| 3rd Sunday of Advent Year A "Go back and report to John
what you hear and see: the blind recover their sight, cripples walk,
lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life, and the
poor have the good news preached to them" (Matthew 11).
i. In the 18th century, there was a major philosophical
movement that has been referred to as the Age of Reason or the
Enlightenment. The term Enlightenment was used by those who
felt that man had finally come of age
that modern man was no longer an infant, a baby dependant upon
authority. An enlightened man had truly outgrown all that hindered him,
especially religious faith. No, the enlightened man dismissed divine
Revelation for he needed only the light of human reason. He was to be a
true man of science who only accepted evidence that could be seen,
heard, and touched. Orthodox Roman Catholics, on the other hand, were
seen as unenlightened
even ignorant and stupid
for they foolishly accepted Revelation
truths that were beyond nature
truths that could not be seen or touched. It was up to the enlightened
man, therefore, to bring sight to those blinded by ignorance
the modern man would help those crippled by the authoritative teachings
of the Church by offering them a freedom of conscience that would allow
no binding. The enlightened man the rationalist would cure whatever
ailed society by using human reason alone, and human power.
ii. The movement known as the Enlightenment with its disdain
of the Catholic Religion is still dominant in the western world. But
its stated goal of freeing man from all that hindered him, has actually
backfired. Modern man has been devalued. He is not seen as a child of
God destined for heaven, a supernatural end, but rather a man of this
world with only a natural end. His dignity has been greatly lessened.
The modern, enlightened man has belittled himself, for he has refused to
accept a higher realm of knowledge, namely the Catholic Faith. The
enlightenment mentality where Revelation has been rejected has led to
blindness. Refusal to hear the voice of the prophets has brought about
deafness. The enlightenment mentality where the individual conscience
rejects moral norms, dismissing the direction and guidance of Christ and
His Church, has crippled and enslaved modern man. A spiritual leprosy
plagues the enlightened man with sores that rot away his true worth in
the eyes of Almighty God.
iii. In today's Holy Gospel, St. John the Baptist instructs
his disciples to seek out Him Who brings true enlightenment the Light
of the World, Jesus Christ. I must decrease and He must increase...
Go to Christ...whose sandals I am unworthy to even untie...and
receive the fullness of knowledge both natural and supernatural. Go to
Him and be perfected, completed go to Him, the God-Man to find the
truth about man and the truth about God go to Him to be humanized and
yes even divinized made like unto God by sanctifying grace made
godly by a participation in the divine nature. Be given sight to go
beyond that which we can see with our human eyes be given hearing to
take in the very Word of God and the voices of angels learn to walk
the narrow way that leads to eternal life be cleansed of that
spiritual leprosy of rationalism which limits man to the things of this
world. Be perfected be completed.
iv. Our Heavenly Father offers us perfection fullness of life
and knowledge ... Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect
that's the sort of perfection He offers us. Having been made His
adopted children in Christ, we are to resemble our Father in our daily
lives. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree ... like Father, like
Son ... we are to imitate the perfections of the Most High. But how
can we attain such true enlightenment, for the Bible tells us that the
Father dwells in "light inaccessible?" How can we imitate God
when no one has seen Him? The Holy Bible gives us the answer God
has shined in the face of Christ Jesuswhen you see Me, Philip,
you have seen the Father. By becoming man, by becoming incarnate,
the Eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh, has brought God within our
reach. Christ Jesus has revealed to us divine perfections in human
flesh. In Christ, God's holiness has become visible, audible, tangible,
sensible Neither doth anyone know the Father, but the Son, and
anyone to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him.
v. But such perfection demands the acceptance of the revelation
of God in Christ. Reaching such supernatural heights demands that we are
subject to Christ and His Holy Catholic Church. In other words, to be
given sight, we must accept the Light of the World. To end our deafness
to divine things, we must open our ears to authoritative teachings. To
be loosed of the crippling effects of amorality that accepts no moral
norms, one must allow their consciences to be bound by the Teacher. To
end the plague, the disease of rationalism, one must accept a knowledge
that is above reason and more certain than any natural truth, namely the
Catholic Faith.
vi. In less than two weeks, we will be celebrating the Birth
of the Light of the World the One Who Enlightens. Modern man, still
corrupted by the errors of rationalism, wishes to cast a shadow over
this feast. The false teaching of the Enlightenment seeks to darken the
joyful mystery of the Nativity. Those who seek to remove Christ from
Christmas desire to eclipse the coming of the Son of God in the flesh
God shining in the face of the divine Infant. But in doing so, the
enlightened man devalues the human race. By stating Season's Greetings
instead of Merry Christmas by focusing in more on toys than the Gift
of the Christ Child, man's infinite worth and dignity is lowered to the
level of a commercial and materialistic beast. Modern man will remain
truly unenlightened and incomplete unless he willingly bends low to
enter the cave at Bethlehem. December 25th is Christmas, the Feast of
Light. Anyone seeking enlightenment from someone else can choose another
date on the calendar.
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