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."