Sunday, July 30, 2017

Fr. Campbell, "“The will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess.4:3) "

“The will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess.4:3) 

 


“Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain, nor swears deceitfully to his neighbor. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior. Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob” (Ps.23:3-6).


The psalm makes it clear that God blesses those who obey Him. Only the obedient can climb the mountain of the Lord, as Moses did at Mount Sinai. The people who stayed below fell into idolatry and made for themselves a golden calf. But God punishes those who don’t obey Him, as we are warned in the psalms and the letter to the Hebrews:

“Today if you shall hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, during the day of temptation in the desert, where your fathers tried me, proved and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was offended with this generation, and said, ‘They always err in heart, and they have not known my ways.’ As I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter into my Rest” (Heb.3:7b-11).

Do we take our life lessons from the world, or from God? The world teaches us to have the mind of the world, and to love what the world loves, which means that we die with the world. Our happiness comes from knowing, loving, and serving God. Our Lord speaks the truth:

“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Jn.6:24).

It’s got to be God’s way, not my way, God’s will, not my will. We must follow the example of Jesus. Even when He was facing His sorrowful way to Calvary, and His death upon the Cross, He prayed to His Father:

“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; yet not as I will, but as thou willest” (Mt.26:39).

Life is ours to enjoy if we serve God and do His will, obeying His Laws. But those who are addicted to sin must fear God’s punishment. And that punishment will surely come, unless they start serving God, and not the world and its lusts. We must not delay our conversion. We must escape the slavery of sin. God will free us if we ask Him with all our hearts. And we have our Rosaries; we have the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, like St. Joseph and St. Jude. We can fight the good fight. St. John comments:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides there forever. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn.8:34-36). 


Jesus compares these times to the time of Noah:

“As it was in the days of Noe, even so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noe entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and swept them all away; even so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Mt.24:37-39).

Before long the whole Vatican II false church will come crashing down. Almost every day there is bad news of the most shameful kind afflicting the Vatican II establishment. There will be a “churchquake”, and the Vatican II church will fall. A terrible persecution of Catholics will begin, and true Catholics who have kept the ancient Faith handed down to us from the Apostles will not be spared. 

But God is our hiding place:

“You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round… Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but kindness surrounds him who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you just; exult, all you upright of heart” (Ps.31:7, 10,11).

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal,” says Our Lord, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth consumes, not thieves break in and steal. For where thy treasure is, there also will thy heart be” (Mt.6:19-21).

Our Lord Jesus Christ had the strength to endure His Crucifixion and death on the Cross because He was always in touch with His Father, always seeking to do His Father’s will. So must we strive to do the will of God. Don’t we pray every day that His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven? Say it, then, and mean it!
 
Our first Holy Father, St. Peter, has this excellent advice:

“Therefore, having girded up the loins of our understanding, be sober and set your hope completely upon that grace which is brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not conform to the lusts of former days when you were ignorant; but as the One who called you is holy, be you also holy in all your behavior; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, because I am holy’” (1Pet:13-16).

Our Good Shepherd assures His obedient flock: 

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom” (Lk.12:32).