3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Dear faithful,

This Sunday, the Sunday that follows the Feast of the Sacred Heart, is as it were the explanation of the mercy of God that is Incarnate in the Sacred Heart. Our Lord in His goodness explains to us the great mercy of God towards sinners, and on this Sunday opens to us the Heart of God, of what God desires for sinners, namely their conversion.

The sinners came to Jesus, says the Gospel: and the sinners and publicans came to hear to the words of Jesus. [Lk 15,1]. They came to hear the words of Jesus, that is to say that they were not busy with the things of this world, nor with their false doctrines, but they came to hear. They came to hear, perhaps firstly only from curiosity, perhaps looking for a cure, perhaps even because their friends had recommended that they go and hear Him. It is likely that they are the sort that might even receive the word of God with joy, but afterwards will be strangled by the cares of this world, or perhaps there are some who will persevere. But the important fact is that they draw near to Our Lord, as the Gospel states.

This event of Our Lord’s life is repeated throughout the history of the Church, even if in some details it is as different, as many differences as there are different souls. There are many people who may have heard of the Traditional Mass, who have perhaps a friend who invites them to see the Mass in Latin one Sunday, or who simply notice that some things in this world are just not like they should be. And so they come to Our Lord, they come to the Mass. They draw close to Our Lord.

And yet these people are very very far from perfection. The Gospel mentions two classes of men: the Publicans and sinners. The publicans were more than just theives. They were often traitors to their country, public sinners who not only committed sins but even whose profession was an occasion of many disorders, for they extorted money for the occupying power from their own countrymen. And yet even these souls can receive the grace to see Our Lord. And there were other sinners as well, sinners who perhaps have tasted the worst and long for the grace of rejecting their past and starting afresh.

And so we often have, dear faithful, coming to the Mass people who are very far from perfection, and indeed often understand very little of what the Mass is about. In fact the Gospel states that they came to hear Our Lord, it does not say that they understood HIm. There are souls that come to be cured, even if they do not know from what they suffer. In fact, every single one of us that attends this Mass are sinners, some more than others, just like everyone who goes to the doctor is sick in some way. Our Lord in this life is not so much a judge, but rather a doctor of souls. This is the time of mercy, the time of repentance, the time of searching for perfection if not yet obtaining it.

But unfortunately there are those who are scandalized. There are those who have not understood the mercy of Our Lord, and do not want to understand it. They are actually those who will refuse the mercy offered by Our Lord, and will even reject Our Lord and demand His crucifixion. These are the Pharisees. These are those who think themselves to be the model of all perfection, and yet they themselves, by their behavior, are the furthest from Our Lord. The Gospel does not say that the Pharisees hear Our Lord, but rather that they murmur, they speak against Him. In fact they only look for occasion to show their superiority to Him: This man receives sinners, and eats with them. They do not understand Our Lord, nor do they want to. They are only interested in showing some way that they are superior, that they are better than their neighbors, that they, unlike the others, keep the commandments.

These are the souls that will be quick to criticize every minor detail of their neighbors behavior, who think themselves somehow the police of the parish, who after Mass will measure the length of everyone’s chapel veil, who will be quick to inform you of the latest conspiracy theory and whatever else is wrong with the world. They hope that you will be impressed with their perfection, that they, unlike others, know something that you do not and that they for one, will not converse with you unless you show yourself up to their standard.

And yet Our Lord does not even despair of these malicious Pharisees. His mercy is so great that He even desires the salvation of these poor souls blinded by their own pride. It is especially for them that Our Lord gives us this parable, that they might be converted and think with the same mind of Our Lord, to judge not to condemn, but to save and to convert.

The sheep, of whom ninety-nine are safe, are the souls that are ignorant. They are often lead astray by bad example or by bad leaders. They are lost not so much by will but by weakness. And so the shepherd will go and search for it, he will go into the wilderness, namely the world, and seek it out. So also the true apostle, the soul truly zealous for the Church, will not be the soul that sits by himself at home to launch crusades on every internet forum to criticize and insult everyone he comes across. On the contrary, the zealous soul will go to his friends and neighbors, like the man in the gospel, and tell them to rejoice for what he has found: namely the grace of God, the grace of conversion. The truly zealous soul will be that soul who wants to share the wonders of the Mass with his friends and acquaintances, with his colleagues at work, to show them the joy of the grace of a good conscience. The Pharisee, on the other hand, according to the words of Our Lord, will seek rather to burden his neighbor, laying upon them troubles and cares that even he himself won’t lift with his finger.

The coin that is lost is the sinner who knows what he has done. The coin bears the image of the power which stamps it, like the soul which bears the image of God with understanding and free will. These souls know what they do, and voluntarily lose themselves to sin. They have spent their time and energy on things no worthy of their dignity, they have wasted that money which can buy them eternity, namely their knowledge and love. They have broken the ten commandments, for as St. James says that he who has violated one of them has violated them all [James 2,10] - the ten coins are not complete when the one is missing. And so the woman in the Gospel, namely the Church, will light the candle of doctrine to show these souls the error of their ways and sweep the house by the sacrament of confession, finding for these souls the grace of God of infinite price.

In both cases their is great joy in heaven, for by the grace of God these souls turn from evil and embrace the good. Though they are imperfect, though they have much to do in order to persevere in goodness, and even if their bad habits will take much time to eradicate, nonetheless, they have the grace of God and they have the chance to obtain eternal happiness. And thus in complete contradiction to the Pharisees and all the sectarians that follow in their footsteps, we too ought to rejoice at every soul that shows an interest in the truth. We ought to rejoice and help those who come to the Mass, though if they are in ignorance or even in sin.

True, there are times when Our Lord will have to clean the temple of those who would defile it. There are times when the scourge has to protect the innocent who might be corrupted or defiled, but those are times when His authority is questioned or HIs temple in danger, when it has become not a place of prayer and mercy but a den of thieves. Yet of these persons, these thieves, we do not read of their conversion. We do not read of their repentance, nor do we read of joy. As a matter of fact those that will be purged from the temple will be the Pharisees, who do not pray for the conversion of sinners but who barter and trade in the criticism of others. The time will come, as Our Lord says, when they will be judged in the same measure that they have judged others [Mt. 6].

And so my dear faithful, let us learn from these parables of Our Lord and especially by His example, of how best to win souls for the truth. We read in the gospel that Our Lord began “to do and to teach”, that is to say that He firstly taught by example and then by instruction. So we ought to be the first not to give a word of condemnation, but rather a word of encouragement, to lead and teach by our example more than by our criticisms. We ought to be able to say with St. Paul: be ye imitators of me like I am of Christ.

For most souls, my dear faithful, need more a light word of encouragement and instruction rather than condemnation. Most souls are like the Samaritan woman, who come to the well of grace that is the Mass. And how does Our Lord approach this woman, so far from the grace of God? He does not come to condemn her, but actually even makes Himself indebted to her: give me to drink [Jn. 4,7]. He who is the author of life and death, her judge on the last day, asks her for a drink. He asks for something, He contracts a debt, from a woman who in her own words the Jews would have nothing to do with. And Our Lord, seeing in her these words of humility, these words which testify of her lowly condition, offers her in exchange the living water of grace that will spring up into life everlasting.

And Our Lord will only gradually show her the difference between this earthly water, the earthly water of passions that can only satisfy for a moment, and the water of eternal life that will satisfy one for eternity. And perhaps not entirely understanding everything that He says, she wants what He offers.

And then, and only then, Our Lord mentions the great obstacle to this grace. Go and call thy husband. With some embarrassment and false shame she says that she has no husband. Yet with what delicacy does Our Lord make mention of the fact that she is so far from God! For what you say is true, that him whom thou hast last is not they husband. And we see the fruits of Our Lord’s delicacy, tact and patience. She makes her confession to Our Lord, and this confession of her faults turns her into an apostle, and apostle for the entire city which will receive Our Lord through her testimony.

So then, my dear faithful, let us then imitate Our Lord, especially in our dealings with others. There are many souls that are suffering in the slavery of sin and ignorance, and through some special grace they might have heard of Tradition, they might have heard of the Mass. And so they come, by the grace of Our Lord, to see and hear Our Lord through His Holy Church. They come maybe for the first time, and please dear God, let it not be for the last time. These souls are like children, young or perhaps even unborn to the faith - and woe to that man who would be a scandal to them, who would even block, paralyze and even destroy the grace that others have won for these souls. There will be much to be answered for on the day of judgement for those that would impede the return of the lost sheep to the fold, or who would rather keep the coin from being found.

And so, in obedience to Our Lady, Our Lady of Fatima who asked for the prayers for the conversion of sinners, let us pray for them and work for their conversion by imitating the mercy of Our Lord, that we might rejoice in the return of the lost and the finding of missing, a joy that even the heavens partake of, for ever and ever, Amen.