Third Sunday in Lent — Sermon by Fr. Ermatinger

Translation of the Epistle for the Third Sunday of Lent (Ephesians 5:1-9)

Brethren: Be followers of God, as most dear children: and walk in love, as Christ also had loved us, and had delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints: nor obscenity, nor foolish talking, nor scurrility, which is to no purpose: but rather giving of thanks. For know ye this, and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean or covetous person, which is a serving of idols, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For you were heretofore darkness: but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light: for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth.

Continuation of the Gospel According to Luke (11:14-28)

At that time Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb. And when He had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke, and the multitudes were in admiration at it. But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others, tempting, asked of Him a sign from Heaven. But He, seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall this kingdom stand? Because you say that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out devils: doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth. But if a stronger than he come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest: and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.

The Saving Words of the Gospel

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Transcription of Audio

My eyes are on the Lord. He will free me from the snare. These are the words of our beautiful Entrance Antiphon, which sets a tone as it does every Sunday for the subsequent readings. In this Gospel passage today, we see Our Lord casting out demons and then challenged by the seers who have to find fault with Him even when He does something like this. And then He refers to this division of Satan and Beelzebub. So, what is this division?

Well, when Lucifer considered qualities of God and of the Blessed Virgin, who would be part of God’s plan that was all revealed to him, he had envy of certain attributes. So, when people say he wanted to be like God, Thomas Aquinas says not according to essence because that doesn’t make sense. Because the first principle of Natural Law is self-preservation. To want to become something else of a different nature is actually self-destruction. So, he said no, he didn’t want to be God in the order of divinity. He wanted to be like God in the order of some of His attributes. And as a result, he suffered this internal division.

And so, Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub are actually all the same angel, suffering from what modern psychology would call Dissociative Identity Disorder. We used to say split personalities, but they don’t do that anymore because it’s not nice. And so, this is actually what Lucifer brought upon himself, this internal division. There are three alters, so to say, who are often at odds with each other. They don’t get along very well. Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, the same guy. And this is actually the consequence of all sin, a certain inner fragmentation.

If you read St. Thomas Aquinas’ Treatise on the Vices, you’ll see that there are many vices. And he goes into how the capital sins have these ugly daughters that are all multiple sins. They’re all pretty hideous. They’re called the ugly daughters of the Capital Sins, by the way, because the vices are feminine for some reason. Well, if you read his Treatise on the Virtues, it’s like half the length of The Vices. Why? Because virtue brings about an inner cohesion. An integrity. It makes us whole. It brings about these fragments that we have brought upon ourselves through our own sinful choices.

There is a mosaic in Rome. If you’re there in the next few weeks, take note. Right above the altar in St. Mary Major is this medallion mosaic of the throne of heaven, which is empty of a person. But on it is a crown and a scepter. And below that is the Altar of Sacrifice. And below that is the feed box, the manger that Our Lord, as a little baby, was laid in. When Christ points to Himself, for us to learn from Him, for us to imitate Him, He doesn’t refer to His purity. He doesn’t refer to His intelligence. He doesn’t refer to anything except His humility. Learn from me, I am meek and humble of heart. Because humility is the foundational virtue that makes all the other virtues possible. And without humility, the other virtues don’t have a chance. And what we think we’re living of the other virtues is really something of a counterfeit, if humility is not at the foundation of it all.

The Jews didn’t like what they saw right before them; something that was out of their control. Christ was exorcising these demons from the afflicted through power of His own authority. I command you, whereas the Jewish exorcistic rituals were quite intricate. And they invoked all sorts of deprecative and imprecative prayers. But the Christ just gives a command, and it’s done. So, this was very unsettling for the Jews. And so, when Christ is revealed as God, they didn’t like it. This was something that was outside of their preconceived notions of this ultra, hyper, uber, transcendental God that is so distant. He really doesn’t have much to do with our lives anyway. And here He is in our flesh. With our nature. He sweats when He works. He gets hungry as the day passes. God comes so close, they don’t like what they see. They’re disappointed by the humility of God. Perhaps if He had come as a conquering king, they would have said, “That’s our kind of God.” Well, He will.

But first He comes in our flesh. Giving us an example of what we’re supposed to be. Learn from me, I am meek and humble of heart. Notice, too, that in the Magnificat, Our Lady uses the same word. God has had regard for the humility of His handmaiden. And has cast down the proud from their thrones. He’s talking about Lucifer. Has cast down the proud from their thrones. And raised the humble. So, Our Lady, the highest degree of holiness of all humanity, then will be above all of the angels. And is above all of the angels as Queen of Angels. And this divine plan was too much for Lucifer. “What? This humble woman from an unknown town is going to be our Queen? And from her is going to be born God, whom we have to worship? This is too much.” And it was too much for the Jews. And those who reject Him, it’s too much, because He’s too little. And He gives us the solution. Learn from me. I am meek and humble of heart. And how do we do that? We look at Him. We keep our eyes, our hearts, our affections on Him, to save us from the snares of the enemy.

So, Paul talks about the things that a Christian does and the things that a Christian does not do. What a follower of Christ does not talk about. How much time can be wasted with these gossip podcasts about the state of the Church or blogs, and all of these things that people use as an ersatz formation in the Faith? They hear somebody else’s opinion, and they think they’re forming themselves in the Faith because they’re hearing somebody else opine. Whereas we’ve got this patrimony of Scripture, of the Church Fathers, of Tradition, of the great writings of the saints and the mystical writers. Equally accessible. And yet we let somebody else do the work for us, and then we just can acritically accept their opinions, rather than forming ourselves in the Faith, keeping our eyes on Christ through Tradition, keeping our eyes on Christ through His revealed Word, keeping our eyes on Christ through the writings of those who knew Him best. And Paul is saying, a follower of Christ doesn’t gossip. A follower of Christ doesn’t whine and criticize.

So, to look at Christ saves us from this inner fragmentation. To look at Christ is not to be a calculating observer like the Jews in this Gospel today. We see this loving condescension of the Word who becomes flesh. And we consider His sacrifice. How many ways does he reveal His humility today? And it’s manifest for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. He’s present in His Church, present in us as much as we’re in the state of grace; He’s present in the Tabernacle. 

How many Tabernacles does He live in without receiving loving visitors? He’s sitting in a Tabernacle with great humility and at the same time great longing, hoping somebody will stop by to at least acknowledge His presence. He longs for our company; this is the humility of God. He longs for us.

We have what’s left of Lent to keep our eyes on the Lord, and the more we do so, the more it makes virtue possible. The more we do so, the more we begin to appreciate the humility of God. The more we do so, the easier it is and the more realistic it is to do what Paul tells us in his counsel: to walk in God and be imitators of God.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen.

~Fr. Ermatinger