The Treasure of Heaven and the Call to Charity
Offertory
"Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice..."
Summary of Headings
- Introduction and Context
- The Value of Heaven
- Faith and Charity
- The Role of the Church
- Call to Action
- Conclusion
Introduction and Context
I'm going to try to combine a little bit the epistle of the fifth Sunday after Easter. Which is an epistle. According to St. James. Combined with the Gospel of today. Where our Lord is talking about the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field. A man finds the treasure buried in a field. And he goes and sells all that he has so he can buy that field. And then he digs up the treasure. And he has that for himself. Or a pearl of great price. That we are willing to sell everything we have to be able to have that pearl. A merchant of pearls. We are, that is how we should perceive heaven. It is worth any and every cost.
The Value of Heaven
If there's ever been a great example of that, it's the martyrs. They choose to give up their own lives rather than to deny Christ. In many cases, it was just one grain of incense. It was with their loved ones begging and pleading with them. It was with their loved ones being tortured and killed in front of them. Any number of things. And yet, they did not waver. They did not hesitate. They gave up their lives for their faith. This is how. We should appreciate the concept of going to heaven. How much we should appreciate the faith. How much we should appreciate grace.
Faith and Charity
But more than that, it's necessary for us to understand that our faith is not our own. It's not just something that we are supposed to have to hoard for ourselves. And this is where St. James comes in with the epistle of today. For religion, clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this. To visit the fatherless and widows to their tribulation. In their tribulations. And to keep oneself unspotted from this world. Our job isn't just to believe and to foster our faith. Our job is not just to grow in grace ourselves. But because grace necessitates charity. It is self-effusive. Whatever we receive, we must hand on. Tradidi quod et accepi I have handed on what I have received.
The Role of the Church
The great words of St. Paul. Utilized by Archbishop Lefebvre on his tomb. Of course, we're speaking not just about tradition. And not just about doctrine. But we are talking about the very grace and love of God. We are all recipients of this love. We are all recipients of this grace. We have all received of these things. God has given himself for us. We are the prime beneficiaries of his love. And we look at just what a disaster the world is. And it's easy for us to think. Better me. Better them than me. And it's easy for us to kind of shut ourselves off from that world.
Call to Action
It's especially easy for us to not confront the pain and suffering of those around us. When you see somebody in trouble. It's a whole lot easier for us to turn away and ignore them. It's a whole lot easier for us to blame somebody. Else for their problems. It's because of the world today. It's because people lost their faith. Because that's just how their families taught them the faith. It's the fault of everybody else. And so we point fingers. We shut ourselves away. We turn away. We don't deal with the reality. The crude, horrifying reality of the world we see around us.
Conclusion
Rather, we just simply consider protecting ourselves. Like the man in another. Another. Parable of our Lord. Who when he receives his talents. Instead of putting them to work. And gaining more talents. Instead, buries them in a handkerchief in the back. And then when the Lord comes. All he has to produce is that one hidden talent. We ourselves must not fall into that same trap. Our faith was not given to us to hoard. We are not supposed to become misers with the grace and love that God has shown us. We are not supposed to be just simple. Uh, armchair theologians, armchair, whatever else you want to call it. We are supposed to be active missionaries.
The church has always been supposed to be the forefront of all charitable, necessary charitable social activities. When the French Revolution occurred. The, um, the French government. The new republic, quote unquote. Ransacked all the churches. Stole all the goods and treasures from there. They slaughtered the aristocracy and many of the religious and priests. And stole all the goods and all the property and all the wealth that they had hidden in those areas. Or contained in those areas. But then, very soon, the government started to fall short of money. Because the system before in the ancient kingdom. Was based upon the charity of the church. All hospitals, schools, orphanages. All charitable institutions. Were run by the church, by charity.
And now, all of a sudden, the government had that expense. And all we have to do is kinda look around at our world today and see where that gets us. Nothing works as it's supposed to. School system's a mess. Hospital system's a mess. Medical system's a mess. Orphanage system is a mess. And it always will be. Because charity doesn't come from the state. It comes from God. And the church. The further away God is from those institutions, the less charity there will be there. Which is why the church must be a part of this. Which is one of the reasons why it's so crucial that there be a true system of education, of medicine, of taking care of the poor and the homeless and the insane and everybody else who needs help that needs to come from the church.
But the problem is, as with everything else, in many aspects the church has become the administrators of these institutions when the church has these institutions and not the purveyors and the ones who actually run them. St. Francis Xavier Cabrini was a great missionary through our country. From coast to coast she founded orphanages and hospitals. She did tremendous good. But now in every one of her hospitals and orphanages, you can barely find a single one of her sisters. And if they're there, they're there as administrators. Not as the nurses, not as the teachers, not as the ones who actually care for the sick and for the children.
They are all in the background. Christian brothers, the same thing. Jesuits, same thing. All the great religious organizations that were created for these goals and for these ends have turned into a church. And they have taken a back seat. One, because they don't have enough members to be able to run these institutions. And two, because they have let the world take claim on them. Which is also one of the reasons why their hospitals and their schools are the most expensive. Whereas before it was supposed to be run on charity, it is now run for profit. There is a betrayal in the very spirit of what charity is supposed to mean in this aspect.
Because they let the state. Come in. This is not how it's supposed to be. Charity comes only from God. Because he is charity. Because he is love. The state should supply for these things. The state should encourage these things. But it should be from the church. Because the church is the hand of God on earth. But how can that be possible? If the Catholics do not take care of these things and actually accomplish these things. Stand up as St. Francis Xavier Cabrini. As St. Philomena to put Christ first. As so many other examples throughout history. Of the heroic saints and people who worked hard for the less privileged. For people who were poor, who were destitute.
For people who had nothing to give. They gave to them. And they gave to the poor. It's easy for us to point fingers and condemn the modern church. Condemn the country. Condemn the state for how they run these things. Condemn greed and consumerism. To condemn all the spirit of the things behind all these failures. But the problem is we should always remember to point the finger where it first belongs. And that is at ourselves. Our failures of charity. Our failures of charity. How much charity do we share with everyone around us? Do we help institutions that try to help the poor and the hungry and the needy?
Do we volunteer at a soup kitchen? Do we pray for the people in front of an abortion clinic? Do we try to actually work for the improvement of society? And to try to help and sanctify people who need it? Do we look around us and we see the godlessness of our world? And the suffering that is necessary because of the godlessness of our world? We look around and see so much suffering all around us. So much poverty all around us. So much difficulty all around us. And material poverty is very secondary. I'm talking spiritual poverty. People who don't have the riches and the treasures that we have right here.
People who don't know the love of God. People who don't know of his mercy. People who have never seen him. People who have never seen a crucifix. People who have never seen a mass. Who have never received communion. Never received his grace. Never heard his teaching. People who don't know right from wrong because they've never been taught. And it's easy for us to cast them aside. To shut them away. And to ignore them. Or to blame everybody else for them. But we should always remember. The first person to blame is ourselves. Because we don't give as much as we should. And I'm not talking about donations to other institutions.
I'm not talking about donations to our building project or anything else. Money aside. That is this very secondary thing. Saint Therese of Lisieux is the patroness of the missionaries. And missions. How is that possible? She was a 15 year old girl when she entered the convent. And she never left it. She never peeked outside. How could she be the patroness of missionaries? It was because her entire apostolate. All of her prayers. All of her sacrifices. Were dedicated to the sanctification of missionaries. And to the sanctification of souls who most needed it. Who were furthest away from God. That is why she is that patroness.
We can at least do that much. We can at least pray for people. We can at least offer sacrifices for those who are far away. We can at least pray for those who are furthest away from God. When we see the suffering all around us. And we don't have to go to India or wherever else to find that suffering. We have more than enough of it right here. We don't even have to look outside our families. We don't even have to look outside those around us. There is suffering enough. And we don't pay enough attention to it. And we aren't helpful enough with it. There is so much work to be done. There is so much need in the world.
And there is need for one thing and one thing only. And that is God Almighty. It is the only thing that is necessary to fix all the problems and ills in the world. Not everything else we have. And it is easy for us to justify our own suffering. And to justify ourselves with some other secondary thing. It is so easy for us to lose ourselves in different distractions. But the essential thing is we have been given a treasure. We have found a treasure buried in this field. And we are the ones who by the grace of God found it, dug it up and have it. But now what are we going to do with it?
Are we going to become like Ebenezer Scrooge? And hide it away in our vaults? And continue to count it? And try to keep it growing for our benefit? Or are we going to be able to share it out? Are we going to try to increase it so we can help more? Are we going to do more with it? Because that is the final goal. If we have received grace, it is because God is charity. And charity is self-effusive. He did not need to create us. He did so because he loved us from before our existence. And because he wanted to share his joy and his love with us. He did not have to give us grace. Especially after original sin.
But he did so because he loved us. And he wanted us to be happy with him. He did not have to give us freedom. But he wanted to because he wanted us to choose him freely. That is the only way we could be perfectly happy with him. He did not have to give us all sorts of things. But he does. He does not have to give himself in the sacrifice of the Mass. But he does. He did not have to give us the great examples of the saints like Saint Philomena. But he does. He does not have to give us all the beautiful things that we have. But he does because he loves us. And that love needs to be shared.
And while we receive his love, we do not love in return. And that is the problem. Our lack of charity to our neighbor is because we do not have true charity for God. We do not love him back enough. We do not recognize him. We do not recognize the debt of honor that we owe him. And we do not recognize the fact that he is God. All lovable, perfectly, absolutely lovable God. So therefore, we should love him as absolutely as a Saint Philomena. As Our Lady herself. If it were possible to love infinitely, we should love infinitely. As it is, we should love with everything that we have. And one of the most important ways that we love is through the charity that we show to others.
It could be just simply in being patient with others. Asking how the other person is doing. Being a shoulder to cry on when they need it. Being supportive and helpful when they need it. It could be not rising to the bait when they want to fight. It could be any number of ways. But charity in this world is the only method. It is the medicine that will cure all ills. And the one place it must come from is us. Because we are the recipients of the treasure that God himself has given to us. And charity, to be able to be used properly, must be born of prayer.
We must pray to know God better. And to follow his example better. And the first place that we pray is always the Mass. So while we are at Mass, we need to start paying better attention to what we are doing during Mass. Christ is the actor in Mass. He is the one who performs. He is the one who does the essential work of the Mass. That is not for all of you to do. Not even for the servers. There are participants as well. That is for Christ to do the action. But he invites you, if you will, to connect to him. To offer your little sacrifice in union with him. He will take all of your intentions. He will take all of you. And he will put them on the altar.
And he will unite your intentions and your very selves to his sacrifice. But that is the first step. We must participate in the Mass. Not as the priest. Not as Christ. But as invitees. He has called you. He has invited you. So really pay attention to how you attend Mass. That is the first place that we learn to pray. And we learn what true charity is. Born of sacrifice. And born of God himself. Because that is the way. That charity can enter into our souls. And we can learn to love God appropriately enough. That we can learn to love our neighbor as we should. Not as just we want to be loved. But as Christ himself has loved us.
Which is his great command to us. We must love one another as he has loved us. So therefore, that is the goal in this Mass. And every Mass from here on out. The Mass should transform us. There is a glimpse into each other. And it is an eternal vision of the love of God. Which is perfect and infinite. Let us focus all of our attention on that. Because by doing so, we can learn true charity. And through us, charity can seep out into the world. And start to heal all the wounds that we see all around us. And maybe save some souls while we are at it. And we can share eternity with those souls that we touch.
Through the charity that God has given us. And we can be saved. And we can be eternally happy with them in heaven. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the