September 15, 2025 • 15 mins
"But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow." St Gregory the Great
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(00:00):
Paul, Welcome to Catholic moneytalk, where we talk about all
things money and finance, and wetry to do it through a lens of
being Catholic, where ourultimate goal is to one day be
in Heaven with the Lord. I amyour host. Paul Scarfone, thank
you for being here today. Paul,Paul,
(00:26):
welcome back to Catholic moneytalk. Today. We're going to take
a break from talking aboutfinances, and instead, I want to
offer a reminder to us, and thatreminder is no one knows the day
or the hour. Let's start with aprayer in the name of the Father
(00:48):
and of the Son and of the HolySpirit. Amen, Heavenly Father,
we thank you for this day. Wethank you for all the ways that
you love and bless us. Lord, Youare a faithful God, a loving
Father who has an incrediblywonderful plan for our lives,
(01:09):
for each of our lives and all ofthose plans. Lord, end with us
being with you in Heaven,forever. Lord, give us a sense
of gratitude for everything thatyou've put into our lives, for
all those momentsthat we're invited to draw
closer to you,bless us, strengthen us on our
(01:31):
journeyto Home, and send your angels to
guard and protect usCome Holy Spirit.
We ask all this in Jesus name,amen,
in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and of the Holy Spirit,
amen, But of that day or hour noone knows, neither the angels in
(02:00):
heaven, nor the Son, but onlythe Father. We hear that
distinctly in two places in theGospel, Matthew 24 and Mark 13.
And over the past few months,there have been some stark
reminders, although we know thatdeath will come to us all, we
(02:20):
don't know when we don't knowhow. A few months ago, we had
the young women who were victimsof the flooding in Texas, a
natural disaster that no onecould have predicted or foresaw.
Two weeks ago, there was ashooting at the Annunciation
school in Minnesota. It's justunimaginable that someone would
(02:41):
do such a thing to youngchildren during mass. And then
last week, the assassination, Imight even call it martyrdom of
Charlie Kirk. And then the verynext day, we had the 24th
anniversary of the terroristattack in the World Trade
Center, recalling the tragedywhere nearly 3000 people lost
(03:01):
their lives. We don't know theday or the hour. It's a sobering
reality, and these are only theheadlines. Right?
How many people every day losetheir lives in tragedy? A friend
of ours last year lost herfather in a car accident. When I
was young, my uncle died in amotorcycle accident. When I was
(03:24):
in college, a friend of minelost his dad to a massive heart
attack, and then post college, Ilost a friend who died during
the night. All of a sudden, Ilost a colleague at the bank
about six years ago to anotherheart attack. And I'm sure in
your own life, you can think ofso many other examples
(03:47):
we don't know the day or thehour.
Two weeks ago, on September 3,we had the feast day of st
Gregory, the great and eachmorning, as part of my prayer
time, I read the mass readingsfor the day, and I take a look
at the Saint of the day, I usethe Laude app on my phone. It
has brief history and usuallydetails of the saints, and many
(04:09):
times it'll have an excerpt ortwo of their writings. And that
morning, there was a quote fromst Gregory that really hit me,
and I've been going back to itin my prayer and pondering it
ever since. It's from a writingof his titled, be friends of
God, andI'm going to read it to you
here.
(04:31):
He writes, If we knew at whattime we were to depart from this
world, we would be able toselect a season for pleasure and
another for repentance, but God,who has promised pardon to every
repentant sinner, has notpromised us tomorrow, therefore
(04:51):
we must always dread the finalday, which we can never foresee.
This very day is a day of truce,a. Day for conversion, and yet
we refuse to cry over the evilwe have done. Not only do we not
weep for the sins we havecommitted, we even add to them.
If we are, in fact, now occupiedwith good deeds, we should not
(05:15):
attribute the strength withwhich we are doing them to
ourselves. We must not count onourselves, because even if we
know what kind of person we aretoday, we do not know what we
will be tomorrow. Nobody mustrejoice in the security of their
own good deeds. As long as weare experiencing the
(05:36):
uncertainties of this life, wedo not know what end may follow,
we must not trust in our ownvirtues.
Wow, there's a lot in there.
Let's look at that first line.
If we knew at what time we wereto depart from this world, we
(05:59):
would be able to select a seasonfor pleasure and another for
repentance. This is the story ofmy life. I wish I knew there are
so many moments that I findmyself desiring ease and
comfort, to be able to just sitback and just enjoy to have a
(06:19):
break from the hard work oftrying to be virtuous. And I
know I'm not alone in this. Wecan spend so much time planning
and preparing, trying to findmoments of pleasure, and I'm not
even talking about evilpleasures, right, but just the
ease and comfort that I long forin my head, I feel like life
(06:44):
would be easier if I knew I wasgonna, you know, get one week's
notice of my death right. Giveme a week to repent, go to
confession, correct anyrelationships. Love everyone so
well, and then just fall intothe arms of my heavenly father
after a week of holy, virtuousliving in my head, at least,
that makes me feel like thatwould be an easy plan,
(07:10):
but we don't. We don't get that.
Rather,we have to be awake and sober,
right? First, Thessalonians fiveor six, therefore, let us not
sleep as the rest do, but let usstay alert and sober. The next
line from this quote from stGregory, it's so beautiful. I
just keep going over and overthis but God, who has promised
(07:33):
pardon to every repentantsinner, has not promised us
tomorrow.
What do we know about God?
He loves us so much. He is agenerous, loving father. He only
(07:56):
gives us good things, but God,who has promised pardon to every
repentant sinner has notpromised us tomorrow. So knowing
what we know about God and whenwe hear this line, what is the
truth that jumps out to us? Thetruth is this that the gift of
His forgiveness, right, the giftof His mercy, it's greater than
(08:20):
the gift of tomorrow. But howmany of us would prefer the gift
of tomorrow over his gift offorgiveness today? Yes, when we
stop and prayerfully considerit, we want His forgiveness, but
to our thoughts, words andactions every day, Shout to the
(08:41):
Lord that we are repentant anddesire forgiveness, or do our
thoughts, words and actionsshout that we desire tomorrow.
Go ahead. Take a moment reflecton that, pray about it,
ponder this beautiful truth.
(09:02):
But God, who has promised pardonto every repentant sinner, has
not promised us tomorrow.
The second half of this quotefrom st Gregory, and I'll read
it again here, therefore we mustalways dread the final day which
(09:24):
we can never foresee. This veryday is a day of truce, a day of
conversion, and yet we refuse tocry over the evil we have done.
And not only do we not weep forthe sins we have committed, we
even add to them. If we are, infact, now occupied in good
deeds, we should not attributethe strength with which we are
doing them to ourselves. We mustnot count on ourselves, because
(09:49):
even if we know what kind ofperson we are today, we do not
know what we will be tomorrow,nobody must rejoice in the
security. Why of their own gooddeeds. As long as we are
experiencing the uncertaintiesof this life, we do not know
what and may follow. We must nottrust in our own virtues. I was
(10:15):
just talking to someone aboutthis the other day,
and this is one of those thingsthat separates us from many of
our Protestant brothers andsisters. We are saved because
Christ came and died for us, andwe just heard that in the Gospel
yesterday, on Sunday, John 316For God so loved the world that
(10:37):
He sent His only Son thatwhoever believes in Him shall
have eternal life, right, shallnot die, but have eternal life.
And many Protestants emphasizejustification by faith alone,
and we as Catholics, weintegrate faith with the
sanctifying grace that wereceive through the sacraments
and through being virtuous andviewing salvation as a journey
(10:57):
rather than just the singleevent, knowing that at any
moment we could still choose sinor virtue, and a grave sin does
separate us from God, but thenwe need to come back to God
through the grace of thesacrament of reconciliation to
restore our relationship withGod. It's a lifelong journey,
(11:19):
you know, and this is the pointthat st Gregory is addressing.
As long as we are experiencingthe uncertainties of this life,
we do not know what end mayfollow. We must not trust in our
own virtues. Right now, I had mywords here. We must trust in the
Lord, in his unfathomable mercyand the gift of His church. This
(11:46):
reminds me of, you know, to usea sports analogy, right? It
ain't over till it's over. Youknow, in sports will say that,
and how many times and sometimeson huge stages, right? We've
seen teams that had big leadsand they somehow squandered them
and lose. And on the flip side,we've seen teams that they're so
(12:07):
far behind, and yet they find away to slowly claw their way
back to win. And so it is withour life. In our spiritual
journey, there is no momentwhere, where you're done, where
your ticket is punched andyou're done,
you don't get to coast.
There's no such thing as anearthly victory lap, right? It
(12:32):
just doesn't happen.
I think now, if St Paul, hesays, I run so as to win, right?
Like, I'm like a libation thatis poured out, like it's, it's
the end, it's the last drop.
There's nothing left when we getto the end, because we've spent
it all serving and loving. Weneed to find ourselves working
(12:58):
for the Lord and serving otherswhen he comes for us, when our
time comes. Now, maybe thatmight be in our sleep, at an old
age, where we've been prayingfor and offering our suffering
for those around us, or as inthese tragic examples recently,
you know, witnessing to collegekids on the campus attending
(13:23):
Mass or serving at a camp.
Therefore, let us not sleep asthe rest do, but let us stay
alert and sober because God whohas promised pardon to every
repentant sinner, has notpromised us tomorrow. So let us
(13:50):
be about this today, serving andloving in our vocations,
witnessing to the Lord at workwith our friends in our
families, pray with your spouse,teach your kids to pray. Love
your parents, frequent thesacraments, and say to the Lord,
(14:14):
here I am Lord, I come to doYour will. May God bless you.
Thankyou for listening to Catholic
(14:39):
money talk. I hope you join usagain next time, please click
Subscribe on your podcast app toget notified of new episodes.
God bless you and have a greatday. Foreign.
Paul, Welcome to Catholic moneytalk, where we talk about all
things money and finance, and wetry to do it through a lens of
being Catholic, where ourultimate goal is to one day be
in Heaven with the Lord. I amyour host. Paul Scarfone, thank
you for being here today. Paul,Paul,
(00:26):
welcome back to Catholic moneytalk. Today. We're going to take
a break from talking aboutfinances, and instead, I want to
offer a reminder to us, and thatreminder is no one knows the day
or the hour. Let's start with aprayer in the name of the Father
(00:48):
and of the Son and of the HolySpirit. Amen, Heavenly Father,
we thank you for this day. Wethank you for all the ways that
you love and bless us. Lord, Youare a faithful God, a loving
Father who has an incrediblywonderful plan for our lives,
(01:09):
for each of our lives and all ofthose plans. Lord, end with us
being with you in Heaven,forever. Lord, give us a sense
of gratitude for everything thatyou've put into our lives, for
all those momentsthat we're invited to draw
closer to you,bless us, strengthen us on our
(01:31):
journeyto Home, and send your angels to
guard and protect usCome Holy Spirit.
We ask all this in Jesus name,amen,
in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and of the Holy Spirit,
amen, But of that day or hour noone knows, neither the angels in
(02:00):
heaven, nor the Son, but onlythe Father. We hear that
distinctly in two places in theGospel, Matthew 24 and Mark 13.
And over the past few months,there have been some stark
reminders, although we know thatdeath will come to us all, we
(02:20):
don't know when we don't knowhow. A few months ago, we had
the young women who were victimsof the flooding in Texas, a
natural disaster that no onecould have predicted or foresaw.
Two weeks ago, there was ashooting at the Annunciation
school in Minnesota. It's justunimaginable that someone would
(02:41):
do such a thing to youngchildren during mass. And then
last week, the assassination, Imight even call it martyrdom of
Charlie Kirk. And then the verynext day, we had the 24th
anniversary of the terroristattack in the World Trade
Center, recalling the tragedywhere nearly 3000 people lost
(03:01):
their lives. We don't know theday or the hour. It's a sobering
reality, and these are only theheadlines. Right?
How many people every day losetheir lives in tragedy? A friend
of ours last year lost herfather in a car accident. When I
was young, my uncle died in amotorcycle accident. When I was
(03:24):
in college, a friend of minelost his dad to a massive heart
attack, and then post college, Ilost a friend who died during
the night. All of a sudden, Ilost a colleague at the bank
about six years ago to anotherheart attack. And I'm sure in
your own life, you can think ofso many other examples
(03:47):
we don't know the day or thehour.
Two weeks ago, on September 3,we had the feast day of st
Gregory, the great and eachmorning, as part of my prayer
time, I read the mass readingsfor the day, and I take a look
at the Saint of the day, I usethe Laude app on my phone. It
has brief history and usuallydetails of the saints, and many
(04:09):
times it'll have an excerpt ortwo of their writings. And that
morning, there was a quote fromst Gregory that really hit me,
and I've been going back to itin my prayer and pondering it
ever since. It's from a writingof his titled, be friends of
God, andI'm going to read it to you
here.
(04:31):
He writes, If we knew at whattime we were to depart from this
world, we would be able toselect a season for pleasure and
another for repentance, but God,who has promised pardon to every
repentant sinner, has notpromised us tomorrow, therefore
(04:51):
we must always dread the finalday, which we can never foresee.
This very day is a day of truce,a. Day for conversion, and yet
we refuse to cry over the evilwe have done. Not only do we not
weep for the sins we havecommitted, we even add to them.
If we are, in fact, now occupiedwith good deeds, we should not
(05:15):
attribute the strength withwhich we are doing them to
ourselves. We must not count onourselves, because even if we
know what kind of person we aretoday, we do not know what we
will be tomorrow. Nobody mustrejoice in the security of their
own good deeds. As long as weare experiencing the
(05:36):
uncertainties of this life, wedo not know what end may follow,
we must not trust in our ownvirtues.
Wow, there's a lot in there.
Let's look at that first line.
If we knew at what time we wereto depart from this world, we
(05:59):
would be able to select a seasonfor pleasure and another for
repentance. This is the story ofmy life. I wish I knew there are
so many moments that I findmyself desiring ease and
comfort, to be able to just sitback and just enjoy to have a
(06:19):
break from the hard work oftrying to be virtuous. And I
know I'm not alone in this. Wecan spend so much time planning
and preparing, trying to findmoments of pleasure, and I'm not
even talking about evilpleasures, right, but just the
ease and comfort that I long forin my head, I feel like life
(06:44):
would be easier if I knew I wasgonna, you know, get one week's
notice of my death right. Giveme a week to repent, go to
confession, correct anyrelationships. Love everyone so
well, and then just fall intothe arms of my heavenly father
after a week of holy, virtuousliving in my head, at least,
that makes me feel like thatwould be an easy plan,
(07:10):
but we don't. We don't get that.
Rather,we have to be awake and sober,
right? First, Thessalonians fiveor six, therefore, let us not
sleep as the rest do, but let usstay alert and sober. The next
line from this quote from stGregory, it's so beautiful. I
just keep going over and overthis but God, who has promised
(07:33):
pardon to every repentantsinner, has not promised us
tomorrow.
What do we know about God?
He loves us so much. He is agenerous, loving father. He only
(07:56):
gives us good things, but God,who has promised pardon to every
repentant sinner has notpromised us tomorrow. So knowing
what we know about God and whenwe hear this line, what is the
truth that jumps out to us? Thetruth is this that the gift of
His forgiveness, right, the giftof His mercy, it's greater than
(08:20):
the gift of tomorrow. But howmany of us would prefer the gift
of tomorrow over his gift offorgiveness today? Yes, when we
stop and prayerfully considerit, we want His forgiveness, but
to our thoughts, words andactions every day, Shout to the
(08:41):
Lord that we are repentant anddesire forgiveness, or do our
thoughts, words and actionsshout that we desire tomorrow.
Go ahead. Take a moment reflecton that, pray about it,
ponder this beautiful truth.
(09:02):
But God, who has promised pardonto every repentant sinner, has
not promised us tomorrow.
The second half of this quotefrom st Gregory, and I'll read
it again here, therefore we mustalways dread the final day which
(09:24):
we can never foresee. This veryday is a day of truce, a day of
conversion, and yet we refuse tocry over the evil we have done.
And not only do we not weep forthe sins we have committed, we
even add to them. If we are, infact, now occupied in good
deeds, we should not attributethe strength with which we are
doing them to ourselves. We mustnot count on ourselves, because
(09:49):
even if we know what kind ofperson we are today, we do not
know what we will be tomorrow,nobody must rejoice in the
security. Why of their own gooddeeds. As long as we are
experiencing the uncertaintiesof this life, we do not know
what and may follow. We must nottrust in our own virtues. I was
(10:15):
just talking to someone aboutthis the other day,
and this is one of those thingsthat separates us from many of
our Protestant brothers andsisters. We are saved because
Christ came and died for us, andwe just heard that in the Gospel
yesterday, on Sunday, John 316For God so loved the world that
(10:37):
He sent His only Son thatwhoever believes in Him shall
have eternal life, right, shallnot die, but have eternal life.
And many Protestants emphasizejustification by faith alone,
and we as Catholics, weintegrate faith with the
sanctifying grace that wereceive through the sacraments
and through being virtuous andviewing salvation as a journey
(10:57):
rather than just the singleevent, knowing that at any
moment we could still choose sinor virtue, and a grave sin does
separate us from God, but thenwe need to come back to God
through the grace of thesacrament of reconciliation to
restore our relationship withGod. It's a lifelong journey,
(11:19):
you know, and this is the pointthat st Gregory is addressing.
As long as we are experiencingthe uncertainties of this life,
we do not know what end mayfollow. We must not trust in our
own virtues. Right now, I had mywords here. We must trust in the
Lord, in his unfathomable mercyand the gift of His church. This
(11:46):
reminds me of, you know, to usea sports analogy, right? It
ain't over till it's over. Youknow, in sports will say that,
and how many times and sometimeson huge stages, right? We've
seen teams that had big leadsand they somehow squandered them
and lose. And on the flip side,we've seen teams that they're so
(12:07):
far behind, and yet they find away to slowly claw their way
back to win. And so it is withour life. In our spiritual
journey, there is no momentwhere, where you're done, where
your ticket is punched andyou're done,
you don't get to coast.
There's no such thing as anearthly victory lap, right? It
(12:32):
just doesn't happen.
I think now, if St Paul, hesays, I run so as to win, right?
Like, I'm like a libation thatis poured out, like it's, it's
the end, it's the last drop.
There's nothing left when we getto the end, because we've spent
it all serving and loving. Weneed to find ourselves working
(12:58):
for the Lord and serving otherswhen he comes for us, when our
time comes. Now, maybe thatmight be in our sleep, at an old
age, where we've been prayingfor and offering our suffering
for those around us, or as inthese tragic examples recently,
you know, witnessing to collegekids on the campus attending
(13:23):
Mass or serving at a camp.
Therefore, let us not sleep asthe rest do, but let us stay
alert and sober because God whohas promised pardon to every
repentant sinner, has notpromised us tomorrow. So let us
(13:50):
be about this today, serving andloving in our vocations,
witnessing to the Lord at workwith our friends in our
families, pray with your spouse,teach your kids to pray. Love
your parents, frequent thesacraments, and say to the Lord,
(14:14):
here I am Lord, I come to doYour will. May God bless you.
Thankyou for listening to Catholic
(14:39):
money talk. I hope you join usagain next time, please click
Subscribe on your podcast app toget notified of new episodes.
God bless you and have a greatday. Foreign.
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