Sunday:       17 TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Date:         JULY 25, 1999
Year:         A
The readings: [1 Kgs. 3:5, 9-12; Rom. 8:28-30; Mt. 13:44-50]
The message:  THE JUSTIFIED WILL BE GLORIFIED
Prepared by:  CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY
Total words:  1441

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Good morning children of the Lord our God. Today, you heard that those who are justified in Jesus will be glorified. As such, those who are not justified, will not be glorified.

Since such is the case, there is an urgent need for all to be justified. Some of you may ask yourselves, "What does it means to be justified?" To be justified means to be made right in the eyes of God, to be declared free of sin. It means being in a perfect state of holiness as Adam was when God first created him. That is the condition that you must be in for God to glorify you.

Some of you may be asking yourselves how this is possible. Other may be saying to yourselves that it is impossible. Let us review what the Holy Bible teaches regarding justification. The Holy Bible teaches that there are two phases to being justified in Christ, justification before the Sacrament of Baptism and justification after the Sacrament of Baptism. Both are absolutely necessary to inherit the Kingdom of God, to qualify as children of God and to be glorified.

My brothers and sisters, you have heard it said by some that because they live a good life, they are made righteous, being justified in Christ. I tell you, no one is justified by their own efforts of living a good life. "For it is not the hearers of the (spiritual) law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the (spiritual) law who will be justified." [Rom. 2:13]

You have heard it said that one is justified by faith in Jesus. I tell you, no one is justified by faith in Jesus alone. A person is justified by (spiritual) works, over and above faith. [Jas. 2:24]

You have heard it said that one is justified by Baptism. I tell you, no one is justified through baptism by itself. Through Baptism, Christ passed over the sins that were previously committed. [Rom. 3:25] Jesus said that unless one is born again of water and Spirit from above, He will not see the Kingdom of God. [Jn. 3:5] Therefore, if none of the previously mentioned are made righteous by Christ, none of them will be justified by Christ before the Heavenly Father.

Some of you may claim that Jesus passed over the sins that were previously committed "to prove at the present time that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies the one who has faith in Him." [Rom. 3:26] Therefore, salvation is by faith alone. My brothers and sisters, I just finished reading you the passage of Saint James where it said that one is justified by (spiritual) works and not by faith alone.

Let me explain all of this to you. Let me explain how one is justified in Christ. By the grace of God, you are called to accept Jesus in living faith so you may receive your salvation. Through sincere repentance of your past sins, you received Jesus in your hearts. You joined the holy Catholic Church that has been instituted by Jesus Christ Himself. You received the Sacrament of Reconciliation so your past sins would be forgiven. Then, you received the Sacrament of Baptism, the free gift of God of the new creation within you.

By the grace of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, your faith in Jesus Christ and the Sacrament of Baptism, you received a new heart and spirit that is free of all past sins committed by you, including all the traces of the original sin. And to help your new heart and spirit, you were born again of the Spirit, [Jn. 3:5] having received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to guide you in the Christian path. That new creation within you is your only assurance of the blessed hope of eternal life.

But that is not the end of the road. That was just the beginning of the road, the beginning of your new walk in Christ as a new creature. Now, you are required to live your faith. You must maintain your righteousness in the eyes of God. A Christian can only have a living faith when it flows like streams of water, when it shines as a light. As a new creation, a child of God, you must love God above all others and above all your worldly goods. You must love your neighbour as you love yourself. And, you must receive the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church on an ongoing basis.

Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, after having received the Sacrament of Baptism, you are sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His Blood [1 Pet. 1:2] so your righteousness may be maintained before God. But even all this is not enough. You must still receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist for Christ said that the bread, the Holy Eucharist, is His Body. He is the Living Bread. Without the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, you will surely die. (To surely die is to experience spiritual death, eternal damnation.) You must receive the Holy Eucharist on a regular basis to have the Living Bread within you to ensure your eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

You may wonder what all of this has to do with today's readings. My brothers and sisters, the kingdom of heaven is like a hidden treasure. Not everybody knows the truth and understands the hidden messages of Jesus. Some have eyes but they are blind. They have ears but they are deaf. They only see and hear what they want to see and hear.

In today's First Reading, you heard how the Lord God rewarded Solomon for his unselfish desire to be righteous before the people as their King. God has not changed! He continues to bless those who live an unselfish Christian life, striving towards the physical and spiritual needs of others.

In the Second Reading, you heard how God knew before creation which one of you would respond to His grace through your own free will. He knew beforehand which ones of you would live your Christian faith in accordance with the teachings of Jesus, shining in Divine love so you may inherit the Kingdom of God. If you are among the humble and obedient servants of God, those that He foreknew, then you are among those who have been called to be justified. You are among those who will be glorified in Jesus Christ.

There are some who have been called but who have not answered their callings as of yet. They have yet to be justified and glorified. Today's Gospel is meant to open their eyes so they will respond to the grace of God.

The kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which someone found and hid. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. That treasure is what I have just finished explaining to you during the last ten minutes. Through I, a minister of the Word of God, a servant of the Lord, Jesus is explaining to you what you must do to obtain your eternal glory. Having found this treasure, you are called to embrace it by rejecting your worldly ways.

The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind. When it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When the day comes for you to appear before the Almighty and Righteous Lord, there will be no second chance. There will be no coming back on earth to start all over again to correct the wrongs that you may have done. That will be it! Your free will, your thoughts, your words, your actions, all will be judged, determining if you will be among the good fish or the bad ones that were drawn ashore from the net.

My brothers and sisters, my greatest desire is to see that each and every one of you is justified so you may all be glorified as one in Christ. Today, I call upon those of you who have not done so yet, to respond to the grace of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that through the embracing of your calling, my joy may be complete in His Most Holy Name, in the Name of He for who I speak today.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, 'Ask what I should give you.' Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this great people?' It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, 'Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.'" [1 Kgs. 3:5, 9-12]

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Second Reading...

"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified." [Rom. 8:28-30]

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Gospel Reading...

"The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." [Mt. 13:44-50]

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