A Sunday Thought About Something I Learned on the Lord's Day

Last Sunday we talked about spending extra time with our Lord on His Day - Sunday. Here's an example of what I learned this past Sunday by setting aside some extra time to spend with Our Lord.

It started when we attended Mass at St George's, a Ukrainian Byzantine Rite Catholic Church in Manhattan. We do this from time to time as my wife was raised in this rite. Since St George's isn't right here in our neighborhood, we had to spend time traveling to get there. But it's time well spent, as I've grown to appreciate, even love, the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, which is the liturgy celebrated in Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church. After the Divine Liturgy (read: Mass) concluded, I took a few moments to read this from St George's bulletin, quoting St Leo the Great, who here speaks of the devil:

Because that instigator and author of sin whom "pride" first caused to fall and then "envy" to do harm, did not stand fast in the truth, he has put all his effort into "falsehood." He has manufactured from this most poisonous fountain of his craft every manner of deception. His aim is to shut off any hope human being might have of attaining through devotion to that good which he himself had forfeited by self-exaltation. He would like to draw them into a partnership with himself in condemnation, since he himself cannot have access to that reconciliation which could be theirs...

Upon returning home from the "Divine Liturgy," I happened to pick up the "Fraternity Newsletter" published each month by The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. (If you don't know them, this order of priests celebrates the Mass and Sacraments in what has become known as the "Extraordinary Form," aka, the Tridentine Rite, aka the Traditional Latin Mass.) Father Eric Flood, North American District Superior, who writes a regular column was just finishing a brief series on world history, based on Anne Carroll's Christ the King, Lord of History - a book my wife used when she home-schooled our children. Concluding his historical overview with the 20th - 21st centuries, Father Flood writes:

...people simply abandoned the Catholic Faith, consumed by a materialistic age. With the level of creature comforts increasing with each passing generation, families went from one to several cars, a family television to having them scattered around the home, and a telephone to a cell phone for each family member.

The emphasis upon the things of the world has the negative effect of focusing upon one's self to the neglect of eternal realities. This stifles the fervor in the members of the Church, and, in turn, the influence they could have within society...

Reading Pope St Leo's words, written in the 5th century, and Father Flood's, directed to those of us living in the 21st century, we find their combined insight into the devil's wiles bridges a gap of 15 centuries. Isn't it stunning how consistent Satan's effort have been in human history? He never stops. But rather than leave us in dismay and consternation on this Sunday in 2014, we turn back to Pope St Leo who offers us hope, a virtue we Catholics need in abundance.

Because the ancient enemy makes use of these wiles...Christ in His effable kindness wanted us to know what were to be the criteria for judging humanity on the day of recompense. That way, while in this lifetime there is still available the medicine of legitimate remedies, while rehabilitation has not yet been denied to those who have been shattered, and while those who had long been sterile can still become fruitful before it is all over, the condemnation due in justice might be headed off and the reflection of God's criteria in judgment might never be removed from the eyes of our heart.

This turned out to be a rather easy way to spend extra time with Our Lord on His Day. The reading of the writings of these two men, along with prayerful consideration of their message, didn't really take all that much time. The ideas of both men, written during vastly different periods of history, derive their power of insight and inspiration based upon what unifies them across the centuries - a knowledge and love of Christ and His Holy Church. They urge those of us living in the 21st century, to turn our gaze from those lures of the devil which we find in contemporary culture. Powerful and dangerous as these can be to our personal salvation, their power and their threat pale in comparison to the eternal truths taught by our Catholic Faith.

Why not spend some extra time with Our Lord this Sunday? Raise your eyes and lift up your heart to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the help of God's grace. You never know what you'll learn that could help you in your journey to Heaven.