John 3-16-18 6-4-2023 (As built, Amite #546)
- Catholic…
- You know I guess it’s about the nineteen seventies and Neil would tell you he’s a Massachusetts guy… he is one of I think about six children… and he would tell you that his life for the most part was pretty good… his family owned kind of a hotel motel and they would do well with it… not great but he said when he was asked in an interview what was school like for you… he said man in grammar school they called me the headster… he said my head was so big it was out of proportion and he said man I was just mauled… I was ridiculed… he said I get to high school and the body kind of portions out a little bit… and then he says I become probably one of the better athletes… he becomes Mr. high school… blonde hair blue eyes nothing’s changed… and as a result of it man he starts to get good at what he does… Syracuse University comes… gets a scholarship… he goes there he does finish… and he says something happens to him along the way right… he says he kept thinking about this time back in grammar school where he played the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz… so I decide this is what I want to do but his family warns him… his dad warns him he says you’ve got to remember something… he said man Hollywood doesn’t bode well for Catholics… he decides notwithstanding… so he goes… he gets in a movie called Sasquatch… huge hit that’s right… an if thinks can’t get better he gets in another one called Angels in the Outfield… and when he gets involved with that one he starts getting involved in things like Justified… he gets in Desperate Housewives… I think he’s in Yellowstone… you know it bothers me that you know that he’s in Yellowstone but I digress on that issue… he was in Walking Tall with the Rock… okay this is going to be a miserable death I can see feel it… my brothers and sisters in Christ okay his name is Neil McDonough… okay hold on just so we don’t ever make that mistake again… that will go in my black Bart file which means I’ll never pitch this guy ever again… you know when you see a picture of him you’re going to recognize him… he plays in desperate housewives and because he won’t do a love scene they fire him… and he said in an interview well why didn’t you do the love scene it’s just acting… he said first I’m not an actor I’m a Catholic actor… I’m not just a husband I’m a Catholic husband… I’m not just a man I’m a Catholic man… and it’s against my teachings it’s against my faith it’s against my wife it’s against my vow and it’s against my children… hence he was fired… my brothers and sisters in Christ that is exactly the point… about being Catholic…
- That is exactly the gospel… God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son… the crucifix… the sign of the cross… a triune God… the Catholic Church… my brothers in Christ okay stop… you’re a Jew you lived two thousand years ago… you have better understanding that Christ is probably going to be the Messiah… you’re starting to learn about Father so and Holy Spirit… then all of a sudden you hear this Gospel… remember this when the good Lord said I so loved the world I sent my only begotten son… the original translation means begotten… okay let me explain where this is going… my brothers and sisters in Christ if I were to tell you the Nicene Creed begotten means there’s no beginning and no end… that he wasn’t created… that he’s not less than… he’s not just the Son of God… you see this is where you’ve got to understand Muslims as well as Mormons believe that he’s just a prophet which means he’s been created… I’ll tell you what I’ll prove it to you… in the nicene creed there’s a part of the creed it’s about five lines… because of one guy by the name of Aryan… Aryan said that Christ was just a man… that heresy is alive and well in Islam and as well as in Mormons… but you and I had to correct it in the creed… God from God light from light true God from True God… Begotten not Made… yes Lord… I would hav beet my monthly check which ain’t much that we would have not gotten that far with it I promise you… that’s why the word begotten became about… so when the Creed goes from twelve lines to a hundred it’s because we have to keep fighting the heresies… but if once you know the first twelve lines are true… written by the twelve apostles… each line delineated by the guy who said it… it’s in your pew… that’s why I want you to know the creed… so when he says begotten he’s trying to tell you he’s there from the very beginning… my brothers in Christ and then he tells you something that’s very unique… that he came for many… that means not everybody’s going to make it… that means once saved always saved is a lie… think about it… if all you’ve got to do is say Jesus Christ is Lord and continue to sleep around… kill murder or cheat… then why are we here… why did Saint Paul say there’ll come a day when he’ll judge us both our good and evil… and whatever we did with our body we will be held accountable… why would he say that… my brothers and sisters in Christ then why did only two people out of a million make it to the promised land… why did Noah only save eight… this is what you and I need to understand… our faith is true… look… the sign of the cross… the sign of a triune God… being Catholic is the issue…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ look… go back in scripture… our best players the ones that really had their game… they were always directed towards Christ… their compass always pointed towards him… everything they did testified towards him… look I’ll tell you what… the wedding at Cana… you are I are there… we find out they’re out of wine… instead of going to Mary… they go to you… they go to me… what are we going to do… I can tell you what we're going to do… wait a minute tell me how much you’ve got come show me… how many other Jars do you have… how long would it take to get new ones… you and I are trying to solve the world by putting our hands around it… that’s not what Mary does… her first direction… they’re out of wine… it’s your problem… what is her last words in scripture… it’s the wedding of Cana… he ain’t even gone public yet… do whatever he tells you… my brothers and sisters in Christ she’s totally directed towards her faith… yes the Catholic faith… my brothers and sisters in Christ lets go one step further… if you are Lazarus… you’re in the tomb… he goes to the tomb… he rolls back the stone… and then he yells out Lazarus come out… because if he just says come out then every tomb opens because it’s the second coming… that’s why you and I are named… because we’re accountable for our actions… that’s why he knows your name in your mother's womb… that’s why he knows the hairs on your head… that’s why we’re named… in the garden of Eden they’re not named… they’re man and woman… why because no sin was committed… once they sinned… then they pick up the names Adam means mankind… Eve doesn’t get her name until after they’re kicked out… therein lies the point… when he says Lazarus come out…what if Lazarus said well no… I got free will… I’m dead… I’m not dying again… give him his due it’s a good valid point… my brothers and sisters in Christ everything directed himself towards Christ… that’s why he’s coming out… my brothers and sisters in Christ Martha and Mary ya’ll know the story… the good Lord is talking Mary’s at his feet… Martha is busy in the kitchen trying to fix things… people are coming and going in and out… dinner food Etc. she gets mad at her sister because her sister’s not helping… and the good Lord said Mary has chosen the greater portion… it’s not that what Martha was doing was wrong… just that Mary was choosing wisely… that while I’m there and I’m in front of you… make your petitions known to me…come directly to me first… be true to your faith and to my church… the Catholic Church… you need to come to me first… and not second… you know what’s amazing… you know when he goes to the tomb of Lazarus… who’s the first one that comes to meet him… it’s not Mary… it’s Martha… she’s the one that comes out Lord if you’d been here… but I am… but at least she comes out first… my brothers in Christ this is why I need you to understand… this is why you and I are here… it’s all about the Catholic Church… listen to what I’m telling you… for sixteen hundred years… you’re either Jew or Catholic… if I were to ask you… what does the word Catholic mean… thank you… ninety-nine percent of the people are going to yell out it means universal… and this is why the Protestants run with it… it became so popular in the first sixteen hundred years it would have been hard for you not to hear the word… it became universal… it means according to the whole… that if you gather in one place… you listen to the readings… you sing the Psalms… and you break bread… you are no longer a Jew… because the Jews gather in one place… they sing the Psalms… they read Hebrew scripture… and they sacrifice a lamb… you and I sacrifice the lamb… for sixteen hundred years… are you telling me… up until that point the good Lord sat on his hands and allowed you and I to just flail… knowing that we need actually forty- thousand faiths in the world to get it right… my brothers in Christ the Catholic Church is true… don’t get caught up in the management… follow him and his teachings of his church… everything we do is scriptural…
- Let me ask you… how good are you at testifying that you are indeed Catholic… well let’s see… when somebody comes to you and says man are you Christian… do you say yes or do you say absolutely I’m Catholic… because Christian doesn’t mean a whole lot if you don’t worship him in a certain way… I can say I worship God and I believe him to be the Messiah… as I’m out in the duck stand… deer stand… duck blind whatever… my ball your ball travel ball kickball… my brothers and sisters in Christ yeah God is everywhere but he’s only physically present here… therein lies the point… in other words when they ask you if you’re Christian absolutely I’m Catholic… when it comes time to pray and they say let us pray… will you break out the sign of the cross… you’re not blessing yourself you’re asking God to bless you… Daniel told you that it would be the sign that would save you… what if they ask you to lead in prayer… oh here we go… you going to break out that Hail Mary knowing you’re going to be the only one in that group that prays it… and then they’re going to say that you worship her and you and I both know we only venerate her… as the Mother of our Savior Jesus Christ… as Holy Mother church… as the new Tabernacle… if I drove by your house and I ran by your front yard would I know you’re Catholic… I mean I know you don’t want to offend anybody… we have no problems offending us… we have no problem offending our savior… if you don’t acknowledge me before my Father I will not acknowledge you before him… if you do not acknowledge me before others I will not acknowledge you before my Father… so what I’m wondering my brothers and sisters in Christ why have we made our faith so private… we don’t know how to go public… why is it every time I pick up a paper… which is getting less and less by the way… that man we have no problem having somebody throw out the first pitch… in a Dodgers uniform… trashing Holy Mother church… and we got Christian ball players on that team… give to Caesar what is Caesars… you got paid so well you done forgot your faith… my brothers and sisters in Christ when are you and I going to stand up… if I went into your house would I know your Catholic… would there be a crucifix in your house or just a cross no corpse… we follow a crucified Christ… if I got in your car would I know your Catholic… if I watched you drive… okay don’t answer that one… they probably wouldn’t know your Catholic… my brothers and sisters in Christ… when somebody says what do you do for a living you’d say I’m a physician I’m a doctor I’m an engineer I am an attorney… I am a teacher… I am a housewife I’m a house husband… do you say I’m a Catholic doctor… I’m a Catholic teacher… I’m a Catholic student… or is that just a byproduct… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’ve got to get you to understand that everything begins and ends with our faith… that sign of the cross is immensely powerful… you’ve got to stop doing these little short in and outs as if somehow or another you don’t want to offend anybody… our church is true… I need you to focus on what is true… the sign of the cross the Eucharist and the sacraments… there’s a difference between redemption and salvation… redemption is the crucifixion… salvation is the pearly gates… just because he died on the cross you and I do not get a free pass… Adam and Eve didn’t get one… Moses didn’t get one… Noah didn’t get one… King David din’t get one… then why in the Sam Hill do you and I think we get a mulligan… at the end of the day it all begins and ends with one thing… it begins and ends with him and his church and his teachings and the sign of the cross… I am begging you to plant your flag… nobody is doing that… nobody is saying I’m sorry that’s just wrong… I’m just sorry I do believe in God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit… I am not blessing myself I’m asking him to bless me in a Triune God… my brothers and sisters in Christ I promise you… I sent my Son into the world for the salvation of many… at the end of the day the sign of the cross is the most powerful prayer in the world… be clear and distinct… make it known that you are a follower of Jesus Christ and his Church… and I promise you… you will hear the heavens quake when your day comes… and you hear the immortal words welcome to the table of my children… I watched you when everybody looked at you and you made that sign of the cross… and you walked it out there… I watched you when everybody looked at you and said man he ain’t going to break out the Hail Mary and there you did it in honor of my Mother… man I watched you take the ridicule and you waked away with your head up… God bless you and welcome to my kingdom… that’s what you need to hear… and that’s why we’re here… everything else is irrelevant… make it clearly… make it distinctly… in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…
- Amen
