WE HAVE MOVED!

"And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth....
[Apocalypse (Revelation) 8:13]

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Fr. Voigt, "All that God Sows is Good"

Fr. Voigt, "All that God Sows is Good" 

What came first the chicken or the egg?  Whatever came first from the hand of God was and remains good.  But what about the evil in the world?  It is the result of the response of Lucifer to the creative act of God.  Lucifer is sterile in himself and that sterility expresses itself after it recognizes the actions of God.  Let us consider some examples of the work of God and the reaction of Lucifer.

In the first place God sent prophets to prepare the way for and to instruct the people concerning His Greatest Messenger, Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Lucifer recognizes what God has done and mimics it with the pseudo-prophets.  Hence we have the prophets of Ba'al.
God sends us the 12 apostles to proclaim the divine love expressed in Jesus, the Lord. Lucifer sends in the pseudo-apostles.  In the Christ we have the answer to all the ills that sins create.  In the anti-Christ we have a phony imitation of Lucifer that calls us to the life of pleasure rather than the life of sacrifice.  

So the sterility of the demonic seeks to sterilize the creative activity of God as in the parable of the sower who sowed the seeds of goodness and truth.  After these good seeds have been sown an enemy comes in at night and sows his tares.  Let them grow together the good husbandman counsels lest any of the good be lost.  In the same regards among men there are those who seek to live the divine will in obedience and there are a multitude who desire to live as they will and not as God wills.  Yet they live in the same world as the saint and until death they have the potential to be saved.  Let them grow and let them reflect upon the evil in their lives and the goodness that cries out to them.  
Pursue this pattern in your own interior life.  As one penetrates more and more deeply into one's soul, then the tares or errors begin to reveal themselves to that soul.  As the poet skillfully remarked:

Within my earthly temple, there is a crowd.
There's one of me that is humble and another who is awfully proud.
There's one who is repentant for his sins;
and another who unrepentant sits and grins.
There's one who loves his neighbor as himself; 
and another who thinks of nothing save fame, fortune and pelf.
From much corroding care I would be free;
if once I could determine ...which is me?

This is the contradiction of the spiritual life to acknowledge that sin has been sown in our souls by the evil one and that a battle ensues within our heart.  This truth helps to humble us and to prepare us to yield to the goodness and Truth revealed by our Savior.  Time is given to us to repent and expiate our sinfulness and become wholesome wheat.  So much time is wasted because of the devil who tells us to put off the hard work of spiritual discipline until later and enjoy the good life now.  What a disaster!  Do not put off to tomorrow what needs to
be done today.  Pray for the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to guide you in the process of purifying our souls through almsgiving, fasting and praying.  Become the saints needed in this shallow world of ours.

In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

Fr. Richard Voigt  
Other Fr. Voigt Sermons:
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/10/fr-voigt-come-down-and-save-my-son-my.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/09/fr-voigt-christ-whose-son-is-he.html