Second Last Sunday after Pentecost 14 Nov 2021 Sermon

 

2^nd Last Sunday after Pentecost 14 November 2021 (readings 6^th S after Epiphany)

The Church comes in three sections: Triumphant, Suffering, Militant.

The triumphant Church is in Heaven; the suffering in Purgatory; the militant – that’s us, toiling away in the hope of becoming triumphant.

When people talk about the Church… what it says, does, whether it performs well or badly, they are talking about the visible Church here on earth, the Church where a great deal of human frailty is in evidence.

We regret that frailty, that it leads to sin, and gives bad witness.

When people see the Church in action they should not have to be looking at scandals and division. The Church is meant to be on fire with faith and charity, relieving the ills of body and soul, assisting with material needs where possible, and most of all providing direction and grace to bring people to Heaven.

The human element will work as it should only when it calls on its ‘better half’ – the triumphant element, including Christ as Head, and Mary as Mother, and countless angels and saints.

Then we start to see what should have been there all along – that every disciple should be as one with Christ, and each other, fully believing, fully functioning, ready to live or die for Christ.

This is what we must strive for if we do not yet have it. Last week we heard that God is patient and can wait before judging people. He gives us time to get things right. Some things take time to sort out all the bits.

Today’s Gospel conveys the same sense of a long time passing and enabling fruitful results.

A seed starts out small and become eventually a huge tree. This is an image of God's influence in the world. He makes Himself known, little by little,

The Church has spread from a very small beginning to very big.

We are big in size, but we do not yet cover the whole world as Our Lord instructed: Go and baptize all nations (Mt 28,19).

So much for the quantity; we also need quality, which can come only when each person is a disciple of Christ, and when each disciple is seriously committed to what that means.

God does not want just our external compliance; He wants to be dwelling inside us, directing our thoughts, words and action so that we become more like Him.

We take shelter in His branches, or we are branches attached to Our Lord as the tree.

We draw what is good and all that we need from Him, which we can do if we are consciously seeking to be united with Him.

If we are united with Him He will enable us to bear fruit. He will bless our efforts in His name, and bring forth fruit.

We do not fall away from the tree as others do, either through actions or beliefs.

We cannot survive anywhere else because only in Christ is the source of all truth. Only there can we make sense of this life and obtain all we need to live it.

When it comes to religion people often want to break out on their own, asserting their own beliefs and opinions.

True happiness is found not in individual experimentation, but submitting to the perfections of Christ, claiming His presence in our lives, offering Him to the world.

We have come a long way as the Church, and we have a long way to go. We are privileged to be where we are, to know what we know.

But with that privilege goes a task. We do all we can to bring the militant Church to its eventual triumph.