Laws of Spiritual Life (2018)
Fr. Martin
Fuchs´s sermon on 10th June 2018, Prague, Czechia
Third Sunday after Pentecost
***
Dear faithful,
God has made many laws into
His Creation to help each creature to reach its goal. We can divide them in
three groups: physical laws, aesthetic laws, and mathematical laws.
Even a little boy will pay
attention to the laws of statics if he wants to build a tower with his wooden
blocks. Later he will learn many other laws: current laws, power laws, laws of
thermodynamics, biological laws etc.
God did not just make the
physical laws but He also made things beautiful. He Himself is the Perfection,
and therefore all things He made are perfect and beautiful.
If we want to give a
definition of “beauty“, all we have to
do is to look at the Creation. We always find harmony and symmetry; and all the
different parts of a creature are subordinated to one idea. If we look at a
human being: The ears, the nose, the mouth, the heart, the arms and legs are
subordinated to the human being.
Unfortunately, many people
went away from God. That is why they do not know any more what is beautiful in
the art (architecture, picture painting), in music, in literature, in dressing
and in other areas.
They deface their body by
so-called cosmetic surgery, tattooing and piercing.
The laws of mathematics are
very useful to make a proof of the existence of God. They are always valid,
they were valid 1000 years, ago and in 1000 years they will still be valid.
They do not change.
Eternal laws must have an
eternal reason, and this reason in theology is called “God“.
For example, the sum of angles
in a triangle (α+β+γ) is and always will be 180°.
But God has not only made laws
in nature. Much more important are the laws of spiritual life. I would like to
mention five of them.
People can pay attention or
disregard them, nevertheless they exist even if people ignore them.
If people ignore them, they have
to draw the consequences. These consequences are not only bad for 10, 20 or 30
years, but they are eternal.
1. Law: “Those people who die without the
sanctifying grace are lost forever.“
We have to be members of the
Mystical body of Jesus Christ, we must be members of the Church. The Savior
said it in the Holy Gospel of saint John (15:1-10):
“I am the true vine; and my
Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will
take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may
bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean by reason of the word, which I have
spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.
If any one abide not in me, he
shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him
up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you abide in me, and my
words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto
you. In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and
become my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide
in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also
have kept my Father's commandments, and do abide in his love.“
This is a spiritual law. If we
want to be saved, we have to observe it.
2. Law: “Those who want to be saved must have
the true faith.“
Our Savior Himself emphasized
this law just before His Ascension: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall
be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.“ Mark 16:16
God said many things, as we
had seen in the last month´s sermon. But not everything is a dogma. A dogma is
a truth that is revealed by God and presented by the Church as such.
In the Holy Scripture we see
that Jesus Christ is God but he once said: “For my Father is greater than I.“
John 14:28
Therefore, Arius pretended
that Jesus Christ is not God. A lot of priests and bishops followed him. Later
on, in 325, the Council of Nicaea, condemned this error and taught that it is a
dogma that Jesus Christ is true God.
A heretic can do a lot of many
good works. He can be helpful and kind. However, at the moment of his death,
this does not help him. He must have the true faith.
Many people such as Buddhists,
Jews, Moslems etc. do not believe in these truths because they do not know
them. They must be taught these truths. That is why the Catholic Church sent
missionaries to their countries. But a lot of people do not want to believe in
these truths, not even Catholics.
How many no longer believe in
hell, purgatory, eternal life, in the Mary’s Virginity, in the presence of God
in the Eucharist, in the necessity to confess a mortal sin etc.? It is
necessary for salvation to have the true faith.
3. Law: “With what measure you mete, it shall
be measured to you again.“ Matthew 7:2
The Savior gave this law in
the sermon on the Mount.
If we condemn other people,
others will do the same to us.
If we are good to others,
friendly, helpful, truthful, the others will also deal with us in this way.
If we protect lives of others,
they will protect our lives as well; if not, neither will do they.
If children are disobedient,
they will very often also have disobedient children. If children do not have a
good behavior, neither will have it their children.
4. Law: “Whoever wants to receive God’s
blessing, he must keep the Ten Commandments.“
This is the law that reads
again and again in the Holy Scripture. Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians (6:2):
“Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a
promise: That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long lived upon
earth.“
And when God promised to lead
the children of Israel to the Holy land, he wanted them to observe His
Commandments.
Only under this condition he
wanted to protect them from enemies and to bless them with all what they need
to reach this goal.
If we observe the
Commandments, we will receive the Lord´s blessings.
The best preparation for the
wedding is to observe the Ten Commandments. We have already seen that people
who live in sin – who live together without being married in the Catholic
Church – will not be able to receive God’s blessing; above all those in
homosexual partnerships and divorced and remarried people!
5. Law: “And he that shall receive one such
little child in my name, receiveth me.“ Matthew 18:5
That is why the Church always
wanted to have large families. When children are received in families, the
Savior is there.
If there are circumstances
coming from outside, if there are medical, economic, social reasons, the
married couple may use the natural birth control. (see the Speech to the
midwives on the 20th October 1951 made by Pius XII.).
In these cases they still say
“yes” to God’s will, to every child He wants to give them.
But if they use any kind of
artificial birth control, they say “no” to God’s will, they say: “We don’t want
a child.”
The married couple has got an
order from God. God wanted them to take part in His Creation. It is now in
their will to give God worshippers or not.
I remember an old lady in
Austria who told me that at the time of the 2nd World War a midwife
came with two little boys to her mother and asked her: “Can you take one of
them? I must look for a place for them. You can choose anyone of them.” And her
mother answered: “I don’t want to make a choice. Give me one.”
This boy grew up like a family
member. He was a great blessing for the family in this world and after his
death he will be an eternal blessing for the whole family!
Dear faithful!
Let’s summarize: There are
laws in nature and laws in spiritual life, in both types of law God expressed
His will. Let us observe them to receive God’s blessing! Amen.
