Father Donald Sawyer Our Lady’s Maronite Catholic Church

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May 8, 2005 Sermon

Thursday, Ascension Thursday, was a holy day in which we celebrated Christ’s return into heaven.  He was on earth forty days after His death and He showed the Apostles that He was no ghost.  He ate with them, he fixed meals with them, and today’s Gospel reading is sort of a repeat of this in a sense.  First, He says, “Put your fingers into My hand, put your hand into My side.”  He was showing that He was resurrected.  But today He also said, “Whoever’s sins you forgive shall be forgiven and whoever’s sins you withhold shall be withheld.”  They are forgiven and withheld in heaven by the authority He is granting to His Church.  This is where He gives authority to the Church; the authority to legislate, to shepherd, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

St. Paul talks about this, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted in Him, and built upon Him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”  As you listen to the verse, he says, “Walk in Him.”  What does this mean?  Walk down the street with Him?  No.  He says to live your lives rooted in Him.  You know, too often it’s cheap for people to say, “I’m Christian,” or, “I’m Catholic.”  It doesn’t mean anything.  For every person in this church, there’s probably ten, at least, so-called Christians who are not walking in our Lord.  Saying we got to church, in and out, is not enough.  We have to live our lives based on the Gospel.  St. Paul built upon this by saying we have to “walk in Him” and “abounding in thanksgiving.”  And how often do we ever think about thanksgiving?  We think about how nice the holiday is, but how often are we thankful?  And the term Eucharist comes from the Greek, meaning thanksgiving.

What is the greatest sin of this world?  Well, sins of the flesh are right next to it, but before that it is jealousy.  We’re always looking at what others have – he has a newer car or his wife is prettier than mine or his job pays more.  That’s all rooted in not being thankful for what we have.  But make a list of all your blessings, and you’ll be surprised to see how many you really have.  And the more you are thankful for your blessings, the more blessings come.

St. Paul goes on to say, “See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.”  Nowadays, I’ll visit people’s homes who are supposedly Catholic, and I’ll be very impressed, they’ll have a little altar at home.  Upon looking closer, I’ll see a little Hindu god next to a statue of the Blessed Mother.  People turn their faith towards these things.  Like astrology, and even psychology, they’ll make it their god and live their lives by it, as if that’s true and the Gospel’s not true.  This is what St. Paul is warning us about; it has to be based in Christ.  It goes on, he says, “In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body”.  When were we all circumcised?  Baptism.  And he was talking to Jews, those in positions of authority, but which came first – circumcision or our faith?  Faith.  Circumcision was a sign of our faith.  And baptism represents a sign of our faith.  We too often think of this as magic.  People who don’t come to church ask to have their babies baptized as if something magic was going to happen.  St. Paul says, “You were also circumcised”, circumcised in your hearts. 

Humble yourself.  We think we go to church just to worship but we don’t.  We worship our Lord every day by humbling ourselves before God.  You have to humble your heart.  Don’t think more of yourself than you are.  Get down to the reality.  Get real.  And St. Paul talks about stripping off the carnal body.  In visions of Mary, she says, “More people go to hell because of sins of the flesh.”  We need to dig deeper.  We are not human beings here having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.  And this is why we were born.  We have to grow spiritually from the beginning.  Just because someone is baptized, well that’s just a beginning.  You have to grow spiritually and take off.  We get to existential here.  We think if we can’t feel it, taste it, touch it, then it’s not real.  But this will all pass.  Spirituality will last.

St. Paul says, “You were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the power of God, Who raised Him from the Dead.  And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He brought you to life along with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross; despoiling the principalities and powers.”  What are the principalities and powers?  Death.  Evil.  Sin.  Etc.  Scripture teaches us we are in a war here.  So many Christians expect life to be just so good, but we are living in a world ruled by Satan.  Did I just say that?  Just like St. Paul says – “the principalities and powers” of this earth, “the spirits of the air” that rule this world.  Peter and Paul have been warning us in the Gospel for weeks now that God and the “spirits of this world” are opposed and that there are devils prowling around “like a roaring lion” looking for someone “to devour.”

My brothers and sisters, our lives are all rooted in passions, but as St. Paul says, we have to stay rooted in Christ.  Part of that is to have love, have God in your heart.  Today we are commemorating nationally all mothers.  And not just today, okay?  But everyday, let’s pray for all mothers, who have been nurturing and caring.  Let’s also pray for mothers who have been unable to have children of their own; for those who have had abortions, we have to be forgiving and love those mothers also.  Let’s always remember to honor all the ladies.  All of you men, please put your right hands out and pray out loud:

Almighty God, we ask You to bless our wives and mothers this Mother’s Day!  We realize the sacrifices that they make for their families, from giving birth to nursing their children to their constant love and direction.

Allow us always to show them our love and appreciation.  Bless them, Lord, with Your peace and strength.  Shower Your blessings on them today and everyday!

Bless us, O Lord, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen!