Good Friday - St. Faustina "Surrender to Death"

In the reflection of His death on the Cross, Jesus said to Sister Faustina: “All this is for the salvation of souls. Consider well, My daughter, what you are doing for their salvation.” Then Sister Faustina said: “I saw the Lord Jesus nailed to the cross. When He had hung on it for a while, I saw a multitude of souls crucified like Him. Then I saw a second multitude of souls, and a third. The second multitude were not nailed to [their] crosses, but were holding them firmly in their hands. The third were neither nailed to [their] crosses nor holding them firmly in their hands, but were dragging [their] crosses behind them and were discontent.”

Naturally, this makes us think about how we carry or treat our own Cross, how Jesus sees us, and which multitude I’d fall into…

Then Jesus said: “Do you see these souls? Those who are like Me in the pain and contempt they suffer will be like Me also in glory. And those who resemble Me less in pain and contempt will also bear less resemblance to Me in glory (Diary, 446).” 

In this life we will experience ‘pain and contempt’ for following the way of Jesus, by teaching His commandments, by testifying to the Truth. In our Gospel we just heard that dialogue with Pilate, “Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?””

In this world that follows many gods and saviors, this world that proclaims many different and competing truths, when we listen to the voice of Jesus Christ and proclaim the truth that He is the one and only Savior, we will most likely be rejected like He was. That rejection will be a Cross for just us as it was for Him, but we have to remember that our Cross is actually His Cross. So when we suffer, we must know that we are being united to Him, resembling Him. We need to resemble Him on earth to resemble Him in the Glory of Heaven.

In our first reading we heard the prophecy of Isaiah where he says, “He surrendered himself to death.” Many of you have heard about the Surrender Novena. The word “Surrender” is found often in scripture.

  To “surrender ourselves to death” will first mean that we have to die to our own sinful attachments, removing our sinful pride, and risking our popularity and status in the eyes of the world.  That is what happens when we proclaim the Truth and the response required by realizing Jesus Christ is our savior: we must listen to His voice, obey and teach His commands.

The prophet Isaiah said, "If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him…. Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses."

By uniting ourselves to Jesus Christ, bearing our Cross and surrendering ourselves to death, we take part in His saving work. In this way our lives become “an offering for sin” or a reparation for the sins of others, we are able to intercede for transgressors and “win pardon for their offenses.” This reality is echoed in the New Testament by James, “My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

See, the cross of Jesus is truly a cross of mercy, a cross of love that seeks the salvation of every soul. Despite the pain and contempt, we may face, we should want to participate in His saving work, to help others know of the love and forgiveness and peace found only with Jesus Christ. 

As you come forward to venerate the Cross today, ask God to help you to embrace His Cross in your own life. Consider well… what you are doing for [the] salvation of yourself and others. Ask for strength and courage. Ask to resemble Him more and more. “Jesus, my Savior, hide me in the depth of Your heart that, fortified by Your grace, I may be able to resemble You in the love of the Cross and have a share in Your glory. Amen.” (Homily of Fr. Andy Upah)

Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord's Supper (St. Anna Schaffer)

 

On Holy Thursday, St. Anna Schäffer’s story is one of great faith and trust in God’s goodness and in the power of the Eucharist. She suffered greatly throughout her short life and in more than just physical ways.

Anna Schäffer was born February 18, 1882, in Mindelstetten in Bavaria (Germany). Her family, already poor, found themselves in dire poverty after her father died at age 40. Even though she got good grades, Anna dropped out of school at 14 and worked as a maid to help her family. They still struggled to make ends meet. Anna hoped to enter a religious order, but her family’s situation made that impossible.

At age 16, Anna had a disturbing vision. Jesus came to her in this vision and told her she would experience great suffering in her life. She was so upset by it that she left her workplace and couldn’t be convinced to go back.

She was terrified and probably confused as to why she should suffer. She and her family were already suffering due to their poverty. Why more?

If there is anything I’ve learned is that we can’t understand why some suffer more than others. I feel fortunate to have been relatively healthy and comfortable. Most of the suffering I’ve endured cannot be seen outwardly. I think that is probably the case with most people. We just don’t know what other people are going through, do we?

For Anna, one fateful day would change her life. On February 4, 1901, she had a terrible accident while working at her job. She and another employee were washing linens which was done with boiling water in a large kettle. When the stove pipe came loose, Anna climbed up and stood on the edge of the kettle to reattach the stove pipe. She slipped and fell into the boiling water, scalding her legs to the knees.

She was taken to the hospital, but there was little hope of helping her. Everything the doctors tried only seemed to make things worse. They weren’t even certain she would survive her injuries. After three months, more than 30 operations and many failed skin grafts, Anna’s doctors released her to the care of her mother. She was bedridden and in great pain.

Anna’s life looked bleak. Her dream of becoming a religious sister was gone. She was in constant pain and would be confined to her bed for the remainder of her life.

The devastation and despair would be crushing. Anna struggled with her fate for about two years, fighting depression and perhaps feeling angry about the accident.

I think if she would have lived during our time, she might have lost herself in television or online and shut herself off from the world and just giving up.

Thankfully, Anna eventually found her strength in the Eucharist and in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She often couldn’t sleep, which led her into deep prayer in adoration of Christ and in devotion to Mary. An abbot brought her the Eucharist daily. It sustained her in her suffering, and she wrote a moving description of how it fed her: “I cannot write by pen how happy I am every time after Holy Communion. Ah, I forget my earthly suffering and the longing of my poor soul draws me every moment to adore my God and Savior hidden in the Blessed Sacrament!”

The gift of the Eucharist sustained Anna and can sustain us in our struggles in life. We shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Lord’s body and blood to lift us up and strengthen us for our journey, whatever the journey is.

Now that Anna had accepted and abandoned herself to her suffering, she focused her energy on three things she felt were her keys to entering heaven: her suffering, her writing and her ability to knit clothes for friends. Many people came to visit her for comforting words and to ask for her prayers, which she always gave. She became well known for her patience and kindness, especially in the face of her situation.

In October of 1910, Anna had another vision of Jesus. In this vision, he told her she would feel the pains of his passion in atonement for sins against the Eucharist. When she took Communion that day, she was touched by five rays of fire on her hands, feet and heart. The stigmata lasted the remainder of her life causing her pain in those areas, especially on Thursdays and Fridays, Sundays and feast days.

Anna wanted nothing more than to emulate the suffering of her Lord, accepting it patiently and without rebellion. She united her suffering to His, rather than fighting against it. This unification of her suffering to Jesus's suffering made her prayers for others all the more powerful.

We have all heard that the best way to handle suffering is to offer it to God as atonement for our sins and the sins of the world. We are to use it to be fruitful for the greater good.

That’s a difficult ask. Anna surely prayed constantly for the strength and grace to bear it. We must as well.

When faced with suffering, the best we can do is pray for God’s graces and ask him to help us offer it up. Anna couldn’t do it alone and neither can we. Even if your suffering is all internal, it’s a burden that is crying out for the Lord’s help. Don’t turn away from Jesus in despair. Rather, give it to him. Let him carry you.

In 1925, Anna learned she had colon cancer which eventually caused paralysis of her spine. She died October 5 of that year only minutes after receiving the Eucharist. Since a few years after her death, over 15,000 miracles have been attributed to her intercession.

St. Anna Schäffer was beatified March 7, 1999, by Pope John Paul II and canonized October 21, 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI. Her feast day is October 5. Pope John Paul II had moving words about her during her beatification:

“If we look to Blessed Anna Schäffer, we read in her life a living commentary on what Saint Paul wrote to the Romans: ‘Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’ (Rom. 5:5). She most certainly was not spared the struggle to abandon herself to the will of God. But she was given to grow in the correct understanding that weakness and suffering are the pages on which God writes His Gospel…Her sickbed became the cradle of an apostolate that extended to the whole world.”

On this Holy Thursday, let give thanks to Jesus for instituting the Eucharist through the Holy Mass, whereby we can receive Holy Communion to give us strength to endure our sufferings of life.

And may St. Anna Schäffer, pray for us in our sufferings and help us to love Jesus in the Eucharist, as you loved Him!

Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday

 

How can we not hear the account of Jesus’ Passion and not be moved by it? Most people when they first watch the movie: The Passion of the Christ?” The Passion of Jesus moves us. It moves us because Jesus suffered. In the first reading today, we heard what we could describe as a prophecy of Jesus’ passion, that He would give His back to those who beat Him, His cheeks to those who plucked His beard, His face He did not shield from buffets and spitting.

The Passion of Jesus moves us because it is we, who have inflicted this suffering on Him. It was not just the Jewish leaders and the cruel Roman soldiers who brought this suffering on Jesus; it was our sins, that inflicted this suffering on Jesus. There is no past, present or future for Jesus; He is outside of time. The account of the Passion of Jesus moves us to flee from sin, to leave sin behind. That is why everyone goes to Confession before Easter. The Passion of Jesus shows us for what we are, sinners who have crucified Jesus, and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we turn to Jesus again and ask for his mercy. And through the Passion of Jesus, we receive forgiveness, “through his wounds we are healed.”

The Crucifixion of Jesus was and will always be the greatest act of God’s mercy. God the Father could have destroyed the human race for killing His only Son, but He didn’t. Rather, His Son’s suffering and death and resurrection is what opened the gates of heaven. St. Faustina’s life and writings about God’s mercy is meant to stir our hearts to receive His mercy and to give His mercy. Our Lord said, the world will not have peace, until it turns with confidence to my mercy. After hearing all that Jesus went through, who could not appreciate the pain and suffering He went through, so that He could save us from our sins?

Very few people were able to receive the graces from Divine Mercy Sunday due to the COVID lock-down. Perhaps, the world was not appreciating the Eucharist, the Mass and Confession as we ought, so God permitted that to happen.

To not go to confession, when understanding the depth of love revealed on the Cross, shows a lack of gratitude and appreciation for all Jesus went through. If we go to confession during Lent and receive Holy Communion, while in the state of grace, on the feast of Divine Mercy, the Sunday after Easter, all our sins and the punishment due to our sins will all be washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. This once-a-year event is contingent us asking for His mercy in Confession, receiving absolution through a priest, and then receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. How simple is that for us? If we refuse His mercy, not knowing the day nor hour of our death, and if we die without receiving that gift freely offered, and if we are in the state of mortal sin, our judgment will not go well, and we could very well burn in the fires of hell for all eternity.

Only Jesus can save us from sin, from hell and the punishment due to sin, and make it possible to be with Him forever. He wants us to be with all the angels and saints in heaven and forever experience peace, love and joy. Jesus, our only Savior wants to wash our soul clean and make it white as snow through the sacraments.

O Mother of Mercy, draw each one of us to the fonts of mercy, and obtain for us, a soul washed clean, and purified, as it was at the moment of baptism, and help us to be grateful for God’s infinite and unfathomable mercy, that flows from the Cross of Jesus on Calvary. Amen.

4th Sunday of Lent, Man Born Blind

 

Today is Lataere Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent! Holy Mother Church pauses from Her Lenten sorrow for the sins of men and the sufferings of Christ, to give way to a foretaste of Easter Joy!

Many Catholic Churches once again return flowers around the altar, and the priest wears glorious rose-colored vestments as a sign of joy.

We should rejoice because Christ, our light has come among us. At Christmas, the dawn of the new light comes upon the earth, born in Bethlehem. And soon the Easter joy will ring out, “Christ our Light, has risen, from the darkness of the tomb!”

The healing of the man born blind is seen by the Fathers and doctors of the Church as a miracle symbolizing the sacrament of baptism in which, the Holy Spirit, through water is used to cleanse the soul and receives the light of faith: “(Jesus) sent the man to the pool called Siloam, to be cleansed and be enlightened, that is, baptized and receive in baptism full enlightenment.”.

Today, Lily will be baptized today. Her soul will be cleansed from original sin and the darkness of all her personal sins will be washed away in the ocean of God's infinite and unfathomable mercy. Not only her sins will be washed away, but also the punishment due to all her sins will be gone.

Her heart will become a temple of the Holy Spirit. God will come to dwell within her heart. She will enter into God's divine life. She will become a member of God's family, a member of our parish family, a member of the Catholic Church. She will receive the gifts of faith, hope and charity. Lily will become a child of God.

The blind man is a straightforward person and believes Jesus is a prophet, and as the Son of God. Whereas the Pharisees persist in not wanting to see or believe, despite clear evidence before them. In this miracle Jesus reveals Himself as the Light of the world. He is the true light that enlightens every man, who came into the world. Not only did He give light to the eyes of the blind man; He enlightens his soul, leading him to make an act of faith in his divinity. Our Blessed Lord questioned the blind man, and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” and he responds by stating, “I do believe Lord” and he worshiped Him.

Russ has come to believe everything the Catholic Church holds to be revealed by God and true. His profession of faith is the result of the eyes of his heart being opened to the fullness of truth found only in the Catholic Church.

Russ and Lily will also be Confirmed and make their First Holy Communion. Through Confirmation, they will receive an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to strengthen them in their faith. The will become witnesses for Christ, even to the point of suffering persecution for being a Christian. They also will receive the name of saint, that they have carefully chosen and will seek that saint's prayers. Lily chose St. Michael, the archangel, who defends us against the enemy and Russ chose St. Columbanus, who was an Irish monk and because of his extensive travels in Europe, he is the patron of bikers.

Jesus said, "take no part in the fruitless works of darkness." All of us are sinners and all of us chose to do bad things because we are human and suffer from concupiscence, which is a tendency to sin due to original sin.

On the day the Lord Jesus appeared to His Apostles when He rose from the dead, He told them, "Whose sins, you forgive are forgiven them. Whose sins you retain are retained." Jesus gave them the apostles, and the bishops and priests as their successors, the ministry of reconciliation. And from the beginning of the Church, all the way up to today, Catholic Christians have always confessed their sins to a priest.

Jesus gave us the sacrament of Confession, so after we are baptized, we can be reconciled with God when we sin. Sin darkens our soul, but the blood of Jesus causes the light of Christ, to shine on our soul when we confess our sins and the darkness is washed away. Our soul becomes a light for the world.

When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, His light produces fruit of every goodness and righteousness and truth, within our own soul, and the souls of all within the mystical body of Christ.

If we live in the light, we will follow the Shepherd, who leads us to restful waters, which is His true presence in the Eucharist. For He gives us life-giving water, and refreshes us as we come to worship before the Lord our maker. As we come to Him, even though we walk in the dark valley of this world, we fear no evil, because we follow Our Blessed Lord, the Good Shepherd and Light of the world in the Eucharist. Even if we stumble and fall, by our sins, Jesus the Light, will raise us up and help us to continue as one of His faithful followers.

Russ and Lily, from this day forward receive Jesus in the Eucharist as often as possible. Come to Jesus, the Good Shepherd in Confession monthly or more often if you like!

When you confess your sins, Jesus will joyfully place you on His shoulders. Then He calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

Today, let us rejoice and be glad on this Lataere Sunday, for two new Catholics, who have joined the Church.

My friends, may all of us do as St. Paul told the Ephesians, “Live as children of the light, for light produces every goodness and righteousness and truth.”

St. Frances of Rome - March 9th

Today, we commemorate St. Frances of Rome, who was born in Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her -- she was going to be a nun.

And that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even sell his children into slavery or order them killed.

She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her Confessor pointed out, "Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?"

She gave in to the marriage -- reluctantly.

Then her nightmare began. This quiet, shy thirteen year old was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets that accompanied a wedding. Fasting and scourging were far easier than this torture God now asked her to face.

Frances collapsed from the strain. For months she lay close to death, unable to eat or move or speak. At her worst, she had a vision of St. Alexis. The son of a noble family, Alexis had run away to beg rather than marry. St. Alexis told her God was giving her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not?

It's hard for us to understand why a thirteen-year-old would want to die but Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, "God's will is mine." St. Alexis replied, "Then you will live to glorify His Name." Her recovery was immediate and complete.

But her problems did not disappear. Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and go on visits with her.

In a house where she lived with her husband, his parents, his brother and his brother's family, she felt all alone. Vannozza, her sister-in-law found her crying bitterly in the garden one day. When Frances poured out her heart to Vannozza and it turned out that she had wanted to live a life devoted to the Lord too. They became close friends and worked out a program of devout practices and services to work together.

They decided their obligations to their family came first. For Frances that meant dressing up to her rank, making visits and receiving visits -- and most importantly doing it gladly. But the two spiritual friends went to Mass together, visited prisons, served in hospitals and set up a secret chapel in an abandoned tower of their palace where they prayed together.

But it wasn't fashionable for noblewomen to help the poor and people gossiped about two girls out alone on the streets.

The beginning of the fifteenth century brought the birth of her first son, Battista, after John the Baptist.

After two more children were born to her -- a boy, Giovanni, and a girl, Agnes -- a flood brought disease and famine to Rome. Frances gave orders that no one asking for alms would be turned away and she and Vannozza went out to the poor with corn, wine, oil and clothing. Her father-in-law, furious that she was giving away their supplies during a famine, took the keys of the granary and wine cellar away from her.

Finally Frances was so desperate for food to give to the poor she went to the now empty corn loft and sifted through the straw searching for a few leftover kernels of corn. After she left Lorenzo came in and was stunned to find the previously empty granary filled with yellow corn. Frances drew wine out until one day her father in law went down and found it empty. Everyone screamed at Frances. After saying a prayer, she led them to cellar, turned the spigot on the empty cask, and out flowed the most wonderful wine. These incidents completely converted Lorenzo and her father-in-law.

Having her husband and father-in-law completely on her side meant she could do what she always wanted. She immediately sold her jewels and clothes and distributed money to needy. She started wearing a dress of coarse green cloth.

The family flourished under Frances’ care, but within a few years a great plague began to sweep across Italy. It struck Rome with devastating cruelty and Frances’ second son died. In an effort to help alleviate some of the suffering, Frances used all her money and sold her possessions to buy whatever the sick might possibly need. When all the resources had been exhausted, Frances and Vannozza went door to door begging. Later, Frances’ daughter died, and the saint opened a section of her house as a hospital. Not much later, her last child would also succumb to the plague.

Saint Frances of Rome became more and more convinced that this way of life was so necessary for the world, and it was not long before she requested and was given permission to found a society of women bound by no vows. They simply offered themselves to God and to the service of the poor. With her husband's support, Frances started a lay order of women attached to the Benedictines called the Oblates of Mary. The women lived in the world but pledged to offer themselves to God and serve the poor. Eventually they bought a house where the widowed members could live in community.

Once the society was established, Frances chose not to live at the community residence, but rather at home with her husband. She did this for seven years, until her husband passed away, and then came to live the remainder of her life with the society—serving the poorest of the poor.

Frances nursed Lorenzo until he died. His last words to her were, "I feel as if my whole life has been one beautiful dream of purest happiness. God has given me so much in your love."

Frances died four years later. Her last words were "The angel has finished his task -- he beckons me to follow him."

3rd Sunday Lent - Woman at the Well

"The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth, we will have a foretaste of heaven." St. Carlo Acutis

When you go to the Holy Land, the Gospel becomes alive because one visits the actual places Jesus walked, talked, worked miracles, suffered, died, rose from the dead etc...

Today's Gospel is about the Samaritan woman, who went to get water from Jacob's well and there encountered Jesus, who changes her life. It's believed her name was St. Photina. One day, like many others, she went to draw water from the well, and found Jesus there, seated by it, "tired from the trip," in the noonday heat. "Give me something to drink," He said to her, surprising her: It was, in fact, unusual for a Jew to speak to a Samaritan woman, especially a woman who was a stranger. And this woman would be considered a great sinner, after all, she had five husbands.

But the woman's faith and love was destined to grow: Jesus spoke of a "living water" able to quench thirst completely and become "a spring of water welling up to eternal life" in her. He showed her He knew about her personal life; He revealed that the hour had come to worship the one true God in spirit and in truth; and confided to her--He is the Messiah.

All of this happened, beginning from the real and sensible experience of thirst. The thirst of Jesus is an entrance way into the mystery of God, who made himself thirsty to refresh us, as he made himself poor to enrich us. But Jesus had thirst for the woman's faith, and faith of all of us. God the Father sent His Son Jesus, to quench our thirst for eternal life, giving us His love, but asks our faith for bestowing this gift. Yes, God thirsts for our faith and our love. Like a good and merciful father He desires for us every good and this good is God himself.

For her part, the Samaritan woman represents the unhappiness of those who have not found what they are looking for: She had "five husbands" and is now living with a man. Deep in her heart was a thirst to do things right, to follow the good path of happiness and peace, to live a life of hope and joy. Everything changes for her that day, on account of her conversation with the Lord Jesus, who shakes her up so much, she leaves the water jar and runs to tell the people of the village: "Come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ”?

This personal encounter with Jesus changes her life and brings to fruition her deepest longings. Only Jesus can quench her thirst for a life of love, happiness and peace. And yet, Jesus also was thirsting for her love, her faith and her one on one personal relationship with Him. From the Cross, Jesus even sighs from the depths of His Heart, “I thirst.” He was thirsting for souls, thirsting to be loved, thirsting for faith, thirsting for a personal friendship with Him.

Through baptism, we encounter the living water, which washes away our sins and makes us a temple of the Holy Spirit and we begin to share that divine life of God and become one with God inside us.

St. Photina, the Samaritan woman at the well, became an early Christian evangelizer. She converted the emperor Nero's daughter and a hundred of her servants. While in prison she also converted many. She was tortured and put to death. A relic of the skull of Photina resides in the Church of Jacob’s well in Nablus in the Holy Land.

The prophet Ezekiel sees a vision of water flowing from under the temple's threshold, specifically passing the south side of the altar, flowing eastward toward the Dead Sea. This stream, originating from the temple (God's presence), grows into a deep river that heals the Dead Sea, bringing life and abundant vegetation to the desert. 

Today, we can say the temple is every Catholic church and is symbolic of the Eucharist and altar at Holy Mass. The Eucharist is Jesus Himself and we encounter Him every time we come to Mass and receive Him in Holy Communion.

The Holy Mass is the most powerful action on earth. It is the most important and most glorious event that happens every day in every Catholic Church.

Young people get up at 5am to go the gym to work out throughout the week. They are willing to sacrifice themselves for a sport. Are you willing to sacrifice yourself, getting up early to attend Holy Mass? It's a terrific way to grow spiritually closer to Jesus by receiving Him often in Holy Communion, listening to readings and homily. The more often we are in the presence of the Holy Sacrifice, the more often we receive Holy Communion, the quicker we grow in holiness and virtue and the greater will our glory be in heaven. The Holy Mass helps to prevent us from sin and temptations. Our soul is united the Jesus and the whole world receives grace upon grace, which is living water that gives drink to the thirsty soul. Every soul thirsts for Jesus and the graces that flow from His Heart at Holy Mass and Holy Communion.

St. Madeleine Sophie Barat defined Holy Communion as "Paradise on earth." Pope Paul VI said "The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!" St. Gertrude the Great, "For each Mass we hear with devotion, Our Lord sends a saint to comfort us at death." St. Padre Pio "Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know. It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy Sacrifice of the Mass." St. John Vianney said that if we knew the value of the Mass, we would die of joy. Our prayers are the strongest at the Consecration in Holy Mass" (raising of Host and Chalice). Pope Benedict XV "The Holy Mass would be of greater profit if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls after death." The Blessed Virgin Mary once told Blessed Alan de la Roche, "My Son so loves those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, if it were necessary, He would die for them as many times as they've heard Masses."

During Lent we enter in the desert with Jesus, where He fasted never eating or drinking anything for 40 days.

When we observe our Lenten practices, we hunger and thirst for food and the things we give up, but this hunger can be converted into a hunger for Jesus, a thirst for Jesus, who hungers and thirsts for us.

Our sanctification with this hunger and thirst climaxes in the Holy Mass, during our encounter with Jesus in Holy Communion. The Holy Mass is infinity greater and much more important than Eucharistic Adoration. If we have a choice of going to Adoration or going to Mass, we should go to Mass. That's why we don't have Adoration during Mass.

We receive infinite and untold graces at every Mass because at Mass Calvary is re-presented on the altar. At Mass, we give our self, our sacrifices and our works to God with the bread and wine and in return God gives Himself to us in Holy Communion.

There is no greater encounter we can have on earth, than Jesus in Holy Communion. We become one with Him and He becomes one with us. He quenches our thirst and we quench His thirst for us. For the Mass life giving water flows from the altar, into the Host to us within our heart during Communion.

At seven years old Saint Carlo Acutis received his First Communion and told his parents that he wanted to attend daily Mass. “Holy Mass, Holy Me” Carlo would say, treasuring Mass and his relationship with Jesus in a truly amazing way. On one occasion, his father invited Carlo on a business trip to Israel. Instead of jumping at the chance to travel to the Holy Land, Carlo wanted to give the money to the poor, telling his father that Israel is present at the altar of every Mass that he attends. He said, "If Jesus stays with us wherever there is a consecrated Host, what need is there to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to visit places he lived two thousand years ago?"

The 17-year-old high school student said, "The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth, we will have a foretaste of heaven."

Ash Wednesday - Deny Pleasures, Self-love

 

Are we living for eternity or living for the world? Are we detached from the things of the world, rather than to attached to God alone. One of the most common temptations we have is the temptation for self-love, by satisfying our own personal desires because we love our self, more than we love God and neighbor.

That is why Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. The minimum, when fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards. All Fridays of Lent are days of Penance and Sacrifice.

During Lent and especially on Fridays of Lent, we are to deny our self-non-sinful pleasures of the body: food, drink, temperature control, delicious meals, favorite foods, comfort, taste, meat, etc... And pleasures of the eye: TV, Internet, Social Media. And especially deny our self-sinful pleasures: Lying, Laziness, Envy, Gossiping, Excessive Food or Drink, Lust, Anger, pornography, impurity, cussing, etc...

By dying to our self and our pleasures, we live for God and live for heaven and don't allow worldly things to control us. Rather we control them and master them, so as to practice virtue. We need to be detached from the things of the world, so we can be attached to God alone.

The following items are considered non-necessary or even luxury items, especially in poor countries: Candy, dessert, pop, alcohol, cigarettes, power drinks, meat, chewing tobacco, etc...

Alcohol is viewed by most in four ways: as a social drink or partying drink or luxury drink, or for celebrations.

It also lends to immoderate drinking and drunkenness and is an occasion of sin for some who may have it as an addiction.

This is why during Lent; we deny our self-non-sinful pleasures and sinful pleasures. We make these sacrifices, so that we can detached from the things of the world and be attached to God alone, because in the end, if we give up all our worldly and sinful pleasures, we will look forward to heaven as our goal, we all our pleasures will be satisfied in God alone.

Rather than living for our self, and our pleasures, let's live for God & neighbor. May the Virgin Mary, help us to enter into Lent with a spirit of penance and sacrifice, as we look forward to celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter.

As Aristotle said, "I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self."

6th Sunday - Heaven, Hell, Purgatory

 

Today's readings speak about heaven, hell, and purgatory. The book of Sirach said, “If you keep the commandments, they will save you.” What do the commandments save us from? Hell. “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” Life refers to eternal life, which is heaven.

The second reading said, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” This refers to heaven. St. Paul is speaking about a place where we cannot comprehend. There is nothing on earth we can see or hear, compared to the place for those who love Him will go, which is heaven. In heaven there is no tears, no pain, but only love, joy, and peace. It's a place where all our desires on earth are fulfilled and not just fulfilled, but even beyond our wildest dreams. We will be rewarded for our merits. We will see and talk to saints, angels, the Virgin Mary and our family and friends and most importantly God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel today, Jesus mentions purgatory. He said, “Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you paid the last penny.” To settle with one’s opponent, refers to making amends with those whom we have hurt, by apologizing, and by making restitution to the harm done to them. Jesus makes it clear the offender must pay for his sins. He is referring to a temporary prison (purgatory). The court refers to the person’s judgment at the moment of death. The judge refers to Jesus, who judge's us when we die. If all our sins are not made up in this life, we will be punished in the next life, through the fires of purgatory, because only that which is clean may enter heaven. Those in purgatory have the assurance of eventually going to heaven. Their greatest pain is have to wait to be with God. St. Augustine said, “The pains of purgatory are greater than any kind of suffering we can endure in this life.”

Today's Gospel mentions hell three times. “Whoever says, ‘You fool’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.” The following verse is repeated twice, “It is better if you lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.” Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. He said, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!" The punishment of hell is forever, which is horrifying.

The Virgin Mary, showed three children, ages 10, 8, and 7 what hell looked like. Sr. Lucia spoke about the vision. She said, "(Mary) opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals...."

Our Lady also told the children, "Each time you say the Rosary, My children, say after each decade, 'O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy."

Thanks to the Virgin Mary, every time we pray the Rosary, we pray 5 times that Jesus will save us from the fires of hell. The vision of hell didn't cause the children to be afraid of God. But rather it caused their hearts to expand with great love for sinners. This is why the children offered their sacrifices and did penance for the conversion of sinners. They never had a vision of heaven, but wanted souls to go there because of love.

Lucia asked the Virgin Mary, "Do you come from heaven...and will I go to heaven?" “Yes, you'll go". "And Jacinta?" "As well" “and Francisco?" "Him too, but he will have to say many rosaries". Our Lady told the children: "Do you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the suffering that He may please to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and to ask for the conversion of sinners?" "Yes, we do." said the children. "You will have to suffer a lot, but the grace of God will be your comfort.”

One day in St. John Vianney little church, a man possessed by a demon approached him, and the demon said: "I hate you, I hate you because you stole from my hand eighty-five thousand souls." He suffered much and did great penances to save souls from the fires of hell.

Today many think God is too merciful to send anyone to hell. Some cease to fear hell and do not try to avoid it. Others believe everyone goes straight to heaven, as though no one goes to purgatory or to hell. Some wrongly believe at the end of time, God will release all the souls and demons from hell. But the Church teaches hell is everlasting. God is not only infinitely merciful, He is also infinitely just.

May we seek the kingdom of heaven and do everything we can to keep it. May we come to Jesus, the merciful shepherd in confession often, especially if we committed a mortal sin, to come quickly to Him to receive His infinite mercy. As soon as we commit any sin, may we immediately ask the Lord to forgive us. There is nothing more important than keeping our soul in the state of grace. And if you find our self in mortal sin, do everything you can to get out of it. Because if we die in the state of mortal sin, we go to hell forever. We don't avoid mortal sin out of fear of hell, but especially out fear of offending and hurting the good God, whom we love because He loves us so much He died for us, that we may be with Him forever in heaven.

Let us do as Our Lady of Fatima asked, to do penance, offer up sufferings, make sacrifices and pray the rosary daily for the conversion of sinners, so that we help many souls go to heaven. By the grace of God, we will save our own soul and go to our eternal home where there is no pain, no suffering and no tears, where there is nothing but love, peace and joy in heaven forever and ever and ever.

O Jesus, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.

Our Lady of Lourdes - Feb 11th - 72 Miracle

 

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. On Feb. 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous at a grotto in the small French town of Lourdes. Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette 18 times between February and July of that year.

After the first three apparitions, Our Lady asked St. Bernadette, “Would you have the goodness to come here for 15 days?” Despite resistance from her mother, Bernadette continued to visit the grotto and pray her rosary, which gained the attention of many villagers.

During the final few apparitions, close to 10,000 people came to Lourdes to see St. Bernadette and the apparition. Our Lady’s messages to Bernadette were always about repentance and praying for the conversion of sinners. Our Lady of Lourdes said to St. Bernadette, "You will pray to God for sinners” and "Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners! Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!"

Our Lady of Lourdes did not reveal herself until the 16th apparition on March 25, after St. Bernadette asked her who she was for a fourth consecutive time that day. Our Lady replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

One reason millions of people visit the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes every year is due to the reported medical miracles from the grotto’s spring water. The Lourdes Medical Bureau was established in 1883 at the request of St. Pius X. Out of 7,500 cases, 72 were reported as scientifically inexplicable. It is for this reason Our Lady of Lourdes is the patroness of the sick.

Antonia Raco, a 67-year-old Italian woman long affected by an incurable neurodegenerative illness, was officially introduced to the press on July 25, 2025 in Lourdes, where her healing was recognized as the 72nd miracle attributed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary since the apparitions of 1858. When the miracle was announced Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis, the permanent doctor at the Lourdes Sanctuary, reminded the audience that the Church considers a healing miraculous only if it is sudden, complete, lasting, medically inexplicable, and not attributable to treatment or gradual recovery.

Diagnosed in 2006 with ALS — a progressive and fatal condition — Raco experienced a recovery that defied medical explanation. The recognition by the Shrine in Lourdes marked the culmination of 16 years of medical, canonical, and pastoral inquiry. Raco, a mother and active parishioner from Basilicata in southern Italy, had been living with the disease for several years when she traveled to Lourdes with her husband Antonio in 2009. Raco said, “I had wanted to go to Lourdes since I was a child."

On the second day, sanctuary volunteers brought her to the baths. “We prayed together. That’s when I heard a beautiful young female voice say three times: ‘Don’t be afraid!’”

Raco wore the white veil and uniform of the Hospitallers of Lourdes — the volunteer caregivers she now joins each year, assisting the sick with the same compassion once shown to her. During the immersion in the bath, she described a sudden, sharp pain in her legs as though “they were taken away from me.” She did not disclose what had happened to anyone during her stay and returned home in a wheelchair.

In her living room with her husband, she heard the same voice urging her, “Tell him! Call him!” Obeying the voice, she called out to her husband, who had just stepped into the kitchen. “Something has happened,” she told him. In that moment, she stood unaided for the first time in years. Overcome with emotion, the couple embraced, crying together as they realized she was cured.

Although miraculous physical healings are astounding, what is more astounding is when a soul is healed from sin. Spiritual healing is infinitely more important than a physical healing.

One of the primary messages from Our Lady was for us to do penance and to pray for sinners. Today, let us resolve to don penance and pray for the conversion of sinners. We can do this most especially, like Bernadette daily praying the Rosary and calling upon Mary saying, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee."