THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

12 November 2023

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends,

Because there are twenty-six Sundays after Pentecost this year, today's Gospel reading is taken from the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. This Gospel reading (Saint Matthew 13:24-30) is the parable of the man who sowed good seed in his field, but an enemy came and oversowed weeds.

The enemy (devils) cannot create anything, but they are very capable of duplicity and deception. In the parable, the enemy waited until all the good seed was sown and then oversowed weeds that appeared very similar to wheat. The weed seeds were very similar to the wheat seeds. It takes a careful observer or a keen eye to discern one from the other. As we draw the spiritual meaning from this parable, we see that God first plants prophets, and then the devils plant false prophets. God first sends Apostles, and then the devils send false Apostles. Christ came and then followed anti-Christs. Pseudo-popes, bishops, and priests also follow true popes, bishops, and priests.

As the tares are challenging to discern from the wheat, it isn't easy to distinguish true faith from the many and varied false ones. One false sect may look like the truth on one face but will be lacking on another. A different false sect will look correct where the other was lacking but still lacking in some other aspect. We must look at the whole rather than the superficial similarities to discern the errors.

The Catholic Faith was given to us by Jesus Christ, but various false or pseudo-Christian religions soon began to surface and cause confusion. These have many true aspects but are always lacking in one way or another. Like in the parable, we are instructed by God to wait for the harvest. We must let the weeds grow with the wheat because if we try to pull out one, we will invariably injure the other. We must suffer the bad to live with the good. At the end of time, God will send His angels to separate the good from the bad, as the harvesters will separate the wheat from the weeds.

Though the weeds and the wheat are growing side by side, we must study and discern one from the other lest we become scandalized (led into sin) by the false beliefs and practices of the pseudo-Christians/Catholics. If we succumb to peer pressure around us, we can easily go from good to bad.

The true Catholic Faith is unchanging because God, Who gave it to us, is unchanging. The many false religions around us hold to many good and true things, but we must believe all that Jesus teaches us through the Catholic Church — not just some. We are social creatures and want to be with others and have others with us, but we cannot sacrifice the truth for this. The worn-out refrain of "seek what unites us rather than what divides us" sounds good on the surface but manifests the very deception we see in today's parable. It is not the similarity between the wheat and the weeds that need to be sought, but rather the differences.

Many Protestants believe in "a Jesus," but it is not the true Jesus because there is one or more vital aspects of Jesus that they lack or are opposed to the real Jesus. We often hear that "we all believe in the same God." This is not the truth. The "Jesus" of many Protestant sects allows and even promotes divorce and remarriage. This varies widely and is very distinct/different than the actual Jesus, Who taught, "What God has joined together let no man put asunder." Some believe in a false Jesus that teaches that the Apostles and their successors do not have the power to forgive sins. This again contradicts the Truth, Who said, "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained." Many do not believe in the True Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Again, denying the Truth where He said, "This is My Body…" And again, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you shall not have life in you." One more divergence is the belief in the Mass. Some false religions want to define it as the "commemoration of the Last Supper," which contradicts the truth that the Mass is the Sacrifice of the Mass, one and the same as the Sacrifice of Calvary. The only difference is that the Sacrifice of the Mass is unbloody, and the Sacrifice of Calvary is bloody. In the Mass, Jesus is truly Present on the Altar and offers Himself in Sacrifice in our time and for our benefit. The Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrifice of Calvary are One. The One and same Jesus offers Himself in Sacrifice for us both on the Cross and the Altar.

We must be watchful and careful because it is easy to be led to accept one or more false teachings and then be corrupted from wheat to weed — from good to bad. We will not likely see any grand sign from Heaven because the good and the bad are permitted to grow side by side until the last day. But it will be too late to correct this terrible evil on the Last Day. The wheat will be eternally wheat, and the weeds will be eternally weeds — and be forever separated.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us!