A Short Sunday Sermon

 

Do you like sermons which go on for 30 or 40 minutes? I don't, and typically run outside for a cigarette and a cup of coffee, if available, while the preacher's banging on interminably. That in mind, I'll try to keep it short lest you lose interest and dive into the nearest gun shop.

The miraculous feeding of the 5000. Positive divine power proof that Jesus was God; mortals can't do such things. Our first lesson, the divinity of Christ, but what else? Start at the beginning of the passage and what do we find? Jesus stepping ashore from his boat, God made Man stepping onto the shore of the world, the Incarnation. Once there he beholds the crowd, the mass of broken humanity, and moved with compassion, cures the sick.

Behold the character of the Incarnate Word; full of compassion, with mercy, pity and love, he heals the sick. There on that shore it was physical disease, which points to a greater cure, our deliverance from sin and death, of being made whole again by the great physician of our souls. Where is this achieved?

On the Cross, and again the miraculous narrative points us to this, to the "lonely place apart" where the day is well-spent, to Gethsemane, the Praetorium, to Golgotha itself and the Cross, where our Lord cries out, "It is finished," and darkness covers the land even as he feeds us with the miraculous food of his body and blood.

Look what we have in just the first half of the Gospel passage, an outline of Christ's redemptive work, but we have to ask, where do we get this supernatural food? In the Eucharist, which is emphatically prefigured in the miracle. What happens?

There in the dark, recall his Passion, he takes the small offering of  5 loaves and two fish, signifying what? The Law and the Prophets, the 5 senses of Man sanctified, the sevenfold order of creation, Jesus himself who is the bread of life? All this perhaps and more and, having taken this up he blesses it, breaks it and gives it to the disciples to distribute.

He does the very same thing at the Last Supper, the first Eucharist, where from his compassion he feeds his disciples with the miraculous food of his body and blood shed for them on the Cross for the remission of their sins, for their healing and life. He does the same for us today in the Mass, where our Lord steps ashore to heal us, to make us whole again with God, nourishing us with the supernatural food of his body and blood.

What can we do in the face of such mystery? Draw near with faith to the sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood, wherein the Great Physician heals us, forgiving our sins and raises us to eternal life.

God Bless,

LSP

Something Serious

 

Enough of the frivolous tomfoolery that characterizes this so-called "blog," it's time for something serious. Namely some wisdom for the third Sunday of Lent from Austin Farrer:

"CHRIST broke his mysterious body and gave it to his disciples at the Supper without explaining at that time what the breaking and giving would mean.  There was no need, the facts would presently make it clear.  What, then, was done to this body?  It was stripped, scourged, and nailed to a cross: stripped of all dignity and all possession, scourged with the stroke of penal justice, and nailed up like a dead thing while it was still alive.  The body you receive in this sacrament accomplished its purpose by nailing to a tree.  You are to become this body, you are to be nailed: nailed to Christ’s sacrificial will.  The nails that hold you are God’s commandments, your rules of life, prayers, confessions, communions regularly observed.  Let us honour the nails for Christ’s sake, and pray that by the virtue of his passion they may hold fast."

The nails that hold you are God’s commandments, your rules of life, prayers, confessions, communions regularly observed. Surely Farrer was the greatest Anglican theologian of the last century.

God Bless,

LSP 

Corpus Christi

 

While you were all running around yesterday waving rainbow flags with Justine Trudeau, others were celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi. Here's an uplifting song:

Verus,

LSP

Climate Chage Eschaton

 

Wow. Thunder rolled across the sky and lightning flashed like so many ME 262s going down over Stuttgart. Yes, it was a Thursday evening Mass at Our Lady of the Lake.  Question.

If you believe Christ is truly present in the Sacrifice of the Mass, if he's really there and you get to enter into communion with him, with God, at the Eucharist, why do you not attend? 

Surely not because you don't believe and the Faith is an adjunct to what really concerns you, ie making money and serving Satan.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

PS. Just a thought and a welcome opportunity to post pics of the amazingly cool ME 262.

Texas Light

 

The famed City of Lights, aka Paris, France, is great but Texas has light too, from the heavens. That struck me as I drove out to take the Sacrament to a churchman who'd just got back from hospital after hip surgery. There it was, the sun breaking through the clouds like the presence of God blessing the land of the Lone Star State.

And there I was at the ranch, parking up by an old Chevy 2500 and looking over at round bales, a random dog house sitting on the side of a storm shelter, and a barn beyond. A lot of memories. Many, many hours dove hunting and walking the treelines, gun in hand, a few unsuccessful coyote calls under a bright moon, target shooting photos of Episcopal bishops with GH, rest in peace, and on. What good times.

A cacophony of tiny dogs greeted me at the door, "Come on in, Fr. LSP!" And I did, TR was recovering on a recliner and everyone was watching Yes Prime Minister, a favorite in this part of rural Texas, but that had to pause for the short service.

Think, God, in the Sacrament, visited that house and the people who received him were united to his victory on the Cross. The sun, if you like, broke through the clouds and the glory of God shone. What a wondrous miracle, and how dim our eyes are to see it, but I won't preach.

TR's a neat guy, he used to cowboy at the King Ranch and I asked him once what it was like, "I'll tell you Father, nineteenth century work for nineteenth century pay." In related news, he cooks what might be the best brisket I have ever tasted. Just outstanding, and that's no idle plaudit.

God bless you all and grant TR a full recovery.

Tantum Ergo,

LSP