Mass for Sexagesima Sunday will be celebrated at 11.30am on Sunday 24th February 2019 at St Winefride's, Well Street, Holywell, CH8 7PL.
The seed is the same for all, but our lives and our souls are not the same and this accounts for the variability of fruit that is derived from the same words and graces.
Our lives and our souls have been placed in our own hands. This is a very frightful thought as we contemplate the extent of consequences that follow from our thoughts, words, actions, and omissions. What could be the meaning of placing our eternal happiness in the hands of such incompetents as ourselves? We are some of the poorest excuses for masters and governors of our lives that one could imagine. Yet, here we are weak and fickle, but our fate for all of eternity is placed securely in our own hands. It is like placing the rarest, expensive, and precious diamonds into the hands of a little child who will gleefully, yet carelessly and thoughtlessly play with these shinny objects as if they were toys; and consequently set them aside and forget about them while he picks up other things of almost no worth to occupy himself with. Rare is the child who can rightly appreciate what he holds in his hands, and rarer still is the child who could protect such a precious treasure from loss, thieves, or damage. And here we are little children with the most precious of things (God's word and graces) entrusted to our care.
As we look in on ourselves, we should begin to humbly perceive our unworthiness for such magnificent treasures, and our profound helplessness in not only correctly receiving these treasures but also, our profound weakness in preventing so many hazards to the growth and development of these treasures in our souls. Consideration of the world, the devil, our passions, our sins and weaknesses all impress upon us how unfitted and unprepared we truly are.
So what are we to do? Are we to blame God because we are immature and unfit? Are we to not give a second thought to the condition of our souls and its receptiveness to these graces? Are we to throw up our hands in despair and give up and allow ourselves to be carried or led away to Hell? God forbid!
Seeing our helplessness and the dangers overwhelming us, let us humble ourselves and cry out for help. Just as a wise child who realizes he does not know what to do with a great treasure not only asks for advice and help but begs for someone to lead and guide him in the wisest and best course of action, so let us cry out to God to help us and let us turn to the Church and her leaders for the guidance of the wisest and best course of action for ourselves.
We must be extremely careful not to misplace our trust and confidence. There are many who put on the airs of wisdom and authority but have little to none of them. And there are countless souls led astray by their errors. The devil appears as an angel of light, but following his suggestions bears forth fruit of darkness, suffering, and misery not only in this world but for all of eternity. Men are fools who place their trust and confidence in those who openly tell them that they have no authority or that there is no authority left in the Church. Why would anyone place their most precious gifts from God in the hands of such guides who openly admit that they have no more wisdom or ability to properly guide them than they do themselves? Yet, the majority does just that. They call upon the birds (devils) to come and help them receive and nurture these precious gifts only to have the birds (devils) snatch up and devour these precious gifts and therefore lose them for all of eternity.
Or they are so dumb that they are hard as rocks and never even grasp any idea of what has been given them. They are giddy at first with the shinny new "toy", then they soon tire of it to look for something else.
And then, there are those who have so many other toys to play with that they never truly estimate the worth of this precious gift. They place this precious gift among all their other things. The sacred next to the profane; and over time the sacred is overpowered by the profane and is eventually lost and forgotten.
And lastly there are those who not only find proper guidance (From those with true authority and power in the true Church.), but they likewise listen to and follow this guidance. These souls, guided and urged on by true wisdom and authority, struggle and toil to remove the stones and weeds and till and soften the soil of their souls so that upon receiving this precious gift they can place it in the best possible place and conditions to allow it to germinate, develop, and produce the most wonderful bounteous fruit of eternal life.