The Sin of Human Respect

Today we are going to look at our final judgment in light of works that were omitted.

We have heard the quote by- Edmund Burke

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. "

Our faith calls us in the Mass to confess our sins, the bad we have done and the good we have failed to do.  Today we are looking at that part about the good we have failed to do, because today this is a very popular sin, which I admit here that I am guilty of. To be specific, I am guilty of not doing one of the spiritual works of mercy.

Just to remind you in case you have forgotten them, though these should be memorized; Here are the works of mercy.

The Corporal works of mercy are

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To shelter the homeless;
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom the captive;
• To bury the dead.

The spiritual works of mercy are:

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead;
• To admonish sinners.

Now out of respect for people I will only speak about myself in such matters because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

                                                                                           

Today, out of so-called ‘human respect’ I don’t always admonish sinners because I was taught, “if you are not going to say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.” Now this saying is good when it comes to your neighbor’s apple pie that had two cups of salt in it instead of two cups of sugar; I am not talking about that. I am talking about when my old friend, who is recently divorced, asks me what I think of his new girlfriend and I say that she is nice. What I ought to have said is remind him that he is still married to his wife. I would say it in some charitable way, but do say it.

Now this might hurt his feelings, and I might loose his friendship, but I might save his soul, and his new girlfriend’s soul as well. John the Baptist lost his head over such a case. In England in the 1500’s when Henry VIII was breaking away from the Catholic Church, only one bishop objected to this, and didn’t fall into apostasy and that was St. John Fisher.

Now I want to read to you what Jesus will say to us on judgment day and notice that all of these sins are sins of omission.

Matthew 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

God speaks to Ezekiel on this exact same topic, yet on the matter of admonishing the sinner.

Ezekiel 33:7-9 "Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth, and give them warning from Me. "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.   "But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your life.”

So God tells Ezekiel, if you admonish the sinner, and he doesn’t listen to you then the sin is his own fault. But if you don’t admonish the sinner, his sin will be both your faults. So this is serious business.

Now, does this mean that we should go around and start nitpicking everything everyone is doing? I don’t think so. If we are spiritually alert, I think the Holy Spirit will set the scene and we need to keep in mind that we should do all things with love, but don’t forget to actually do them.

I am fortunate in my own life to have a godfather as well as other friends who have in the past corrected me, sometimes quite forcefully. Yes, I was totally embarrassed, but later when I cooled off, I realized that he was right and I was wrong and that I should correct my behavior, and I thank God for him and others who love me enough to let me know when I am wandering off the path.

Now it is here that I warn myself, that because our society today finds correction such a terrible sin, that this will lead me to the same place that it lead my master and that is the cross. Just think, Jesus admonished the sinners perfectly, and it got him crucified, how can I hope for any better outcome.

Here is an objection.  Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged.” 'Hey man, your judging me!'

Here is our response. No man, I am not saying that you will burn in hell like a bucket of chicken if you keep doing that bad behavior. What I am telling you is that your behavior is bad and that Jesus told us not to do that. If you claim to follow Jesus, he told us that, that kind of thing offends him in a serious way that our souls could be in danger of hell.

So I really need to change my life.

Why I am Catholic, and Think You Shouuld be too

1.       I am Catholic because I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the promised one of God. He said that He would build a church (Matthew 16:18). The ONLY church that can trace itself historically to the time of Jesus is the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, it must be His.

2.       I am Catholic because the Bible is a Catholic book. Let me ask you some questions.

a.        Do you believe that the Bible is 100% inspired by The Holy Spirit? (2Timothy 2:16). We do.

b.       Do you believe that you need to have the Holy Spirit to interpret the Bible? (2Peter 1:20, 21) We do.

c.        Do you believe that you need the Holy Spirit to recognize which books in the Bible actually belong in the Bible?  We do.

If you answered YES to all three questions then consider this: It is a historical fact that the Roman Catholic Church put the Bible together as we have it today at the Councils of Rome (381 A.D.), Hippo (393 A.D.), and Carthage (397 A.D.). Any Encyclopedia should address this fact for confirmation if you don’t believe me. Since it was the Roman Catholic Church that clearly had the Holy Spirit to put the Bible together and to recognize (see proposition c. above) which books were inspired, wouldn’t they have the same Holy Spirit to know the interpretation of those books? I believe they do, and if you are a Bible reader and believer, you should believe as well.  When you hold that Bible in your hands, you are holding the work of the Holy Spirit through the Roman Catholic Church.

3.       I am Catholic because of how she interprets the Bible.  Jesus didn’t just give us a book. He gave us a whole message only by word of mouth. (I realize that the Old Testament is written, but I am here speaking specifically of the New Testament Gospel). The Apostles had in themselves authority to preach this Gospel. Jesus said in Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. (KJV) So to hear the apostles was to hear Jesus. In time, not right away, they wrote some of this Gospel message down to be sent to different groups for different reasons. Here is my point though, not only did the Apostles write, but they preached as well. And not only did the audience receive the message, but they received the interpretation of that message which is equally as important. St. Paul says this: 2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.(KJV) We need to hold on to both the word and the epistle. Christians debate over the meaning of the Gospel, but certainly the Apostles knew its meaning, do you believe they passed this on as well with the written word? We believe they did. Let me ask you, which is more important, that I have the whole Bible memorized and not know what it means, or know what it means but not have it memorized? Certainly you agree it is better to know the meaning. Now, we know historically who preserved that written word through the centuries before the printing press: The Roman Catholic Church. So if God used the Catholic Church to preserve the text, wouldn’t it also make sense for Him to use the same vehicle to preserve the meaning as well? We believe He has. So, not only did God use His Catholic Church to protect the Word of God through the ages, but also used the Catholic Church to protect its meaning as well.

4.       I am Catholic because of the Saints. Yes I know the Bible calls all those who belong to Christ “saints” (Ephesians 1:1). Saint just means holy and if you belong to Christ you are holy. What I want to talk about here though are those Christians who have gone before us who have taken the medicine of Christ and His Church religiously (pun intended). Yes, we are sinners and the media has picked up on our past and present sins and scandals. But while we are all scandal makers to one degree or another, I am talking of those who are bright lights in history, e.g. St. Francis, Mother Theresa, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Therese of Lisieux and thousands of others. These people were faithful Catholics and lived holy and miraculous lives for Jesus. Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:17, 18).  But there is an objection here: What about all those scandals? Doesn’t that disprove your argument? Now, if these scandals flowed from the teaching of Christ and His Church I would agree. Jesus warned us of scandal makers (Luke 17:1, 2) and the Bible is filled with examples of them, yet God is faithful always to his Church (2Timothy 2:13). We don’t look at test subjects of a new medicine who don’t take the medicine faithfully. We look at the results of those who have taken it as prescribed by the doctor. If you want to see the fruits of the faith of Catholics look to the saints and examine their lives. They are the ones that have taken the medicine of Christ and His Church most faithfully, and none other can compare in the results of their fruit.

5.       Roman Catholics profess ONE faith. Jesus prayed that his followers would all be one (John 17:20, 21). Well Christians of course disagree about how “one” we are supposed to be but St. Paul gives us some clarification.

a.        He says in 1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.(KJV)

b.       He says the same in ^KJV Philippians 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.(KJV)

Not only do Catholics today profess the same faith together, but it has been the same faith for the past 2000 years.

6.       I am Catholic because the miracles that have been done by God through her members are unlike any other except those in Bible times. Jesus said John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (KJV) Jesus himself says that greater things would be done by those who have faith in Jesus. This has happened in the history of the Catholic Church up until this very day.

a.        In the time of Joshua 10 the Sun stood still for a time while a battle was being fought. In October 13, 1917 the Sun “danced” in the sky in Fatima, Portugal and was witnessed by 70,000 people. This occurred as a sign that people should repent from their sins and become more fervent. 

b.       Just as the bones of Elisha 2Kings 13:21 restored a man to life so also today are the remains of saints channels of many miracles.

7.       Finally, I am Catholic because it is plain that it is the Church the devil hates the most. Go to your local movie store, how many movies bash Baptists, Methodists, or Non-denominational churches? 1, maybe 2? Now, how many bash the Catholic faith? A great number. Why is this? It is precisely because the devil knows which one is the sure path to heaven.

Mediators in THE MEDIATOR

Mary holds a special place in our hearts as Catholics and that is because we believe that God gave her a special role both physically and spiritually to play in salvation history. We say that Mary does play the role of a mediator or intercessor, but let’s look at what Scripture has to say.

There does seem to be some controversy  when we speak like this about Mary and the other saints because it seems to conflict with what St. Paul says to Timothy.

 1 Timothy 2:5   For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

So some people give us the objection of, “You all are going to the saints and Mary instead of going straight to God, which St. Paul is telling Timothy we need to do.”

We need to answer this objection by pointing out the context of 1Timothy, Chapter 2. Look how St. Paul tells Timothy to intercede on behalf of certain leaders for their ultimate salvation.

1 Timothy 2:1-4  First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,  for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

So St. Paul is asking Timothy to pray to God on behalf of a third party. That is what we are doing with the saints in Heaven, asking them for their prayers.

Before we proceed any further, we should find if there are  any verses that suggest that one person can be a mediator of grace for another person.

Well, the ultimate example of this is Jesus HHimself who is a Man who received grace to give to the whole world. But St. Paul speaks of this in his letter to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 3:1-2 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--   if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; 

Ephesians 4:29    Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

So we can ourselves be mediators of God’s grace.

So then specifically with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, are there any times that we see her being a mediator?

I think there are at least three occurrences recorded in the Bible for us to ponder and each time they occur it is when Mary speaks. She only speaks four times in the Bible and three of those times it is pretty clear that she is speaking as a mediator.

Where is the first time?

The first time is at the Annunciation where the Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary on behalf of God the Father to see if she would be Mother to the Redeemer of the World.  She, of course, accepts and on behalf of the whole world brings Jesus into it.

Is Mary ever a mediator for the Holy Spirit?

                                                         

We see this when Mary visits Elizabeth her cousin.

Luke 1:39-44    Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah,   and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.   And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.   And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!   "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?   "For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.

It is specifically at this moment that the Archangel Gabriel’s words to Zechariah are fulfilled when the angel said to him:

Luke 1:15   ¹⁵ "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother's womb.

This is the moment when St. John would receive the Holy Spirit, yet while still in his mother’s womb (good argument for infant baptism by the way). But what prompted his reception of the Holy Spirit – Mary’s greeting. Mary here is a mediator for the Holy Spirit.

The last one is obviously the wedding at Cana.

Yes, in John chapter 2 it says this:       

John 2:2-5    ³ And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  ⁴ And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come."  ⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

Mary intercedes for the wedding party with her son who not only performs his first miracle with such splendor but it is a miracle that points us ultimately to the Cross where Jesus would make all mediatorship in him possible.

You Put Your Right Foot In...

Every year on Holy Thursday we celebrate how Jesus gave us the Mass at the Last Supper. While we celebrate Mass every day, what we don’t do every day is wash peoples’ feet. What was the significance of Jesus doing this to the Apostles? Let us set the scene.

Before we look at John, who records the foot washing, we must look at Luke who tells of what the apostles were discussing.

Luke 22:23-30  And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.  And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.'  "But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.  "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.  "And you are those who have stood by Me in My trials;  and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you  30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jesus here is telling the Apostles that they must be men who are servants, just as Jesus is a servant. Notice also that He talks about them having a leadership role when He compares them with Kings and says how they will sit on thrones and act as judges. He is directly speaking to them, not just as Christians, but in their office as Apostles.

Jesus in the Gospel of John shows the same type of thing in Chapter 13:3ff:

 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God,

Jesus came from God as an Authority, the Authority, and when His mission was completed He would return to the Father in Heaven. The Apostles in their ministry did this very thing. Jesus sent them out to preach the good news and cast out demons and they returned to give a report. Jesus Himself was an Apostle, St. Paul tells us:

Hebrews 3:1-2   consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.   He was faithful to [God] who appointed Him.

I am just trying to establish here that the context is apostleship.

Continuing on and notice the detail that St. John gives: Listen to verse 4 and 5: Jesus rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about.  Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

I am going to include verse 12 here and you will see why in a minute.

 And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again,

Notice again what Jesus does.  He takes off  His garments, puts on a towel and washes their feet with water and wipes them with the towel He has put on. When He has finished, He puts His own garments back on again.

Philippians 2:6-11    who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,   but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.   And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So Jesus is exalted but then humbles Himself and then is exalted again. We have spoken before on this show how garments in the Bible represent glory. Jesus hides that glory and becomes a man and later resumes that glory. This is the symbolism of his garments. He takes off his garment and puts on that of a servant. Jesus then takes the dirt from the Apostles and puts it on Himself.  This points us to the Cross, where Jesus would suffer death on our behalf, only to rise again in glory on the third day.

Now while that is an allegorical interpretation of what has happened here, Jesus is doing more than just washing their feet. This is part of their ordination as priests.

Exodus 40:12, 13,  31, 32   "Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. "And you shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me. …And from it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet.  When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

What Jesus is doing is just what Moses was doing with the priests in his day. This is a part of their ordination. This is what we commemorate at the foot washing. We are reenacting the 12 Apostles ordination to the priesthood. It is for this reason of representing the original 12 Apostles that the church says that the 12 who are getting their feet washed need to be 12 men.

John continues in chapter 13 verse 6:

 And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter."  Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."  Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."

What Jesus says here points us back to the larger context of Jesus dying for us. It is as if Jesus is saying, “If you don’t let me die for you, Peter, then you won’t get Heaven.”  And Peter answers with, “ wash me all over then.”

Jesus continues:

 Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, "Not all of you are clean." And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to   you.

Now recall back to Luke what the Apostles were discussing.  They were talking about who will be the greatest.   See what Jesus replies here in John:

 "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

So if God can get on His hands and knees and serve us, what then should the Apostles be like? Are they better than the master? No.

Now verse 20 keeps this whole event in kind of bookends:

 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."

This sounds similar to where Jesus in Luke says:

 Luke 10:16 "The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me."

My point is that the context of the foot-washing is the ordination of the Apostles at the Last Supper and their sending forth, like the Son of God, to be servants to the world.

   
Here is the document that says that it should be men who get their feet washed.

PASCHALIS SOLLEMNITATIS The Preparation And Celebration Of The Easter Feasts

Congregation for Divine Worship

51. The washing of the feet of chosen men (Latin 'viri' - men) which, according to tradition, is performed on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came "not to be served, but to serve.[58] This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained.

Becoming a Polished Arrow in the Hand of the Lord

I just heard a talk by Jeff Cavins called “ Polished Arrow: The Process of Conforming Your Life to Christ” and this is available on CD or DVD. I have these linked below. This is an hour long Bible Study on how to be useful to the Lord.

He draws on the imagery of being an arrow in the hand of an archer. We are that arrow and the Lord is the Archer.  Jeff Cavins goes through 10 steps that I will go through in brief, but if you have a Bible Study and you are looking for that next talk, this one is fantastic. 

Where does it talk about that imagery of being an arrow?

 Isaiah 49:2-3   And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me, And He has also made Me a select arrow; He has hidden Me in His quiver.   And He said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.”

If we continue reading we see that this man who is Christ then goes on to gather the tribes back together. When Jesus lives in us, we continue his mission of gathering people to him, but we must prepare ourselves.

What is step one in the process of becoming that arrow in the hand of the Lord?

Step one is that we begin with a branch, with leaves and other branches coming off of it. That branch is us. We collect all sorts of branches of sin and selfishness in our lives, but our destiny is to be an arrow. We have a desire to serve God, but we aren’t prepared. You can imagine a branch saying to a warrior in the middle of a battle, “use me, I want to fight.”  The warrior must first prepare us to be used.

                      

Take, for example, Moses or Joseph in the Old Testament or Peter and Paul in the New Testament. All of these men had to go through a process before they were quiver ready.  A quiver is where an archer puts his arrows. You can’t stick a branch with leaves on it in a quiver.

Step two turns from desiring to be used by the Lord to waiting patiently for His good time. During this entire process, we must only really do one thing, and that is seek Him and His will.

Matthew 6:33   "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

For step three, we need to get these extra branches off and choose where the arrow head is going to go.  All of these extra branches are our obvious sins, adultery, drugs, alcohol, missing Mass.  These major sins that stick out need to be cut away first.

St. Paul describes this cutting away as being moved from one degree of glory to another degree.

2 Corinthians 3:18    But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

St. Paul also says that we were created to be made in Christ’s image.

Romans 8:29    For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…

Jesus is that perfect arrow in the hand of the Lord to gather people back to Him.  If we want to participate in this role, which we are all called to do, we need to make our lives, our arrows, look like Jesus’.

1 Peter 2:9-11    But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;   for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.   Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.

This war that St. Peter is talking about is within ourselves. Cut away those things in your life that have no place in heaven.

Now that we have cut away the big things, it is time to cut away small things in step four. Once those big branches are gone we can see that we have made some great progress, but we still have knots and bumps that need to be cut away.

Romans 6:11-12    Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.   Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts.

It is only in Christ that we can be what we were made for.

Step five is getting out the sand paper to sand down the branch even more.

2 Corinthians 12:20    For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;

At this point in the recording Jeff pauses after each one of these sins, and you can hear him using sand paper on a branch in his hand. It is powerful because it is at this point you really need to look inward to those hidden sins that aren’t obvious to the world but keep popping up in your mind.

Jeff Cavins gives a great insight here. He says that the word sin in Hebrew is Chet and it means to miss the mark, it is an archery term. Now I knew this, but I always wondered what the word was to Hit the mark. And sure enough he gives it. It is the word - yarah – and it means to hit the target, but a word that is related to - yarah- is Torah which is the Hebrew word for law or instruction.  Well this goes right with the New Testament. The opposite of sin is faithfulness to God’s law.

In step six we add the feathers, and they are used to stabilize the flight of the arrow.  Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit to guide us on our flight to God.

In step seven you put a cresting on the arrow. This is a mark that shows who the arrow belongs to. Are our lives and speech obvious that we belong to Christ?

It is in step eight that a notch is made so that the arrow can be placed on the string of the bow. It is here that the arrow is tried and that is how the archer will know how it actually is, by testing it.

If it is too stiff, it will veer off to the left and if it is too flexible it will veer off to the right. We can be the same in our spiritual life, if we are too ridged we can have a type of Ugly Catholicism and if we are too flexible we can end up denying parts of the faith. We need to be right behind the head of the arrow, Christ.

We can ruin a good arrow if we don’t rest in the quiver of the Lord. In step nine, we think about how we spend our free time? Is it time in prayer with Jesus or television?  

Finally, step ten asks how effective do you want to be?

The most important thing about a good arrow is finding if it is able to withstand the power transferred to it from the bow. The Holy Spirit gives us power to fulfill this mission, but we must prepare ourselves and make ourselves available for use.

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Our Vocation as Priest, Prophet, and King

Today talk about the Big Picture of our Catholic faith; Why Did God make us?

That question – Why did God make us, is so basic, so fundamental. I think that sometimes we need to take a step backward and view our situation as a whole. Sometimes we kind of get lost in the details of everyday we have forgotten why we were in the details to begin with, so hopefully this will be a refresher.

The Baltimore catechism No 2. Question 6 - Why did God make you? A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

I bet a lot of our listeners recited that along with us. I am also thinking that this question and answer is kind of a key to the entirety of our faith.

The question is again  Q. Why did God make you? A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

Know, love, serve God. The first thing that we have to do is know God. We can’t serve or love him without first knowing him. You can’t love what you don’t know and you can’t serve God without first knowing how he wants to be served. This, knowing our faith, has been under attack since the 1960’s when some people began being discouraged from memorizing the faith. We have to get back into that.

Now that we know God, now we can serve him, now we can love him.

These three; know, love, and serve correspond to the different parts of the catechism.

The catechism in its parts tells us what to know about God. The part on the creed tells us what to know about God. It tells us the story of how God saved us from sin to bring us to new life. We are told to love God. How am I to love God? The commandments tell me how to love God and the creatures called humans who are made in his image and likeness. The creed tells me how to know God, the commandments how to love God. The part in the catechism on sacraments and prayer tell me how to serve God. How does he want to be worshipped? He told us how when Jesus gave us the seven sacraments and the Lord’s prayer.

So the catechism itself in its parts tell us how to know, love, and serve God; Through the Creed, commandments, and the sacraments and prayer.

Amen, but because we are fallen and sinful, God had to give us special gifts so that we would have power to know, love and serve him. That is the Theological virtues. The Theological virtues, just mean gifts that come from God that help us get back to him. They are the gifts of faith, hope, and charity. Now you all probably knew about faith, hope, and charity, but might not have known they were called theological virtues. Just know that they come from God and lead us back to God.

These virtues of faith, hope, and charity – help us to do what? They help us to know, love, and serve God. Remember our original question 6. Q. Why did God make you? A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. Well, God gave us the gift of faith, that we could know God and believe what he told us in the creed. God gave us the gift of hope, so we could serve him in the sacraments and prayer that lead us to our ultimate hope which is heaven. Finally God gave us the gift of Charity, that we might love him and our neighbor in the commandments.

Now it is Christ who makes all of this possible by his Passion, death, resurrection, and Ascension into heaven. Jesus is the power behind this good news. When we became Christians at our baptism, we were anointed with the Holy Spirit and that is when the gifts of faith, hope, and charity were given to us. And each one of those special gifts sits in our souls in an infinite amount, the question is – how often  will we dip into this storehouse of grace?

Let me tell you what happens when you do activate those gifts, you become like Christ. In fact the word Christ means, one who has been anointed. A Christian, is one who has been anointed like Christ, and we do have that anointing.

Now what happens when, after our baptism when we have been anointed, we dip into that storehouse of faith, and we come to know God in the creed. We begin to profess that faith to others and that makes us prophets. A prophet isn’t mainly one who tells the future, but one who speaks the words of God. When we speak God’s words we are his prophet.

Now when we dip again into that storehouse of Grace in our souls called hope and begin to serve God in the sacraments and in prayer we are being priests. Not in the same way that an ordained man is, but we become priests who mediate in our prayers and sacrifices for our neighbors and the whole world.

Finally we enter into that storehouse of Charity and bring out that love that we have for God and our neighbor, we are being Kings. When we often think of kings we thing of a man who lords it over other men. But that is not the model that Jesus gave us. Our king wears a crown of thorns and is pouring his life out on our behalf. That is our king. We are kings when we bring out that charity on behalf of God and neighbor. Jesus said – No greater love has no man than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends. This is true charity and true kingship.

IN BRIEF

God  gave us the gift of faith so we could know Him in the creed to live our vocation as a Prophet.

God  gave us the gift of hope so we could serve Him in the sacraments and prayer to live our vocation as a priest.

God  gave us the gift of Charity so we could love Him in the commandments to live our vocation as a King.

These three things find their ultimate fulfillment in the Mass. In the Mass, we profess our faith, celebrate the sacraments and pray, and in that prayer love our neighbors and God.

Then they say GO. GO out into the world and continue to be a prophet, priest, and king just like you were here at Mass.