it means all men. Not just those who think they've been set aside as something special.
And then try to, as it were, rule like kings. Serve me, serve me, serve me. I've got my little
fiefdom here. I've got my little fiefdom here. I've got my little fiefdom here. I've got my little fiefdom here.
I've got my little fiefdom here. I've got my little fiefdom here. I've got my little fiefdom here. I've got
my little fiefdom there that's not how it's supposed to work because God didn't come to divide
God came to unite and it is not those who view the apostolic labors of Christ and his mother
as universal who restrict and oppress it is the others it is an interesting characteristic
especially amongst traditionalists that they have a tendency to be anti-semitic and yet there are no
greater Judaizers within the church because there is no one who tries to restrict mankind
by the imposition of rule after rule after rule after rule after rule
it is an interesting thing in the name of one thing they do exactly what they claim that thing
is no member of the mystical body should be anti-semitic our lord was a semite and his
mother was a semite and the 12 apostles were semites
this notion
that there is races within mankind there are differences but I think perhaps Chesterton had
the point it is not race that determines how men lives it's how a group of fathers got together
and say we want to live this way we want to live that way because when we introduce this thing I
think we actually tend to believe that somehow because if I have blue eyes or I have this color
skin or that I have I'm superior than other human beings
there is no superiority of one human being over another we only as it were become superior when we are claimed by a gratuitous gift of God in baptism and sustained by a gratuitous gift of God in the sacramental life of the church and when I mean superior I don't mean elite I mean we are elevated to cooperate in the mission of Christ that is to give our lives for him.
him, not to demand that others
give their lives for us.
And that is what is happening
universally within the
mystical body of church itself,
not just outside her walls.
And it must be stopped
at all cost.
Or the mission of
Christ and his mother will be
blocked and great gifts
will be lost to the church
and the peril we live in today
will seem like a
Boy Scout picnic tomorrow.
Don't think
tyranny has
burned itself out.
Don't think the carnage
that has come about in our
modern world
is going to be less tomorrow
than it is today.
If we don't begin
to understand these
basic principles of our faith,
then we can be assured
of one thing.
Tomorrow's tyranny
will be worse than today's.
And tomorrow's carnage
will be worse than today's.
Not by addition, but by
multiplication.
For enthusiasm
can be set off in a snap
of a finger.
And if a million are killed under its
influence today, if that finger
snaps, tomorrow it could be a hundred
million.
And there is
only one solution.
He doesn't live in a White
House. He doesn't live
in the Kremlin.
Or he doesn't
debate in the Parliament.
He lives in Rome,
in St. Peter's Basilica.
And we must believe
it. Or we will
simply wind up,
wittingly or unwittingly, it really
matters not, cooperating
not with the mission of Christ,
but with the mission of Satan.
And so, let us strive
to help Peter
snatch all souls
from the jaws of hell in this life
so that all souls
may enjoy the good God
for all eternity in the life to come.
Geez...
who
really
really
be
alone
is
the
most