Sermon for the Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year, 2024

Christ alone fulfills the description of the faithful sheep. You were imprisoned by your sin, and He came to you; He freed you by His arrest, imprisonment, and by His death on the Cross. You were sick, and He visited you; sickened by your transgressions and aware of their just punishment, He comes to you in the proclamation of forgiveness through faith in His Name. Believing, your sins—all of them—are forgiven; more than that, you are healed by His visitation. You were naked, and He clothed you; He suffered to be stripped so that you would be covered in His holiness. You were a stranger, and He took you in; He brought you into the safety of His Holy Church. More than that, He branded you with His Name, declaring you to be His forever. You were thirsty, and He gave you to drink; He shed His sacred Blood that the Cup in the Blessed Sacrament flow with that same life-giving Blood to you. You were hungry, and He gave you food; He fills you with His word—with Himself, He who is the bread of life, and distributes His Body in the Blessed Sacrament to you for your everlasting nourishment. Freed, healed, sheltered, clothed, and fed by Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, you become His sheep, they who are the blessed of the Father.

Readings:

• Old Testament: Daniel 7:9-14

• Epistle: 2 Peter 3:3-14

• Holy Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

  
  

Sermon: