The prophet Joel tells us:
Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
And so I tell you: Repent, put on sack cloth and cover yourselves in ashes.
Frankly, you are going to hell and so am I. Joel was being very honest. I too must be honest. We need to turn from the course we are on. We need to return to God.
It is easy to say nice things and to preach platitudes. I can tell you to be nice, to be kind, to love your brothers and sisters, and to give to the poor. It will go in one ear and out the other. How can I do that when you are going to hell? How can I make you stop and think? How can I make you change your ways?
Joel left Father and me a very important message as well:
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, —Spare, O LORD, your people
And we do cry to the Lord every day. We carry constant concern for you. We pray for you. We ache when you are hurting. My family and I pray for you each night. In cases of special need we pray for you by name. I personally pray for you in the morning, at noon, and at night. I pray because I worry about your salvation and your everlasting soul.
We ask God to spare His people from the evil of the day. We ask God to spare you from temptation. We ask God to spare you from the kinds of easy justifications we all perform. We ask God to spare you from the evil that makes you think you will live forever.
Last Wednesday the letter of James said:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”– you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
How true. In an instant you will be gone. In a moment you will be no more.
Psalm 103 tells us:
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
And in 1 Peter we read:
You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God, for: “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field; the grass withers, and the flower wilts; but the word of the Lord remains forever.” This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.
So I proclaim it to you. You will not remain in this earthly life forever. Now is the moment. This is the time. Repent.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
If you think tomorrow will come you are deluded.
My poor children,
Use this moment and this Lent to consider your life. Put all of your focus on God.
If you despair of illness, bad relationships, hard times, or economic failure make a right offering of your pain, sorrow, and sickness to God. Wash your face, keep a clean appearance, and do not look glum. Offer yourself and every sorrow to God. Tie yourself to the cross, for you are sharing in Christ’s suffering. Do it joyfully. Thank you Lord Jesus for this time of suffering. Lord Jesus, let me be ever closer to You in my sorrow.
When you are wronged react with kindness and forbearance. Indeed, we are a small community, a little under a couple hundred people. It’s easy to offend and to be offended. It is easy to snipe and not forgive. It’s easy to be jealous and to hold bitter grudges. I see it and hear it all the time. I do it myself.
Remember, all will be laid bare, all will be seen by God at your personal judgment, and by everyone at the final judgment.
Are you willing to stand before God and explain to the Universal King how so-and-so made you mad? How they hurt your feelings? Are you willing to show God the bitterness that is in your heart and on your tongue?
Let it go now. Seek forgiveness. Reconcile with your brothers and sisters now. Now, before it is too late.
When you engage in an immoral life, when you manipulate your reasoning into excuse making and false justification, when you men objectify women and when you women use men, when you live in sin, just remember how good it makes you feel. You may feel good on the outside, but you are dying inside.
Today we emphasize tolerance, getting along, not upsetting the apple cart, and being accepting. You might even say —Jesus never judged, condemned or excluded anyone—.
You would be wrong. Jesus took the whip to those who profaned His Father’s house. He cast Peter out when Peter thought he knew better than God. He called the Pharisees what they were, white-washed tombs and vipers, hypocrites all.
When you make judgments about what you think is right and wrong, or when you think something is not sinful, pick up the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Church. You bet it’s wrong and your everlasting soul is in jeopardy.
My brothers and sisters,
In the end I have good news. The good news is that Christ has saved you. By your conscious choice in being here every week you show your commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church. Jesus died for you and carried your sins in the nail marks in His hands, the scourges on His body, and the thorns in His head.
He did this to open the door of heaven to you. This Church believes that your trip to hell will be a trip of your own choosing. Choose God now. Choose life not death.
Remember that every occasion for sin is an occasion for God. Turn your back on sin. Break those immoral relationships, take the bitterness and anger from your hearts.
I would like to conclude with the story of St. Ephraim.
St Ephraim the Syrian wrote beautiful prayers, homilies, poetry, and hymns. While doing so he lived in a continual state of penance.
One day St. Basil the Great came to visit Ephraim and asked:
“Why, venerable father, do you not receive consecration to the order of priesthood, as befits you?”
“Because I am a sinner, my lord!” answered Ephraim through the interpreter.
“O, if only I had your sins!” said Basil, and added: “Let us make a prostration to the ground.”
But when they were bowed to the ground, St. Basil laid his hand on St. Ephraim’s head and recited the prayer of consecration to the diaconate. That is how St. Ephraim was made a deacon. He was at that time about sixty years old.
Let us recall Saint Ephraim’s humility. Let us recall his passion for penance. Let us recall his holy prayer. Let us kneel and pray with him:
O Lord and Master of my life,
Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair,
lust of power and idle talk;
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my
own transgressions and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
