permitted by God to act as an accuser against humanity.

Transcription

1 Homily for the 22 nd Sunday in OT, Year A 2017: Mt 16:21-27 In a short span of time, St. Peter went from being proclaimed the steadfast Rock on which Jesus Christ would built His Holy Church to being rebuked as having the spirit of Satan within his heart. When Christians hear the name Satan, they tend to think of the devil as we commonly depict him: some sort of a red fiery goat creature with a pitchfork, pointed horns and in all honesty not all that frightening as he looks more like cartoon character than the Prince of Darkness. But the Jewish people thought of Satan in a different manner, based on the meaning of his name in Hebrew. The name Satan can be best translated as the accuser. They understood Satan to not be a fiendish centaur-like monster but instead a fallen angel who was the adversary of God but who was nonetheless permitted by God to act as an accuser against humanity. In both the Book of Job and the Book of the Prophet Zechariah, we read how Satan was permitted to stand before the Throne of

2 God, surrounded by the angelic court, and act as an accuser against the actions of humanity. God permitted His servants to undergo temptation and satanic manipulation and they proved to be faithful to God when put to the test. Our Lord made frequent references to the activity and influence of Satan throughout His ministry, Himself undergoing temptation from the Evil One, and revealing how this adversary of God even tried to accuse Jesus of failing to act as God s Son by not using His divine power to give himself bread to eat or to show how God would save Him from harm. In rebuking St Peter and calling him a satan, our Lord was showing a loving concern for the newly appointed leader of the Church in helping St Peter to realize that he, like the Devil, was acting as an accuser, by trying to dissuade Jesus from undergoing His Passion and regarding the coming of God s Kingdom in all too human terms. St Peter had fallen under the influence of the cunning serpent and rightly needed to be rebuked by Christ, dispelling

3 whatever satanic manipulation St Peter had undergone by once again saying Yes to the will of His Heavenly Father in accepting the royal road to the Cross and Resurrection. If St. Peter, the Rock on which Christ built His church, was able to fall under the dark spell of the Evil One and become both an adversary and accuser against Christ, even if only for a passing moment, than we should not be surprised that Satan will look to deceive and manipulate other men and women in leadership positions and have them cause grave evil in the world. Often, the machinations and deceiving influence of the Devil appears as actions that are seen as praiseworthy and good for society yet beneath these words and actions are what one could call diabolical nicety. Take for example the recent actions of a prominent world leader, one that was baptized Catholic and has spoken of himself as being a practising member of our Church in his own estimation. This world leader sent out a message on twitter recently congratulating

4 Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States and elsewhere in the world, on their 100 th anniversary and looked forward to their next 100 years, using the hashtag #100yearsstong. This tweet contained no words of profanity or overtly satanic references, but these words, as nice as they might sound, are sheer evil as this world leader gave thanks for 100 years of killing more than 100 million unborn children and hoped that the slaughter of the silent innocents will continue for another century. This is but one example of diabolical nicety, using politically correct language and appealing words like human rights, tolerance, progress, reproductive health and others to disguise and give praise for what is evil in the Lord s sight. Satan will not hesitate to use the powerful, elegant, attractive, influential and ambitious of our world to continue the work of being the adversary and accuser of both God and His People. When a man or woman of incredible gifts and talents have not given their hearts to God and seek to serve first His kingdom and glory, than those gifts

5 and talents can so easily be used by Satan, but more often than not disguised behind a smile and elegant words that sounds appealing and caring but in truth reek of evil and lies of hell. Since the days of the Roman Caesars, who did not hesitate to kill God s Holy People, both young and old, our Church has taken it upon herself to pray for men and women in positions of leadership. Be they political, religious, economic or media leaders, we, as God s Holy People, must pray for the conversion of countless individuals who are carrying out the work of Satan in our world, most especially when these individuals are totally blind to the demonic influence that is compelling them to speak and act in a spirit of diabolical nicety. In addition to prayer and penance for these individuals, we must also be courageous in acting out against the lies that they proclaim. We must make our voices heard when evil is promoted as good. We must manifest our faith for others to see and realize that doing so will cause people to hate us. We must give voice to those

6 who have no means to speak. In all things, we must drown out the evil of this world in an abundance of good. St. Peter might have allowed Satan to deceive him and cause him be become a momentary accuser and adversary of Christ. But we know he was reconciled to the Lord and remained faithful to Jesus, dying crucified upon on upside down Cross under the orders of the Emperor Nero, who is an example of a leader who had become a pawn of Satan. Let us ask the Prince of the Apostles to intercede for all men and women of influence and power who have become adversaries of Jesus Christ, that they will recognize the evil they are doing and seek to repent and be reconciled back to Heart of Jesus Christ lest they face His dread judgment for their wicked and evil deeds.