Sermons of SFS for Advent & Chirstmas

III Sunday, Advent, 13/12/1620. [Jn. 1/19-20: “Who are you ? And he confessed and did not deny; and he confessed: “I am not the Christ.”

The most powerful temptation in every walk of life is the lure of ambition, pride and arrogance; this was the cause of Lucifer’s fall and what the devil used to seduce our first parents.

Theologians attribute the following to the fall of the angels : Self-pride through awareness of their angelic nature’s grandeur and excellence that led to the desire to be ‘like God’ and to place their thrones on equality with His [Is. 14/13-14] ; or Envy of human nature with which the Creator would unite Himself in hypostatic union – in such a manner that both natures would form only one person; thus elevating human nature above theirs.

For this reason, we can rightly say that ambition, pride and arrogance came down from heaven to the earthly paradise and from this paradise spread into the whole world, rendering it thereby an earthly hell. Thus, the angel became a devil.

Self love not only draws to itself the honour that belongs to it, but also glory that it has absolutely no claim to. John the Baptist, on the contrary, not only rejects what does not belong to him but even refuses to be credited with the honour that was rightly his.

Many confess and deny at the same time. By this I mean that many confess their faults, but in such a way that while they appear to accuse themselves of some fault, they in fact excuse themselves of any wrongdoing. They acknowledge that they have committed a fault but offer reason why they did so and take a step further to accuse others as being the real culprits. Such people are like servants who go out on an errand, but on the way busy themselves with other matters – that keeps them away from the task entrusted to them. They are on the way but with no intention of reaching the destination.

Though Charity is the pre-eminent virtue, surpassing all others in dignity and excellence, humility is the basis of all virtue. The two have such mutual affinity that one is never found without the other. Humility and Charity are related to one another as St. John the Baptist is related to the Lord: the former is the forerunner, the precursor of the other.

Humility empties the heart so that it may be filled with charity; humility makes place in the heart so that charity may dwell therein. Humility is the sure instrument to resist and overcome the snares of the devil.