Several years ago, just after I was ordained, I was talking with another priest. He was telling me of an encounter he had with an organist at the parish where he was assigned.

It would seem that the organist was a great admirer of this priest's sermons. He used to listen carefully to them and even tell his friends about them. Then one day he heard the priest say something in a sermon that he thought he recognized - something he had heard before. And he went home and some time during the following week he found exactly what the priest had said - almost word for word - on a tape of one of Bishop Sheen's homilies - I am sure that at least some of you here remember Bishop Sheen.

Well, the organist confronted the priest the following Sunday. "I was telling everyone how great a homilist you were", said the organist, "and now I come to find out that all you have been doing is repeating Bishop Sheens talks". And, in his typical fashion, the priest shot back, "OK, then, when was the last time you played one of your original compositions on that organ?"

I use this as an introduction to my sermon today because I want to steal a homily from Bishop Sheen - one which he was accused of stealing from CS Lewis. So if so many great speakers have used it, it must be good.

Bishop Sheen told his listeners more than once about his grandmother who must have been a very kind old lady. Whenever Bishop Sheen needed love and comfort when he was a child, he could always, he said, find it with his grandmother. And so if he had a toothache, he would run to his grandmother and she would hold him and tell him everything was going to be alright and she would rub oil of cloves on his tooth. Of course that would numb it, and the pain would go away - for a while. But, of course, the cause of the pain was not addressed at all. If the tooth was decaying, the decay just got worse. But the child did not think about that.

The one he avoided at all costs was his mother. Because if his mother found out he had a tooth ache - it was off to the dentists right away. And the dentist would poke and drill and maybe even pull. And that hurt - but, of course, it also really cured the toothache.

So many of us are like that little boy. We look for temporary relief rather than a real cure.

I once heard a religious figure talking on television. He was asked how he wanted to be remembered by his flock when he died. And he said, "I want to be remembered as someone who was kind and caring". Well that is alright as far as it goes. But the problem is that most people who get the reputation of being kind and caring are far more likely to be like that little boy's grandmother than his mother.

And so someone comes to a priest and admits that he is living with a woman to whom he is not married. He says he has "deep feelings" for her and she for him. The priest would have to be very far removed from reality not to be able to understand how a man can fall in love with a woman, and how the two of them, having fallen deeply in love, would want to be together. If he tells the man that he understands and that he is sure the man is a good person, and that he hopes all goes well for him, he will be thought of as "kind and caring". If, however, he tells him that when you fall in love with someone and want to live with them, that is what marriage is for – and that he had better either marry this woman or separate from her – and quickly – then he is thought of as cold, rigid, unreasonable – but he is also telling the man the truth, and it is the truth, Jesus said, not pious pabulum or false compassion that will set us free.

Or someone comes to a priest and tells him that they want to marry a divorced person outside the Church. Their reasons are certainly understandable. It does not take a great deal of supernatural wisdom and insight to understand why someone would want to do such a thing. And the priest who tells such a person nothing but that, "Well, I understand", or who even goes so far as to endorse the person's plans or even to help the person go through with them, is usually the priest who is going to be called "caring" and "kind". But is he being what God put him there to be? Is he being a healer? a teacher? Or is he just rubbing oil of cloves on a spiritual wound to give some temporary relief. If Christ really meant what he said about remarriage after divorce, hasn't that priest just helped someone to feel comfortable while travelling a road which could very well lead to the loss of his soul?

I use these examples because priests encounter these situations so frequently today. I could use others. What about the priest who encounters a young husband and wife who have recently finished building a $250,000 home. They invite him over for dinner and take him for a ride in their boat. They lend him their RV and make their Florida condo available to him. They are childless because they have been using artificial contraception all during their marriage, telling themselves that they are only delaying children until they are financially secure. And when they ask Father if he believes what the last five Popes have taught about artificial contraception, he tells them, "Well, that is something you just have to make up your own mind about". And he has friends for life. And they tell their friends how good and wise and understanding and caring and sensible Father is. But Father has just made them quite comfortable with a disease which will eat the heart out of the sacrament which is their marriage.

And in demonstration after demonstration, we see prominent political and entertainment figures condemning those who work for the protection of the lives of the unborn - condemning them as "uncaring" and "cruel" - because, of course, anyone who was caring and kind would certainly try to make a mother feel good about killing her unborn baby and not try to make her feel guilty about it.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews reminded his readers that we are not to disdain the discipline of the Lord. We are to accept it as the medicine we need to counteract the damage done by the illness which is sin. He reminds his readers - which include us - that even though God's way may seem the more difficult way at first, it is the only thing that makes for any kind of lasting peace and happiness.

Jesus said something similar in the Gospel reading. He reminded people to enter through the narrow door - the door of God's grace which might not always appear to those with only the eyes of this world to be the most attractive one. He told his listeners something that would have shocked and angered them - many Gentiles would enter the kingdom of God while the descendants of Abraham were out in the old - because the Gentiles would accept God's grace and try their best to do God's will, while the stubborn sons of Abraham would insist on doing things their own way.

So there is a message in the readings today for all of us - whether we happen to be learners or teachers at the present time. If you are a learner do not run from priest to priest or author to author or counselor to counselor trying to find one who will give you an easy out, or who is skilled at making you feel good about your sins. Rather look for someone who, while he or she is willing to listen and to sympathize, in the end, tells you the truth - the truth that comes from God, through his Scriptures and through his Church. And if you are a teacher or a guide, do not fall into the trap of seeking first and foremost to be liked by the people placed in your care - selling your soul for a few words of praise or monetary gain. Rather try to love the sinner with all your heart while hating his sin, and doing all you can to really heal, and not just to make people comfortable as they sicken.

The faithful Christian is heir to such a glorious destiny. We should never listen to anyone who tries to make us feel satisfied with less.