Sunday Sermon for June 9, 2024, the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Readings: Gen 3:9-15; 2 Cor 4:13-5:1; Mk 3:20-35
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus tells us that if a kingdom or a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. He then goes on to say that if Satan is divided against himself, he cannot stand. All this makes perfect sense to us. There will always be differences of taste or opinion, but there can still be unity among the people involved. Think, for instance, of a marriage. A couple may differ about many things, but if the two agree about the essential matters, the foundation of the marriage remains strong.
We need to consider this issue on a more personal level. What happens if we are divided within our own self? How, we might ask, can I be divided within myself? After all, I generally agree with myself, not only on essential matters, but even in my opinions. While this is true, we need to consider what are the essential matters and what is a matter of mere opinion. In our relativistic society, many have made truth a matter of opinion.
For this reason, we can consider the fact that we are baptized and have become members of Christ and members of the Church. Sadly, many baptized persons are not in union with Jesus or His Church. Even within the hierarchy we hear about the Church needing to change what is believed and accepted. If we are members of Christ, but we are not in union with Jesus and His Church, are we not divided within ourselves? If we say we are Catholic, but we do not believe everything the Church teaches, are we not divided within ourselves?
We see this in the first reading where Adam and Eve were in agreement with one another in their decision to disobey God. Everything in the Garden was united and at peace when they were in agreement with God and with one another. Sin brought division and chaos into the Garden, but also into the union of the first couple and into their own lives. They each became a house divided, and in their marriage they became divided. This division is even demonstrated in their failure to take responsibility for their own actions. Instead, Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the devil.
Now, as part of the punishment for sin, there is enmity between the serpent and the woman and between his offspring and hers. If there is enmity between the woman and the serpent, then in order to defeat the serpent, we need to be in union with the woman and her seed. We find ourselves torn because we want to be faithful to our Lord, but our own weaknesses and the various temptations that come our way make it difficult for us to live our lives in union with our Lord.
The implication of this is that if we truly desire union with Jesus, we need to conform our wills to His. This requires, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel, that we tie up the strong man so we can plunder the house. In other words, we need to work to cast sin and Satan from our lives through prayer, confession, and growing in virtue. This is one way of interpreting what St. Paul says in the second reading: “although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”
St. Paul also reminds us that our work at growing in virtue is not limited to this life only. He says that if our earthly dwelling should be destroyed, we have a building from God which is eternal. Our dwelling here is our body, but we are called to participate in the glory of Heaven. In order for this to happen, everything that is rooted in sin or Satan must be purged. We can wait until after we die, hope we have a merciful judgment, then have all those things removed in Purgatory.
On the other hand, we can strive now to overcome sin by living in union with Jesus and doing the will of God. Then, when we die, our judgment will be merciful and, if we need to go to Purgatory, it will be considerably shorter that if we leave everything until the end. The choice is one of whom we choose to serve. Ultimately, there are only two choices: God or Satan. Many will say they choose to serve themselves, but that is tantamount to saying they choose to serve Satan.
If we choose God, then there should be no room for the vile creature in our lives. We want to rid ourselves of the devil and his influences because with St. Paul, we know that the One Who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us in His presence forever!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
