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Day: April 19, 2008

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Homilies,

Fifth Sunday of Easter

—Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.—

Christ is risen, alleluia!—¨
He is truly risen, alleluia!

A special message for you Madeline Ashley, and a message for all of us.—¨

We are blessed today. All of Christendom is blessed today. A new member will be added to the faith. A new member of the Holy Church will be born through water and the Holy Spirit. Just like the early Church we continue to grow.

The word of God continued to spread,
and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly

By the addition of this one life, we are increased greatly.

In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we learn of the Apostles struggle to keep on top of everything. They had spiritual duties, evangelical duties, and administrative duties. The Church kept growing, and it was getting difficult to do it all. They decided to appoint seven – the first seven deacons – to assist them. These deacons would assist them in their administrative and charitable works.

Within a few chapters from the Acts we will see deacons witnessing to the faith in myriad ways. Stephen the Deacon will be dragged before the Chief Priest and the Council and will strongly proclaim the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. For preaching the Word and Truth of God he will be stoned to death.

In a few more chapters Philip the Deacon will be be prompted by the Holy Spirit to go out to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. There he will come across an Ethiopian eunuch traveling on a delegation from Candace the queen of Ethiopia. Philip will explain the work of Jesus Christ to the eunuch. He will expose the references to the Christ that are found throughout scripture. Philip will baptize the eunuch and when he comes up from the water the eunuch will rejoice, because he has Christ.

Madeline,

Today you will come up out of the water and you will have Christ.

Look at this Bible. This Bible – a book of books. A lot of people have a bible. It is a great work of literature. It is history, poetry, songs, wisdom, many many things. Some are very pretty – well manufactured Bibles, they look great on a table or in a library. Some are historic and quite valuable – like the Gutenberg Bible.

Today you will come up out of the water and this Bible will mean far more to you. You, like all members of the Holy Church, will truly have this Bible. You won’t just own one, you will have one – and its words will be written upon your heart and soul. It will still be history, poetry, songs, and wisdom, but most importantly it won’t just be those things. Its books make use of those forms to reveal to you the life of Christ Jesus your Savior.

Like the Ethiopian eunuch you will have the revealed Word of God and you will know its true meaning. The Bishops, priests, and deacons of the Church, along with your parents and grandparents will explain its words to you. They will tell you that its meaning is this. Madeline – God loves you. God sacrificed Himself for you. He died and rose so that you might live. He has gone before you, and He tells you:

I am going to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself

You have that assurance by your entry into the Holy Church – into the Body of Christ. Today you are buried with Him so that you may rise again on the last day. Today you meet the One Who said:

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.—

Today you come to the Father through the Son. Let no one fool you Madeline. There is no promise greater, no assurance stronger, no one who or no thing that can give you what your parents and the Holy Church give you today. You have entry to the Kingdom of God through your profession of faith in Jesus Christ in this baptism. He is the one who is the way, truth, and life. In Him you will live forever.

So Madeline, and all my brothers and sisters,

—Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.—

…Who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Proclaim His name, fear not, go out and baptize all in His name, for the salvation of the whole world. Live as witnesses to all He has has said and done. He is with and in you. He will be forever.

Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

April 19 – St. Ambrose of Milan from On the Belief in the Resurrection

By the death of martyrs religion has been defended, faith increased, the Church strengthened; the dead have conquered, the persecutors have been overcome. And so we celebrate the death of those of whose lives we are ignorant. So, too, David rejoiced in prophecy at the departure of his own soul, saying: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” He esteemed death better than life. The death itself of the martyrs is the prize of their life. And again, by the death of those at variance hatred is put an end to.

Why should more be said? By the death of One the world was redeemed. For Christ, had He Willed, need not have died, but He neither thought that death should be shunned as though there were any cowardice in it, nor could He have saved us better than by dying. And so His death is the life of all. We are signed with the sign of His death, we show forth His death when we pray; when we offer the Sacrifice we declare His death, for His death is victory, His death is our mystery, His death is the yearly recurring solemnity of the world. What now should we say concerning His death, since we prove by this Divine Example that death alone found immortality, and that death itself redeemed itself. Death, then, is not to be mourned over, for it is the cause of salvation for all; death is not to be shunned, for the Son of God did not think it unworthy of Him, and did not shun it. The order of nature is not to be loosed, for what is common to all cannot admit of exception in individuals.

And, indeed, death was no part of man’s nature, but became natural; for God did not institute death at first, but gave it as a remedy. Let us then take heed that it do not seem to be the opposite. For if death is a good, why is it written that “God made not death, but by the malice of men death entered into the world”? For of a truth death was no necessary part of the divine operation, since for those who were placed in paradise a continual succession of all good things streamed forth; but because of transgression the life of man, condemned to lengthened labour, began to be wretched with intolerable groaning; so that it was fitting that an end should be set to the evils, and that death should restore what life had lost. For immortality, unless grace breathed upon it, would be rather a burden than an advantage. — Two Books on the Decease of His Brother Saytrus – Book II, para. 45-47.

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