[00:00] In the reading today from the Prophet Isaiah, we have the instruction of our Lord to Sodom and Gomorrah, as figuratively Sodom and Gomorrah, but it was really to the house of Israel. Our Lord was comparing them to Sodom and Gomorrah, because these people worshipped our Lord with their lips, but their

[00:32] hearts were far from Him. So time and time again throughout salvation history, our Lord reached out first by miracles and prophecy to show that He was a God who had the criteria to believe in, to love, because in His providential care He was looking out for His people, and also a God to be worshipped, and He gave them all the, not just the reasons, but the way in which He wanted to be worshipped. But

[01:08] over time the people's hearts hardened towards their God, and it became just ceremonial rituals for them, but their hearts were not converted. So the first reading today is really about conversion of heart, that conversion of heart comes before worship, before sacrifice, but then the true sacrifice

[01:40] that our Lord asks of us is charity towards Him, and also charity in the sense of love towards God and charity, love towards our neighbor, and also the courage, the sacrifice, if need be, of our own very lives, and everything that we hold dear for the love of God. Our Lord teaches us in the gospel to have the

[02:12] courage to sacrifice for the truth, to put Him and place Him above all things, because He is looking for virtue, virtue of charity, which is the highest virtue, which takes in within itself every other virtue, which is the virtue we're supposed to aim for above all, but the other virtues we must exercise as well. So our Lord asks us to be ready not to go out and hate your mother and father and

[02:50] stuff like that, but our Lord is saying that we must be ready even in the case that even our family, those who we love, will object to the gospel, object to the truth, to oppose the gospel, be ready to follow Him above all things. He was covering all the basins here, and He says, "Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the one who sent Me," because our Lord, the second

[03:25] person of the Holy Trinity, came in order to preach the gospel, to teach us that He is the truth, the way, and the life, and that we must be above all things, become perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, and to seek the things of heaven, to seek first the kingdom above all things, and then everything else will be given to us besides. The memorial that we celebrate today, the person behind the memorial is

[03:58] Emperor Henry, who was born in 973, and in Bavaria, he was actually born of royalty, he became king, and then he became emperor at a certain point, crown emperor of the Roman Empire, and he was one who, with his holy wife, St. Kunugunda of Bavaria,

[04:32] both recognized that despite the fact that they could have, if they want to, live for worldly power, and were given by God many riches, it did not matter to them, because they were always concerned in seeking first the kingdom of God, and doing whatever it took to build the kingdom of God here on earth, through the Church, and through the state, so they were very influential in founding monasteries, religious orders, and charitable institutions, and Emperor Henry would

[05:14] go on to, even after his wife passed away, go to a Benedictine order. In fact, they had to refuse him entrance, because he wanted to enter into this Benedictine order, and live the rest of his life within a religious order, but they refused, because they said that you can do so much more good with what God has given you by remaining in the world, so he showed us an example of one who did not look at the wealth, and everything that was given to him as something to hoard,

[05:48] and take possession of, and basically be selfish with it. He was one who listened to the gospel, understood the sacrifice that God was asking of him, and gave generously in order to upbuild society, and to be a leader to his people, not just in the world, but in the way to heaven,

[06:19] to the heavenly kingdom. So, St. Henry gives us that example, that the true road that our Lord asks of us, his first conversion of heart, then the courage, and the faith to step out onto the waters that he calls us, to walk upon the waters with His grace, and His strength, to put behind us everything that distracts us from God, and to live, not that we don't live in the world,

[06:51] but we're not of the world, we're living in this life as a pilgrimage, and God wants to give us everything that we need. All the things that I mentioned, all the virtues, and the graces that King Henry, or Emperor Henry, showed, were all things that every single one of us has the capacity to do, and many of you already do. But we have to remember that God doesn't ask us anything that goes

[07:21] beyond our power. He gives us the strength, and even the things that we think of, like, well, okay, now I have to exercise charity, I have to have this courage, but we're almost afraid to have courage. We have this fear of what our Lord wants to ask of us. We have a fear of the future. We have a fear of maybe God's going to ask me some sacrifice that's greater than my capacity. You don't have to worry about that. What we have to worry about is the basics. When we think of charity, think of the

[07:52] graces that our Lord gives us through the Eucharist, when we receive Him in this holy sacrament, when we receive His life within us and gives us all the strength that we need. We don't have to worry. God gives us the tools. If we think of charity, we think of also mercy, and we should exercise mercy towards others, just as we receive mercy from God when we think of the sacrament of penance.

[08:23] Our Lord offers us all the things, first of all, the examples that we have through the lives of the saints. He gives us the examples, not just of the past, but also of the present. But he also gives us the motivation to raise the bar in our own lives, because we are supposed to be the saints for the future generations to look at the past and to use us as an example. We don't just

[08:54] live for ourselves, but we live for others, for the present and for the future. We are called, like Henry and Cunegunda of Bavaria, to live out our lives in the providence of God, in that courage that he gives us to help up-build society and to change the things that we see in the world that are wrong, in order that we might ourselves become perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. And while seeking

[09:26] first the kingdom of God and receiving so much benefit from our Lord spiritually and externally as well, that we help others get to heaven in the present and in the future.