Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:01 Okay, Great Bishop and Dr The church. Saint Augustine says, the man followed and consecrated to God and as much as he dies to the world and lives for God is a sacrifice. Close quote. What does this sacrifice in the strict sense of sacrifice is offering by a priest of a visible object to God in order to give honor or adoration of God? God, I forgot. Thanks. To pick a favor of God or to make reparation, the object is first offered, then destroyed or changed. Since sacrifice is an act of worship. It is an honor, a reserve to God alone. God's acceptance and sacrifice symbolizes his acceptance at the heart of the gear. Sacrifices at the very heart of the religious life. This morning on occasion of first profession evolves, sister's about to make an offering to God, a sacrifice. So this morning in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of the properties of a pleasing sacrifice, we'll take a closer look at a particular sacrifice from old testament are so pleasing to God that he sent down fire from heaven to consume it.
Speaker 0 01:16 Obviously when you're standing here in Carmel, the first one that comes to mind is the sacrifice of your Holy Father, Saint Elias and third kings 16 but today instead, we're going to take a closer look at the sacrifice offered by King David. Little background to put the story in a context, David's the king and for reasons that are interesting, but we don't have time to go into right now. A pestilence is just struck down 70,000 men of Israel. And now there's an angel of the Lord standing next to a up there next to Jerusalem. Ready to strike it. So first we'll read the story. For the sake of time, we'll cut a few ports. Uh, and then we'll take a closer look at it. So we'll pick up the story from the First Book of Conoco's Chapter 21 quote. And the angel, the Lord was standing by the threshing floor or nine the Jeb side.
Speaker 0 02:06 And Dave lifted up his eyes and saw the angel Lord standing between Earth and heaven and in his hand, a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. And David and the elders clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said to God, it is I who have sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let that hand. I pray the Lord my God begins me and against my father's house, let not the plague be upon night people. Then the aims, Lord Commanded Gad, the Prophet of the Lord to say to David that David should go up and rear and ultra the Lord on the threshing floor or and Chevy side. So David went up with the profits work nor Nan was threshing wheat in his. David came to RNN on and looked and saw David and went forth from the threshing floor, did the sense tick David with his face to the ground and David said, Ornan give me the side of the threshing floor.
Speaker 0 03:00 They may build on an altar to the Lord. Give it to me at its full price that the play maybe averted from the people. Then ordinance to David, take it and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See I give the oxen for burnt offerings and a threshing sledges for the word and the wheat for a serial offering. I give it all, but king gave it said to her, and I know, but I will buy it for the full price. I won't talk. I will not take for the Lord. What is yours? Newer offer holocausts burnt offerings, which costs me nothing. So David Paid Orin and 600 shekels of gold by weight for this site, and David built there an altar to the Lord and presented holocausts and peace offerings and called upon the Lord and the Lord answering the fire from heaven upon altar of burnt offering.
Speaker 0 03:46 Then the Lord Command Angel and he put his sword back into the sheath. Close quote, inspired, inerrant word of God, right? There's a lot there. Let's start by considering the location. David was commanded to go up and raise it. An alternative particular threshing floor. Okay, great. So what's that supposed to mean? We didn't know what a threshing floor is. A threshing floors, a big old flat circle area of the hard ground range, anywhere from 50 feet to 300 feet in diameter. Typically it'd be out in some big breezy, open part of the country or up on a hilltop flat hilltop back in biblical times, small grains like wheat and barley first harvested with a sickle and then bond and the sheets and the sheets were carted off to the threshing floor and the sheets would be thrown in a fleshing floor and oxygen would be driven around the area to tramp out the grain sometimes that people used flails of flails, a old fashioned tool for threshing grain.
Speaker 0 04:44 It's got two rods. They're kind of thin rods once maybe four foot long and then with a piece of rope or strapline and there's another one, maybe three, three and a half feet long. And then they, they beat on us on the shoes at the flail. That's where you get the word flailing involved with the arms or whatever. But they're there smack in that and that knocks the grain was or they might a hitch up a sledge to the oxygen, drag that around the sheaves, drag that all over the grain. Okay. Anyway, the result of all this as a big old mass of Straw and and, and grain and chaff and dust spread all over the threshing floor. Next step is winnowing. When we take you take a winnowing fan that it's not, it looks like a big old kind of a, a grain scoop type of an operation.
Speaker 0 05:26 Cause that's what it is. Or a big dust pan or a long fork and it tossed the grain up into the air and then the and w the grain will fall back down and the chaff and Straw blow away and that's what happens with the breeze. That's where you get to a sane separating the wheat from chaff. Last step in the process is to shake the grain and SIF to remove any little dense stones or rocks, little debris like pebbles. Okay, so that was it. Anyway, now we know what a threshing floor is and how a grain was thrashed back in the old days. Second chronicles three one gives us a few more important details about this particular thrashy floor quote. Then Solomon began to build a hustle Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah on a threshing floor of orange image Jebusite close quote. Now that is an important piece of information.
Speaker 0 06:18 It's a very place where King Solomon, the son of David, built a temple, this threshing floor that David Bill taught her. The fact that it's Mount Moriah tells us something else to Mount Moriah is the very same hilltop on which Abraham and a been ordered off for Isaac as a burn offering was stopped by the Lord. We can read about that in genesis 22 so this threshing floor that David's been ordered to go up and built an altro and made a pleasing sacrifice that was also the site of the sacrifice of Abraham as well as the side of the temple, and that's not the only thing there. There's also a large flat stone there to piece of exposed bedrock and the temple of SOM. And this rock was in the floor. It was the surface of the in the, in the floor of the holy of holies, and that was where the Ark of the covenant was placed on that, on that stone.
Speaker 0 07:06 Today, there's a huge mosque on that side. It's called the Dome of the Rock and it's named that because of the Rock, that flat stone is still there and that's what a dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is built over. Okay, so what was, since ancient times, the Jews have called that particular rock, the foundation stone and they have all kinds of legends about it. For example, there's a lot of them, but we'll just mentioned one, the example, they think it's a capstone and it's just a legend, but a capstone, but it holds back the disorder and chaos from the underworld that there's some kind of opening to the underworld. This is capping it off and all that disorder and chaos is capped off and that keeps it from erupting out the flooding over the world. Okay. Now with all that in mind, let's consider these lines from the 16th chapter of St Matthew's Gospel.
Speaker 0 07:50 The Lord is speaking to Simon Peter Cook. I say to the the Dark Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it and I will give to the the keys to the Kingdom of heaven whatsoever. They'll shut buying upon her. That shall be bound also heaven whatsoever. They'll shut loose upon her. It shall be loosed also in heaven. Close quote, inspired, inerrant word of God. All right, let's spend a few moments unpacking three important points that the Lord has just made in light of what we've seen so far. First Point in the Line Art Peter, and upon this rock, I'll build my church. Here we see our Lord Changing Simon's name to Peter. That means rock. When we talk about petrified wood, we meet wood that's been petrified. It's been turned into stone. In other words, the Lord has said the art rock and on this rock, I will build my church earlier in the Gospel of Saint Matthew Chapter Seven and Lord stated that the wise man builds his house upon a rock.
Speaker 0 08:47 And of course in the Old Testament who was the wisest man who was King Solomon and just as King Solomon had built his temple on a rock, the foundation stone. So also our Lord who said of himself that he was greater than Solomon. So I serve Lord, build his church on a rock, a living rock, a new foundation, Stone St Peter the Apostle. So with the foundation stone was to the temple, St Peter's to our Lord's Church. In other words, a foundation stone is a type or a prefiguring of St Peter to remarkable differences at Saint Lawrence build his church on Livingstone and with living stones, which is what Saint Peter was talking about. Today's of pistol, what Saint Paul refers to in the second chapter of his pistol. Ephesians. So Psalm and the king, the son of David, both his temp on the foundation stone of Mount Moriah. Now we see Christ the king, the son of David building his church on a new living foundation stone Peter, which he moves from Mountain Orion Jerusalem to new hill, the Vatican Hill in Rome.
Speaker 0 09:50 So the first important point here is that Saint Peter's a foundation stone for the Church of Jesus Christ. Second Point, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Our Lord has pointed out that his new foundation stone, the foundation stone of his church, St Pier, is a new capstone responsible for suppressing disorder and chaos. The underworld preventing it all from erupting up and flooding the world. His audience certainly knew what he was referring to there. So the second important point is it St Peter, the new foundation stall has a crucial role in preventing all health from breaking loose. Third Point, I'll give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven whatsoever. They'll shut, bind upon her. It should be bound also and having a what? Sarah. They'll shut loose upon earth. It shall be loosed also in heaven. In the olden days, cities had walls with gates. So being given the keys to that kingdom or the keys to a city was assemble of being given a position of very great trust in honors to a symbol of being trusted with a very real power in terms of safeguarding the people.
Speaker 0 10:52 So here our Lord is referring to an event that's recorded in the 22nd chapter of the Prophet Isaiah. Back when Hezekiah descend of King David was the king of Israel through the Prophet Isaiah. God orders King Hezekiah to replace his old prime minister with a new prime minister. Lord also says his new prime minister and I quote shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will leave a key to the house of David upon his shoulder and he shall open and <inaudible> and he shall shut. And I'm open, close quote. In other words, Jerusalem had prime ministers that ruled in the name of the Davidic kings. These prime ministers were act to act as fathers to the king. Subjects were given a keys to the kingdom. So our Lord to send up David has just appointed a prime minister over his heavenly kingdom here on earth.
Speaker 0 11:44 And he expects his prime minister, Saint Peter to act as a father to his subjects. And of course, what do we call our Lord's Prime Minister? We call him our holy father. Our Lord gives you the Holy Father. The keys to the new division kingdom along with a part of the by by animals, the part of pass judgment. So that's the third point. The Lord has just appointed Saint Peter to be his prime minister and given power over the Kingdom of heaven. So again, the three important points here. First, St Peter's the foundation stone for the Church of Jesus Christ. Second St Peter, the new foundation stone has a critical role in preventing all hell from breaking loose in third, St Peter is a prime minister of our Lord. He's a vicar of Christ and our Lord is specifically given him power to pass judgements, Kingdom of heaven. All right, let's start tying all this together.
Speaker 0 12:31 Threshing floor of RNN. Did you have beside prefigures a number of things. At one level, it's a type of the church which is clear not only from the context but also from other scriptural patch passages. For example, Saint John The baptist, he uses this exact imagery when he's speaking of our Lord. We want to keep in mind that Saint John's bow, the Baptist audience already knows all these details that we've just learned about the threshing floor and the foundation stone. Okay, so here's St John The baptist. Speaking of our lord quote, his winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his grainery. But the chaff he will burn with unquestionable flyer. Close quote that's in Matthew Chapter three and his common trends passage that create Jesuit father corniness lapidary wrote, the winnowing fork symbolizes the judgment of Christ, but wished the thoughts, words, and deeds of each man will be aired out and examined.
Speaker 0 13:25 The good will be separated from the evil. The thrashy forced symbolizes the church. Chaff symbolizes evil men who will be burnt with the fires of hell. The wheat symbolizes the Justin holy man whom Christ will gather into his grainery, which symbolizes heaven and accompany of the angels and saints and the Church Triumphal. So the threshing floor of Ornan symbolizes the Catholic Church and the fact that the foundation stone is right there in the middle of the threshing floor symbolize the Churches Union with the foundation strong of our Lord's Church, our holy father withhold what about the flails and oxen and sledges. They symbolized the trials and tribulations of life. Obviously the sacrifice of Abraham, which took place in that threshing floor began with his son carrying what up for the sacrifice up the hill to that place, but finished with the holocaust of around. That's a clear prefigurement of the sacrifice of our Lord on his spot, very nearby called calvary, the peace offerings and bloody holocaust that King David offered up in that very place.
Speaker 0 14:24 Also prefigured the holy sacrifice, the mass especially easy to see. Once we consider a few features of the peace offerings, Alfred eiders shines and Austrian Jew became a Christian and in the middle 18 hundreds describes the priests offering quote. The most joyous of all sacrifices was the peace offering and peace offerings. The sacrificial meal was the point of main importance. The was waved before the Lord in order to present the sacrifice. Is it worth to the Lord and then to receive it back from the priest, put his hands under. Those are the person off of the sacrifice and moved the sacrifice upwards and downwards, right and left close quote upwards and downwards, right and left. What's that? It's the sign of the cross. So peace offering involves offering a sacrifice to guy, which is presented by making in union with the priest to sign across the gifts and then receiving them back in a sacrificial meal.
Speaker 0 15:23 It's to clear perfect moment of a holy sacrifice. The mass, of course, the sacrifice at the temple, all of which took place in that very same spot. Also prefigured the holy sacrifice, the mass being offering union with DePaul, but we don't have any time to get into that today. So what does all this have to do with the first profession of ours today as we've seen some sacrifice, is an act of worship is an honor reserved to God alone. God's acceptance of the sacrifice symbolizes and acceptance of the heart of the giver. We saw an example of just that when we saw the fire fall from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. If King David God was pleased with King David sacrifice and especially as hard and what was in David's heart, what did he say when speaking of the sacrifice, David said, I will pay the full price.
Speaker 0 16:18 I will not offer Holocaust to the Lord, which costs me nothing. He will not ask for sacrifices which costs me nothing. I will pay the full price for the colon. Redemptorist skilled surgeon who will follow here. Notes, quote, profession is a pledge of service to God, but more than that is he kind a spiritual holocaust. It is the holiest mystical sacrifice, the most fruitful one after the mass and Myra time. Close quote Saint Thomas says, the by profession religious offer Holocaust to God. David paid the full price and offered oxen is of all cost to God. What a sister have to offer as a Holocaust to God. Can she possibly say with King David, I will not offer Holocaust which costs me nothing. I will pay the full price fair vow of poverty. She will sacrifice her right. Don't creatures, but have our chastity. She was sacrificed her right to human love and a family, but if I have beatings, she will sacrifice her independence by means the three rounds, she was sacrifice her attachment to creatures, not at a fear. Contempt for created things. The precise leaser heart can be for the creator.
Speaker 1 17:52 Yeah,
Speaker 0 17:52 by her sacrifice. She leaves on your order to find out there are divine paradoxes here by the Var. Poverty. Yes, you announces created things, but she's fallen the infinite.
Speaker 1 18:07 Yeah,
Speaker 0 18:09 by the Valve Chester. Yes, you are now to the joy of you and love and raising her own family, but she's found another love, infinitely superior, and she's found a spiritual family here in Karma
Speaker 1 18:21 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 18:24 by the vow of obedience. Yes, your announces are lot right to follow the wrong oil and so doing. She's discovered the only true liberty at beautiful freedom are the sons of God. Laquisse country to zest and knows the grotty sows. Snare is broken and we are free. She's chosen God. She sacrifices all and harder to find now and speaking to sister. You better be able to say, I will not offer sacrifices, which costs me nothing. I'll pay the full price.
Speaker 1 19:06 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 19:07 can't hold anything back. This can't just be words. We have far, far too many religious and priests who just mouth word. But where's your heart?
Speaker 1 19:32 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 19:38 it's where is your heart? Someone has to love him.
Speaker 1 19:48 Okay.
Speaker 0 19:48 I was not loved
Speaker 1 19:50 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 19:53 of herself. We are so weak. Left ourselves when actually flee from the cross turned to our lady. Place your vocation and motherly hands. Ask her to perfectly preservative, vocation, and a nurturing help you perfectly fulfill it. Ask Her, obtain for you the strength to say, I will not offer sacrifices which costs me nothing. I'll pay the full price. Carmen was the threshold for which the Lord wants you to offer. Sacrifice strengthened by us. Infinitely pleasing. Sacrifice represented daily on this holy Altar and union with the foundation stone, Our Holy Father Benedict the 16th
Speaker 1 20:40 yeah,
Speaker 0 20:41 formation. Obedience. Your Holly ruled the trials and tribulations of community life will serve as so flails to batter you so many Ochsner to trapping somebody. Sledges to drag over you. Oh, here's the thrash. What reparation can make.
Speaker 1 20:58 Okay,
Speaker 0 20:58 what expiation you can make.
Speaker 1 21:00 Okay.
Speaker 0 21:02 And if he embraced it all with love, with a powerful counterweight, the soon as this world seated and wickedness, how many epistolic works can you support? If you can truly say, I will not offer sacrifice which costs me nothing.
Speaker 1 21:18 Oh, pay the full price.
Speaker 0 21:22 What about the winnowing fan? St Louis, the Monfort comments, quote police spirit compares the Cross sometimes to a winnowing fan which separates the grain from the chaff and dust like the grain before the fan. Let yourself be shaken up and tossed about without resist two for the father of the household is winnowing you will soon put you in his grainery clause quo. The Cross is the winnowing fan. The Cross is the, when do we separate the grain from the chaff and danced? Brace the cross.
Speaker 1 22:02 Okay,
Speaker 0 22:04 Gracie cross after all, if you Carmelites don't love and embrace the cross,
Speaker 1 22:09 I know. Well
Speaker 0 22:15 if you car mites can say, I will not offer sacrifice to would cost me nothing. I'll pay the price, the full price. If you can't say that
Speaker 1 22:24 and how can and how well
Speaker 0 22:34 profession is a kind of spiritual holocaust is the holiest, mystical sacrifice, most fruitful. One after the mass martyrdom quote. In olden days, the Holocaust was always consumed by fire. In the professional holocaust love takes the place of fire. It is solely because of love that the religious has given. VOD consecrated and emulated herself. Closed Squad
Speaker 1 23:04 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 23:07 in the first pages of your book of spiritual notes after she'd become a religious saint, Bernadette road. Why have I come here? Blessed to love our Lord with my whole heart. <inaudible> my left home.
Speaker 1 23:20 Yeah.
Speaker 0 23:20 Following his example, I should suffer and sacrifice all generously to him.
Speaker 1 23:25 <inaudible>
Speaker 0 23:26 in the olden days, the Holocaust was always consumed by fire and the professional holocaust love takes the place on fire. Saint Therese of the child, cheeser said, my vocation is loud.
Speaker 1 23:42 Okay.
Speaker 0 23:42 I become a Carmelite to love Christ and to make him loved. In the olden days, the Holocaust was always consumed by fire and professional. Holocaust love takes the place of fire, isn't loved out there. Oh Lord isn't loved out there. He despised. He's ignored. Mocked, blast fume, treated with contempt of the world can re crucify him. They would.
Speaker 1 24:19 Okay.
Speaker 0 24:22 Love is not love. Your car lights up to lovingly. Allow yourself to be window by the cross of the Lord. If you already chilling sale, not offer sacrifices. What costs me nothing. I'll pay the full price. You can lights one. Allow yourselves to be set on fire. He actually consumed the love of Jesus Christ and who will
Speaker 1 24:45 okay, who well
Speaker 0 24:54 on his feet, even the Feast of divine mercy. Let us close with a few brief thoughts. You should make you wrong. They're taken from Saint Therese is a Beautiful Act of ablation to merciful love. Oh my God, most spots treaty. I desire to love you and make you loved in order to live in one single act of perfect love. I offer myself as a victim of Holocaust to your merciful love, asking you to consume me incessantly, allowing the ways of infinite tenderness shut up within you to overflow my soul. That does become a martyr of your love. Oh my God. Myth smarter, dumb. After having prepared me to appear before you finally caused me to die, I my soul take its flight without any delay into the internal embrace of your merciful love. Why don't my beloved at each beat in my heart too, we knew this offering to you an infinite number of times until the shadows having disappeared. I mean to tell you if my love in any turn on face to face, oh my God, love is not loved. I just, I love you and make you loved.
Speaker 1 26:27 Yeah.
Speaker 0 26:28 I hear a siren. Love you and make you love. Amen.
