Sunday Sermons: EVIL INFLUENCES
by VP
Posted on Sunday September 21, 2025 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
The Resurrection of the Widow's Son at Nain (La résurrection du fils de la veuve de Naïm) - James Tissot
"Behold a dead man was carried out."— Saint Luke vii. 12.
1. Description of the miracle.
2. Same mercy shown to us; can we expect it again and again?
3. The influences that keep us in sin:
Attachment to sin ;
Cowardice ;
Foolish hope of a long life ;
Presumption.
4. “‘He gave him to his mother”—the Church.
"The prophet of old said : “‘ These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because His commiserations have not failed.” (Lam. iii. 21, 22.) This thought comes back to our mind when we read the Gospel today. The young man was dead ; they were carrying him to the grave, his poor widowed mother following him in her grief and desolation, and a great multitude of the city accompanying her. And the mercy of God met and stopped that mournful procession, raised the youth to life, and gave him to his mother.
God in His goodness, not once, but many a time, has worked this miracle upon our souls! Let us recall to mind days gone by when our souls, alas! were borne along by evil influences, dead to God’s grace, the Church, our Mother, and the angels mourning the lost one. And God’s mercy has stopped that procession of death, forgiveness has raised our soul to life, and we have been restored to the Church.
The danger is that we are not sure that this may happen again. Sure of it? No, we have no right to expect it or to claim it. For when we sin mortally, in that same moment we deserve to be abandoned by God, to be handed over to the devil, and be eternally lost. It is therefore the ineffable mercy of God that the sinner, who has offended Him so grievously, is not only not condemned, but even meets with mercy and forgiveness.
Let us see, then, what are the evil influences that prevent a sinner repenting at once, and that carry us on in our sins without reflection, without fear of our destruction. What more helpless than the dead carried to the grave! And such are we, when in sin, borne on by these bearers, these evil influences.
And what are they? First, the love of sin. The attachment to vanity and pleasure, the feeling that we could not live without them. How many have turned away from repentance because they could not give up that wicked and impure love; because they could not attempt to master that craving for drink; because they could not bring themselves to restore that ill-gotten gain which their avarice clings to; because they could not forgive their neighbours !
And another bearer to destruction is the fear of spiritual labour—the work of penance and piety. We think God’s service is hard; it is repugnant to us to fight against temptation and to do penance. We look at the labour and are appalled ; we have not the courage nor the strength. Oh, we have forgotten to raise our eyes and look at Him, who bids us “Come to Me, all ye that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.” (Matt. xi. 28.)
The third bearer is the false hope of a longer life. We comfort ourselves with vain and empty words. Oh, there is time yet for repentance ; we need not abandon our pleasant, easy, sinful ways as yet. And this in spite of what our Blessed Lord has said: “Watch, for ye know not the day nor the hour.” (Matt. xxv. 13.) And if we are assured of a long life, of many years to come, when should we be stronger to break with sin and begin a new life ? For the longer we remain in sin, the heavier our burden and the weaker we become ; the more under the power of the devil, the more estranged from our insulted Saviour.
And the last bearer is presumption of God’s mercy. Our Heavenly Father delays His Divine justice, and we take advantage of that, and presumptuously reckon on His forgiveness as assured. "Add not sin upon sin; and say not the mercy of God is great, and He will have mercy on the multitude of our sins. For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee.” (Ecclus. v. 5, 9.)
Whilst, then, the mercy of God is still with us, let us earnestly beg of Him grace to fear these evil influences which seek to carry our souls to perdition. Beware of them — attachment to sin; the fear of making an endeavour, the foolish hope of a long life, the presuming on God’s goodness, Let us drive them from our hearts, and implore our Blessed Lord to restore us to the life of grace and to the care of the Church. “And He gave him to his mother.” (Luke vii. 15.) There is our safeguard and our hope —to be taught by the Church, advised by the Church, guided by the Church, strengthened by the Church. Strengthened ! Yes, strengthened by prayer, by the Holy Mass, by the Sacrament of Penance, by frequent Communion. Greater strength than this God Himself cannot give us. “If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever.” (John vi. 52.)
And with the Church there is "the great multitude of the city" -the angels and Saints of God, and the prayers of good friends, whose wish and endeavour is to counteract the evil influences bearing us to destruction. Within the Church we are in communion with these, are strengthened and encouraged by them to be manful and earnest as they were; we are helped by their prayers, filled with hope by their example. Alas! on the other hand, if we wander away from the Church, we shall fall under the evil influences of sin once again, and, borne along to death, we shall trust to a mere chance whether the mercy of God will meet us once again, raise us to life, and restore us to our Mother." Short sermons,by Rev. Fr. F. P Hickey 1913, 15th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Matthew, Apostle
by VP
Posted on Sunday September 21, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
Carravagio, St. Matthew's Martyrdom
- Saint Matthew was killed at the altar by the Ethiopian King Hirtacus, while offering the sacrifice of the Mass, for refusing consent to the king's marriage to the virgin Eugenia who was dedicated to God. Source: Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holy days by Rev. Leonard Goffine 1880, Vol. 25, St. Matthew page 870
- A Galilean by birth, his name before his conversion was Levi; he was a publican. This profession which consisted in collecting the Roman taxes was very odious to the Jews, who were thus reminded of their dependence. Generally harsh and greedy, the publican was considered by the Pharisees the type of the sinner. Wherefore the Church shows us Jesus as the healer of souls which He calls to penance.
- We read in the Gospel, St. Matthew's own account of his conversion. The Epistle describes the famous vision where Ezekiel saw four symbolical animals in which the four Evangelists were recognized from the earliest centuries. St. Matthew is represented by the animal with a human face, because he commences his Gospel by the line of ancestors from whom Jesus descended as man. His object in writing this book, which is stamped by truly divine wisdom (Introit) was to prove that Jesus realized the prophecies relating to the deliverer of Israel and that He is therefore the Messiah.
After Pentecost, the Apostle preached the good news in Palestine and in Ethiopia, where he was martyred. The name of St. Matthew is in the Canon of the Mass in the group of the Apostles. Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the welfare spiritual and temporal of his parishioners.
Daily Missal with Vespers for Sundays & Feasts by Dom Gaspar Lefebvre
- He was called from the receipt of custom, to be an apostle. Beseech God to call you from all your evil ways, and to have mercy on all sinners.
He was the first who wrote the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that this may be written in your heart, to be the rule of your life. Pray for all who read it, that it may lead them into all truth.
Having preached the gospel in Ethiopia with great fruit, he was at length put to death by the enemies of his faith. Pray for all who succeed in his function, that they may be accompanied with the same spirit, and blessed with success in the good of souls.
On this day of a publican and oppressor of the poor becoming an apostle, all sinners have reason to hold up their heads, and hope for mercy from him, who publicly declares that he comes to call sinners to repentance. If you are but ready to obey his call, you have no reason to doubt of his part: for if he had no desire to receive you, he would never call upon you to return. But see that your return be like that of St. Matthew, by forsaking whatever evil you have been engaged in. Matthew, an apostle, is no more a publican; because that profession was unlawful, and not consistent with the spirit of Christ. Thus it ought to be with every sinner who thinks in earnest of following Christ. He is to examine into his profession, and the practice of his life; he is obliged to be sorry for whatever he observes contrary to the law of God, and humbly acknowledge it before a minister of Christ. And thus far common practice carries the Christian on without much difficulty; for he easily calls his sins to remembrance; he conceives some trouble upon this review, and though nature be something averse to Confession, yet it generally costs not much to overcome. But the principal point is yet to come; and that is, whether that sorrow and repentance, with which he has proceeded, has been so sincere, as to work a change in his heart, and separate him from that, which his conscience tells him, has before separated him from God. For if this be not the effect of his repentance and Confession, he has too just reason to fear that there was no sincerity in what he did.
Now though we may hope that the repentance is not always insincere, which is followed by a relapse; yet there is reason enough to fear it; and there more especially, where, after Confession, there is little or no care taken to prevent it. For how can he be supposed to be heartily sorry for having offended God, who uses no means to prevent his offending him again? Is any one heartily troubled for being sick, who will do nothing for his cure? Since therefore, the motions of the soul are so uncertain, and we may be easily mistaken in the judgment which we form of them, we cannot do better than to examine into the effects, and guess of the tree by the fruit. Therefore it is the business of a penitent to consider how solicitous he is, and what pains he takes, that he may not fall again into those disorders, which he has acknowledged to be displeasing to God. He must examine whether he uses due endeavors for overcoming those passions of ill habits, to which he is subject, and to separate himself from those occasions which led him into sin. This is the work, in which his sorrow for past offenses necessarily engages him; and if it was sincere before Confession, he will undertake it after Confession. But if his Confession be followed with little diligence and endeavors, or even none, he has more reason to suspect all that is past of being counterfeit and insincere, than to judge favorably of it; and must not be surprised, if absolution be afterwards for some time denied him, till he can give better proof of his being truly in earnest in a matter of this concern. This is the rule, by which all habitual sinners are to judge of their repentance, as to all the sins of drunkenness, uncleanness, injustice, passion, cursing and swearing, neglect of family, or other duties, and the rest. For if after Confession they go on without endeavors for amendment, what hopes are there of their having any part in the mercy of this day, whilst being publicans before, they are publicans still, and quit not their injustice to follow Christ?" The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER 1861
