Sermons – 1992 – March 17-19
St. Patrick / Season of Lent / St. Joseph / Season of Lent
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
MPC Disc 12 Received from Breslin
These Sermons were taped by Daniel Peper who
traveled and taped Fr. Hardon from 1990 to 1995
- Feast of St. Patrick
- Season of Lent
- Feast of St. Joseph
- Season of Lent
1. Feast of St. Patrick
Gospel Reading (Matthew 23: 1-12) and Homily
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus told the crowd and His disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees have
succeeded Moses as teachers. Therefore, do everything and observe everything
they tell you; but do not follow their example. Their words are bold; but their
deeds are few. They bind up heavy loads; hard to carry, to lay on other men’s
shoulders, while they themselves do not lift a finger to budge them. All their
works are performed to be seen; they widen their phylacteries and wear huge
tassels; they are found of places of honor at banquets and the front seats in
synagogues, of marks of respect in public, of being called “Rabbi”. As to you
avoid the title “Rabbi”; one among you is your Teacher, the rest are learners.
Do not call anyone on earth your father; only one is your Father, the One in
Heaven. Avoid being called teachers; only one is your Teacher, the Messiah.
The greatest among you be the one who serves the rest. Whatever a man exalts
himself, in that he shall be humbled; but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
On the Feast of St. Patrick, I think I should say something about St. Patrick.
There are few names in the Church’s history that are more famous than that of
St. Patrick; and the last one on earth would be Patrick, himself, who would
claim credit for his fame.
I mean there are especially three virtues of St. Patrick that should be reflected
on and imitated; first of all, his deep, simple faith, then his humility, and
then his boundless zeal to convert souls to Christ.
Patrick had a very deep faith; simple but deep. In today’s sophisticated world,
how we need, how desperately we need, to beg God to deepen our faith. And among
the truths of faith that Patrick held, as he said more than once, even wanting
to die for that faith, were his faith in the Holy Eucharist and his faith
in the Vicar of Christ. I know of no two articles of our faith that are being
more challenged than these two, today.
His deep humility; read what is called The Confession of St. Patrick;
paragraph after paragraph, almost sentence after sentence is the language of
a very humble person.
“How”, he said, “how God could possibly, how God could possibly have chosen
a man like me, to bring your Gospel to these people?” The last thing
that Patrick ever did was boast of his own achievements. We couldn’t have a
better Gospel than the one we’ve just read – humility; wondering, marveling,
stupefied that God would choose a man like him to do the work of the
Lord.
How we need today, especially among the leaders in the Church, our bishops
– pray, pray, pray for humility among the successors of the apostles – humility
in giving God credit for everything in our lives.
And finally, a boundless zeal; traveling, preaching and in constant threat
of his own life because of the enemies that he made.
Last week, I was in Chicago. The week before, a multimillionaire drove from
Chicago to Detroit here to make a private retreat. Among the decisions
he had to make was whether he should buy one of the sixty empty churches in
Chicago, now on sale. Called me again last night: “Should I buy that church?”
“Yes, buy it!”
Hundreds of thousands of poor people in the slums of Chicago; those with money,
moved off. I’ve been working for seventeen years with the Missionaries of
Charity. I have only the highest praise for having, well, soup kitchens
and places of refuge for the poor; but the real poverty is poverty of
spirit.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, how we need
something of the zeal of St. Patrick to bring that food which alone can sustain
us into eternal life.
How the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Hare Krishnas, how they put me
to shame, when I think of their zeal.
Please God, we will learn from St. Patrick something of what we, in our country
so desperately need, a deep, simple faith; great humility and zeal to preach
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the millions in our nation who do not have the
true faith in our groping in darkness. And we, we can bring the Gospel to them.
St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, and model of zeal for souls, pray for us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
2. Season of Lent
Gospel Reading (Matthew 20: 17-20) and Homily
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
As Jesus was starting to go up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve aside on the
road and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem alone. There the Son of
man will be handed over to the chief priests and Scribes who will condemn him
to death. They will turn him over to the Gentiles to be made sport of and flogged
and crucified, but on the third day, he will be raised up.” The mother of Zebedee’s
sons came up to him accompanied by her sons to do him homage and ask of him
a favor. “What is it you want?” he said. She answered, “Promise me that these
sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and the other at our left, in
your kingdom.” In reply, Jesus said, “Do not you know what you are doing?
Can you drink of the cup that I am to drink?” “We can”, they said. He told
them, “From the cup I drink of you shall drink; sitting at my right hand or
my left is not mine to give; that is for those for whom it has been reserved
by my Father.” The other ten on hearing this became indignant at the two brothers.
Jesus then called them together and said, “You know how those who exercise authority
among the Gentiles lorded over them; their great ones make their importance
felt. It cannot be like that with you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness
must serve the rest. And who ever wants to rank first must serve the need of
all. Such is the case with the Son of man who has come not to be served by
others but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
During the season of Lent, if there is one truth that the Church wants to bring
out, it is that if we want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, like
him, we must pay the price. What is a price? The price is, dare I say, nonsense
to the modern world. To follow Christ, we must be humble, we must, if you want
to follow Christ, serve others, be at their disposal; to follow Christ we must
be willing to be misunderstood, ostracized, persecuted, and put to death.
As I speak here, morning after morning, to a group that have the faith, I’m
encouraged; but I have no illusions, none whatever, how widespread is unbelief
in the modern world.
We know what Christ taught, who he claimed to be and why he came into the world.
Christ came into the world to save the world from the consequences of sin, and
the result was he was opposed, condemned to death, and crucified. Life in this
world is very short. They don’t seem like years, and the closer you get to
eternity the years seem like months, and the months like days. Whatever else
we need, especially during this season of Lent, we must beg our Lord to be willing;
in order to serve him faithfully, pay whatever it costs, whatever it costs,
to remain faithful to Jesus Christ.
Last week, I was in Chicago; sixty empty churches for sale. And Detroit? God
knows; forty or more empty churches. My prayer, my earnest plea to God is,
that we, I have to use the verb, wake-up, to what is going on in our
nation. Pray that our Lord may open the eyes and the hearts of those who still
have the Catholic faith, how specific I could be, so that Christ’s passion and
death will not have been in vain. We have a duty, we in Detroit in Gesu
Parish, have a duty to evangelize and re-evangelize our fellow citizens so that
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, may not have died in vain.
Dear Lord, open our eyes, we beg you, open our hearts, we beg you, to cooperate
with you and pay the price that you paid, in order that, your passion and death
may not have been in vain. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
3. Feast of St. Joseph
Gospel Reading (Luke 2: 41-51) and Homily
Alleluia, how happy are
they who dwell in your house, O Lord; continually they sing your praise.
Alleluia.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.
The parents of Jesus used to go every year to Jerusalem for the feast of the
Passover. And when he was twelve they went up for the celebration, as was their
custom. As they were returning at the end of the feast the child Jesus remained
behind unknown to his parents. Thinking he was in the party, they continued
their journey for a day looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
Not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. On the third
day they came upon him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions. All who heard him were amazed at
his intelligence and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished,
and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? You see that
your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow.” He said to them,
“Why do you search for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s
house?” But they did not grasp what he said to them. He went down with them
and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
On the Feast of St. Joseph, the patron of the universal Church, we should see
something of how Jesus was protected by St. Joseph during Christ’s physical
life on earth so that now the mystical Christ is being protected by St. Joseph.
In the providence of God, Christ was to have been conceived and born of a virgin.
There is no way, human speaking, that God could achieve that purpose unless
there was a Joseph to protect and ensure the reputation of Mary, who
by everyone else, that is Jesus, was considered the son of Joseph. Christ himself
had to maintain his reputation; so he did. And again, from Mary’s conception
until the death of Joseph, Jesus was considered the natural son of Joseph.
Joseph protected Jesus, even as we know physically, when he and Mary took the
child Jesus and flew to Egypt. When God wants something done, especially something
mysterious that is beyond the comprehension of human beings, he will provide.
He provided for the moral integrity and the public reputation of both Mary and
Jesus, by providing St. Joseph. But Joseph lived up to his role in the life
of Jesus and Mary. There is not one recorded word of Joseph in the Gospels.
How we need to learn from Joseph the importance of the virtue of prudence, especially
in our speech. Most people can talk without thinking twice. Some people can
talk without thinking, period. St. Joseph can teach us many things, but over
the years in speaking on this protector of Jesus and Mary and protector of the
Church, my stress has always been on the humility of Joseph; on his exercise
of authority over Jesus, even though Joseph was the creature and Christ was
the Creator; and on St. Joseph’s mastery of the tongue. If there is one virtue
that we should learn from St. Joseph, and may I suggest, and I’m telling myself
this that, today in the quincentennial year discovery of America on the Feast
of St. Joseph, we ask him to obtain for us something of his deep, deep silent
love of Jesus and Mary; because it is by our silent, prudent humble love of
Jesus and Mary that we best imitate the patron of the universal Church and grow
in that relationship with Jesus and Mary, which we most desperately need.
One last thought; I recommend every day that we pray for the grace of a happy
death, that like St. Joseph, as tradition tells us, we too, like him, may die
in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church; Joseph most prudent; Joseph most
loyal; Joseph the great lover of Jesus and Mary, obtain for us the greatest
grace we need; the grace to die in the company, in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
4. Season of Lent
Gospel Reading (Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46) and Homily
Glory and praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory and praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
With all your heart turn to me for I am tender and compassionate.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “Listen to this parable.
There was a property owner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug
out a wine vat and erected a tower. Then he leased it out to tenant farmers
and went on a journey. When the fruit season time arrived, he dispatched his
slaves to the tenants to obtain his share of the grapes. The tenants responded
by seizing the slaves. The vine-dressers seized his servants, and beat one,
killed another and stoned a third. A second time he dispatched even more slaves
than before, but they treated them the same way. Finally, he sent his son to
them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ When they saw the son, the tenants
said to one another, ‘Here is the one who would inherit everything; let us kill
him and then we shall have his inheritance.’ With that, they seized him, dragged
him outside the vineyard and killed him. What do you suppose the owner of the
vineyard will do to those tenants when he comes?” They replied, “He will bring
that wicked crowd to a bad end and lease his vineyard to others who will see
to it that his grapes at vintage time are harvested.” Jesus said to them, “Did
you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has
become the keystone of the structure; it was the Lord who did this, and we find
it marvelous to behold. For this reason, I tell you, the kingdom of God will
be taken away from you and given to a nation that will yield a rich harvest.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they realized
he was speaking about them. Although they sought to arrest him, they had reason
to fear the crowds who regarded him as a prophet.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Homily
If there is one thing that the Church wants us to understand during the season
of Lent, it is that Jesus Christ was rejected by his own people. Two thousand
years of prophecy, one prophet after another, foretelling the coming of the
Messiah; finally he came, and they killed him.
If there is one thing we had better understand, it is that if we’re going to
follow Christ, we will not, comma, we will not, be accepted by the world.
To follow Christ means to share in the experiences of Christ. We all want to
be accepted; we all want to be respected; we all want to be loved; we all want
to be cared for; we all want – what do we want? We want the people with whom
and among whom we live, to be one of them. We dread rejection. I don’t mean
violent rejection by being thrown into prison or killed but we dread the thousands
of ways in which people can reject us; a turning of the face, a closing of the
eyes, a frown; yet it is human respect that keeps so many, otherwise, good believing
Catholics from being true followers of Jesus Christ. I know, I know.
Lord Jesus, you the living God, did nothing but practice heroic charity. You
taught nothing but Divine Truth yet, the world into which you came, with only
a few exceptions, rejected you, did not accept you and for two thousand years,
we have had the symbol of how God is accepted by the world – your Cross.
Dear Jesus, give us the wisdom to see what you are teaching us, but above all,
the courage to be faithful to you, no matter what, especially, those whom we
may dearly love will do to us.
As you told us, dear Savior:
If you are ashamed of me here on earth, I will be ashamed of you in eternity.
Give us the courage, dear Savior, not to be slaves of human respect. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Copyright © 1998 Inter Mirifica
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