Pinned Post
(after Hebrews 4:12), Modern
Translation of the Epistle for the 21st Sunday After Pentecost
Brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of His power. Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Continuation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew
At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents: and as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment be made. But that servant falling down, besought him saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him a hundred pence: and laying hold of him, he throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest. And his fellow-servant falling down besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not but went and cast him into prison till he paid the debt. Now his fellow servants, seeing what was done, were very much grieved; and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and saith to him: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besought me; should not thou have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee? And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.
The Saving Words of the Gospel
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Transcription of Sermon
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen.
On this 21st Sunday of Pentecost, we’re offered this reading in preparation, I think, for the month of the Holy Souls. As November approaches, we’re encouraged, out of charity, to pray for all of the souls in Purgatory. Certainly, November is dedicated to that in particular, but that’s a duty of charity and justice that we all have, certainly to pray for our own ancestors in Purgatory, but for all of the souls in Purgatory, above all those dead benefactors, or priests, or anybody of or helped us. We are in debt to them
And this whole Gospel is all about debt. And ὀφείλημα (opheilema) is the word debt. And it’s also the word that we have in the Our Father, which is translated somewhat loosely in English to trespasses. So, when we say, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us, the word that we are saying is debt, ὀφείλημα. And so, why is it a debt?
Because once we have been forgiven by God, the debt is not paid. There is still justice to be made. Once God has forgiven us in either Baptism, which wipes away all sin, but… also the vestiges of sin… but after Baptism, when we sin and go to Confession, what happens? Our Lord takes away the guilt, but the debt remains, and that’s why we have to pay the debt in this life or the next. Why is this? Because every sin that we commit brings about disorder in our souls. And this disorder remains after forgiveness. If I commit a sin and go to Confession – this is the way I would describe it to children in school – if I commit a sin, imagine pounding a nail into a piece of wood is the sin, we go to Confession, the nail is taken out of the wood, but the damage in the wood remains. For every sin we commit that is forgiven, the damage remains after forgiveness.
And so, this is precisely why God in His mercy allows us to go to Purgatory before seeing Him. None of us would want to see Him with the slightest speck on our souls. What is this disorder really? It’s disordered attachment. The residue of forgiven sin is a certain confusion in our hearts that wants us to hold on to something less than God. That’s all it is. The desire for something less than God. And so, these disordered attachments are overcome best through longing for God, desiring Him, having Him as my only love. And that decision to have Him as my only love, to have Him as the only object of my affection, that has a very short shelf-life. We have to constantly renew it. And it’s an act of the will, but it’s an act of the will under the action of grace. So, sin makes us debtors.
I would recommend, as November approaches, that you read, it’s very short, Treatise on Purgatory by St. Catherine of Genoa. It’s called the Treatise on Purgatory. You can buy a hard copy for $6. You can just get a free PDF of the document. It’s called Treatise on Purgatory by St. Catherine of Genoa. That’s your reading assignment for next month. This will be a good preparation for November and a great motivation for you to renew your efforts, your charity in praying for the holy souls in purgatory, who so long to see God but can’t because of the residual disorder.
Now, St. Catherine was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in 1477. And she wanted to be a nun at a very young age. When she was 12, she told her father, “I want to be a nun.” And her father said, “That’s not going to happen. I’ve got somebody chosen for you to marry.” And so, she went into a very sad arranged marriage. Sad because the man that she married was very frivolous, superficial, and unfaithful. And so, she came from wealth, married a wealthy man who was very poor in character and faith. And her way of addressing this newfound situation in her life was to simply become superficial too.
And so, she, who had wanted to be a nun, now set her heart on beautiful clothing, on the jewelry that was now at her disposal, the fine foods that she got because she lived on this beautiful estate, and found herself terribly sad as a result. Imagine, she had all of these things that the world tells us we should want, and she had them, and found the more she had, the more alienated she was from herself. And she had a sister who was a nun, and she went and spoke with her sister after five years of marriage and said, “I am just a mess. I am not happy. Everything I want is given to me, and I’m just unhappy.”
And she said, “You haven’t been to communion in 10 years because of your superficial life. The next step for you is to make confession.”
So, she made a very good confession, as best she could, and had such a profound experience of God’s love but also the disproportion between God’s love and her soul. And she had this vision of her every sin and imperfection, and every speck on her soul in a certain mystical way that Our Lord allowed her to see. She was 27 years old and went back to do a life confession, a general confession, because now she saw it all with absolute clarity. It was a real gift that Our Lord had…
Now we ought to be aware of overnight conversions. They usually are not real. Conversions, yes, but one day to the next, that doesn’t usually happen. Usually, even if you look at Saint Paul, he had his vision, but then he had to go spend 10 years in the desert to kind of a novitiate in the spiritual life, so to say. So, these overnight conversions are very rare. Obviously, they require cooperation. This was a real one. This was a real one.
She went from no communion during the period of 10 years to daily communion, which in the 15th century was not a regular practice. So, this Catherine of Genoa then became a daily communicant and, all of a sudden, those things that she thought were so important – her jewels, her clothing, the refined food, all of this – gave her repulsion. She gave it all away and dedicated the rest of her life to caring for the sick. There was also a leper colony there, not far from Genoa, where she helped out. But caring for the sick and the poor…
And her conversion was so profound, so life-altering in every respect that it dragged her husband along with; that he saw what happened to his wife. He knew her before, he knew her now, and the grace of God penetrated his soul and this superficial frivolous man also entrusted himself to divine mercy, went to Confession for the first time in decades, and lived a holy life along with his bride. This is this is really what marriage is supposed to be: Mutual sanctification, where one is edified by the virtue, the faith, the grace, and the other.
Well, she joined the lay Franciscans and continued her service to the poor and the infirm. All along Our Lord would allow her glimpses of Purgatory, and that’s where the Treatise on Purgatory comes from that she wrote. It is not wrong. I really recommend you read it in preparation for November.
One thing that she says that was probably rather startling for the people of her age was that purgatory, rather than a place, it wasn’t a fire that attacked the body, it was a fire from within. It was a fire that tortured us because of one’s disordered attachments, but at the same time brought tremendous joy. And as the heart is purified by this interior fire, the disordered attachments diminish. And as the disordered attachments diminish, the ability, the capacity to love God ever more purely grows. And therefore, the ensuing joy grows.
She died from an illness contracted from one of her patients that she was helping, and she was buried in a graveyard which was later flooded, and they exhumed her body and found that she was incorrupt. And then in the late 1700s, she was canonized. Part of the canonization process for her were the two treaties that she wrote. The one is the treatise on purgatory and the other is called the Dialogue... The Spiritual Dialogue Between Body and Soul. I haven’t read that second one, but the first one is certainly something that would be of benefit –if you’ve already read it, to revisit it – if you haven’t. Hold on to your hats, because it’s really a powerful, powerful exposition of the truth of God’s mercy and justice as one thing: purifying all-loving fire.
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, the Holy Ghost.
~Fr. Ermatinger