Today we have a perfect example of the types found in the Old Testament, and the foreshadowing found in the Old Testament. All of the inspiration in the Old Testament was to point to the time when Christ came, so that we would know that He was the Messiah. So the types found in the Old Testament are types of persons in the New. And the foreshadowing in the Old Testament are pointing to events that will take place in the New Testament: all of it pointing to the Messiah.

So, today we have an historical event that took place: history, not just a parable, not some kind of myth, but an historical event being foreshadowed and showing forth types; but in this event, they will be fulfilled, because it takes place with Christ.

Now the town of Naim is north of Galilee, it is in the northern part. The north is to be understood as those who have apostatized from the faith of the Jews. Remember Solomon, the son of King David, when he reigned, his wisdom was great beyond reproach; yet he had a weakness and that was for women – he had 400 wives and 1,000 concubines. But he did something worse than that; he allowed some of them because of their beauty to continue to worship the false gods that they brought from the different countries from which they were enslaved. Because of that his kingdom was divided – God divided the north and the south. That division remained all the way up until the time and beyond of Christ. It would be united together again, but it would be united in a way different than the Jew had thought and that would be united in Christ.

For this is what takes place today, the foreshadowing is this event and the type of person is both the Blessed Virgin and Our Lord, and how the union of God with man is going to bring about the rectifying of this division. So let us look at a moment of this historical event and see how this comes about.

Jesus went into a city called Naim, and there went with Him His disciples and a great multitude; so these were already those who heard Him and believed Him to be the Messiah: His disciples and a great multitude. But when He comes, it says, when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his widowed mother, and a great multitude of the city was with her.

So we have this event where at the gate of the city you meet this multitude of Christ and his followers and disciples, and a multitude of this people of the city bringing this dead man out of the gate: here the Old Testament meets the New Testament. For on this one side in the city, this woman, this widow, who lost her only son, her substance, her hope for the future is gone now, is dead, that is the Old Testament: the Law, the Prophets. But it is not completely dead, because it comes into contact now with God Who is Life itself, Who will restore all things.

This woman, then, this representative of the Old Testament, and a type of the Old Testament, she is bereaved and so is all of Israel with her, all of Judea is bereaved, because now it is without life. Whom when the Lord saw, being moved with mercy, said “Weep not.” He has mercy, compassion. We spoke about Our Lady of Sorrows being the originally title, Our Lady of Compassion, so what does He do? He doesn’t just walk by, He comes near and touches the bier, the wooden plank on which this young man’s body is being carried out of the city. Why? Because if it is left in the city, it will rot and cause more destruction. The only thing they could do was to get rid of it. Until Christ comes. He touches it and He says, “Stop.” What He touches and what He stops is death, because He is Life itself.

Just the very touch, the command and the obedience of death at this moment, and they that carried it stood still. They obeyed. So the scene is still here now in front of us. We can see it very clearly, it is brought to our imaginations very, very vividly. And He said to the young man, “I say to thee, arise.” And he that was dead sat up and began to speak.

This will foreshadow Christ on the Cross, for Christ is the Messiah that was promised, and when He speaks life comes forth from His word and it brings what was dead back to life. And the man sat up and began to speak. This detail is extremely important, in fact, the very center of this entire historical event. For when one has authority in the Old Testament, one would sit and speak to show their authority. So now, this young man is a type of Christ, having risen now speaks, teaches from the Cross. It is what we see here in Saint Peter, sitting upon his throne and teaching from his thrown. The thrown being the dogmas and doctrines, of course, what Christ taught to the Apostles. But he teaches with authority, in the Name of God and in the Name of the Church. And this young man is delivered to his mother.

The Old Testament can do nothing for this woman who represents the Old Testament and the temple of the Church, but now when her son is restored to her and given back to her. She now represents the Church, who receives, and having received the Christ into her womb virginally, giving her flesh and her blood to him, He restores all things, “See, Mother, I make all things new.” His word being spoken is enough. But He died on the Cross, like this young man being carried on the wooden bier, He dies upon the wooden Cross and from there He resurrects, and from His Resurrection, He speaks the words of Life. He teaches. And then He hands to His Church to speak and to teach what He taught and what He spoke.  

And there came a fear on them all. And they glorified God saying a great prophet has arisen up among us and God has visited His people. What a response! This comes from both sides, those who represented the Old Testament and the Jewish nation, and those who have left all things to follow Christ. They say the same thing. And yet this foreshadowing of the event of the Cross will end very differently, because when Christ fulfills this event by dying on the Cross, they do not cry out, “This is a great prophet risen among us and God has visited His people, but they blaspheme Him, they reject Him. Just like men in the moment of an emotional joy at receiving some good thing, in a short little while, and with the same mouth and the same heart blaspheme God for not having given what they wanted.

The Gospels are so rich and so perfect in unity. The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians speaks of this as well. Fulfill the law of Christ, let everyone prove his own work, he will glory in himself otherwise. Let everyone who is instructed in the Word communicate to him that instructed him in all good things. You have been instructed in this Word of life. Now you are to instruct. Be not deceived, God isl not mocked; God is not mocked. You may be able to get away with it when you mock Him amongst men, but He is not mocked by Himself, against Himself. For what thing a man shall sow, there also shall he reap; if he soweth in the flesh, he shall reap corruption. Because flesh is death because of sin, it will die and corrupt. But if he soweth in the spirit, the spirit shall reap life everlasting.

You have heard me speak so many times of this polarization that the Modernists use all the time, “Oh don’t be polarizing, you are polarizing; disunity is because there are polarizations on this side and on that side.” No one does a greater amount of polarizing than does Scripture, between good and evil, between truth and error, between love and hatred, between corruption and life everlasting.

And let us not weary in doing good for the time reap has not yet come and it will not fail. So do unto all men, especially those of the household. The third commandment of the Church ties in perfectly to both the Gospel and this Epistle. The third commandment of the Church is to confess our sins at least once a year. By the commandment to confess our sins at least once a year, we are strictly obliged to make a good confession if we have committed a mortal sin within that year.

Remember, Confession is not limited to mortal sin, but mortal sin is only forgiven in the Confessional by the absolution of the priest. I’ve said this before. People have said to me, Can I go to Confession to so-and-so? Sure. He can’t absolve you, but you can confess to him. You can confess to whomever you want. It might be kind of stupid to confess to someone who is not bound under the seal, but if you want to, fine. But he can’t absolve you. The question is: can so-and-so absolve me from my sins, do they have that power, that authority.

The definition of a mortal sin is that of a gravely sinful act that has these three components: it must be an act of grave matter, that is against one of the Ten Commandments; the act must be known to be wrong, it must be committed anyway, with full consent of the will, for it to be a mortal sin.

All baptized persons who have reached the age of reason, generally at the 7th year, are bound by this law. Parents, who neglect to prepare their children for Confession, or who prevent them from going, either out of neglect, or directly, commit a mortal sin. We are going to talk about this next week, too, about parents who neglect to bring their children to Mass on Sunday also commit a mortal sin, because their children are relying upon their parents, they cannot drive, to be here. Do not take that lightly.

A validly ordained priest is the only one who can absolve someone from mortal sin. To be validly ordained, he must have either been ordained before 1968, or having received the Sacrament of Holy Orders from a bishop consecrated according to the rites of the Church prior to Vatican II. This is because the Council of Trent (1545-1563) defined the Sacraments, all seven of them. This is because Martin Luther was the first one ever the challenge the understanding of the Sacraments. To counteract that the Council of Trent was called and over a period of nine years the seven Sacraments were defined: matter, form and intent. You will know that they are true, valid Catholic Sacraments because they have matter, form and intent. The Council of Trent defines what is the matter, form and intent for each one of the Sacraments.

This later on will help Catholics remain Catholics when Henry VIII would declare himself head of the Church in England and require priests and bishops to show their allegiance to him and not to Rome. Cranmer, who was a Cardinal [Father, can you give proof of this? I can’t find it and never heard it before.] who sided with Henry VIII against the Roman Church and would later revise the Sacraments, just as Paul VI did. And interestingly enough, the same points, and that would declare them to be invalid by the Church, because the Council of Trent had already defined, twenty years before that, what makes it valid or not valid.

Remember, priesthood or Holy Orders is a Sacrament, as well as Confession being a Sacrament. Both of those, there are six points then that must be in place for you to receive validly absolution for your sins. The unbroken lines of succession are well documented. A priest ordained in the new rite, after 1968, does not possess the power to absolve from sin. In fact, he is little more than a Protestant minister, because he follows the Protestants. When Paul VI changed either the matter, the form or the intent, or all three, or one of the three, in each one of the Sacraments, he invalidated them and any effect thereafter.  

Remember, a bishop belongs to Holy Orders, he doesn’t have a separate Sacrament; he doesn’t receive a separate Sacrament, he isn’t ordained or re-ordained a bishop, he is consecrated. All of these changes would put a doubt in anyone’s mind when it comes to something so absolutely important as to be absolved from one’s mortal sins. The Church has declared several times that the ordination of Protestant ministers is invalid due to defects in form and intent, both necessary for the valid administration of the Sacraments as taught by the Council of Trent.

In addition, the penitent, having been absolved by a true Catholic priest must have true contrition for the sin or sins having been committed. God knows, he is not mocked. If you don’t have true contrition, if you are going in for some other reason to satisfy somebody or your own conscience, but you don’t really have true contrition, God knows that. And even though all external signs may point to the fact that you have received absolution, you, in fact, have not. And nobody will know that but you and God. You can fool a priest sometimes, but you can’t fool God; he is not mocked.

You must confess your sins clearly. It is amazing how many times people will try to hide them under a nugget of some goodness. One of the things that priests are really good at is being able to get to the essence of things if you are trained as a real priest. I’ve heard some doozies but I haven’t been fooled yet. And when I come and say to the person, so what you are saying is this, the person gets kind of quiet and says yes, Father. Don’t try that, it will not work. Confess them clearly, precisely and don’t give an excuse. If I need to know something more, I am not asking out of curiosity, it isn’t a gossip session. I need to know, if it’s not clear, what species of sin, because when you confess your sins, you put them upon the priest. The priest is the scapegoat.

When you come into the Confessional and you confess something, you have now given it and it has gone onto me as an alter Christus just as Christ took all of your sins on the Cross. I then, have to have the intent to forgive that particular sin. If you have deceived me and I don’t think it’s a mortal sin or I think it is some other and I absolve you from that then you a re not absolved. This is about you being freed from sin, that is the only thing that any Catholic priest is concerned about or cares about. I don’t care to know anything more than I need to know in order to absolve you from that sin. And then you have to truly intend not to repeat it. That means that you have to take the necessary means if there is a near occasion of sin, or you are in a sinful relationship to absolve that relationship; or to do what is necessary to purify it. And you have to do the penance that is given to you. Those are the conditions for absolution of your sins: a validly ordained priest, true contrition, confess them clearly, intend not to repeat them and then do your penance.

Somebody might think, well that’s a lot that I have to do, Father. Compared to what? No special time is ordered for the yearly confession, but it is usually made in preparation for the annual Easter Communion. Together, this is referred to as the Easter Duty. Let me be very clear here: If you fail to receive Communion, that means if you fail to go to Confession, or you fail to receive Communion in a period of one year, you become an apostate Catholic. You are no longer a Catholic, you have apostatized from the Church. That is why the Easter Duty is there so that you would know and that I would know that you are a practicing Catholic. But this is the minimum again. A good Catholic who takes the salvation of his soul seriously confesses at least once a month, or whenever you have mortal sin upon your soul. There are people who can go a whole month without committing a mortal sin. That doesn’t mean that they should not come to Confession for venial sins, faults, to avoid mortal sins, but nonetheless, this is what the Church understands.

A failure to follow this directive is a sign that you do not understand the gravity of your sins, nor the extreme act of love that is offered to us from the Cross. As a general practice, you should not seek out spiritual advice from a priest who is not your Confessor and from whom you do not receive the Sacraments. This is big, because it happens all the time, you will seek out spiritual direction even from some people on the internet, somebody that will say what you want to hear. You should never do that. Or that you will use a priest that you know will return your phone calls and spend the time with you, because the priest that you go to Confession to and receive the Sacraments from, doesn’t. Who you receive the Sacraments from, and who you go to Confession to is who you seek spiritual advice from because the three of these go together as one. They are not three separate things, they are one act. The Sacrament of Confession, besides absolving us from the damnable consequences of mortal sin, also strengthens us in the future to resolve to avoid the near occasion of sin. These are the benefits, these are what you receive.

But be not deceived, God is not mocked.

September 22, 2019