A Homily for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

+ It may be surprising that today, November 2nd, we celebrate the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost rather than the commemoration of the souls of all the faithful departed, but in so doing and in transferring all souls to tomorrow the traditional liturgy teaches us something vitally important—every Sunday is a feast of the Resurrection and, in the light of the Resurrection it is simply not possible to mourn. That is why funerals and requiem Masses simply cannot be celebrated on any Sunday. Black vestments and the bracing chants of the Requiem Mass with which we implore mercy on the faithful departed have their rightful place, but that place is not the Lord’s Day—the day of the Resurrection which we are obliged to keep holy by participating on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and by resting from unnecessary servile work.

In a world where the temptation for Sundays to become just another working day is real, and where the worship of sport often occludes the worship we owe to Almighty God it is important that we both observe these precepts faithfully each and every Sunday, and that we bear clear witness to them. Work is necessary and sport is a good. But Sundays are the Lord’s day, and on His day He must come first. Anything that impedes our fulfilment of our Sunday obligation is not a good, and as the Church teaches, knowingly and willingly to fail to observe the precept of participating in Sunday Mass (and at Mass on Holy Days of obligation) is gravely sinful, as is engaging in normal work activities that are not truly necessary.

The Church teaches this as a wise mother for she knows that keeping the Lord’s day holy is fundamental—literally foundational. For if our Christian life is not nourished at least by the weekly worship of God according to the sacred rites of His Church and if we are not frequently nourished by the Blessed Eucharist, that life is at risk. The devil will not cease to tempt us with ‘other things’ to do on Sundays—things that are perhaps good in themselves, but which, when they displace our Sunday duty to worship God at Mass, become insidious temptations that take us one step farther from that fidelity to Christ and His Church that our Baptismal vocation demands.

For our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” the Epistle of St Peter warns us. St Peter insists that we “resist him, firm in [our] faith.” (1 Pet. 5:8=9) But how do we do this in a world of creeping secularism and relativism from which at times even the Church does not seem to be immune? St Paul has some very clear advice in this morning’s Epistle:

“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph. 6:10-17)

This passage bears much contemplation, and just as the Church will revisit it in the ferial Masses of the coming week, so too should we ponder and take its advice. For we are all vulnerable. The devil delights in devouring the devout. The monk’s habit does not protect him from the insidious temptations that the devil can devise all too easily to lure him out of the enclosure without permission and to end his perseverance. A wedding ring can all too easily be taken off and hidden. And in the anonymity that a privatised and digitalised society provides it is not that difficult to lead a double life about which even those closest to us have no idea.

Thus, we do need, as St Paul advises, to protect ourselves and to put in the armour of God. This is not paranoia: it is realistic advice given by an apostle who even then knew that the powers of evil are real, that they are large and that they are at work to destroy by any means possible the divine life implanted in our souls at our baptism and to impede the good that only faithful perseverance in our particular vocation can and will bring about.

This armour is to be found first and foremost in our weekly Sunday observance, in the traditional practices of daily prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is strengthened by our daily fidelity to our God-given vocation. And if our armour is tarnished or damaged, or if for some reason we have cast it off, it can be repaired or restored through the graces offered to us if we make an integral or complete confession in the Sacrament of Penance with the resolution to amend our lives as necessary. For the humility ourselves so to do, as necessary, and that others shall also receive that grace, let us fervently entreat Almighty God before His altar in this Holy Mass. +