Recognizing the voice of Satan

[Music] [Laughter] [Music] thank you [Music] good morning it's Labor Day weekend welcome to all of our visitors especially in everybody you know I think in my life sometimes that I would like to be an encourager right I would like to encourage people to their best and I think that's probably what Jeremiah was thinking I want to encourage people to be their best but every time I have to speak about the Lord I have to say difficult things and people don't want to hear what I have to say and and so Jeremiah is struggling with his ministry as a prophet now if you know the story of Jeremiah you know he was killed ultimately he was rejected now so Jeremiah is filled with a desire to be of service and help to people and he finds himself talking about God and man it's just not what people want to hear sometimes and so that's a little bit about the Old Testament reading I want to encourage you and I think you want to encourage your spouse and your children your neighbors and your friends to authentically follow Jesus Christ and not give in to the weakness of the flesh Saint Peter not using the gift of the spirit that had been given to him turns literally into the voice of Satan in his conversation with Jesus discouraging from from picking up his cross there are far too many voices of Satan in the world saying take the easy way drop your cross leave your kids disrespect your parents take the easy way that is not the gospel it may be born from genuine human concern for somebody's feelings but it is so often short-sighted I don't doubt for one second that Peter was speaking in his affection for Jesus when he says no but that miss that affection was misguided and it was in the words of Our Lord today just thinking as human beings think not thinking with the power of the spirit there's a section in the Old Testament it's a very famous part where Moses is up on the hill and he is uh interacting with God getting the Ten Commandments bringing the law down to the people and Aaron is left down at the camp in charge and the people turned to Aaron and they say make us a god and Aaron does just what they asked them to do and he makes a golden calf and they have a big party and there's drinking in revelry and this and that and Moses comes down the hill and says Aaron what did these people do to you that you would lead them astray like this and what was Aaron's response they asked me to they asked for permission everything I once had a young man come talk to me after just a not long in marriage couple years and a child and he said I knew marriage was going to be hard but it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be he was seriously wondering what he was going to do you know and I encouraged him I encouraged him be the best man you can be pray for your spouse pray for your marriage make time for a good and serious conversation with your wife work on yourself may be considered counseling I might have said to him I urge you my brother by the mercy of God to offer your body as a Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to God your spiritual worship you know that was the second reading today Saint Paul says to you and he says to me I urge you my brother by the mercy of God to offer your body as a Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to God someone as I'm sure many of you have had this experience in one way or another confides that they have a same-sex attraction and they're really confused about their whole life and what is it going to do and what is it going to mean and we might say with Saint Paul today in the gospel I'm sorry in the second reading do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and pleasing and perfect another circumstance these are true stories a divorced woman struggling with the adjustment of this life that she didn't want her whole life had been a series of relationships and most of them bad and here she found herself divorced again her friends were encouraging her to abandon her budding religious conviction find a boyfriend get sexually involved they were making offers to her too good to be true an easy way out of the struggle that she was facing dealing with her broken heart and her loneliness but she was striving for the first time really to live her faith and discover things about herself and her God and she was sorely tempted by her friends who were saying don't pick up your cross don't follow Jesus she was tempted by them she came to me kind of wanted to give me a like I don't get all this Catholic stuff it was tempting for me to say oh you know well maybe it wasn't really tempting but it could have been easy to say oh yeah do whatever you want but no it's pick up your cross get to know yourself strive to live a Pure Life let the Holy Spirit heal you I might have said to her I urge you by the mercy of God to offer your body as a Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to God your spiritual worship do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and pleasing and perfect I might have just said to her pick up your cross and follow Jesus last week Peter was the rock remember that last week just a quick reminder last week who do people say that I am you are the Christ the son of living God you are the rock on you I build my church The Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly father what you bind on Earth is bound in heaven what you loose on Earth is loose in heaven you have authority to teach and bind God has given you power and responsibility a great privilege that was last week and what happens to him this week he's anything but the Rock he steps away from the Holy Spirit he starts to think as men and women think he's back to placing his foot in his mouth and saying stupid things Jesus had a mission and his mission was to offer his body as a Living Sacrifice that is difficult for us to understand Jesus had a mission to offer his body as a Living Sacrifice Jesus is sharing his mission more and more explicitly with his followers he began I'm quoting the gospel now he began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem suffer greatly from the elders the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him I was talking to a good friend of mine father Steve Bruno some of you may know him the pastor of Saint Reed is in her hand and he was telling me his homily this weekend was going to be about how easy it is to miss the good news just in that little passage of the Gospel so how easy it is to focus on the negative and miss that which is good did you hear the good in what Jesus just said a minute ago he said that I am going to suffer greatly I'm going to be killed and then on the third day what's going to happen I'm going to be raised Peter didn't get that at all did he he didn't hear that part did he all he could see was the negative all he could see was the difficulty all he could do was see was to suffer greatly sometimes it's so easy just to hear the negative we hear in Saint Paul what I have quoted to you two or three times already this morning we may hear only offer your body as a Living Sacrifice we might not hear that you may know what is good and pleasing and perfect don't we all want to know that don't we want to know what is good don't we want to know is pleasing to God don't we want to know what is perfect even if that path is challenging and difficult now Peter what does Peter say when Jesus says I have to pick up my cross I have to go to Jerusalem Jesus says God forbid It's Like a Prayer God forbid Lord still being very respectful no such thing will ever happen to you and Jesus's response was Swift and brutal it wasn't a pat on the back and say hey Peter let me let me explain a couple things to you it's like Jeremiah get behind me Satan you are an obstacle to me you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do Peter was offering Jesus the easy way out Peter was saying don't pick up your cross Peter was discouraging Jesus from his mission Peter was anything but a voice of encouragement Peter with good intentions I would say with good intentions to save Jesus some difficulty is giving him horrible advice don't be the voice of Satan to your family to your friends or to yourself picking up our cross and making a living sacrifice of our body is very difficult it is counter-cultural it's counterintuitive at times it requires the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit the whole challenge that we're facing in the world around us today Jesus reacts fiercely to this idea that we just give in to our flesh that we just give in to the circumstances of the world that we just have an abortion that we just get divorced that we just run away from our responsibilities that we Embrace same-sex marriage and same-sex attractions and those difficulties are happening in the church as well I was just reading not long ago about the Bishops in Germany and I think the Bishops in Germany might have good intentions but they are not thinking as God thinks they have not put on the mind of Christ they are being drowned out by the voice of the world and my brothers and sisters in Christ hear this gospel we must think as God thinks or we are going to fall into the pattern of being a voice of discouragement telling people not to pick up their cross not to offer their body as Living Sacrifice not to be prophetic not to recognize that in three days you will rise how easy it is to hear the bad news and not hear the good news you know in the easy life makes us soft the easy life makes us soft and easy to fool and open to the voices of foolishness and Jesus says pick up your cross and follow me pick up your cross and follow me and your mind will be purified and you will see what is good and pleasing and perfect now I understand I sincerely do I have people that come to my office I have people that meet me on the street I have people family and friends and others you know these struggles are real these pains are real they affect every family and we do want to be a voice of encouragement a voice of love a voice of kindness a voice of welcoming all of the challenges that we Face To be honest to be pure to be holy to be chaste to be faithful but my brothers and sisters we need to be voices of encouragement don't we there's a lot of voices of discouragement in the world they sound like voices of encouragement they sound like they're being kind they sound like they're saying God forbid you should ever have anything difficult in your life but doesn't that sound a lot like Peter right before Jesus said what get behind me Satan you are not thinking as God thinks you are thinking as human beings think and when we think according to our fallen nature we are not going to pick up our crosses we are not going to follow Christ my brothers and sisters there's a I hope you can see the connection here when a butterfly is in its chrysalis you know it might be tempting to cut it out and help it Fly Away but the butterfly has to struggle to get out of his little encasement he has to spend that time working and struggling and struggling and working and and if you will carrying his little cross so that he develops his wings and his the fluid that's in his abdomen develops helps them develop all of us we we take the easy way we are not going to develop we are not going to become who God created us to be and yes I hear you loud and clear make your body a Living Sacrifice to God not a popular message these days is it pick up your cross and follow me but this is the message of life this is the message of hope this is the message of Eternity this is the message of transformation this is the message of perfection so be a voice of encouragement and I say to you each and every one of you right now this morning I say to you I urge you my brothers and my sisters by the mercy of God to offer your body as a Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to God your spiritual worship do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern that you may know what is the will of God what is good and pleasing and perfect

Channel: Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church

Views: 29,185

Keywords: Abortion, Faith, Fr. Mike, Fr. Mike O'Connor, Fr. O'Connor, Gender Affirmaton, Gendor Disphoria

Id: RbyJ3ERVGzQ

Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 03 2023