#441 "Woe To Those Who Call Evil Good and Good Evil": Joined To The Body Of Christ We Are Called To Holiness!

Truth personified , the person of love personified these are the main things I want to consider today Giving up one's life for the truth and for love . Jesus didn't come in the world as his baby , to condemn it and judge it . He came in the world to redeem it , to save us . And then what do we say ?

The next day , the very next day , we celebrate the feast of St Stephen , the first martyr , who already gives up of his life as a follower of Jesus Christ , who sees the truth , who accepts this love so intensely , wants to unite himself so closely that he's out preaching and doing some great works preaching Jesus Christ . And then what happens ?

He comes up against those that would like to distort and twist , would like to call evil good and good evil , even to the point where they can't even stand to hear about Jesus Christ . We're seeing this all over the world today . We see that college campuses shutting out the voice of God . It's amazing , right ?

We see it in these gender ideologies and the demand to kill our own children , even in the twisting and distortion of making marriage meaningless . Woe to those who call evil good and good evil . This is from Isaiah 520 , who put darkness for light and light for darkness . Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter .

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shoot in their own sight , who will quit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of his right . This is an old story , isn't it ? So today , which would be the day after Christmas , is I'm recording this we have the Feast of St Stephen , the first martyr .

Stephen , whose name means crown or garland , was the first to gain the crown of martyrdom in the church . The account of Stephen's death is a short course in the martyrdom that would define Christian life for the first four centuries .

It's amazing that people were giving up their lives , so many , thousands upon thousands of Christians giving up their life just to proclaim the truth . You know , jesus is that sign of contradiction in this fallen world that would like to call evil good and good evil . So what's the solution to all this ?

What's the universal call to holiness for each one of us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ . So buckle up and get ready for the rest of today's episode . The reading from the Acts of the Apostles Stephen , filled with grace and power , was working great wonders and signs among the people .

Certain members of the so-called synagogue of freedmen , syrenians and Alexandrians , and people from Solicia and Asia , came forward and debated with Stephen , but they could not withstand the wisdom in the spirit with which he spoke . When they heard this , they were infuriated and they growled their teeth at him .

But he , filled with the Holy Spirit , looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God . And he said Behold , I see the heavens opened in the Son of man standing at the right hand of God . But they cried out in a loud voice , covered their ears and rushed upon him together .

They threw him out of the city and began to stone him . The witnesses laid down their cloaks , the feet of a young man named Saul . As they were stoning Stephen , he cried out Lord Jesus , receive my spirit , the word of the Lord . It's amazing , huh .

You know , when we step into the story , it's something that we would give up our life for the truth and love . But we know this inside of us , it's amazing power .

You know , in the New Testament we find many examples of followers of Christ , beginning with Deacon Stephen and the apostle James then , who died as martyrs in order to profess their faith and their love for Christ .

Unwilling to deny him In this , they followed the Lord Jesus , who made the good confession himself before Caiaphas and Pilate , confirming the truth of his message at the cost of his own life . Countless other martyrs accepted persecution and death rather than perform the idolatrous act of burning incense , even before the statue of the emperor . Can you imagine ?

You know ? In the early church they said just burn some incense here for the emperor and then you can go home right and you can do whatever you want . And they refused to do that . They even refused to feign such worship .

They're by giving an example of the duty to refrain from performing even a single concrete act contrary to God's love and the witness of faith . Like Christ himself , they obediently trust it and hand it over to their lives , to the Father , the one that would free them from death . This is the ultimate reason we do this , because we feel within us this desire .

Our reason itself was given us to search for the truth . Our free will was given of us to choose the good . We had this within our hearts . If we didn't , you know , the Christian faith would never last all these years . But it does . And only Christ himself opens up the heavens .

And Stefan sees that again the heavens have been closed off from original sin and Christ comes in as the bridge . It's almost like we get to an abyss and we can't go any further . Heaven has been closed . And then Christ comes in and to his oblation to the Father , his self sacrifice to the Father . He takes our flesh upon him , humanity upon him .

He reunites it in his body with divinity and offers it at the Father , opening that up . We have a sense of this . This is the only thing that frees us from sin and death .

This is the essence of who we are , how , seeking the truth and in love , the person of love himself coming into the world , huh , to fill us , to make us whole , so that we can become persons of love , and we have to witness to that . Jesus warned us very sternly about this in Mark , chapter 8 , verse 36 .

What does a prophet , a man , he said , to gain the whole world and then to forfeit his life . In today's reading from Matthew , we hear Jesus . This is Matthew 10 .

We hear Jesus say to his disciples and this could have been Jesus , he might as well have said it this morning right , beware of men , for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues and you will be led before governors and kings , for my sake , as a witness before them and the pagans when they hand you over .

Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say . You will be given at that moment what you are to say , for it will not be you who speak , but the Spirit , the Holy Spirit of your Father , speaking through you . Brother , listen to this . This is the Communist Party . This is Marxism .

This is this incredible violence we see in the world of hatred for one another just for speaking the truth . Just like they rushed Stephen right , they were infuriated , you know just , and they covered their ears . They couldn't stand to hear the truth . Well , this is what Jesus goes on to say here .

You will be given at that moment what you are to say , for it is not you who speak , but the Holy Spirit of your Father speaking through you . And then he goes on to say this brother will hand over brother to death and father his child . Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death . We see this , you know .

We saw this in the Soviet Union . We see this in in communist ideologies . We see this now in our own schools , where they want to separate parents from children . This is , this is evil . They always want to take twist . Well , who wants to do that ? Satan wants to do that . You know the principalities and powers of the world who , who , what , who .

When we reject God , that becomes who we are . We manifest this . And he says this you will be hated by all because of my name , jesus says , but whoever endures to the end will be saved . Don't we see this ? The vitro against , even from the government now , against those to push back on these gender ideologies , praying outside abortion clinics .

It's getting madness . We hear this from Pope Francis himself , you know , when he's Confusing blessings , the same-sex marriage and all these things . And he's , he's the the world , the economic order chaplain , it seems , for the for open borders and and climate ideologies , all these different things we see . So what are we to do about those ?

Well , we could sit there and stew . But what did Jesus do ? What did Stefan do ? They give up their lives for the truth , for standing for the truth is for standing for for Love , and we have this again within us . So what do we do ? It's the universal call to holiness ourselves . But it's not just about , it's not just about dying for the sake of dying .

It's sake of dying for love , for the lover who came into the world , who wants to give you everlasting love , everlasting life . Inviratata splendor , the splendor of truth , and it's sickly old , sick and sickle cove .

John Paul II he writes this in number 93 this witness he's talking about martyrs makes an extraordinary , valuable contribution to warding off in civil society and within the ecclesial Communities themselves , within the church communities , a headlong plunge into the most dangerous Crisis which can afflict man the confusion between good and evil .

This is what we're all I End quote here . This is what we're all standing up against . We know the truth , we're gonna live the truth , we're gonna . We're gonna choose the good , we're gonna choose what's beautiful , we're gonna choose love in the truth and speak truth and love . And and we give up our lives for this , for our lives go very quickly .

What are they worth if we , if we're not willing to stand up for the truth ? Well , john Paul goes on to say this which makes it impossible to build up and to preserve the moral order of Individuals and communities .

So when you have a confusion , he's saying , between good and evil , it makes it impossible to build up and preserve the moral order of individuals and communities . So what happens when we don't stand up for the truth ? What happens to our marriages , our families , our children , our grandchildren ?

So we leave a legacy of devastation behind us and at the end of the day , life goes very quickly . We want them all to be united with us forever . We have to do this by our example . John Paul goes on to write this .

By their eloquent and attractive example of a life completely Transfigured by the splendor of moral truth , the martyrs and in general , all the church of saints , light up every period of history by Reawakening its moral sense , by witnessing fully to the good .

They are living reproof that those who transgress the law and they make the words of the prophet echo ever afresh . Woe to those who call evil good and good evil , who put darkness for light and light for darkness , who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter . Again . That comes from Isaiah 5 , 20 that I read earlier .

John Paul goes on to write this although martyrdom represents the high point of the witness to moral truth and the one which Relatively few people are called , there is nonetheless a consistent witness which all Christians must daily be ready to make , even at the cost of suffering and grave Sacrifice .

Indeed , faced with many difficulties which fidelity to the moral order can demand even the most in the most ordinary Circumstances , the Christian is called , with the grace of God , invoked in prayer to a sometimes heroic Commitment , and this he or she is sustained by the virtue of fortitude whereby , as Saint Gregory the great teaches us , one can actually love the

difficulties of this world for the sake of eternal rewards . You know this goes back . Remember Socrates , who would always stood for the truth and was willing to drink the hemlock Right , was willing to die . The words of a Latin poet juvenile apply to all of us . John Paul said , and he wrote this .

This poet , this Latin poet , wrote this consider it the greatest of crimes to prefer our own survival to honor and to , and out of love of physical life , to lose the very reason for living . It's amazing , right . You know , there was a time where we understood this , the human being said no , I would rather give up my life than to live in dishonor .

I'm not so afraid to give up my physical life because I then I will lose my reason for being . I won't be alive anyways . It's something how we understood this right . Well , again , this universal call to holiness , this is to be joined to the body of Christ .

We're called to be heroes , but they be heroes of self-giving love , just like Christ was , and we're called to union and communion with Him . You know , it's in this giving of yourself that you find yourself in this crazy world , right , and there's a certain joy and a peace , even in the midst of these battles , that when God fills you .

You know it's amazing that even our marriages and our families and Ephesians 5 , 25 connects this to God's love for the church , remember even even our desire to love and be loved in marriage and families . This is a , this is a sacramental mirror shining up to the Trinity and the Trinity , this Trinitarian life that we're talking about .

Our life goes very quickly and at the end of the day , we're going somewhere . We're going somewhere into eternal life and love with God himself . In Ephesians 5 , verses 25 , 27, .

St Paul writes this husband's love your wives , how , as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her by the washing of water , with the word that he might present the church to himself in splendor , without spot or wrinkle or any such thing , that she might be holy and without blemish . This is what we're called to .

You know , we see these things coming from the Vatican , but the you know and and and the evil people are in the church . But the church herself . We must remember that the church herself is in splendor .

Go , go to adoration , sit in a beautiful church in adoration and just absorb the pester , you'll see the holiness exists , and especially , especially , especially in the Eucharist . And I want to kind of kind of start to talk about that Eucharist a little bit here .

St John Paul the second called this , this passage that I just read from St Paul in Ephesians to Summa , as of his entire teaching on the theology of the body .

Make no mistake about it , when all the smoke and fog clears mankind's , men and women's yearning , burning desire to love and be loved and even to join a marital union , marital , sexual union this the word . The two become one , open to life , become three . This tiny micro , you know this tiny reflection again of the Trinitarian love .

Well , this points directly to the Eucharist and Jesus' desire to become one flesh with us .

Of course that's a sacrificial union , but it's a very real unit , more real than anything else we can experience In these times of evil and confusion , even within the church and certainly within the world , it's important to remember that the church is believed to be indefectably holy .

Indeed , christ , the Son of God , who , with the Father and the Spirit , is praised as uniquely holy , love the church as his bride , delivering himself up for his bride . For each one of us , we are each called is individually . We are the building blocks , the organic building blocks , of his bride , the church .

Well , all of us have to be called into this universal , or stand up and accept the universal call to holiness that this is the reason that Christ came in . This is what Stefan does . He did this that he might sanctify her , the church . He came into the world to unite himself . Jesus did with his own body .

This is my body , given for you and bring who the church by the gift of the Holy Spirit , for God's glory . Remember when Jesus was going up to to heaven after the resurrection , he said it's , it's good that I go , for I will send the Holy Spirit down to you and this is all . As Saint Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4 3 , for this is the will of God .

And what is the will of God ? Your sanctification , he said we come to a full sense of the dignity of each one of us if we consider the prime and fundamental vocation that the Father assigns to each of them in Jesus Christ , through the Holy Spirit , the vocation to holiness . That is the perfection of charity , of love . The Lord Jesus .

Christ is the divine teacher and model of all perfection , preached holiness of life to each and every one of his disciples , of every condition . He himself stands as the author and consumator of this holiness of life . He said in Matthew 5 , 48 be therefore perfect , as your heavenly Father is Perfect . You know .

This church , john Paul writes , is is is not a simple moral exhortation , but an undeniable requirement arising from the mystery of the church . She is the choice church , the choice of vine , whose branches live and grow with the same holy and life-giving energies . They come from Christ .

She's the mystical body whose members share in the same life of holiness as the head , who is Christ . She's the beloved spouse of the Lord Jesus , who delivered himself up for her sanctification .

The spirit , the Holy Spirit that sanctified the human nature of Jesus and Mary's virginal womb , is the same Holy Spirit that is abiding and working in the church today to communicate to her . The holiness of the Son of God made man one of the most powerful . Some reason .

This teaching of the countless saints and mystics is from Archbishop Fulton Sheen , who actually got this from Saint Augustine , and he proclaims this now . We've always thought , rightly so , of Christ , the Son on the cross and the mother beneath him . But that's not the complete picture , that's not the deep understanding . Who is our Lord on the cross ?

He's the new Adam . Where's the new Eve ? At the foot of the cross ? See , if Eve in in Genesis , our first mother , if Eve became the mother of all the living in the natural order , is not this woman now at the foot of the cross to Become another mother ? And so the bridegroom looks down on his bride .

This is Jesus looking down , and he doesn't call her mother anymore , he calls her . What woman she is ? The symbol of the church . So I go on with the quote . He says he looks at his beloved . Christ looks at his church . There is here the birth of the church , as Saint Augustine puts it .

And Bishop , she says , and here I'm quoting him verbatim the heavenly bridegroom left the heavenly chambers with the presage of the nuptials before him , he came to the marriage bed of the cross , at bed , not a pleasure but a pain , uniting himself with the woman and consummated the union forever , as it were .

The blood and the water , they came from the side of Christ . When he got hit with the lance , in his heart was a spiritual Seminole fluid . And so from these nuptials woman , jesus says where's your son ? And Then he and she looks over at John right the evangelist , and John , the evangelist and son , where is your mother ? This is the beginning of the church .

Christ gave himself up for her . The church is bride , so that she might be immaculate . We just read that in Ephesians 5 , 27 . So to finish , jesus gave this act of oblation and enduring presence through his Institution of the Eucharist at the last supper .

And this is from God is love , pope Benedict's first In cyclical , when he he became Pope , you know , day was Caritas , as God is love . So Jesus gave this active oblation again to the Father , sacrificing Himself and through this institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper , so that we can be joined to Him all through space and time .

He anticipated His death and resurrection by giving His disciples and the bread and wine , his very Self , his body and blood as the new manna . This is from John 6 . The ancient world had dimly perceived that man's real food would truly nourish His man . Man and woman is ultimately the Logos , eternal wisdom .

The same Logos now truly becomes food for us as love . The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' active self-oblation , this offering of Himself to the Father . But he takes us with Him More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos , we enter into the very dynamic of His self-giving to the Father .

The imagery of marriage between God and Israel , so Jesus and His bride , is now realizing in a way previously inconceivable . It had meant standing in God's presence , but now becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift , sharing in His body and blood . This is something new , something more powerful .

The sacramental mysticism grounded in God's condescension towards us operates at a radically different level and lifts us so far greater than anything any human mystical elevation could ever accomplish .

It's amazing when we go to Mass huh , when we look at the altar versus the Last Supper and then the rest of the masses is taking place as Jesus offers Himself to the Father in His very body and blood , and then he turns to us and he pours this out body , blood , soul and divinity into the Eucharist , into the wine , and he pours this out and he gives this

to us . This is what St Stephen and all the martyrs and all of us should understand . We are given , we are filled with divine life and love so that we become persons of love . Some people are called to be martyrs , actually give up their life for this , but we're all called to this universal call to holiness .

John Paul expressed this so well to young people when he said young people , you know that your life has meaning to the extent that it's given as a gift to others . The ultimate gift , of course , is this witness of martyrdom , but we all are martyrs in our own way .

We're all bringing this divine life and love and truth into the world , which is a world that wants to take good and twist it into evil , wants to call evil good , and we come in with the truth and the world's not going to stand for that . So this is what you're seeing today unfold .

You know everybody , just go closer and closer and closer into that Eucharist , into that understanding . Don't forget to go to confession first . You know , when Jesus got hit with the lance , it was water and blood to pour it out . The water is baptism . And then confession , right to be washed of our sins . Why ?

So that we could start to be , you know , to be . Our sins can be forgiven , we actually start to step into holiness . And then we receive God himself . This gives us power , right . And then those three , that three-part solution every morning that you know , start this way just drop to your knees before the phone .

You know , let it be done to me according to your word , right . And then temptations come . Every time I'm tempted , it's an invitation to prayer , to open myself up to the God who Jesus didn't come for sin management , but with power , right to fill us . So all day becomes a prayer .

And every time I'm tempted , I don't have to worry about the temptation as far as pushing it down or even indulging , right , it's to open this up to the grace of God . And then what do I have to do ? Third , I have to become that personal love . I have to witness to the truth and I have to do it in love and I have to love others in the truth .

Hey , god bless you . Great to be with you today . Bye-bye everyone .