Return the Favor? (Bede)

Series: Trinitytide

September 17, 2018
Fr. Vaughn Treco

180917 - Homily - Return the Favor? (Bede)

Episode Notes

Homily - Return the Favor? (Bede)

And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren. (Luke 22:31-32)

In the wake of the Protestant Rebellion, the Lord raised up Saint Robert Bellarmine as a defender of our most Holy Faith, and of the Papacy, given to Holy Mother Church, in order that Peter and his successors might preserve the Faith — once delivered to the saints — whole and undefined!

During the years that followed the Council of Trent, Blessed Robert scorched the lands invaded by the virus of Protestantism, demonstrated that each and every one of the Church’s teachings arose from Sacred Scriptures and the Depositum Fidei.

Saint Robert defied the heretics and showed how manifest was the Sacrament of Baptism in the teaching of Jesus Christ:

Jesus answered, and said to him: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God...

Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. (John3:3,5-6)

Blessed Bellarmine exposed the shallowness of the Reformers’ grasp of the Sacred Page, by pointing them to the custom of the Holy Apostles regarding Confirmation:

Then Paul said: John baptized the people with the baptism of penance, saying: That they should believe in him who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus.

Having heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:4-6)

And, he schooled the so-called scholars of the Reform, on the Holy Eucharist, by way of the very words of Christ!

Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. (John 6:54-55)

When these would-be New Testament geniuses defied the teaching of the Faith regarding the Sacrament of Penance, he took them back to the Upper Room and asked them to pay close attention to what Jesus said and did after he walked through the walls of the cenical:

When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.(John 20:22-23)

And, he castigated them for their new-created temporary marital bonds, and made war for the permanence of the Sacrament of Marriage:

And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery. (Matthew 19:9)

To show heir folly regarding Holy Orders, Saint Robert Bellarmine, return to the Upper Room... and pointed to the practice of the Apostle who they claimed to love:

To Titus my beloved son, according to the common faith, grace and peace from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.

For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee: (Titus 1:4-5)

In defense of the Sacrament of Unction, he reminded them that even in their truncated Bible, the teaching of our Lord about this sacrament cannot be avoided:

Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15)

Finally, as they railed against the Holy Father, this faithful Son of the Church, demanded that they revisit Caesarea Philippi with him, and defended most eloquently the reality of the Petrine Office:

And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church... (Matthew 16:17-18)

Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:22-23)

Saint Robert Bellarmine proved himself a true and loyal associate of the Papacy in the hour of his greatest need.

The only question that remains now is: Will our Holy Father, Pope Francis return the favor again today!

And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren. (Luke 22:31-32)

Saint Robert Bellarmine: Pray for us!

Our Lady, Queen of Priests: Pray for us!

O Lord Jesus Christ, Head of the Church: Have Mercy on us!

Pray for us!

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