My brothers and sisters in Christ,

We all know where the narrative of the Passion is leading. We know because we are the beneficiaries of Jesus’ passion and death upon the cross. For us it is a historical and an ever present reality. Moreover, we are joined to Jesus’ passion and death by our baptism.

As St. Paul tells us, in baptism we died with Christ. We died and were buried with Him in the waters of baptism.

What we must do today, and in this Passiontide, the two weeks leading up to Easter, is to find our place within the passion. As the famous hymn asks: Were you there?

Were you there? Indeed! While you were there, what role did you play?

Three things stand out in the Passion, three things in relation to who we are as followers of Christ.

Are we Judas?

Listen again:

—The man I shall kiss is the one;
arrest him and lead him away securely.—

Do we stand ready to betray the Lord when the Lord’s will does not fit our own? Do we place our expectations of God before the reality of God?

Each week you kiss the Lord. You take Him upon your lips when you received the Holy Eucharist. Are you kissing Him in love or in betrayal?

During this Passiontide recommit yourselves to embracing the Lord’s will for your life. Set aside sinfulness and repent. Live your life at one with God.

Are we Peter?

Listen again:

He began to curse and to swear,

—I do not know this man about whom you are talking.—

You don’t have to have a rooster in your backyard to be Peter.

How often do you compromise your spiritual integrity?

Does it happen every time you walk through the doors at work, every time you enter the mall, every time you go along to get along? That rooster is crowing loud and clear.

During this Passiontide recommit yourselves to professing your faith in the Lord. Not the Lord the world wants to hear about, the Lord the world needs to hear about. Set aside weak faith and the tendency to compromise and justify. Live your life with God in the center and on the throne.

Are you the soldier beneath the cross?

Listen again:

—Truly this man was the Son of God!—

You have to listen carefully. —Truly this man WAS the Son of God!—

Well, to that soldier, and to many of us, He was. He’s dead now. He’s dead in the most real way possible, not just in terms of earthly existence, but in our hearts and minds.

We can believe that Jesus was a great guy, that He never caused anyone any problems, that He is all happy-happy, joy-joy. We can even believe that He was real. What we can’t get our minds around is that He is God. That what he taught is the truth. That as God he humiliated Himself, took on our form, and suffered and died for us. It is even harder to believe that what He said was true: That the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

My friends,

Ask yourselves this important question this Passiontide. Who is Jesus? God or not God? Alive or dead? Awaken your faith and proclaim the truth. Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Jesus Christ, who suffered, died, and was buried. Jesus Christ who rose again on the third day. Jesus Christ who took away the sins of the world.

Then you will be ready to see the empty tomb. You will see it clearly this Easter Sunday morning and understand its meaning.

God puts up with us. Because of His mercy, he patiently awaits our conversion.

What He desires, while being patient with us, is that we all come to believe in Him and come to eternal life.

The Father desires that we know in our heart of hearts that Jesus is His Son, come to earth, raised up on the cross, who suffered, died, was buried, and Who rose again from the dead. Not only this, but to know that we have life through Him.

Moses was directed to raise a figure of a serpent on a stick so that those who had been poisoned might be cured by looking at it. So God sent His Son to be raised on the cross so that all of us, poisoned by sin, might have life in His light.

My brothers and sisters,

When the chosen people disobeyed God, and not only disobeyed but mocked Him too, God’s righteous anger was raised.

The Second book of Chronicles tells us:

the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.

God allowed the land to go fallow. There was no life in Israel. Life there ceased and all the people were carried off as was their livestock.

For a reality check, picture the State of New York. A beautiful place. Trees, hills and valleys, magnificent cities and farms. Picture it all gone, empty. The farms have gone wild. No person or animal can be found. The cities are empty and burned. No one dares set foot there. All is emptiness and lifelessness.

The time of fallow and exile brought home the reality of life to the Jewish people. Life, and the fullness of life, is in God alone. Life is in doing His will, in living His commandments. God is life and light.

The words of today’s psalm are poignant. The people of Israel cry and bemoan their loss. They sit in Babylon and long for the joy of the Lord in Jerusalem. They long to sing to the Lord once again. But they could only cry and long.

By this process they were formed. They redeemed the fallow land by their penance, and the Lord God relented of His anger.

—Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled.—

And after seventy years, Cyrus, the King of Persia said at God’s command:

Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of His people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!—

Can you imagine the joy? It should be the kind of joy you feel when you go to sleep Saturday night. Tomorrow we go to the House of the Lord.

God has given us nothing but His ultimate gift of love, His Son. He also gives us His infinite patience.

St.Paul tells us:

God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ

Yes, we are alive in Christ Jesus. Alive and preparing ourselves to meet Him. This tremendous gift is not of our doing. For God loves us so much that He allows us an eternity of preparation. He puts up with our transgressions, allowing us to seek His forgiveness. He gives us the grace we need to seek His mercy and to live up to His expectations. This is salvation. The real, living, font of salvation.

Paul tells us here:

For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;

Oh, what a tremendous gift. A gift what we can never be worthy of, a gift for which we can never be thankful enough.

Therefore, let us look upon Him who has been pierced for our offenses. Jesus, who has been sacrificed so that we might be sanctified. Jesus, who has died so that the doors of heaven might be opened to us. Through these open doors flows the bounty of God’s grace, flowing clean and pure into our lives.

Each day and each week, every hour of the day, we must move forward to better live in the light.

Jesus said:

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Work then in the light of God, and in cooperation with His grace which strengthens you, bringing you out of darkness. God will put up with us and gives us every opportunity. He has given His Son and His grace for our journey home. Now is the time to accept this gift. In faith say yes to Jesus Christ and choose to live in the light of God.

Amen.

The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.

This is beautiful poetry summarizing beautiful truth, but how worldly we are. We are worldly because we will not trust the law, decree, precepts, command, or ordinances of the Lord. We are tied to this world because we have forgotten fear of the Lord.

The Lord is perfect, trustworthy, right, clear, pure, and true. His Word is Jesus and Jesus is the truth. Yet, we analyze and engage in hermeneutics. Some buy into Dan Brown’s fantasies and hatred for Christianity, his hatred for the very Word of God. Some will take any path as long as it is the path or questioning. Many take the path that allows their answers to be self serving. —What, did that commandment apply to me?— —Since when!?!—

In this Church the Word of God is a sacrament.

In a few weeks I will be explaining this sacrament to my First Communion Catechism class. The children here can tell you that the Catechism is a study of religion using questions and answers. And in a few weeks they will learn that the sacrament of the Word is important to us because it:

• Brings us closer to God through Jesus Christ;
• Teaches us the Divine Will of God;
• Makes our faith stronger, and
• Tells us how we can enter the Kingdom of God

In other words everything we need to achieve the fullness of life and eternal joy is contained in the Word of God. The Word gives us sacramental grace which is sanctifying grace —“ the grace that changes us —“ makes us holy and pleasing to God.

But, you have to listen and believe! We must put the Word into action. The action that makes us constant converts to the way of Christ.

Paul tells us that, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified.”

Jesus Himself told us that no sign will be given:

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Signs and wisdom will not be given. You have to look at what is right in front of you and recognize it. The words are simple, follow them.

In every Holy Mass you are forgiven your sins, you hear the Word of God and are taught, and you receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Three times you receive sacramental grace. Three times you are sanctified. Three times you are made holy and pleasing to God.

Yet doubt persists. Disbelief persists. Questioning persists.

Paul told us:

We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ… [T]his very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

Yes, we must be fools. We must be foolish enough to set aside our questioning disbelief. We must be foolish enough to accept the real truth —“ the truth of Jesus Christ crucified, Who died and Who rose again. Foolish enough to follow the Commandments in the way Jesus taught; in spirit and in truth.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

During this third week of Lent contemplate Jesus’ actions in the temple. Contemplate, as His disciples did, the words of Scripture fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ

His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.

Let zeal for God’s house consume you, break you down, make you foolish and hungry.

Let us be foolish, not worldly, so that God’s Word will refresh the soul, give us wisdom, allow our hearts to rejoice, enlighten our eyes. Let us be foolish so that the fear of the Lord will endure in us forever, so that we may know justice. The Word of the Lord is more precious than gold, than a heap of purest gold; sweeter also than syrup or honey from the comb.

Amen.

As we reflect on this 109th anniversary of the institution of the Polish National Catholic Church let us reflect on the meaning of Church, and let our reflection begin in scripture. The words from 1st Timothy ring true, do they not?

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions

So what is the Church? Is our Church solely defined by the man and bishop, Francis Hodur? Is it defined by any one person?

To this we must say no. We must be careful not to turn from faith in Christ to the glorification of any one man. Instead, we are defined by God and His incarnate revelation to all mankind, His Son Jesus Christ.

No, it is not man who defines us. We must be careful lest we slip into the errors of some of the catholic faithful who engage in the worship of a man, an idolatry of man over God, man over faith.

Again, what is the Church? Our name, the Polish National Catholic Church would lead you to believe that we worship everything Polish. That culture trumps faith.

To this we must say no. We must be careful lest our faith be overcome by the deceit of popular culture or cultural mores. We are catholic —“ universal, calling all mankind to Christ Jesus who is our salvation. No, it is not Polish culture or being Polish, it is rather being Catholic, being Christian.

This Solemnity is a day of celebration in the midst of Lent. On this day we take a moment to offer up our Lenten penance and our mortification for the increase of the one, holy, Catholic Church. Today we offer our temporal struggles so that none will turn away, so that all will be brought to Christ Jesus.

Wisdom teaches us that evil men will come to realize the error of their ways when the Just One shall confront His oppressors. They will say:

“This is he whom once we held as a laughingstock and as a type for mockery, fools that we were! His life we accounted madness, and his death dishonored. See how he is accounted among the sons of God; how his lot is with the saints!

Remember that it is He Himself that the world laughs at, now more than ever. And we, joined to Him, in this Holy Catholic Church, some since their baptism as children, others who have come here as adults to be renewed in the Catholic faith, are mocked as well.

We are one with Him, mocked and scorned with Him. As members of His Body then we are called to confront His oppressors.

You are the branches of the one true vine. Bear your fruit for the increase of the faith in the world. Stand up for the Christ even in the face of derision.

The world has it wrong. To the world Christ is either just another nice guy or as Wisdom explains, one seen as a madman who died a death of dishonor.

But Jesus tells us the truth:

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.

Apart from Him we can do nothing.

Therefore we must, as members of His Body, and as branches pruned to bear much fruit, proclaim the truth. And the truth is this: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other. Not Mohammed’s way, not Buddha’s way, not Hindu or Shinto, or Tao. Jesus alone is the way, the truth and the life —“ and all must come to Him.

The Church founded by Christ, of which we are its members, is this:

It is us praying to God, through Christ ever present in the Eucharist before us. It is us proclaiming His name above every other name. It is us bowing and kneeling before His majesty and humility. It is us remaining in Him, grafted onto Him at baptism. It is us mocked and scorned for our faith because they mock and scorn Him. It is a faith from which Bishop Hodur and so many others would not run. It is the faith of the saints and martyrs. It is the faith given to us in Christ and kept alive in us by the Holy Spirit.

So today we rejoice. I rejoice. You and I are here. We have come up to the house of the Lord. Not the Jerusalem of stone, but the new and eternal Jerusalem. We have come to the city of light standing on a hill.

Let all the tribes come here, let the world come, for all are welcome in the house of the Lord. Welcome to wash away sinfulness and pride, welcome to repent, welcome to put on clean robes washed in the Blood of the Lamb. Welcome in His Church.

I’m sure all of you have seen movies where a beautiful couple, meant to be together, break-up.

It is unusually heart breaking. We know they should be together. We know that they are destined for each other. The one left behind stands there as the other closes the door behind them, or goes down into the subway, or drives away.

The one left behind —“ almost always the guilty party —“ has a moment to think. Is there still a chance? Can I get him or her back?

If it’s a good movie the person left behind finally acts. They run after the other. They chase them down and in an instant confess their sorrow and undying love.

God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
—See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.

The action of God is a historical reality. The action of God is the historical reality of love. God is the consummate lover.

Throughout the Old Testament, God kept chasing after His people. They were the people who kept running away, the people who took on false lovers and other gods. Unlike the movies where the innocent one leaves, here the guilty parties kept running away. And here comes God, the true lover chasing after the ones who have run away; the ones who are guilty and sinful.

If you were here for Ash Wednesday you heard the prophet Joel telling us what God asks:

Come back to me with all your heart,
Turn to the Lord your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich in graciousness,
and ready to relent.

God made agreements —“ covenants with His people. He gave an eternal promise to Noah. Throughout the Old Testament God’s covenants and actions prepared His people for what was to come. He made covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David. He acted through the judges and prophets. He sang poetry to His people and chastised them when they were unfaithful.

Finally, in the fullness of time, God spoke His Word to us in the incarnation of His Son, Jesus, the Christ. Jesus who came to earth to reveal to us, in an instant, the fullness of God’s love for His people. Jesus, one with the Father and Holy Spirit revealed the fullness of God’s love for us.

St. Peter tells us how this was done:

Beloved:
Christ suffered for sins once,
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.

Jesus, crucified, who died, was buried and is risen, has shown us the Father. Jesus even told us: —Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.—

So it is today. We have seen Him. We receive Him each week. We see the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in His Holy Church. God is still chasing after us.

The miracle is that God created us. An even greater miracle is the fact that no matter how many times we run away, fall, or chase other gods, God calls us back. He comes after us. He sent His only Son into the world to connect us forever.

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.

So go into the desert of this Lent. Go back to Christ, you are meant to be together forever.

Remember why He came. Remember what he said:

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
—This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.—

My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, so close to our Lord Jesus in your suffering, listen again to the words of the prophet Isaiah:

There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

In Jesus there was no outward beauty. There was nothing in Him that would attract followers. He was the antithesis of today’s bright and beautiful. He didn’t fit in with the world of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes when he walked the earth. So too, He would not fit in with today’s Hollywood elite, glamour models, or jet set.

When we think of Jesus we picture the man portrayed in statues and paintings; strong, beautiful, gentle, and attractive. That’s because we as humans cannot portray Christ’s beauty any other way.

It’s too difficult to portray His beauty for what it is —“ the beauty that comes from union with the Father. The beauty of God. The beauty of truth, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. The beauty that heals not just the outward —“ the body —“ but most importantly heals the soul.

We can see His real beauty when we study the scriptures, especially the Gospels. We can see it when we look at the action of His Holy Church. But alas, some still focus only on what is on the outside.

Listen again to Isaiah:

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.

Ultimately Jesus’ offering of Himself as the sacrifice, the offering of His body and His death upon the cross, is what has healed us.

His death was our salvation and His resurrection is our promise. You and I as Catholic Christians come here to understand Jesus Christ’s true beauty.

My brothers and sisters,

You share in Christ’s suffering and in His beauty. Your suffering in sickness is your joining in the sacrifice of Christ. You are closest to His heart.

Remember when Jesus told the children to come to Him. When He told His disciples not to hinder them, for to such as these belongs the Kingdom of God?

You are those children.

When we are sick are we not like children? We look to our Father in heaven and to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the saints. We look to them as we would look to our earthly parents. Daddy, please help me. Father, I am so sad and afraid. Mom, please hold me.

And we ask, please make it alright.

Jesus himself tells us:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.

The Father sees that you are joined to the Son. He knows that your suffering has borne much fruit. You cannot begin to imagine how many miracles your suffering has achieved.

And the Father continues to prune you, making you sleek and beautiful for the sake of the Kingdom. That is the beauty you share with Christ.

He does not make us outwardly beautiful because the outside is only a faí§ade. He makes us beautiful in our very humanity and in the depths of our heart and soul.

He tells us:

I am the vine, you are the branches.

And so my faithful people you are the branches. And Jesus promises you:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

So when you come forward, come forward in faith. Offer Him your suffering. Lay it at His feet. Look upon His pierced feet with love, seeing not only the pain of His suffering, but the beauty of God’s truth in that suffering. That, is the truth that saves you.

Amen.

The prophet Joel tells us:

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.

And so I tell you: Repent, put on sack cloth and cover yourselves in ashes.

Frankly, you are going to hell and so am I. Joel was being very honest. I too must be honest. We need to turn from the course we are on. We need to return to God.

It is easy to say nice things and to preach platitudes. I can tell you to be nice, to be kind, to love your brothers and sisters, and to give to the poor. It will go in one ear and out the other. How can I do that when you are going to hell? How can I make you stop and think? How can I make you change your ways?

Joel left Father and me a very important message as well:

let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, —Spare, O LORD, your people

And we do cry to the Lord every day. We carry constant concern for you. We pray for you. We ache when you are hurting. My family and I pray for you each night. In cases of special need we pray for you by name. I personally pray for you in the morning, at noon, and at night. I pray because I worry about your salvation and your everlasting soul.

We ask God to spare His people from the evil of the day. We ask God to spare you from temptation. We ask God to spare you from the kinds of easy justifications we all perform. We ask God to spare you from the evil that makes you think you will live forever.

Last Wednesday the letter of James said:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”– you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.

How true. In an instant you will be gone. In a moment you will be no more.

Psalm 103 tells us:

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

And in 1 Peter we read:

You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God, for: “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field; the grass withers, and the flower wilts; but the word of the Lord remains forever.” This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.

So I proclaim it to you. You will not remain in this earthly life forever. Now is the moment. This is the time. Repent.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

If you think tomorrow will come you are deluded.

My poor children,

Use this moment and this Lent to consider your life. Put all of your focus on God.

If you despair of illness, bad relationships, hard times, or economic failure make a right offering of your pain, sorrow, and sickness to God. Wash your face, keep a clean appearance, and do not look glum. Offer yourself and every sorrow to God. Tie yourself to the cross, for you are sharing in Christ’s suffering. Do it joyfully. Thank you Lord Jesus for this time of suffering. Lord Jesus, let me be ever closer to You in my sorrow.

When you are wronged react with kindness and forbearance. Indeed, we are a small community, a little under a couple hundred people. It’s easy to offend and to be offended. It is easy to snipe and not forgive. It’s easy to be jealous and to hold bitter grudges. I see it and hear it all the time. I do it myself.

Remember, all will be laid bare, all will be seen by God at your personal judgment, and by everyone at the final judgment.

Are you willing to stand before God and explain to the Universal King how so-and-so made you mad? How they hurt your feelings? Are you willing to show God the bitterness that is in your heart and on your tongue?

Let it go now. Seek forgiveness. Reconcile with your brothers and sisters now. Now, before it is too late.

When you engage in an immoral life, when you manipulate your reasoning into excuse making and false justification, when you men objectify women and when you women use men, when you live in sin, just remember how good it makes you feel. You may feel good on the outside, but you are dying inside.

Today we emphasize tolerance, getting along, not upsetting the apple cart, and being accepting. You might even say —Jesus never judged, condemned or excluded anyone—.

You would be wrong. Jesus took the whip to those who profaned His Father’s house. He cast Peter out when Peter thought he knew better than God. He called the Pharisees what they were, white-washed tombs and vipers, hypocrites all.

When you make judgments about what you think is right and wrong, or when you think something is not sinful, pick up the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Church. You bet it’s wrong and your everlasting soul is in jeopardy.

My brothers and sisters,

In the end I have good news. The good news is that Christ has saved you. By your conscious choice in being here every week you show your commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church. Jesus died for you and carried your sins in the nail marks in His hands, the scourges on His body, and the thorns in His head.

He did this to open the door of heaven to you. This Church believes that your trip to hell will be a trip of your own choosing. Choose God now. Choose life not death.

Remember that every occasion for sin is an occasion for God. Turn your back on sin. Break those immoral relationships, take the bitterness and anger from your hearts.

I would like to conclude with the story of St. Ephraim.

St Ephraim the Syrian wrote beautiful prayers, homilies, poetry, and hymns. While doing so he lived in a continual state of penance.

One day St. Basil the Great came to visit Ephraim and asked:

“Why, venerable father, do you not receive consecration to the order of priesthood, as befits you?”

“Because I am a sinner, my lord!” answered Ephraim through the interpreter.

“O, if only I had your sins!” said Basil, and added: “Let us make a prostration to the ground.”

But when they were bowed to the ground, St. Basil laid his hand on St. Ephraim’s head and recited the prayer of consecration to the diaconate. That is how St. Ephraim was made a deacon. He was at that time about sixty years old.

Let us recall Saint Ephraim’s humility. Let us recall his passion for penance. Let us recall his holy prayer. Let us kneel and pray with him:

O Lord and Master of my life,
Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair,
lust of power and idle talk;
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my
own transgressions and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.

I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.
and you shall know the LORD.

Go into the desert, on retreat, into the seminary or the monastery, into the Great Lent and go away to be alone.

When you are alone you become afraid. Some people babble on. Their own voice fills their head and they never know quiet. They are afraid of what God might tell them. They are afraid of the voice of justice and truth.

If you can get past your own voice and your fear, and you are still for long enough, God will come to break you down. His voice will tell you what you should be and where you should go.

On this Quinquagesima Sunday we are but 50 days from Easter. Our journey into the Lenten dessert will begin in three days.

Have you prepared yourself? Are you willing to shut off the outside world and its distractions and go into the desert with Christ? Are you willing to be still and listen for His voice?

In the desert you will come to know the Lord. The Lord as He is. The Lord Jesus Christ will test you in this Lenten desert. He will test you, break you down, and qualify you as His friend.

Remember that Paul had to be broken down. Paul had to be knocked off his high horse, made blind, and subject to the people he formerly persecuted.

Now he proclaims the truth. Not a truth founded in his background as a Pharisee and legalist, but a truth that surpasses all legalities; the truth written on his heart.

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that of ourselves we are qualified
to take credit for anything as coming from us;
rather, our qualification comes from God,
who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant,
not of letter but of spirit;

That same truth, delivered to us by Jesus Christ, through the Holy Apostles and by their successors in the Holy Catholic Church, must be written on our hearts.

The truth is that Jesus came into the world to deliver us from the power of death. Death has no power over us. His sacrificial death on the cross once for all and instituted in perpetuity in the Holy Eucharist, offered up by Christ to the Father again and again upon this Holy Altar in an unbloody way, has delivered us. His glorious resurrection is our future.

We are delivered from adherence to the letter of the Law. The Pharisaical concept of adherence to the Law, for the sake of the Law, rather than for the sake of love, is what Jesus is talking about today.

Do we wish to appear pious like the Pharisees so that others give us adulation? Oh, look at what he sacrificed; look at what she gave to charity, look at how they are fasting.

What sort of Catholic Christians and Lenten observers are we to be? Will we adhere to the Law, fasting, giving alms, giving up something just to comply? Or will be take this desert time and go for the gusto. Will we walk in empty and walk out qualified?

Our Lenten sacrifice must be one of truth and love. Not a legalistic or ritualistic show, but a joining of our hearts in love to Christ on the road to Calvary.

Jesus tells us:

—…no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.—

Jesus is telling us that the ways of the Pharisees, adherence to the letter of the law without understanding and living in accordance with its Spirit, is death and destruction. His Word is the new wine. Pouring it into the ears of the legalists and minimalists will render it useless. Pouring it into your ears if you are bound to your old ways will bring about your destruction,

Remember that Jesus came not to set aside the law, but to strip away the manner in which the people lived it. Those people and indeed some of us live legalities and do not understand the purpose of the Law. People back then, and you and I today, need to see the power and spirit of the Law. We need to repent, preparing for the coming of the Kingdom. We need to live in truth, true to what Jesus taught. We need to let the wine of His words fill us with joy. Fill us so that we may be re-created.

What is genuine and good has always been there. As you live your Lenten journey remember what is at the core of what you do. Make this journey into the desert a journey of joy. Make this journey an odyssey of love. Practice the rules and regulations of Lent in love. Seek what is at the core of these spiritual exercises and The Lord:

will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the LORD.

Dramatic, amazing, extraordinary, and yeah, ok.

Our readings today contain a very important line. The line is on our sign outside the church.

Let’s reflect on what Isaiah proclaims:

It is I, I, who wipe out,
for my own sake, your offenses;
your sins I remember no more.

The line on the sign is, —your sins I remember no more.—

How many of us can say something like that.

I have a difficult enough time forgiving myself for letting God down. I have a really hard time letting go of the stupid and dangerous things I’ve done in my life. So how truly amazing that God can say, —your sins I remember no more.— God Who is perfect has chosen to forgive my sins.

But there is more to the story than that.

We know that only God in His infinite mercy can abrogate our sin. He alone can wipe the slate clean. He can change us in an instant, from the corrupt beings we are, into something truly beautiful.

As we enter into this second week of the season of Septuagesima lets us reflect on God’s forgiveness.

My brothers and sisters,

We might ask ourselves why. Why does God choose to forgive us? Why did Jesus publicly demonstrate forgiveness?

The Jewish people were incredulous. Only God could forgive sins. Forgiveness only came on the High Holy Days when the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the lamb on the people and washed the altar with blood.

When Jesus came all but a few failed to recognize God in their midst. All but a few failed to see the High Priest and the sacrificial lamb in their midst.

And here come the faithful. The ones who see clearly:

Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

Absolutely dramatic.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
—Child, your sins are forgiven.—

Absolutely extraordinary.

Then the naysayers took over.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
—Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?—

They missed God in their midst, didn’t they?

Jesus immediately knew in his mind
what they were thinking to themselves,
so he said, —Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk?’

Now for the anticlimactic ending:

But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth—
—”he said to the paralytic,
—I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.—
He rose, picked up his mat at once,
and went away in the sight of everyone.

The people were amazed. They were beside themselves. We think of this moment as dramatic, but it is not. It is wonderful for that man, but very sad for those naysayers.

They could only believe what they saw. They saw a cure, destruction becoming wholeness. They missed the main event. They missed the real cure.

—Child, your sins are forgiven.—

So here we are on Sexagesima Sunday. About sixty days before Easter. We are called to pay very close attention to the cure for our broken hearts.

Jesus gave the Church a powerful gift; the gift of forgiveness of sins. Interestingly, He repeated this gift several times.

Before His death He told His Apostles:

“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18).

After His resurrection he told the Apostles:

“‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'” (John 20:21—“23)

Whenever Christ cured the sick He addressed their faithfulness first, and if needed, the requirement of repentance. By doing so He gave His Church not just a powerful commission but a powerful example.

We are called in faith to come here each week. We are called to trust that if we ask, God will forgive us. That God will forgive us through the power of His Holy Church.

When Father holds out his hand and pronounces absolution for our sins we are indeed washed clean.

It is not just Father Andrew holding out his hand. It is Jesus Christ. Jesus is absolving your sins and father is acting as Jesus commissioned him to act. He is also acting on behalf of the whole Church. Jesus forgives your sins and the Christian community forgives you.

God the Father forgives us because He sees us washed in the blood of His Son. God forgives us so that His love and mercy may be magnified.

Do not be like the naysayers. Rather, ask and be forgiven. Repent and be washed clean. Do not miss the main event. Each week we should be like the people in that house in Capernaum:

They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, —We have never seen anything like this.—

—I do will it. Be made clean.—

What a wonderful thing to hear as we begin this season of Septuagesima.

Septuagesima literally means seventy. It is now approximately seventy days before Easter. This is the time of preparation before the Holy and penitential season of Lent.

We begin to descend into that time of mourning and penance. The Gloria and the Alleluia are not said. We are wearing rose colored vestments. We are considering our call to be changed.

The Holy Church in her wisdom gives us the seasons of the year to fit our human need. Our need right now is to come down from the joy of Christmas and transition to Lent.

We need to prepare for change. Preparation is so important because we cannot expect to change overnight, and we cannot expect to do it alone.

Sudden conversion happens of course. But that type of conversion is a momentary event. We are called to cooperate in our conversion in a continuous and on-going way. We are called to commit to constant change.

You were all converted at your baptism. You received a great gift. You are no longer outside the camp, crying out —unclean, unclean—. You were made part of God’s Holy Church. You are inside.

Unfortunately, even though we are on the inside, we still live with our leprosy. We all carry the blotch of sin on us and in us. Furthermore, we cannot change our spots on our own. Reliance on God is absolutely required. Cooperation within the Church is essential.

Do you think you can change alone? Do you think that you have the willpower? Can you stop smoking, give up food or drug addictions? Can you get away from improper relationships? Can you change the behaviors, attitudes, prejudices, and addictions that make you a leper?

I tell you, you cannot cleanse yourself.

You cannot change without first placing your reliance and hope in Christ Jesus. You and I need to come to Him first. We need to kneel here and ask His forgiveness. We need to take the sacrament of penance seriously and move from penance to reformation. Penance and absolution are sacramentally imparted at every Holy Mass. Do you do your penance? Do you reform?

The Church does more than impart the sacraments. If you are coming here as-is, without serious consideration of what you are doing, then the gifts of grace prepared for you will have little if any affect. You need to come for the guidance of the Church and cooperate with it for your salvation.

How does the Church help? Start with some of its simple laws.

Do you fast two hours before you receive Holy Communion or was that candy bar, bowl of cereal, or roll just too tempting?

It is required to fast. It is a sacrifice to fast. It opens you up so that the physical sensation of receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is a real physical sensation. It is not just intellectual and spiritual. Jesus is feeding you in a real way. In the in the King James Version of John 6:55 Jesus says:

“For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”

Let Jesus fill you Sunday morning and not just figuratively.

Do you abstain from meat on every Friday or was that baloney sandwich too tempting? Will you abstain every Wednesday and Friday in Lent?

Some people scoff at the idea. How quaint, how old fashioned. They say, ‘I’m smarter than that! and they will not do it.’ If a person cannot even do the small things that are required out of love for Jesus how will they be humble enough to change the big things.

Be humble. Let Jesus be glorified. That baloney sandwich will become a very heavy cross this Lent. Every Wednesday and Friday you will long for it. Be humble. Let Jesus be glorified.

The Church is giving you a great opportunity in this season of Septuagesima.

Consider what needs to be changed and use the season of Lent fruitfully. Commit to change in the little things and the big things. Most of all, fall at Christ’s feet in humility. Cry out to Him, I am unclean! Unclean!

He will say to you: —I do will it. Be made clean.—

Then you will be ready to meet Jesus Christ in the light of His Easter glory and it will be gloriously special.