The Conservative Catholic is like Pilate
Dec 18, 2017 18:34:15 GMT
Post by Admin on Dec 18, 2017 18:34:15 GMT
The Conservative Catholic is like Pilate
Transcript - Tues. in Passion Week 2017
Transcript - Tues. in Passion Week 2017
Source
We read in the Epistle for today the great event of Daniel in the Lions' den. And we are now in this Passiontide, the final 2 weeks of the life of Christ. The event recorded today is probably from these last 2 weeks. Our Lord is going to the feast and his brethren come to Him. His brethren come and they speak to Him. They say, Lord go and speak plainly. Go out and teach, let the people know what you teach. He said, your time is always, My time has not yet come. My time is not yet fulfilled. For His brethren did not believe in Him. His brethren were very much like Caiphas, except they were not as evil looking as Caiphas. His brethren were like Caiphas in that they said to Him when Caiphas was at the foot of the Cross, he said to our Lord Jesus Christ, Come down. Prove to me by your miracle of coming down from the Cross that you are the Messiah. And if you come down I will believe. Isn't that what you want? Don't you want me to believe? Don't you want the people here at the crucifixion to believe? Well then come down. There are soldiers here. You have been put to death, you are bloody from the bloody sweat. You are bloody from the crowning with thorns. You are bloody from the beatings. You are being surrounded by guards. This is the time for You to show your greatness as God and come down. And if You come down now, behold we will believe. Two weeks before his brethren said, Lord are You going to go to Jerusalem? They were half mocking Him.
Because everyone knew at this point that every time that Christ went to Jerusalem the Jews were angry. Every time He went to Jerusalem they were upset and they wanted to put Him to death. They sought to kill Him. Are you going to go to Jerusalem? Speak plainly.
Then our Lord said to His brethren, (they were from the city of Nazareth, they were His brethren) "you go to Jerusalem for the world cannot hate you. You will never be in danger, because your time is always, but My time has not yet been fulfilled." He's not gonna go with them.
So we see now in the Church, who are these "brethren"? They are the conservatives of the Church. They're the ones who say, 'Lord we believe', but in fact they do not believe. What is it that a conservatives says, Lord speak plainly.
We dealt with this in 2012 for instance in our own Society of St. Pius X. They said to Fr. Chazal and to myself, why don't you talk to Bp. Fellay? Why don't you ask him what he believes? Speak plainly to him and when you speak plainly to him he will explain everything to you. One priest told us in Post Falls, he said go and speak to Fr. Rostand . He's the kindest superior we've ever had. He's the most understanding priest we've ever had. I've never had a better superior. Go talk to him. He'll explain everything to you. So we went. Fr. Chazal went to say some prayers in the Church in Post Falls and Fr. Rostand was visiting in Post Falls at the time and he came into the Church and he said, "What are you doing here? You can't pray at our Church. I can have you arrested for coming into our Church because this is private property in America and you cannot be in the Church. Get out." He was very, very understanding. He (Fr. Chazal) had to leave before he would be arrested by the police. So there was not opportunity to have an argument to our discussion.
Another day Fr. Hewko and I went to the same parish and talked to one of the priests on the Feast of St. Pius X. We gave him some wine or champagne or whatever we got, for the Feast of St. Pius X. They were preaching a retreat at the time in Post Falls. They stood at the doorstep and said, "Look, thanks for the champagne, you can't come in. We're not gonna talk to you about anything about the faith. We're not gonna talk to you about any modernism going on the Society. We're not gonna justify anything. You just go away."
But what did they say? Speak plainly. Tell everyone publicly and surely they will believe.
One of the mysteries we're considering here is the mystery of mediocrity and the mystery of mediocrity and the mystery of mediocrity. In the Epistle we deal with a mediocre soul, a weak soul, Darius the King of the Medes, who likes Daniel, who doesn't want Daniel to die. But because he's a weak king he will put Daniel in the lions' den.
We are dealing with brethren who say, ya know I'm not like all the people in Nazareth. We're not the people in Nazareth that took Christ up and throw him off the cliff. Those are the bad people in our diocese. The good people in our diocese would never do that. Those are the liberal members of the diocese of Nazareth. They're the ones that wanted to throw Christ off the cliff, but I'm a conservative member of the diocese of Nazareth and I would never wanna throw Christ off a cliff. Let's go talk to him Come with us! Come to Jerusalem and speak your truth. And St. John tells us, They did not believe in Him.
They were like the women that He would meet on the Way of the Cross at the eighth station, the women of Jerusalem. They wept because Christ was dying. They wept. They felt sorry for such a man going to death, who walked by them. They wept because blood was in front of them, they wept because someone was suffering and it was such a terrible thing. But right now, though they were sorrowful about Him, they must prepare lunch. Though they were sorrowful about Him they had their family to take care of. But for a moment they wept. And Christ turned to them in disgust, and He said, Weep not for Me but for yourselves and for your children. Your tears are useless. Your tears are empty. And your tears do not benefit Me at all. They mock Me rather than benefit Me. And if you knew what would happen to your children, says St. Augustine, these are the children, the boys being held in the arms of those mothers, they would die a terrible death when they would be 33 yrs. old. When they would be the same age as Christ they would find themselves in Jerusalem. They would find themselves surrounded by the Romans and they would die a horrible death in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. If you knew what was going to happen to your little baby. You don't care about Me. You're not sorry for your sins. You just feel sorry, like going to one of these emotional chic flicks. That's all. You're not sorry.
So we're dealing with mediocre souls and the world is filled with mediocre souls. But there are all kinds of them. Many types.
Christ speaks about how terrible it is to be mediocre. He says, I would that you were hot or cold, but if you are lukewarm I will begin to vomit you out of My mouth.
But shall all the lukewarm be damned? No, they shall not. Some shall receive the mercy of God. The vast majority shall not. But some shall and one such one is in the Epistle today who is Darius the Mede. He likes Daniel. He's the king. But he's a coward. He's a king but he's weak. He likes Daniel but he isn't ready to suffer for Daniel . We can think that Darius, might be something like Pilate. Because Pilate liked Christ but he didn't want to suffer for Christ. Pilate felt sorry for Christ but he had to send Christ to death. Darius felt sorry for Daniel but he had to send him to death. So why is Pilate damned? Why is Darius saved? Because Darius was saved and Pilate was not. They both did the wrong thing and both because of fear. And both because of cowardice. But why was one blessed by God and the other cursed?
We have these friends of Christ, the friends of Christ who are saying, 'come with us to Jerusalem'. You go to Jerusalem. I will not go with you. I will not be with you.
Christ shall not be with the conservatives. He will not be with those that are half right, who are trying to save the Church from within, by being both approved and standing for the truth. But what's gonna be more important? Why is it that a conservative Catholic does not hold the whole truth publicly? Because if he does he will be an excommunicated Catholic. He will be a Catholic cast out of the synagogue, and he will no longer be approved. If he was approved for saying the Catholic Church is the true Church, if he was approved for saying that all the vices of the world are greatly evil and must be condemned, such as homosexuality, and divorce and remarriage, etc., if he was able to say publicly inside of our Churches the New Mass is an abomination of desolation of the Holy Place, he would do it.
But if he did it they would throw him out of the synagogue.
Now why is it that he doesn't do it? Is it because he doesn't believe? He believes there's something wrong with the new Mass. He believes there's something wrong with the new Church. He believes there's something wrong with the new Society, like the priests within the Soc. of St. Pius X who are the conservative ones. He believes that there are problems in Denmark. He believes there are difficulties. But... if he speaks out, he will die!
And so there is a very simple rule. What's more important? The glory of God? The life of the faith or my own life?
I want to protect the glory of God and I want to protect it as far as I can. But as Bp. Williamson said in his Eleison Comments a couple of days ago- No one is obliged to do the impossible.
According to the book of Daniel the Bishop is wrong. According to this book, the Good Book it's called. According to them the good Bishop is wrong. Because an angel came to Habacuc and he said, Habacuc, you live in Israel, Babylon's far away. But you've got bread. You've got pottage to feed the workers. So he had a lot of bread and a lot of pottage. Daniel is hungry. He's been 5 or 6 days, at least 4 days at this point in the lions' den. Bring it to Daniel. And Habacuc says, Lord I don't know Babylon, I've never been there. I'm not good with directions. I don't know where Babylon is and I know nothing about the den. Oh well, no one is obliged to do the impossible so I guess I'll find someone else. What does the angel say? Get movin'! So, you don't know where Babylon is? Big deal! You don't know where the den is? Big deal. If you had a brain, you'd know that Daniel was locked up. You'd know there are lions in the den. And you'd know that they're more likely to eat your pottage and bread and you than you are to feed anything to Daniel. You would also know there are guards there who would not say, I'm not lettin' you in.
But Habacuc is too stupid for that, he doesn't know that. Habacuc is just a prophet. It's all he is. So he only says, Lord I don't where Babylon is. I don't know where the den is. I don't care about soldiers. I'm not worried about lions. If you want me to go to the den, I'll go to the den. But where is it? And the angel took him by the hair of his head and he brought him immediately into the den because Habacuc was ready. He was ready. Just like the case of Jacob when he came before Isaac. Are you my son Esau? He said, Ad sum. I am.
The same words that we say when we are ordained priests. The Bishop stands and says, Are you ready to be ordained a Priest, ready to be ordained a deacon, ready to be ordained a subdeacon? Are you here, are you ready? And we say, Ad sum - I am. Ad sum means I am, means I am. Ad sum - I'm here, I'm here for a purpose, I'm here to go to something. I'm here to take action, I'm here to run. I'm here to fight. I'm here to follow, I'm here to lead. I here to do whatever Christ demands me to do. I'm here. Not like a bump on the log. Ad sum! Ad sum, that's what Jacob said to his father Isaac. Are you my son Esau? Ad sum. I am. Are you ready? Ad sum.
Jeremiah said it to God. Isaiah said it to God. Are you ready to be a prophet? Are you ready to go out and fight? Are you ready to do My work? Ad sum. I am ready. And Habacuc said it to God, Ad sum, I am ready. So the angel picked him up and carried him to Babylon. The angel picked him up and brought him inside the den, past the soldiers and there he saw 7 lions that were lions at rest. Seven lions that were losing weight. Seven lions that were very hungry. And he fed Daniel. He said Daniel rise up for God has decided to bring you food. Did the food come directly from heaven? No! The food came from Habacuc cooking it.
The food came from Habacuc. God arranged that Habacuc should bring the food because God wishes for us to participate in His divine work. You must do something. You must use your own bread. You must use your own five barley loaves and 2 fishes. You must use your own bread. You must use your own fish. You must use your own last bowl of porridge like the woman of Sarepta did. I have only one little bowl left. I'm gonna eat it and my son is going to eat it and then we are gonna lie down and die. Elias was not impressed. He said I am a prophet and I am hungry. Feed me first. If you feed me first since I am the man of God, I say unto you that that porridge shall not go empty. It shall not become empty until the drought is finished and you have food to replace it. So she took the porridge and she fed the prophet. He sat down and he ate. After he left the porridge refilled itself and she never starved through the rest of the drought.
Our Lord Jesus Christ repeat these words at the sermon on the Mount when He said, Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice. Including when you don't know where to go like Habacuc didn't. Including when you've run out of food. Including when you run out of time. Including when there's nothing else to do. You do something for Christ and seek first His kingdom and all else shall be added unto you besides.
Daniel didn't even ask for food. He sat there in the lions' den. And they were there not touching him but he was growing hungry and he was growing weak. Then Habacuc came. Habacuc came to the closed den and he spoke with Daniel and covered him with words He came with food and covered him with food and he was strengthened. So that when the end of the 7th day came came and he should have been starving , if he had not eaten. He should have been weak even if he had not been eaten by a lion. But instead he was strong. Instead he was in full health and he was not eaten by the lions.
That's the way it's gonna be with us. If we persevere through this crisis, there are many souls who wanna through us to the lions. And they make sure the lions have not eaten, for they have 2 carcasses every day plus 2 sheep. They will not feed them that they might feed upon us. But if we are faithful to the Lord and we do not abandon our holy faith and we stay firm in uncompromising faith we shall be protected in these great and difficult times. We shall be. There's nothing to fear.
Here we considering also the other side, the mediocre souls. Why is it that Darius was not punished by God? It tells us Darius was afraid. He wanted to save Daniel, but they came and said this man destroyed Baal. This man is not worshiping our false gods and if you do not throw him into the lions' den we kill you and we will kill your entire family. King or no king, emperor or no emperor we will kill you. Therefore he was afraid and he was compelled to throw him in the den. Out of fear he threw him in the den.
What about Pilate? What did Pilate do? What's the difference between Pilate and Darius?
Pilate what he did was, it tells us in the Gospel. He handed our Lord Jesus Christ over to death for fear of the Jews. Just like Darius did it for fear. But what's the difference? Pilate washed his hands. Pilate did everything he could. Pilate said I tried to placate the people. I gave 'em blood. Had Him scourged and crowned with thorns. I tried to placate the people. I gave 'em a choice between Christ and Barabbas. I tried to placate the people, I called Him a King. I did everything I could. There's nothing else that can be done. I have to hand him over and I am innocent. Therefore he washed his hands. Each of these things is a mockery of God. A mockery that is common in our times.
It was not the case of Darius. He knew he was a weak coward. He knew he didn't have the strength to stand up against those wicked priests. So he simply gave in and he wept. But he recognized his own weakness and he simply gave in. But that's all. He did not play mockery games. He did not try to placate his enemies because he knew that his enemies would only be satisfied by the death of Daniel. Just like Pilate knew that the Jews would only be satisfied with the death of Christ. Therefore he wasted his time when he brought forth Barabbas, besides mocking Christ to make Him equal with a thief and a murderer. He knew he wasted his time by sending Him to be scourged and crowned with thorns because he would still have to put Him to death. He knew he wasted his time when he sent Him off the Herod. But he was delaying. He was delaying and delaying.
You see next week, next month when the Society gets really liberal that's when I'm gonna stand up. When the Pope gets really bad that's when I'm gonna stand up. When they do one more wicked thing that's when I'm gonna stand up. Like the N. Ordo priest told me twenty yrs. ago. More than 20 yrs. ago. The day the Pope approves officially of altar girls is the day that I'm joining tradition. Then the Pope a few months late approved of altar girls. So I said to him, Father the Pope approved of altar girls. He said, ya know they are more reverent than the boys. They're more reverent than the boys.
So everybody keeps drawing the line and keeps moving the line.
They said in 2012, you're jumping the gun by standing up against Bp. Fellay now because of the Doctrinal Declaration of 2012 and because of the public statement in 2012, the statement of the General Chapter which compromised the Catholic faith. Because of the willingness of the Society to hand over the sheep, that is the faithful, into the hands of wolves. Which made themselves into wolves. Who's willing to hand the sheep over to a wolf is a traitor. Who's willing to hand the sheep over to the wolf is a wolf himself. That's what they said officially and those priests that are complicit with this are all guilty to one degree or another. Perhaps not greatly guilty, but they are all guilty. Handing the sheep over to the wolves. We're ready to hand them over.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He does not allow them to hand over to the wolves. And if they're gonna be handed over the wolves, it's gonna be after they have killed the shepherd. It shall not be before. He must lay down his life for his sheep. But now the shepherd does not want to lay down his life for his sheep. He doesn't. He doesn't at all. So they are the mediocre souls.
Darius a mediocre soul in the Epistle in the book of Daniel. Yes, he's weak but he doesn't lie out of his weakness. He is weak and he's a coward but he doesn't deceive. And when Daniel goes to the lions' den he weeps for Daniel. He knows that Daniel's dead but his heart is still concerned for Daniel. At the 7th day when they open up the lions' den he's the first one to come to see how Daniel is, even though he knows he's dead. But he opens it up and sees that Daniel is alive. He said, great is the God of Daniel. Then he changes in his heart. Would Pilate change in his heart? Did Pilate change? He heard about the resurrection of Christ three days later. He knew the witnesses of the resurrection. He was still alive on that third day. He saw the evidence of the resurrection. Did he become a Catholic? Did he become a follower of Christ? No he did not. For as Darius who was also weak and mediocre when he saw that the God of Daniel saved Daniel, he said to all the Medes, the God of Daniel is the true God. The God of Daniel is the Savior of the world. Let all the Medes fear the God of Daniel. So he spoke. One weak soul, who's a coward shall be saved, like Nicodemus or like Darius. Another weak soul shall be damned like Pilate. Who knows what is in the heart of man.
The weak souls that shall be damned are gonna be the ones who are false conservatives. The ones that are false standers for the truth, who are the false friends of Christ. Lord we believe in you, come with us to Jerusalem. I will not go with you! Your time is always ready. Why is your time always ready? Because the true conservative is one who wants to be accepted by the mainstream. He's the one who wants to let the faith seem normal and the faith seem balanced.
You see the recent videos for the last two years coming out of Kansas City for the Soc. of St. Pius X. The Catholic man is dignified. The Catholic wears a good suit. The Catholic man is intelligent. The Catholic man is gonna be respected by his neighbors. That's a smart man. That's a just man. That's a good man. I wanna be like him.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was reasonably just. He was reasonably good. He was Divine and He still is and what happened? They were angry about Him. He was a scandal and they talked about Him. When they went to Jerusalem some said He's a good man. Others said, no He's not a good man. He deceives the people. He deceives the crowds. And they had disputes about it. They were in the parish hall. They were downstairs and they were at the secret table that whenever the priest walked by they talked about the weather and the sports. And then when the priest went out of distance they talked about him. Times have not changed.
Why is the resistance, pathetic as it is, of interest to people in the world? Because we are standing for the truth. We are true representatives of Christ. We are teaching the same doctrine He taught, as He taught it without alteration and therefore it's interesting.
I myself thought 5 yrs. ago in 2012 that after a year we would cease to be in the newspapers, so to speak. They would cease to follow us. But even now after 5 yrs. they still watch every move we make. They're still looking for every little move, looking for a mistake. Looking for an opportunity to curse, an opportunity to condemn. Even now after all this time. Because we're standing for the truth and standing for it as Archbishop Lefebvre did, who stood for it as the saints over the last 2000 years did. Who stood for it as the Apostles did. Who stood for it as Christ did. Who stood for it as Elias did. As Daniel did in the lions' den. As Daniel did before the various kings that he stood in front of- Nabuchodonosor, Darius and Baltassar. He stood in front of the Kings. One most wicked who was condemned by God, the other two would be saved. But he stood before all three of them and he spoke the truth and he was a representative of God. Elias was saved. Eliseus was saved.
The faith never changes and God's demands never change. There must be representatives living on earth, carrying the Gospel until the very end of time. We must be representatives now in 2017. And if we give away the faith, if we abandon the faith there will be other representatives who will take our place. You must be representatives as well, in the faith amongst the faithful. There must be representatives amongst the children, representatives amongst the adults, representatives amongst the priests, and also the bishops. Until one day the Bishop of Rome converts. The Bishop that matters. When the Bishop of Rome converts then he will do his duty before God. Then there shall be a strengthening of the brethren. As has happened 2000 yrs. ago and whenever the Pope is holy. So it will happen again. But there must be a standing for the truth. We must be aware of being mediocre souls. We must be aware of standing on the wrong side and the middle side of the fence.
Darius, to be saved, is to give some hope and comfort to those that are weak. But he would not lie. He would not deceive. He did not change the direction of his heart.. He did not make false excuses. Darius why weren't you strong? Because I'm weak. Because I'm afraid. You say you love Daniel. I do love Daniel, but I don't know what to do. So I had to put him in the lions' den. I hope he lives. Can he live? No he cannot. But I hope he does somehow anyway. I run to the lions' den on the 7th day to see the God of Daniel has saved him. Now I believe in the God of Daniel. Now I tell the people to follow the God of Daniel.
Pilate knew that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Pilate knew that His religion could not be stopped. But Pilate never came to Christ. He never repented. Whereas Darius did.
We must beware in this time of the great battle. They were trying to seek Christ in the false friends. There are many false friends. Many false friends. We must not be the false friends. We want to be the true friends of our Lord Jesus Christ, stand firm in His holy faith and not play games with it.
As they continue to say, ya know well Rome isn't so bad, the new liberalism in the Society isn't so bad. The new liberalism of the world isn't so bad. We have to get along, we have to fit in. And one day we fit in too much. We get along with too many things and the grace of God abandons us. It will be just like Samson. Samson, when the grace of God abandoned him after he got a hair cut from Dalila. He said I will go out and I will shape myself as I did before. Before he was forgiven by God. Before he still had his strength. And it says in the book of Judges, he knew not that the Lord had left him. He knew not the Lord had left him.
When the Lord leaves us, like Fr. Hannafin my old pastor used to say, when you lose the faith, you lose it little, by little, by little and you don't realize it. Then one day you wake up and you're not Catholic, and you don't know it.
On another day you wake up and you realize you're not Catholic but you don't know how it happened and you don't think it was that bad. The day you lose the faith, you don't even know it.
So Samson lost the grace of God but he said I will go out to shape myself like I did before. I feel the same. I'm the same as I always was. Except this time when the Philistines come he cannot defeat them. This time when the Philistines come the weakest and the wimpiest of them can beat him up. A little boy will be enough to conquer him. And so it will be with us if we let the faith slip out of our hands bit by bit, little by little til one day we wake up and we're not Catholic. And it's happening to souls everywhere in the world. Everywhere.
We can almost feel like unto Pilate, 'I tried everything!' I tried to fit in. I want Christ to succeed. I don't want Him to fail. I want Him to get out of the mess. I don't want Him to be crucified. I'm trying what I can to stop this terrible thing, and If you just explain yourself to Caiphas he'll understand. If you just explain yourself to Pilate, hes' a good man. He'll understand. He's not like Herod. He's a good man. I'm really happy that Christ is being judged by Pilate and not by Herod. At least there's a silver lining to this little cloud. If he was judged by Herod He'd be dead before noon. But He lived until the afternoon! He lived longer because of Pilate. And what will we say until the end of the world? He suffered under Pontius Pilate. Because of the mediocre soul of Pilate he would be scourged. Herod would never have scourged Him. He will be crowned with thorns. Herod would've never have crowned Him with thorns. He will be compared with Barabbas and mocked. Herod would not have allowed that. So He would suffer so much more because of the good Pilate that the wicked Herod.
So it shall be in our present crisis in the Church? Why is it dragging on?
It is not dragging on because of Lucifer. It's not dragging on because of the Rothschilds.
It's not dragging on because of all the wicked souls in the world. It's not dragging on because of the liberals. They wanna speed it up.
It's dragging on because of the false conservatives who drag on the crucifixion. Who take slow knives and cut into the Mystical Body of Christ. Who make sure that He gets scourged in every part of His body. Who make sure He gets crowned with thorns because of their wicked pride. Like the pride of Pilate.
Right now the great suffering that is happening to Christ because of the "good" souls who are standing for the half truth. It will be far better for them to just stand for the lie and let the crucifixion be over with. Bishop Fellay has given over the faith a long time ago. So why don't they sign the paper and get it over with?
They are dragging it on so that weak souls can still cover their consciences and still think they're not wicked and still think they're not displeasing to God. Because you know I can't live without my Mass. I can't live without my school. I can't live without my daily sacraments.
We used to not be able to live without Christ. We used to not be able to live without the state of grace. We used to not be able to live without the faith. But now we don't need the faith. We don't need the grace of God. We just need holy Communion like it's something coming out of the dispenser. Instead of a Coke machine it's a Communion machine. You push the button put the quarter in, out comes the host. In this we make a mockery of Christ, we make a mockery of the Blessed Sacrament. We make a mockery of the faith. As St. John the Almsgiver said, "I would my children that you never take Communion again in your life rather than to receive Communion from the hands of a heretic". Because it must be the faith that is the center of our lives. The devil is slowly sapping it out of our souls. Slowly sapping it out of the souls of the traditional Catholic.
Darius loved Daniel. Darius was in a moment of weakness and Darius quickly came back.
But Pilate schooled himself in mediocrity. Pilate schooled himself in excuses. Pilate schooled himself in intelligent lies. Therefore when the test came, sure enough he continued to live according to his education. He made excuses in his life. When it was clear that it was God that he put to death and had risen from the dead, he did not repent. He did not at all. He continued to make excuses until he went to eternal damnation. So it shall be for many souls. They shall make excuses until the last moment and never return to truth.
It takes the grace of God, a miraculous intervention of grace to make the soul stand for the truth. To make the soul repent for it's stepping away from the truth. This must be done.
Who shall be the Darius' and who shall be the Nicodemus' and who shall be the Pilates?
The vast majority shall be like unto Pilate, only a few Nicodemus', only a few Darius'. We pray for all souls that they may be saved but they can only be saved by repenting for putting Daniel in the lions' den. By recognizing their own guilt in placing Daniel in the lions' den. By praising the God of Daniel the only true God and Savior of the world and not giving long excuses about themselves.
When St. Peter went to Christ and Christ said, Simon son of John, lovest thou Me? He didn't say Lord I was having a bad day. I had something bad in my supper that night. I didn't eat right, I didn't follow my diet and that's the reason why I denied you 3 times. I got thrown off guard. I, I, I was tired, I didn't get enough sleep during the garden. I, I wasn't myself, it wasn't me. I mean I'm really sorry but it wasn't me. All he did was weep bitterly for his offenses and he made no excuses. And when Christ came to him and said, Simon son of John, lovest thou Me, he said Yea Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee. No excuses. As Daruis made no excuses. Nicodemus made no excuses. But we make excuses.
Let us not make excuses in sin lest we be like unto Pilate. But recognize our weakness and follow the example of Nicodemus and the example of St. Peter and of Darius and be forgiven our sins even though we are weak.
We'll close it at that. God bless you all, In the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.