THE CALLS OF GRACE
by VP
Posted on Sunday September 29, 2024 at 01:00AM in Sermons
They that were invited were not worthy."-Matt. xxii. 8.
1. Gospel reminds us of the many calls and invitations of grace.
2. Why God is so generous? Because He loves us.
3. How have we responded?
4. Resolve to treasure God's graces.
THIS Gospel reminds us of the manifold invitations, the countless calls of grace, wherewith we are favored by our loving Lord and Savior. Here in God's church we cannot help but remember them. How often has He spoken to us those words, “Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened: and I will refresh you (Matt. xi. 28). At another time, when He has seen us wasting the short and precious hours of life, He has bidden us, "Go you also into My vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just " (Matt. xx. 4). And when our souls have yearned for Him, wishing to give themselves devoutly to Him, He has said, as He did to St. Andrew, "Come and see" (John i. 39), and we have known where to find His home here in the tabernacle where He is waiting, always ready, to welcome us and bid us stay with Him.
And why all these merciful invitations? He has no need of us. He is supremely blessed and happy without us. There are so many countless multitudes better than we are. Have they been as favored as we feel that we have been? Then why these calls of grace to us? They are purely out of benevolence. "He is the Lord, who loveth souls."
There are some who may try to excuse themselves by urging that many others have had better chances; more frequent calls of grace, opportunities of practicing piety denied to them; but none of us can truly say that we have not been invited and pressed to join God's service. Does not the gospel tell us, that the servants were at length sent out to bring in all that they could find, both good and bad? So we must have neglected or even resisted, or we should have found ourselves amongst the servants of God. Let us resolve now to take that word of St. Paul's, "I cast not away the grace of God" (Gal. ii. 21), and make it our own, and with a firm, resolute will promise, "I will never again cast away the grace of God."
Our Blessed Lord's parable tells us how the Master, hurt and grieved, complained, "They that were invited were not worthy." Let us pray for holy fear lest we be found unworthy; for a holy anxiety to look to ourselves carefully lest we neglect. We must beware of being self-satisfied. We see others, as we may think, worse than ourselves, but have they received as many graces and calls as we have? And if they are more negligent, more guilty than ourselves, how does that make us stand better in the sight of God? Again, let us not be self-satisfied by any little good that we may have done, which, very likely, is far outbalanced by our shortcomings and our faults. Take heed by the example of those who thought they would be well received by their divine Master. They had forgotten their neglect and putting God off till it was too late. The five foolish virgins came to the marriage festival after the door was shut. They were too late. The gospel says, "But at last also came the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answering said, Amen, amen, I say to you, I know you not." (Matt. xxv. II). And remember those others of whom our Lord said: "Many will say to Me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and cast out devils in Thy name, and done many miracles in Thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matt. vii. 22).
Is not this enough to make us humble and ready to accept God's graces; to welcome His invitations; to be careful to respond to them; and to do our utmost day after day? If we do this and persevere loyally, zealously, we shall indeed hear a very different word from the Master, a blessed welcome indeed! "Then shall the King say to them, Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the Kingdom prepared for you (Matt. xxv. 34)." 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Francis Paulinus Hickey, 1922
Prayer for the Protection of the Church to Saint Michael and the Holy Angels
by VP
Posted on Sunday September 29, 2024 at 01:00AM in Prayers
Prayer to the Holy Angels for Parishes
All you legions and choirs of Angels, please make haste to come to the aid and defense of our One Holy Roman Catholic Church. Led by St. Michael, may she be protected from destruction within by all modernistic attempts that try to diminish the true presence of God and take away His proper and due respect! In particular, come to the aid of my parish (name your parish) that it may remain or be remade to be a place of reverence and a stronghold from which the One True Triune God may continue to lead and strengthen us. Amen. CAPG
"Give thanks for that glory which the angels enjoy. Rejoice in their happiness, and pray that you may arrive at length at that unchangeable state.
Pray for that spirit of adoration in which they prostrate themselves before the throne of God. Join with them in spirit this day, and add your mite to those praises which they give to their Creator: to him be praise and glory for ever.
Pray that the will of God may be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Pray for grace, that you may not be wanting on your part, by withdrawing yourself from that obedience which you owe to your God.
A day instituted in honor of St. Michael and all the choirs of angels, ought to be a summons to all Christians to look into that happy state of which they are possessed; and by considering what their employment is, to conclude what ought to be the business of those, who are preparing to have part with them for all eternity. Now the least glance towards them informs us, that their whole occupation is in God; to adore, bless, and magnify him, to be wholly subject to him, and perform his will in all things; and that in the contemplation and possession of him is their whole happiness. This is an instruction to us, that as we entertain hopes of being added to that blessed company, so we ought here in this life to dispose and fit our souls for that which we hope will be our entertainment for ever. That however we find the whole bent of our souls, with a sort of violence, carrying us towards the earth, yet that it ought to be our endeavor to work our souls by degrees into so holy a disposition, as to be willing to leave earth for heaven. That in the meantime we ought to repute all earthly goods as vain, all satisfactions here as dangerous, and all worldly honor and the opinion of men as unprofitable. We ought to settle a fixed judgment that God is the only good; that He who is the happiness of the blessed is our only happiness here; that the best employment of our understanding is to know Him, and the ways that lead to Him, and of our will and affections to love Him. This ought to be the business of a Christian life, and is most certainly the best preparation for a happy death. For the soul by this means coming as near the life of the blessed, as the condition of this life will permit, death becomes not a death to it, but sets it at liberty from all those impediments, which were here its oppression and grievance, and puts it in a way of perfecting what it could here but imperfectly begin. Happy are those Christians, who by frequent consideration of that state which the blessed enjoy, and which is the object of their hopes, can bring their souls to this holy disposition, and make God the entertainment of their understanding and will here, whom they desire to be their only one for ever.
But because the greatest hindrances of this work, are the many distractions of this life, we cannot but acknowledge it a very providential mercy that God has by his Church appointed certain days to be kept holy, wherein Christians may not only give rest to their bodies, but to their souls also, by taking them off from the solicitude of worldly affairs, and applying them more closely to God. It is to be feared that there are very few who make it their practice to spend these days of salvation unprofitably, without shewing the wrath of God to be upon them, by other notorious disorders and their irregular lives.
It were to be wished therefore, that all Christians would learn on these days, when they are called to the life of angels, to withdraw their minds, as much as may be, from this busy and distracting world, and confine them more to the business of angels; and that they would refresh their souls with the same heavenly food. This would strengthen them against all temptations and difficulties of the world, and would make them cheerfully bend under all God's appointments. It would teach them to adore God, to love Him, and rejoice in Him. This is the life of the angels, and into these holy dispositions must those Christians work their souls, who hope to live for ever in the company of the angels." [The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER]
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, Cary NC
Prayer for the Protection of the Church to Saint Michael
O glorious Saint Michael, guardian and
defender of the Church of Jesus Christ, come to the assistance of the
Church, against which the powers of Hell are unchained, guard with
especial care her august Head, and obtain that for him and for us the
hour of triumph may speedily arrive.
O glorious Archangel Saint
Michael, watch over us during life, defend us against the assaults of
the demon, assist us especially at the hour of death; obtain for us a
favorable judgment, and the happiness of beholding God face to face for
endless ages. Amen
