Shut Down the Politically-Correct Jesus

This is a very ironic title. How could Jesus be politically correct? Well, He isn't, but we can make him this way or rather present him to others this way. I've already heard many times that Jesus Christ was a socialist, a hippie, someone who was going to bring universal peace, a protector of our environment, a lover of a "green" planet, etc. All those ideas are presented as if they are the essence of what Christ did and a reason for His being. It is unfortunate that we want to box Him into a politically correct agenda.

The truth is that He is not politically correct, because this is not the reason God became man. As we approach Lent, we have to look at something much more important than any agenda. This Lent I encourage you to make a special journey to Golgotha. It is going to be heavy and painful. There will not be words of cheering and fake happiness. To really find our path through the streets of Jerusalem we will have to strip away all artificial wrappings made by fools' impressions and the lies of Satan.

I will begin with the very simple sign of ashes, but not just on our heads, truly in our hearts. To be able to move forward you will have to burn down all the untruths from your past. Only then will your legs be able to carry you on. To begin this journey on this Ash Wednesday Eve, read and reflect on this sermon from St. Alphonsus Liguori on The Danger of Abusing God's Mercy.

"In this day's Gospel, we read that, having gone into the desert, Our Lord Jesus Christ permitted the Devil to set Him on the pinnacle of the Temple and say to Him: ”If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for the Angels shall preserve Thee from all injury.” But the Lord answered that in the Sacred Scriptures it is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

"The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving to resist temptations, or without at least asking God's help to conquer them, and hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from that abyss, tempts God to work miracles, or rather to show to him an extraordinary mercy not extended to the generality of Christians.

"As the Apostle says, God “will have all men to be saved” ( I Tim. 2: 4), but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance.

"Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins that we commit. Hence, when the time that He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show in this discourse that when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive. The number of sins God will pardon is fixed.

"1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and other Fathers teach, that just as God has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent that He will give him - according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” (Wis. 11: 21) - so also He has determined for each the number of sins that He will pardon. And when this number is completed, He will pardon no more.

"2. “The Lord hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart” (Is 61: 1). God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him.

Nor can we demand from God a reason why He pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life and sends them to Hell after three or four sins. By His Prophet Amos, God has said: “For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not convert it” (1:3). In this we must adore the judgments of God, and say with the Apostle: “Of the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments” (Rom 11: 33).

"He who receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure mercy of God; and they who are chastised, are justly punished. How many has God sent to Hell for the first offense? St. Gregory relates that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, was seized by the Devil and carried to Hell for having uttered a blasphemy.

"The Blessed Mother of God revealed to a great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of 12 years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost.

"You say: I am young; there are many who have committed more sins than I have. But is God on that account obliged to wait for your repentance if you offend Him? In the Gospel of St. Matthew (21: 19), we read that the Savior cursed a fig tree the first time He saw it without fruit. “May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.” You must, then, tremble at the thought of committing a single mortal sin, particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins.

"3. Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin. (Eccl 5:5) Therefore - oh sinner! - do not say, “Since God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it.” Say not this, for, if to the sin that has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that, thus, the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned.

"Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place: The Lord patiently waits that when the day of judgment shall come, He may punish them in the fullness of their sins. (2 Mac 6: 14) God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. Thou hast sealed up my offenses as it were in a bag. (Job 14:17)

"Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them, but God numbers them; then, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. Take ye up the sickles, for the harvest is ripe. (Joel 3:13)

"4. Of this there are many examples in the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one place says: All the men that have tempted Me now ten times ... shall not see the land. (Num 14: 22-23) In another place, He says that He restrained His vengeance against the Amorrhites because the number of their sins was not completed: For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full. (Gen 15:16)

"We have again the example of Saul who, after having disobeyed God a second time, was abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose before the Lord in his behalf: Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord. (1 Kings 15:25) But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel answered: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee, etc. (5: 26) Saul, you have abandoned God, and He has abandoned you.

"We have another example in Balthassar who, after having profaned the vessels of the Temple, saw a hand writing on the wall, Mane, Thecel, Phares. Daniel was requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining the word Thecel, he said to the King: Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting. (Dan 5:27) By this explanation, he gave the King to understand that the weight of his sins in the balance of divine justice had made the scale descend. The same night Balthassar, the Chaldean King, was killed. (Dan. 5:30)

"Oh! How many sinners have met with a similar fate! Continuing to offend God till their sins reached a certain number, they have been struck dead and sent to Hell! They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to Hell. (Job 21:13) Tremble, brethren, lest if you commit another mortal sin, God should cast you into Hell.

"6. According to St. John Chrysostom, God is more to be feared when He bears with sinners than when He instantly punishes their sin. And why? Because, says St. Gregory, they to whom God has shown most mercy shall be chastised with the greatest rigor, if they do not cease to offend Him.

"The Saint adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden death, and does not allow them time for repentance. And the greater the light that God gives to certain sinners for their correction, the greater is their blindness and obstinacy in sin: For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than after they have known it, to turn back." (2 Pet 2:21)

"Miserable the sinners, who, after having been enlightened, return to the vomit. St. Paul says that it is morally impossible for them to be again converted: For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who have tasted the Heavenly gifts … and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance." (Heb 6:4, 6)

"7. Listen, then, O sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins also pray that they may be forgiven thee.(Eccles 21:1) My son, add not sins to those that you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions. Otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever.

When then, beloved brethren, the Devil tempts you again to yield to sin, say to yourself: If God pardons me no more, what shall become of me for all eternity? Should the Devil in reply, say: “Fear not, God is merciful.” Then answer him by saying: “What certainty or what probability do I have that, if I return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon?”

"For behold the threat of the Lord against all who despise His calls: Because I have called and you refused ... I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared. (Prov 1:24, 26) Mark the words "I also" - they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying Him again after your confession and promises of amendment, so He will mock you at the hour of death. I will laugh and will mock. But, God is not mocked. (Gal. 6:7)

"The wise man says: As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is the fool that repeats his folly.(Prov 26:11). Blessed Denis the Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that, as a dog that eats what he has just vomited is an object of disgust and abomination, so the sinner who returns to the sins that he has detested and confessed becomes hateful in the sight of God.

"8. O folly of sinners! If you purchase a house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to guard against the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are careful to assure yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass over a river, you cautiously avoid all danger of falling into it. And, for a transitory enjoyment, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure that lasts but a moment, you risk your eternal salvation, saying: “I will go to confession after I commit this sin.”

"And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: “Tomorrow.” But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you shall have time for confession and that God will not deprive you of life as He has deprived so many others, in the act of sin? "Diem tenes" says St. Augustine, "qui horam non tenes." You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and yet you say: I will go to confession tomorrow.

"Listen to the words of St. Gregory: “He who has promised pardon to penitents has not promised tomorrow to sinners." (Hom. 12 in Evan.) God has promised pardon to all who repent; but He has not promised to wait until tomorrow for those who insult Him. Perhaps, God will give you time for repentance; perhaps He will not. But, should He not give it, what shall become of your soul? In the meantime, for the sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose the grace of God and expose yourself to the danger of being lost forever.

"9. Would you, for such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honor, your possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How, then, does it happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your soul, Heaven, and God?

"Tell me: Do you believe that Heaven, Hell, eternity, are truths of faith? Do you believe that, if you die in sin, you are lost forever? O! What temerity, what folly is it, to condemn yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope of afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation!

"Nemo," says St. Augustine, "sub spe salutis vult aegrotare." No one can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of preventing its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary remedies. And you will condemn yourself to Hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards preserved from it.

"O folly! Which, in conformity with the divine threats, has brought - and brings every day - so many to Hell. Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness … and evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof. (Isa 47:10,11) You have sinned, trusting rashly in the divine mercy: The punishment of your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you, and you shall not know from whence it comes." ~ St Alphonsus Liguori

What do you say? What resolution will you make? If, after this sermon, you do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God, I weep over you and regard you as lost.