SSPX Sermons

The institution of the Holy Eucharist is one of Our Lord's greatest miracles. It is the seed of eternal life. For it to be spiritually beneficial we must receive worthily, with faith, fear, and love. These terms may seem easy and casual, but it we must have a profound commitment to God and with the right intention to receive Him.

Almost everyone is overstressed with daily duties in these modern times. It can be crushing and unhealthy. But with St. Joseph and his amazing example, he can help us carry our daily crosses and have faith.

The screen often becomes an addiction. It is not just the Church that makes this declaration, but the behavioral sciences also confirm this. Screens are an escape from reality in the same way alcohol and drugs pretend to offer. While we may want to frame it as a moral issue, this pitfall is so much more complex because it rewires your brain. And it targets everyone.

The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is recorded by all four evangelists. He did not use it as a moment of self aggrandizement, but rather to prepare the way for the greater miracle of the Holy Eucharist. Our Lord is demonstrating through this miracle that He can not only fulfill us physically by addressing our hunger, but He is the there to fulfill us spiritually through the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

A specific type of foolish speech that deters progress in the spiritual life is complaining. The act of complaining makes it almost impossible to cooperate with God's grace, for it locks us into ourselves and away from reality. Thus, it removes us from God. Complaining is not the same as making a negative judgment, for sometimes those judgments are necessary. When bitterness and resentment enter into the frame, this is where we begin to poison our spiritual lives by shifting judgment into complaining.

Considering the metaphor of cleaning the house, making a good confession immediately comes to mind. Confession, like cleaning, does not begin randomly; first we must assess where to begin and what efforts are required. In the context of confession, this is undertaken through a thorough examination of conscience. This preliminary step is indispensable because it reveals not only those sins we need to confess but also the sometimes radical steps we must take to keep our souls free of filth going forward.

We must always desire to become saints. At first blush, this directive may fill us with fear and discouragement. Is this not too much to ask? Are we not encouraged to focus on the little things, like being true to our respective stations in life? These little things are indeed good—so long as they arise from a supernatural motive. But without an ultimate desire for sanctity, how supernatural can our motives truly be?

One of the great errors the Church has faced over the centuries is the temptation to avoid the Cross. The Church faces this same problem today. Some argue that the traditional Mass focuses too much on Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. We find this mentality expressed in the Novus Ordo Missae or New Mass. This liturgy avoids the concept of sacrifice, replacing it with the idea that the Mass is nothing more than a communal meal.

The spiritual life consists of looking only at Jesus and doing everything for Him. This is what the Church calls purity of intention. Yet rather than simply aiming to please God, we often act to please only ourselves. While it is easy to claim we do everything to please God, this sermon discusses four ways to examine if that's truly the case and encourages us to correct any false intentions.

The Church dedicates the month of March to St. Joseph. He is the patron of the Universal Church. Just as the Blessed Virgin is the mother of all Christians, St. Joseph has been entrusted with the care of all, including the Church herself. This makes sense as St. Joseph was entrusted with being the father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, he stands as an example for all. He was a man who accepted the will of God completely, even in the face of requests he could not fathom.

Temptations are always part of our lives. Everyone will be challenged by them, as Our Lord was. Then there are what we call the near occasions of sin. Some of us may believe that we can resist them despite succumbing to these vices in the past. We must be aware of our inclinations toward these sins while also adamantly avoiding those situations that would allow us to fall into them.

Lent is a great time to receive graces, but we cannot receive them in vain or let them go to waste. The story of the life of José Sánchez del Río, a fourteen year old boy who died a martyr without giving up the Catholic Faith, is a profound example of how we may receive God's grace, indeed God's strength, without relinquishing it even under the most trying circumstances.

Lent has arrived. Whatever trepidation we may have had leading into this season, the reality is the crosses we are called upon to carry are far less a burden than we hold in our imagination. Lent presents an opportunity for us, indeed a freedom, to practice the virtues we must always adhere to. And this penitential season offers us a renewed opportunity to draw closer to God.

Having arrived this season of penance, Holy Lent, we may look forward to the opportunity to put forth the effort of accepting God's graces for the good of our salvation. It is not a burden to shy away from. In this season we can find the courage to do as we ought, to look straight on toward the great gift Our Lord has bestowed upon us. All are free now to do what perhaps we felt throughout the year we could not do, namely embrace God's love and live in accordance with His will.

As the Society of Saint Pius X is looking toward new consecrations and the threat of sanctions, we must never forget that this act is one of charity for the good of the Catholic Church. The Society esteems and loves what is most perfect, Who is God. And it is for God and His Church, that He established for the salvation of souls, which the Society serves. The Society will continue to serve this mission regardless of any adversity placed before it.

We may dread Lent and the reminder of our eternal destination. We should instead orient our minds to seeing Lent as a beautiful challenge to grow closer to God. Lent is not an obstacle, but an opportunity for spiritual growth.

Christ's teachings are often presented as a paradox. We may puzzle over Or Lord's teaching that in our weakness we may be strong. But in reflecting on this puzzling teaching, we understand that in knowing our weakness and frailty, it is God alone Who gives us strength. In humility, we understand that above all else we need God and that our weaknesses are not an affliction to be disparaged, but rather an opportunity to draw closer to Him.

The announcement of the Society of Saint Pius X's forthcoming episcopal consecrations has caused mixed emotions, ranging from relief to fear. There can be no doubt about the seriousness of this decision. However, it must be examined in the light of the seriousness of the situation that has brought it about, namely the ongoing crisis in the Catholic Church. The decision to consecrate new bishops for the Society is not an act of defiance, but done out of a genuine desire to save souls.

The recent announcement of the Society of Saint Pius X's Superior General, Don Davide Pagliarani, that the Society intends to consecrate new bishops on July 1st took many by surprise. Although it remains uncertain what Rome will do in response to this momentous announcement, all of the priests of the Society were directed to preach on this decision, laying out why these consecrations are necessary for the preservation of Tradition and the good of the Catholic Church.

As enter the period of transition from Christmas and Epiphany to Lent, it is time for us to reflect on how to prepare for this penitential season. It is a time of clearing out obstacles to God's grace. When it comes to our penances, mortifications, and resolutions, they must always be done out of the love for God. All of these entail some degree of suffering, but we must remember the suffering of Our Savior for us while elevating these acts above the level of mere self-improvement and toward growing closer to God.

The Feast of the Purification, otherwise known as Candlemas, represents the end of the Christmas liturgical cycle. It is also a feast directed toward Our Lord and Simeon's great longing for the day of His Incarnation. Simeon represents the expectation of the nations, awaiting the day when God would come to dispel darkness from the world.

When Our Lord heals both the leper and the Centurion's servant. He awards both men for their faith, humility, and submission to His will. The account of these miracles of Christ are united in these men overcoming their discouragement and looking to Our Lord with both faith and a willingness to submit to God's will. Every person has set backs. Every person gets discouraged. But ultimately, uniting our will with God's, as trying as that can be at times, is the true path to sanctity. He will never abandon us.

In the Gospels, we are met with the story of the leper who says a simple but profound prayer, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." He desires to be rid of his affliction, but ultimately he leaves it up to God's will. In a distant time before this leper met Our Lord, we are taught in Scripture of Job, a man who lived righteously his whole life with much abundance, which was taken away. Despite numerous temptations, he remained faithful to God and, like the leper, practiced a holy indifference to worldly comfort out of a desire to conform his will to God's.

The missionary spirt of the Catholic Church is driven by a sincere desire to deliver the truth for those poor souls who are without it. Sadly, the ideology of ecumenism has both deprived the Church of this spirit and promoted the idea about what is good in other religions. By the great grace we have been given as Catholics, it is incumbent upon us to spread the faith, to teach others who want to know, and by our acts, demonstrate how knowing God's revelation has transformed our lives and can transform others as well.

Holy Mother Church assigns the liturgical calendar to reinforce crucial lessons for our lives. Of the seven sacraments, two are designated by God for the good of society: the priesthood and marriage. At the Wedding at Cana, God specifically elevated what was natural to the supernatural by blessing that union. God's grace given through these sacraments are meant to give us the strength to fulfill their ends. In marriage specifically, we are are called upon to undertake the blessing that Our Lord gave us from the beginning, namely to be fruitful and multiply while also supporting our spouse with care and love.

Holy Mother Church assigns the liturgical calendar to reinforce crucial lessons for our lives. Of the seven sacraments, two are designated by God for the good of society: the priesthood and marriage. At the Wedding at Cana, God specifically elevated what was natural to the supernatural by blessing that union. God's grace given through these sacraments are meant to give us the strength to fulfill their ends. In marriage specifically, we are are called upon to undertake the blessing that Our Lord gave us from the beginning, namely to be fruitful and multiply while also supporting our spouse with care and love.

When we reflect on the Nativity, our minds go immediately to St. Joseph. He lived a life of uncertainty, but he was called by God to accomplish the greatest task any man in history was called upon. He may have believed he fell short of that calling, but we know he did not. He embraced this call from Our Lord and answered it with unwavering faith. He may never have believed himself sufficient to what was asked, but through prayer and faith, he accomplished the greatest calling any man could be asked to answer.

As we enter the new year we are confronted with laws and policies that seek to suppress the Catholic Faith. In the face of these obstacles, do we have the faith, hope, and charity to meet these obstacles before us? We are confronted with a multitude of temptations that make us believe that we are the ultimate authority over our lives. Yet in these times of grave difficulties, we can turn to our Our Lady. Through the 54-Day Rosary Novena, there is an opportunity to fortify our faith and meet the temptations of the world. This beautiful devotion affirms our commitment to God and stands as a bulwark against the ways of the world.

The Holy Family stands as an example of what a family should be. The Church itself is a family as well. Yet today there is a revolution that seeks to undermine the proper order of both human families and the Church family by removing their hierarchical structure in favor of a bottom-up approach to authority. Added to this is the temptation to view the family not as a home, but as a hub where each individual member may pass through living their own life, but without a common commitment to the good of the whole. This problem is exacerbated on contemporary distractions like electronic devices which allow people to shut themselves off from one another. To combat this errant individualism, families must commit to sharing a common life, ranging from taking meals together to praying together as one.

In 1892, Pope Leo XIII published an apostolic letter exhorting Catholic families to look to the Holy Family for inspiration and guidance. Fathers, for instance, should look to St. Joseph as a model of vigilance and care. They bear the heavy burden of being answerable to God for the spiritual welfare of their families. They must support their families in knowing, loving, and serving God. At the same time, mothers should look to the Blessed Virgin to cultivate the necessary virtues of love, modesty, resignation, and perfection of faith for the good of their families as well.

In various and often surprising ways, God reveals Himself through signs and miracles in order to draw humanity close to Him, including pagans such as the Magi. And it is the Magi who provide a model of adoration, knowing as they do that the most fundamental duty of man is to worship the true God. Through adoration and worship, we profess our complete dependence on God while acknowledging there is nothing higher than Him.

When God created Adam and Eve, he also created the family by uniting them in marriage. When Our Lord came down from heaven, He did so in the context of the family, specifically the Holy Family consisting of Himself along with St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is easy to conceive that it was within the Holy Family that Christ learned the practice of prayer. The Gospel of St. Luke testifies to the fact that, as a family, they visited the Temple to pray. And so we, too, can use the prayer life of the Holy Family as a model for how we ought to pray united as a family.

The blessed and holy name of Jesus is the one that God has chosen for Himself. While in the Old Testament God's name was forbidden to be spoken, with the coming of Christ, God provides His people a name to speak aloud in prayer for their salvation. Jesus's name is Who He is: Savior. However, even with this great gift, we are forced to ask ourselves, "Do we really want to be saved?" For out of our pridefulness and misplaced desire for self-reliance, we want to earn salvation on our own merits without the divine assistance of Our Lord.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we have the example of Ss. Peter and John putting Christ first by going to the Temple to pray. When they encounter a lame beggar, this poor man is healed through Jesus's name. For the Apostles know that through the Holy Name of Jesus, everyone, even those who have fallen away from God spiritually, may be saved.

It is an immemorial custom to make resolutions at the start of a new year. Yet, rarely are these resolutions kept. Far too often we make broad resolutions that are impossible to keep. The better course is to particularize our resolutions, focusing on specific faults, and hoping, by the grace of God, we can overcome them.

Material riches are not the key to happiness. This is a lesson repeated through both Scripture and popular culture, yet most struggle to accept it. Our Lord came to us in poverty. Although our respective stations in life may call upon us to have material resources, we must not abandon the call to have poverty of spirit, that is, detachment from material goods.

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The mystery of Christmas reveals the great goodness of God. To appreciate this gift, we must reflect on our own rebelliousness, stubbornness, and pride. This is why it was necessary for Our Lord to go to the extraordinary length to provide the unfathomable gift of His Incarnation for the sole purpose of saving us. God chose not to break us down through His strength, but rather lowered Himself to become one of us to lead humanity from darkness to light.

Let us rejoice in the birth of Our Lord. Let us rejoice in this incredible miracle that has freed us from the bondage of sin. He has arrived to overcome the curse of sin. He stands victorious over satan out of His great love for us, His creation. He stands triumphant, renouncing the deeds of the flesh, ushering us into God's kingdom by His miraculous Incarnation.

Holy Mother Church gives us an entire season to prepare for the reception of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. It is easy for us to reproach ourselves that we did not spend this season preparing ourselves adequately for such a wonderful gift. However, when we look to the Blessed Virgin, we are given an exquisite model of the proper disposition we ought to take. She demonstrates the humility, openness, and abandonment to Divine Providence that we are all called to accept.

The love we feel for one another as demonstrated in the love of Hilaire Belloc for his wife is minute compared for the love Our Lord Jesus Christ has for us. Our Lord came across time, willing to submit Himself as a child, in order to save us. There is no greater love.

Even from prison, St. Paul insists on throwing off anxiety and remaining in the peace of Jesus Christ. This should provide us with an opportunity to reflect on what in life denies us peace. Surely, sin is the great disrupter of peace and sin is the direct result of the disorders present in our lives. Anxiety, too, robs us of peace. To overcome this anxiety, we must both look at all things with the eyes of faith and mortify our thoughts.

The blindness of the Pharisee's as to the identity of the true Messiah was not limited to the time of His baptism, but lasted throughout the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, it has continued through the life of the Church. Just like the people who lived in Christ's lifetime, people down through the ages up until today fail to recognize Our Lord in their midst. Rather than submit themselves to God, they cling to their conception of who the Messiah should be and thereby reject the only true one.

It is common for us to treat venial sin as not serious. Yet every sin imperils our salvation. When we choose sinful acts, we abandon our end. This is why we must be vigilant to be careful in every act we do. There are no "small" sins if we are serious about our salvation. Sadly, there is a temptation to overlook these sins as irrelevant without remembering that every transgression offends Our Lord.

The Church's doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of our Lady is a pinnacle of the liturgical year. By God's grace she was preserved from the stain of original sin. Her preservation from original sin is a sign of how God set her apart from all of humanity. She had a singular role in salvation history that was foreordained by God to be the vessel that housed Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We know of the fall of man and the downfall of the human race. When we reflect on evolution, we might think that we begin at a low level and then developed into better people. But we did not. The tragedy of humanity is our God given capacity to achieve goodness, but without Christ there is no way to achieve it.

Our Lady's sanctity is highlighted in the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This feast underlines the fact that Our Lady is full of grace. In our own lives, we are given a choice whether to live by nature alone or to be open to God's grace. To accomplish this, we should strive to prepare ourselves for every sacred act we wish to perform or that God will ask of us based on our station in life. We must be ready for it if we wish to receive our Lord's grace.

At the end of time, Our Lord will come as a just judge, dispensing publicly and privately the punishment or rewards to each as is due. How we respond to this Second Coming of Christ is reflected in how we respond now to his first coming in the Incarnation. It is at this time that we are called to submit to Our Lord Jesus Christ. For if we do not submit to him now, during this season of Advent, surely we will not submit when He comes again in glory.

We must orient ourselves properly at the opening of Advent. It is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ in our souls and so we must take special care of our spiritual lives. The spiritual life does not happen by accident. This is why we must recall that this period preparation is needful for it disposes us toward the special graces He offers us.

Vigilance, that is, being mindful always of Our Lord can give us a certain special blessings and happiness. When the end times come, it will be too late to become mindful and virtuous. This is why St. Paul is adamant that we must turn our minds to the Lord immediately, never missing an opportunity to grow nearer to Him.

On the last Sunday before Advent, Holy Mother Church asks us to reflect on the last things. It is a moment when we are compelled to reflect on Christ not coming only as the redeemer or mediator, but as the Last Judge. Focusing upon this reality is not done out of morbidity or negativity, but rather to remember always that we must account to our Creator how we have lived.