A Sermon Every Priest Should Make

A few days ago the Rector of Fatima, Monsignor Luciano Guerra concelebrated the international Mass with 10 to 15 other priests and as always when there is an English speaking group, he gave part of his sermon in English. Because he split the sermon up in several languages it was not long as is his custom but it was the best I have ever heard given by a priest at Mass. This is his short sermon.

Fatima is Eucharistic Centered

"Here on this spot Our Lady appeared to three little children, but before She appeared an angel was sent to prepare the children for this great grace. The angel gave the children the Body and Blood of Our Lord, taught them prayers of Worship to God and most especially to God in the Eucharist. We cannot worship things but the Eucharist is not a thing, it is God, Himself. Worship belongs to God, alone and the angel worshiped God in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not only the heart and soul of Fatima but it is the heart and soul of the Church. It is the prime source of all grace to the world. For this reason we have the Eucharistic Procession every Thursday night. An angel would not worship anything but God and yet he placed the Chalice and Host in the air and not only knelt on the ground but bowed his head into the dirt and taught the children to do the same.

"Do we worship God in the Eucharist on our knees? We should! We should use the angel as an example and worship God on our knees and whenever possible we should worship God stretched out on the floor with our face to the ground like the angel did. Angels know God and know how to worship Him. Let us learn from them for they are messengers of God."

The Eucharist is not Everything, It is the Only Thing

When have you heard a priest talk like that? Monsignor Guerra is right. The Eucharist is not only the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ but it is the source of all Sanctifying grace, the fountain of the Church, the very reason for a Church. It is God among us. It is what makes us brothers and sisters of Christ, not just spiritually but as Paul says, "we are flesh of His flesh, blood of His blood and bone of His bone". Because of the Eucharist we are a spiritual and physical family of Christ. Because of the Eucharist we are the Kingdom of God on Earth. At the Mass we are brought back in time to the foot of the Cross and we share in the Continual Sacrifice told of in Daniel. At the Mass we are witnesses with John and Mary of our salvation. At the Mass we are there with all the heavenly hosts. Going back in time to the Cross, which we do at every Mass, we are seeing the gates of Heaven opened for the first time since the sin of Adam and Eve. At the Mass we are at the Cross seeing our justification done by God, Himself.

Outrages, Sacrilege, Indifference,

The prayer the angel taught the children has great lessons in the theology of the Eucharist. He said that Christ is present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in all the Tabernacles throughout the world. He asks us to pray for those who do not worship Christ in these Tabernacles and calls these sins: Outrages, Sacrileges and Indifference. It is outrageous for people to treat God in that Tabernacles like any other box. It is outrageous for people to think of Christ as only sacramentally present and not truly and actually and physically present. It is outrageous for people to think of it as just bread as the Protestants do.

Sacrileges, of course, are well spoken of in Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

"For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until He comes. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the chalice, for he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord." 1-Corinthians 11:26-29

A Sacrilege is any sin against any sacrament but to go to communion with a black soul (mortal sin) is placing Christ inside a body of corruption and maggots. Or course not any of my readers would commit sins of Sacrilege.

But what about Indifference? Oh! Yes! We believe. We believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist, in the Tabernacle, in the Mass. We know He is in that Church when we pass by. We go to Mass every Sunday and whenever else we can. But when we walk past that Church do we really think about the fact that God is there waiting for us to visit Him. He is there 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, waiting and waiting for a little expression of our love for Him. We know He loves us and died for us, and we like Him for that because "like" is how we feel. But "love" is what we do. Christ showed His love by what He did and we must show our love by action not "feelings". The next time you walk into a Church look quickly to the Tabernacle and realize that the God who created the universe is there. Around him is all of the heavenly host, because where so ever God is all of Heaven is there with Him. The closest we can get to Heaven and to God is there in that Tabernacle and although we will be able to see what we do not see here, we will not be any closer to God in Heaven than we are in that Church now.

Jacinta said that more people go to Hell for sins against the flesh than for any other reason and I am sure in the entire world that is true. But within the elect of the Church I might add that more people go to Hell for crimes against the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ than for any other reason. The Roman soldiers were playing dice as Christ was being sacrificed for our sins. What are we doing?