Ascension of Jesus - Year C

 

This weekend, we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. The feast of the Ascension reminds us that through Our Lord’s suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, He opened the gates of heaven for us and now there are saints in heaven.

Due to the original sin of Adam and Eve, no one could go to heaven before Jesus came. Now that Jesus’ life on earth is complete, we see where we too will someday go—to heaven. The ascension reminds us, Jesus is our savior and we need Him to get to heaven our home and that our life will someday end, so we can be with Jesus and those who have gone before us.

At the moment of death, our soul leaves our dead body behind to be buried. Our soul then goes to its judgment, where our entire life is shown before us. We see all the good that we did, and all the bad too. Then Jesus, the eternal judge, will give us our sentence.

Those died unrepentant, with a grave sin on their soul, will go to hell forever to be punished.

Those who died, without serious sin, but still need to make up for their sins, will go to purgatory, until their soul is purified, before going to heaven. And those who made up for their sins in this life, will go straight to heaven.

No one who died before Jesus came could go to heaven, except for Enoch and Elijah. From the time of Adam and Eve, the wicked who died unrepentant went to hell. But those who repented of their sins and lived a righteous life, such as Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, went to a temporary place, that was not heaven, and not hell. The word “hell” had two meanings. The first meaning everyone is familiar-- is the place of eternal fire and damnation, where the fallen angels went and damned souls go to be tortured.

But the other meaning of hell is what we say when we recite the Creed. We say, Jesus “descended into hell, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”

The word “hell” that we say in the Creed is referring to the temporary place where those who died before Jesus came, and who repented of their sins, but could not go to heaven, waited for Jesus to come and take them to heaven. This is sometimes called the “netherworld.”

There is an ancient homily that describes-- how on Holy Saturday, the day after Jesus died, Our Lord descended to the netherworld and brought the righteous to heaven.

Here is part of the homily: "What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parents like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.”

As Catholics, we do as the early Christians, we pray to the saints, asking them to pray for us. We believe those in heaven are friends of Jesus and they can intercede for us.

Bishop Jackals, our former bishop, said we should not pray to the dead, except to saints, blessed, venerable, servants of God and only those the bishop approves who lived a life of holiness and virtue. We should not therefore pray to our deceased relatives and friends, with the exception of baptized children, who died before the age of reason and never sinned, and so are saints.

However, we can ask Jesus to tell a person who has died, something. For example, we can say, “Jesus please tell my grandmother that I love her”. Or “Jesus tell my friend, that I miss him”. But, we should not pray directly to a person, unless the bishop gives permission or if approved by the Church. But, we can ask Jesus to tell them something.

We can see how our faith in Jesus’ resurrection and ascension gives us hope-- that heaven is real and that we are able to go there, if we live a holy life.

Pope St. John Paul II in his Ascension homily in 1979, said, “The instructions indicated, above all, that the Apostles were to wait for the Holy Spirit, who was the gift of the Father... The Apostles, moreover, were instructed to teach – to proclaim the Good News to the whole world. And they were to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus, they were to speak explicitly about the Kingdom of God and about salvation. The Apostles were to give witness to Christ to the ends of the earth. The early Church clearly understood these instructions and the missionary era began. And everybody knew that this missionary era could never end until the same Jesus, who went up to Heaven, would come back again.”

There is a belief that Virgin Mary was with the Apostles when Our Lord ascended into heaven is tradition not found in scripture. The tradition is so common that many stain-glass windows depict His Mother with the Apostles when He ascended into heaven.

Scripture tells us, “Then when He had said this, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Surely, Our Lord kissed His Mother and embraced Her before He went to heaven. Was She standing beneath Him giving Her Motherly hand wave or blowing Him kisses? Perhaps tears welled up in Her eyes as She just watched, knowing She would be unable to gaze upon His face until She sees Her Son in heaven?

Luke says that during those days Jesus was staying with the apostles. That could mean Jesus was with the apostles for many meals, or simply that Jesus was with the apostles often. One thing is clear: Luke wants us to understand that Jesus spent a lot of time with the apostles after He rose.

Near the end of the Gospel of John, John states, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” (John 20:30)

While we may surmise Our Lord may have helped them to know how to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to hear Confessions, and impart other sacraments, and their meaning, etc… we must leave them to the Easter mystery. We can trust everything Jesus did with them during those 40 days was for the good of their souls, the souls of the early Christians and for the future of the Church, that will last until He returns in glory, because the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.

The feast of the ascension is forty days after Easter. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Our Lord. He is the supreme King and Ruler of this world. He governs it invisibly in heaven and on the Last Day will return to visibly, and in glory, to judge the just and the wicked.

When Jesus comes again, at His Second Coming, there will also occur the General Resurrection, where bodies will come forth from their graves and be reunited with their soul and will receive a resurrected body like the body of Jesus.

Today, let us rejoice in the Ascension of Jesus in heaven, and look forward to the day, when we will be there, with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, all the angels, and saints, and all our loved ones who have died and are now with them in our eternal home, prepared for us by Jesus.

6th Sunday - Peace I Give to You

 

(REVISED DUE TO ERRORS--MY APOLOGIES) During Our Lord’s final discourse, at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you! Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

He was preparing them for suffering, shock, and temptations in the midst of the tragedy of His crucifixion. And after that horrible Friday, their hearts were tormented and troubled, at the loss of their Master.

When a tragedy occurs, just like the Apostles, we can lose our peace, and our hearts can become troubled. The shock can cause us to doubt and be afraid.

But, on Easter Sunday, Jesus appeared to the Apostles, knowing they were troubled and afraid. Twice Jesus said, “Peace be with you”.

All of us were shocked to hear about Nate Dold. His death caused our hearts to be troubled. Our hearts and prayers go out to Paul and DeeDee and his brothers, sisters and family.

Jesus, as God, knows the future and I believe the Lord gave us that Eucharistic Festival and Adoration Under the Stars to prepare us for the tragedy we are now going through. During the Eucharistic Festival, we had peace in our hearts adoring Jesus in the Eucharistic Adoration, and we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs together as a parish.

Not everyone was able to attend, but those who did attend were channels of grace to fellow parishioners and our community and the whole world.

Jesus in the Eucharist reminds us, He is with us when there is calm, when the wind doesn’t blow, when the weather is beautiful. But He is also with us when there is turmoil and difficulty and when there are tornadoes and storms.

Jesus gives us peace. Our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Sometimes, we may think, we will have peace, if we did not suffer, or didn’t have temptations, if there are no storms, if there are no difficulties. And we think we will have peace if our relationships with others were always good.

Jesus reminded the apostles, “Not as the world gives, do I give it to you.” Worldly peace is false peace, such as we will only have peace if we get an A on test, or if we win the game or the championship. We will only have peace if we get the promotion. We will only have peace if everyone in the family gets along. Worldly peace is really false peace. It lacks peace in Jesus.

Tranquility, freedom from disturbance, freedom from suffering and pain, and harmony in personal relationships with family and friends is really a description of heaven. We live in a fallen world. There will always be disunity, suffering, temptations, pain and tragedy.

If we want peace, we find it in Jesus, who dwells within our soul.

We cannot have peace, unless one knows how to suffer and one knows, how to endure temptations, how to endure difficulties, because we can never be free of temptations or sufferings or difficulties in this life.

Peace is in living a life of virtue. Peace can be found in the midst of suffering. Peace in times of turmoil. Peace in imperfect relationships and peace can be found when things don’t go our way because if we have Jesus, no matter what goes on, we will have peace.

I have a friend who is nun in a monastery. She once told me that no matter what is going on in the world, or in her community, she has peace, because she hides in the Heart of Jesus.

This is where the Cross comes in. We embrace the cross. We lift high the cross. We keep our eyes of the Cross. And if we do, we have peace no matter the difficulty or hardship or tragedy. Through the Cross and resurrection, there is peace. We can have peace of soul despite storms, loss, suffering and diffculties.

St. Paul’s words give us encouragement. He said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I would like to share a comment from a teammate wrestler of Nate. The comment was posted on the Birzer Funeral Home obituary.

The young man said, “When I first started ---wrestling, I admired the way (Nate) treated the kids on the team. He’s like a big brother to them. I quickly became one of the kids who looked up to him even though he’s younger than me. Back in Blackwell, Oklahoma, where we wrestled together, he lost one of his matches, and I asked him a question “how do you not get so upset-- when you lose because I get really (angry)? And his response sticks with me.

(Nate said), “I guess I just realized it’s just a sport, and you’re supposed to let your anger out on the mat, not be mad when walking off of it.”

By these words we can see that Nate had an inner peace and not a worldly peace. Nate embraced the cross of the virtue of self-control. He knew true success is when one has peace of heart, and not a worldly success, with false peace.

Therefore, if we have the peace of Jesus, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose. It doesn’t matter if there are storms or difficulties.

At every Mass, after the consecration, when the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus, the priest says: “Lord Jesus Christ, who said to Your Apostles, Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. Who live and reign forever and ever.” At Holy Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration, we turn to Our resurrected Lord for peace and He gives it to us when there is calm, but He also gives peace in times of turmoil.

May we embrace the cross of suffering, the cross of imperfect relationships, the cross of pain, the cross of practicing virtue, the cross of heartache and unite our crosses to the Cross of Jesus and Our Lord will stand before us and say,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you! Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid”, because I am with you and will help carry your Cross of your pain, of suffering, of loss and failure.” “Keep your eyes on me. Keep your eyes on the Cross. Keep your eyes on heaven, where there is no pain or suffering or loss, but where all the faithful departed rest in peace.”

All of us are sinners and we have attachments to sin and so many of us would need purgatory after death, to purify our soul, so it go to heaven unstained.

I would like to encourage our young people to light a candle for Nate. By lighting the candle, you are making the commitment to pray for Nate.

At Mass you can offer your Holy Communion for him and when you go home, you can pray a Rosary for him.

Adults can have a Mass offered for Nate, by contacting Shayla Grasser.

Let us all keep him in our prayers, though he may be in heaven, if he is in purgatory, he will be so grateful, that we prayed for him and helped him to go to heaven.

May the soul of Nate and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. And may Our Lady Queen of Peace, help us to turn to Jesus, when our hearts are troubled and afraid and also in times of calm.

5th Sunday - Love Your Neighbor (Rosary Retreat)

 

The readings today give us a glimpse into heaven and how Jesus’ commandment to love-- is necessary to obtain heaven.

In today’s Gospel Jesus gave His apostles and us a new commandment, called the “Commandment of love.” He said, “I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another. This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus said, love one another, as I have loved you. How did He do that, but by laying down His life for them, and for us. And they responded with love.

All of the apostles, except John would lay down their life for Jesus, as martyrs. But, they attempted to kill John, by boiling him in oil, but he miraculously survived.

The apostles laid down their life for others, by preaching the Gospel, even when they knew it was cause their death. They loved their neighbor so much, they wanted them know and love Jesus and with Him in heaven.

There is no greater example of how we should love one another, than the Virgin Mary. At the moment of the annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Her asking Her to become the Mother of Jesus, She gave her fiat, Her Yes. The angel Gabriel told Mary that Her cousin Elizabeth was six months pregnant, but the angel didn’t ask Her to go to visit Elizabeth.

But, out of love of neighbor, Mary was concerned for Her cousin Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist. Out of love of neighbor, the Gospel tells us, She went in haste to visit Her cousin Elizabeth. Mary immediately responded because She understood Elizabeth would need help, since she was advanced in years and it was her first and only child.

The virtue associated with the Visitation is love of neighbor. While praying the Rosary, when we meditate on Mary’s action of thinking about her cousin Elizabeth before Her own needs, makes us want to respond to the needs of others out of love of neighbor.

Ladies, if you were a virgin and made a vow of virginity and if you knew you could keep the vow and still become a mother, wouldn’t you be enthusiastic and thrilled? And then immediately after you became pregnant, wouldn’t you want to tell others the wonderful news?

But, wait a minute. How could She? Imagine Her telling others, “Hey! Everyone! You will never believe what happened. An angel appeared to me and the Holy Spirit came down upon me and now I am pregnant with Jesus, the Son of the Father. I’m still a virgin and I am also the Mother of the Messiah!” If She would tell others, people would think She’s crazy.

If you were the Virgin Mary, and if you kept it to yourself, wouldn’t you think about preparing for the birth, perhaps making infant clothes and a baby blanket and telling Joseph to make a crib?

If you knew, Jesus, the Son of the eternal Father, had just come down in your womb, wouldn’t you spend extra time praying to Jesus in your womb and thanking God the Father? I suspect many of you would tell your friends and they would give you a baby shower.

Mary didn’t do any of these. Rather, Our Lady continuously prayed to Jesus inside Her, though She quickly went to visit Elizabeth. She was able to see God in others, whom She helped and prayed for.

Mary kept the secret of Her pregnancy to Herself and most likely didn’t even tell Joseph. She knew it was up to God to tell him how it happened. Only after Joseph went the trial of having to trust Mary, and not understanding how it could be, only then, did God send an angle to give him peace and understanding.

What young pregnant teenage girl would travel five days on a mule, spending 5 nights out along the side of the road, for the purpose of helping an elderly cousin who is pregnant and return home doing the same thing for another 5 days. Hot days, cold nights, little food, dusty roads, sleeping outdoors.

Scripture doesn’t say if Mary stayed until John the Baptist was born. But we know she stayed for three months, which would be about the same time he would be born. Mary certainly would not spend three months and then leave just before her cousin gave birth.

Mary’s love of neighbor is especially seen meeting Jesus on the way of the Cross and standing at the foot of the Cross. If people were beating your son, condemning him t be crucified and nailing Him to a tree, wouldn’t you try to stop them? Wouldn’t you yell at them and perhaps even curse at them?

But, not Mary, She prayed not only for the soldiers, the chief priests, and the crowd mocking Jesus, She prayed for all of us and offered everything as a sacrifice for our salvation. Out of love of God and love for neighbor, She endured it all.

How did Jesus love us? By laying down His life for us. And we are called to do the same, to lay down one’s life for another.

As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus for 40 days until He ascended into heaven, we are reminded that by Our Lord’s death and resurrection, we can go to heaven.

His resurrection gives us hope for heaven. And we have hope that at the end of the world, we too will have a resurrected body just like Jesus.

We have hope if we lived a life of love and virtue, we will enter the joys of heaven, “where every tear is wiped away”. The Holy Rosary will help us to obtain the virtues we need, by praying it often meditating on the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Just think about heaven for a moment. There is no old age, no suffering, no pain, no tears, no heartaches, no cancer, no mourning, or wailing, no war, no disagreements, no disunity, no physical ailments, no arthritis and no death.

Rather there is joy, peace, love, unity and happiness. Our imperfect relationships on earth, become perfect in heaven. We get to know each other and love each other in a way beyond our imagining. Every question we wanted answered on earth-- will be answered in heaven. Everything we wanted to do in this life, we will be fulfilled and not just fulfilled, but in the most profound and incomprehensible way. As the Lord, said, “My ways are not your ways.” St. Paul said, we have “an everlasting home in heaven”. On earth, we suffer, we go through difficulties, and by doing so we learn to love, to forgive and to grow in virtue.

And we arrive in heaven we will see the beauty and glory of the Virgin Mary and understand more fully Her motherly care and concern for us. We will see how when we prayed the Rosary, not only did it help us to get to heaven, but many others. Praying the Rosary will have helped us love our neighbor, by assisting those we pray for, in their spiritual and temporal needs.

Speaking of how we love our neighbor, and how that affects our judgment, the book of Wisdom states, “Our good deeds go with us.” St. John of the Cross helps us to know what our judgment will be like. He said, “In the end, we will be judged on love.” In other words, how much we fulfilled Our Lord’s commandment of love, loving our neighbor--- will either be our glory and reward-- or our eternal loss.

When we share with others God’s gifts He has given to us--- we are practicing stewardship. For example, mowing yards for those who cannot do it themselves, stitching and sewing for others, to use our voice in singing, to smile at someone who we know could use cheering up. There is a lady I know who makes her own greeting cards by her artistic talent. She draws beautiful flowers, birds and animals and writes little notes inside. Her Christmas, Easter and birthday cards are always my favorite. She uses her ability to make people happy. We can give a compliment to a co-worker when they did a good job. To financially help a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. To bake cookies or a meal to give to a neighbor. To help our neighbor move cattle. To donate vegetables from your garden. To send a sympathy card to someone who lost a relative. A few kind words of encouragement for someone who is discouraged. All of these things are acts of love. Stewardship is recognizing God’s gifts He has given to us and sharing them with others out of love for God and neighbor.

Finally, many people have a “bucket list,” important things they want to do before they die. I would like to suggest, we create a new and different kind of “Bucket Bucket list”. We trust everything we ever wanted will be given to us in heaven and in a more profound and unimaginable way.

Let’s get the largest bucket we can find, and fill it with acts of love and mercy and place our good deeds, kind words and rosaries we prayed in it, so that when we go to our judgment, when Jesus said, “How much did you love?”

Then we will hand him a giant bucket filled of love and overflowing with all the good things we did in our life and He will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Today, let us entrust our good deeds, our merits, our prayers, our rosaries and everything to the Blessed Virgin Mary, for She will make sure, nothing we did in this life will be lost, but rather will be our reward and our glory.

4th Sunday, New Pope, Good Shepherd Sunday

 

On Thursday, May 8^th, the second day of voting in the Conclave, and upon the fourth ballot, minutes after a hungry baby seagull appeared with mother and father on the jumbotron focused on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, white smoke billowed from the smoke stack.

Also, May 8^th is the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii (a church built in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary), and Feast of the apparitions of St. Michael in a cave in Italy. A great day for a new pope was elected, so we can see Our Lady and St. Michael are interceding for the pope and the Church.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the first ever American pope, stepped out onto the loggia, taking the name, Pope Leo XIV, greeted by tens of thousands of pilgrims, visitors, and citizens of Rome.

He had a stately bearing, wearing the papal mozzetta (red cape) and stole, as Pope Benedict XVI had done upon his election in 2005. Pope Leo XIV spread his hands as a father welcoming his children. A microphone was set before him, and he spoke in Italian as he gave his papal address from a prepared speech, as Pope Benedict XVI had done 20 years earlier. Then Pope Leo XIV gave his first address.

Bishop Kemme sent an email to priests saying: “With great joy and profound gratitude to God, I join the universal Church in celebrating the election of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. Born Robert Francis Prevost, our new Pope brings with him a remarkable blend of pastoral wisdom, deep missionary experience, and devoted service to the Church. As an Augustinian friar and the first American-born Pope, he has served the people of God across cultures and continents—from his roots in Chicago to the missions of Peru, and more recently in the heart of the Vatican, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. His years of work as a bishop in Peru and as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine have shaped in him a shepherd’s heart—one that listens, serves, and leads with humility. His recent role overseeing the appointment of bishops worldwide has shown his deep care for the future of the Church. We now look to him, our new Vicar of Christ, with faith and filial devotion. May Pope Leo XIV guide the Church in the light of the Holy Spirit, with courage, compassion, and fidelity to the Gospel.”

As we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus helped Peter understand, that He is the chief shepherd of the Church. He asked Peter, the same question three times. “Peter, do you love me?” Each time Peter responds, “Yes, Lord you know that I love you.” Jesus told Him, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.” 

To feed the lambs, to tend the sheep and feed the sheep is what shepherds do, that is why the pope is the chief shepherd of the Church. As chief shepherd, the pope is to feed the people with the truth of the Gospel, passed down to us from Jesus and the Apostles. The pope is also to protect the sheep from the wolves of heresies such as modernism, communism and socialism.

Modernism promotes the idea that doctrines can change according to the times and so there are no moral absolutes, which is relativism.

Communism & socialism, promotes atheism, and affirms the doctrine of the community of goods and denies the right to ownership of private property. The pope is to warn the faithful of wolves who want them to lose their faith, and lose their God given right to own property.

The pope is to protect the Church from schism, which is a deliberate separation from Church structure. He is to help the faithful to be loyal the Church and loyal to the pope, not departing from any Church teaching but to maintain unity.

The pope is to protect the faithful from apostasy, which is the abandoning of one’s Christian faith and principles. An example of an apostasy would be if a cardinal, bishop or priest states that public officials who promote abortion and or same-sex marriage, can receive Holy Communion, which contradicts Church teaching and is apparent there is a loss of faith among the clergy, which Our Lady of LaSallette predicted in 1846.

Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd. Our Lord appointed Peter as the shepherd of the Church and his successors has the duty to care for and protect the sheep.

The pope is to maintain unity, preach the fullness of truth, safeguard the faith, and strengthen faith in Jesus.

When Jesus said, “My sheep, hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” He used a familiar example of shepherds and farmers who knew sheep follow them.

We hear the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, through the voice of the Church, which proclaims Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition in what is called the Deposit of Faith, that has been passed down to us from Jesus and His apostles, through the centuries unto today.

How much more tenderly does God love us and knows each of us by our name? Jesus used analogies of sheep to help His disciples and us today to come to understand that as our Shepherd, there are things He wants us to do and some things He does not want us to do. For example, He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Jesus also does not want us sin, and wants us to be faithful to God. He wanted the early Christians to listen to the apostles and do what they would tell the Christians to do, as He said, “He who hears you, hears me.” (Luke 8:13). With these words, Jesus gave His authority to the apostles and their successors, who were bishops and priests so we would hear the voice of the Shepherd through the Church in every generation.

Our Lord told Peter, our first Pope, “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

These words remind us that the Church is indefectible and can never be destroyed. The Catholic Church, founded by Jesus on His apostles, will continue until Jesus comes on the clouds of heaven.

In the book of Revelation, those wearing white robes were washed in the blood of the lamb. They are washed in His blood through the sacrament of baptism, but also those who laid down their life for Jesus, as martyrs.

Beginning with Peter, did you know the first 27 out of the first 31 popes were martyred? All the apostles, who were the first bishops were martyred, except John.

Jesus is both Shepherd and lamb, who laid down His life for us. He desires the shepherds today, to do the same for the people, even as martyrs, if necessary.

Bishops and cardinals wear the red hat to remind them to be willing to lay down their life for the sheep. Red is a reminder of the shedding of blood, as martyrs.

Today is Mother’s day and also Good Shepherd Sunday, let us honor and give thanks to God, for our three mothers, our mother the Church, our natural mother and our Blessed Mother. May we never forget, we have three mothers and may we love them, cherish them and turn to them, in all our needs, and be faithful to them, because they help us to obtain heaven, to be with Jesus, “The Lamb who is the center of the throne will shepherd (us) and lead (us) to springs of life-giving water and God will wipe away every tear from (our) eyes.”

And let us pray, for Pope Leo XIV, that the Virgin Mary will help him fulfill his role as chief shepherd of the Church, the vicar of Christ, feeding the people of God, the sheep, with un-compromised truth, passed down to us from Peter, our first Pope.

May 8th - Election of Leo XIV & Our Lady of Pompeii & St. Michael's Apparition

 Today is a remarkable day for the Church. We have a new pope. Today is also the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii and also the feast of the apparition of St. Michael the Archangel.

Bishop Kemme sent an email to the priests saying, “With great joy and profound gratitude to God, I join the universal Church in celebrating the election of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. Born Robert Francis Prevost, our new Pope brings with him a remarkable blend of pastoral wisdom, deep missionary experience, and devoted service to the Church. As an Augustinian friar and the first American-born Pope, he has served the people of God across cultures and continents—from his roots in Chicago to the missions of Peru, and more recently in the heart of the Vatican, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. His years of work as a bishop in Peru and as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine have shaped in him a shepherd’s heart—one that listens, serves, and leads with humility. His recent role overseeing the appointment of bishops worldwide has shown his deep care for the future of the Church. We now look to him, our new Vicar of Christ, with faith and filial devotion. May Pope Leo XIV guide the Church in the light of the Holy Spirit, with courage, compassion, and fidelity to the Gospel.”

Today is the feast of the apparitions of St. Michael the archangel. It marks both that event and all his apparitions at Monte Gargano, which lies the little town of Monte Sant’Angelo, a 30-minute drive from San Giovanni Rotondo, where Padre Pio was from.

In this beautiful, town is a shrine located in a small cave. The cave constitutes the only church in the world not consecrated by human hands. Why wouldn’t we consecrate this place like every other church? The reason is that St. Michael did it himself. The traditions surrounding the founding of this shrine include four apparitions of St. Michael, including the earliest appearance of him in the Western world.

In the 5th century, he appeared to a local lord from nearby Siponto who had lost a bull in a cave. The man shot an arrow to scare the bull out of the cave, but the arrow came back and struck the lord. St. Michael appeared to the local bishop to request that the cave be consecrated.

The bishop did not obey immediately, perhaps doubting the vision’s veracity.

The second vision of the Archangel occurred when Siponto was threatened by invaders. He saved the town, an event that is commemorated on May 8th.

St. Michael appeared a third time—to the same bishop—to reiterate his request. The bishop at last acquiesced, and was told by St. Michael that the cave didn’t need to be consecrated because the Archangel had already done it himself. Legend says that he even left his footprint in the rock of the cave!

St. Michael made one last appearance in 1656, when he spared the townspeople from a plague that had struck southern Italy. He told the bishop that whoever kept stones from the cave would be protected from the plague.

To this day, pilgrims flock to the town to visit the grotto. Many popes and saints have visited it, including St. Francis of Assisi, who wouldn’t enter it because he felt unworthy. The stones of the cave—which have been used effectively in exorcisms—are now relics that you can obtain for spiritual and physical protection.

Today is also the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. In October 1872, a man named Bartolo Longo, came to the valley. He was the husband of the Countess of Fusco, who had some property there; and Bartolo, a baptized Catholic came to see what condition it was in. Fallen away from the Church, he became a satanic priest.

But, October 9th, a few days after his arrival, he was walking along a rather desolate road when suddenly a voice seemed to speak to him. It told him that if he wished to be saved, he should spread devotion to the Rosary and that the Blessed Virgin had promised, that was the way to find salvation. Bartolo fell on his knees and replied that if the Virgin had truly so promised then he would be saved; he would not leave the valley until he had popularized the Rosary and the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. He went to Confession to a priest.

His early efforts to interest the people in the Rosary devotion do not seem to have been very successful, but he persisted, and in two or three years he had gathered quite a group around him for daily recitation of the prayers in the little chapel. The bishop visited the valley in 1875, and complimented Bartolo on the good work he had done. He suggested that a church be built there and then, turning prophet, the Bishop pointed to a field near the chapel and declared that someday a basilica would stand on that spot. As the number of people taking part in the daily recitation of the Rosary grew, it was decided to obtain a picture of the Blessed Virgin, to help the faithful meditate as they prayed. On October 13, 1875, Bartolo went to Naples to see if he could find a suitable picture, he reluctantly accepted a secondhand painting from a junk store for five lire. A trucker, not knowing what the package contained, pitched it on top of a load of garbage and manure and this is how the picture arrived at the chapel. 

The people were pleased with the dilapidated picture and enshrined it. He eventually had the picture re-painted. Almost immediately several miracles took place through Mary’s intercession. A church was built, 1876-1891 and a new basilica, 1934-1939, ordered by Pope Pius XI. Today is the anniversary of laying the foundation stone for building the Church. Later Bartolo Longo would give the Church the 54 day Rosary novena due to an apparition that a woman had and he began to promote. Bartolo Longo was beatified in 1980, and this year he will be canonized.

Today, there is hope that the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Michael will intercede for the new pope and the Church. Let us pray the Rosary every day and pray the St. Michael prayer asking the archangel to intercede for the pope and the Church.

St. Joseph the Worker - May 1st

 

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. In 1889, Pope Leo XIII pointed the faithful to Saint Joseph. Unchecked capitalism began to tear families apart as profit started to become the goal of work, rather than as a means of providing for one’s family. An even greater concern was the introduction of the philosophy of socialism, which was coupled with atheism. Socialism presented itself as a friend and ally to the worker, but it did so through objectively distorted means. It sought to eliminate religion, the family, and private ownership of property. Instead, each individual was to become a subject of the state, while the state took the place of God. Work was for the fatherland or motherland, not primarily to care for one’s family. In Saint Joseph, workers had someone to emulate. Saint Joseph did not work to get rich. He was not a servant of the state. He was not an oppressed laborer who needed liberating. He was a family man who found dignity in work as he provided for his family in a humble way.

On May 1, 1955, in an address to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers, Pope Pius XII took devotion to Saint Joseph one step further. He confronted the growing concerns posed by communism and its socialist philosophy on human labor and family life by instituting the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. “The humble craftsman of Nazareth not only personifies to God and the Holy Church the dignity of the laborer, but he is also always the provident guardian of you and your families.” May 1 (May Day) was chosen for the feast because socialist countries celebrated “International Workers’ Day” on that date. A Catholic feast, honoring the laborer in the person of Saint Joseph, was a fitting way of combating socialist ideology and restoring the dignity of labor to its proper place.

Every age has its challenges. Therefore, every age needs a role model to look up to and to help the faithful navigate the particular challenges of their day and age. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Saint Joseph was especially held up to the faithful who engaged in the daily toil of work to support themselves and their families with dignity and love. 

Work was not part of God’s original plan for humanity. Recall that when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield…” Thus, working “by the sweat of your brow” is a consequence of Original Sin. However, we must not see this consequence as something evil, but as a means by which we now fulfill our human mission. Human labor has dignity because it is an act of obedience to the will of God and is a participation in the work of God, the work of creation.

The invitation to turn to Saint Joseph as the patron saint of workers emerged over the past two centuries as societies went through drastic social and economic changes. Through the eighteenth century, most societies remained the same as they had always been. The majority of people tilled the land and raised animals to provide food for their families. Some engaged in various trades: a carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, baker, or shoemaker.

With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, societies began to change. Machines were developed to perform tasks that had been performed by hand. Workers moved into cities to labor in factories of mass production, and many of the individual tradesmen were left behind. And though production increased, new abuses also arose. Child labor, long hours, unsafe work environments, and low wages were among the new problems. These problems especially affected family life. In response to these new societal problems, the Church held up Saint Joseph as a model for all to emulate. It ad Joseph “Go to Joseph” and he will help us to do God’s will with love and faithfulness.

Today, we turn to St. Joseph asking him to direct our work first and foremost for our family life, our humble acceptance of labor, and our dignity in bringing about God’s kingdom in the world through labor.