23rd Sunday - Count the Cost of Discipleship

 

 How much does it cost to be a disciple of Jesus?

When our Lord said to count the cost before building a tower before its completion, He was using it as an example to help His disciples and us, know there is a cost associated with being His Disciple and that we should count the cost before choosing to be one of His followers.

In Scotland, they have a national monument of a replica of a large pagan building in Athens. The project to build the replica turned out to be a disaster because they ran out of funds. Today, there is a six ton foundation of stone that was laid with unfinished stone pillars standing as a tribute to poor planning. Today, its known as the “Edinburgh’s Disgrace.” Who would build a tower without first calculating the money needed to build it? Not very smart.

Jesus wants His disciples to count the cost to be one of His followers, so they know for sure what is expected of them and what they are to do. He uses family and possessions as examples of what it means to be a follower of His.

He said there is the cost of renouncing father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters; There is also the cost of renouncing all of one’s possessions; And the cost of carrying one’s own cross. He even tells them, there is the greatest cost of being a disciple, which is the cost of one’s own life. Our Blessed Lord gave them these examples, to help His followers understand, there are many costs required be a true disciple.

The disciples had to give up being with their family so that they could be free to go out into the world to preach the Gospel. Jesus knew that if one chooses to be His disciple, there will be family division because of their faith in Him. Not everyone would accept Him and all of His teachings.

Today, some have the cost of scorn and ridicule when a non-Catholic chooses to become Catholic. Their non-catholic parents, brothers and sisters ridicule and mock their faith believing false things such as Catholics worship Mary. They can’t stand Catholic teachings such as all Catholics are to be pro-life and not use contraception or are obligated to attend Mass every weekend. To be a disciple of Jesus requires the cross. There is pain and anguish when family members disagree over issues of faith.

Jesus also said the cost to be a disciple is to give up possessions. All Christians are to be detached from material things and be willing to use our material possessions for others. And for some, to be a follower of Jesus may cost one’s job.

For example, a pharmacist told his employer, he can't fill prescriptions such as the morning after pill or give out contraceptives, because it goes against my conscience. A stewardess a few years ago, who was fired for wearing a necklace with a crucifix on it. A Catholic professor teaching at a university was fired for teaching-- what the Church teaches, that abortion and homosexual relations are seriously sinful. A Catholic teacher in a public high school was fired for calling a child only by her legal name. The child wanted to switch genders and go by a different name. Amazingly, the judge ruled in favor of the teacher.

The greatest cost to be a disciple is to give up one’s life. All of His apostles would be martyred, but John. How many of the early Christians were thrown to the lions, or crucified, or beheaded, or burned alive because they were disciples of Jesus. ----Christians today, continue to lose their life because they are disciples of Jesus.

Muslims who convert to Christianity in countries like India are killed--- or their family members are killed--- to prevent them from becoming Christian.

When we gaze upon a crucifix, it helps them to understand what it means to carry one’s cross as a disciple of Jesus because we see with their own eyes Jesus carried His Cross. We understand what it means give up one’s life to be a disciple of Jesus, because they see that Jesus died on the cross for us.

Once I entered a patient’s room, and when she saw me, she began to cry. She said, “Just before you walked in, I looked at the blood dripping from the IV and flowing down into my veins, I thought of Jesus on the Cross, who shed His blood for me, and I said to myself, “What have to complain about? Surely I can accept my pain and suffering out love for Him, who died for love of me.”

Many of us have heard the words, “Offer it up!” Why are we told to offer up our pain and suffering? And how do we offer up our pain and suffering?

When Jesus died on the cross, He offered up His suffering to save us, so that our sins can be forgiven, and so that we can go to heaven. The reason why we offer up our pain and suffering and give it to Jesus on the Cross, is because He has chosen to allow us to participate in obtaining the salvation of others, precisely because we are His disciples, who are willing to embrace and carry our cross out of love for Him. And how we offer up our suffering is simply by choosing to do it--- and for those who are able to come to the Sacrifice of the Mass, we offer up our pain and our suffering and our very self on the altar with the bread and wine.

Remember what the Mass is? It’s the re-presentation of Calvary. On the altar Calvary becomes present. At that moment--- we unite our self and our gifts, our pain and suffering with Jesus on the Cross--- as He offers Himself to the Father, for the salvation of souls. When the bread and wine are transformed into His body and blood-- our sacrifices and gifts are also transformed to be used for the salvation of souls. That’s why suffering is precious and valuable when united to the sufferings of Jesus because we are permitted to participate in bringing about the salvation of souls.

When we receive Holy Communion, we too can be transformed by the resurrected Jesus, who comes into our heart and gives us the grace to be one of His disciples, the grace to embrace our crosses and to carry our crosses.

Very few people want to carry the crosses of disease, or illness or misunderstandings, or difficulty with relationships and have pain and suffering. But when we embrace these crosses, and offer up these crosses, we are truly one of His disciples, and are willing to give our life for others, as Jesus gave His life for us on the Cross.

The cost to be a disciple of Jesus is great, but the reward is eternal. Are we willing to pay the price, so that we can live with Him forever in Heaven, who paid the price of our salvation when He died on the Cross and rose from the dead, that we may have eternal life?

Today, and at every Mass, offer yourself, your sufferings and your gifts on the altar with the bread and wine as the priest offers them to God the Father, through Jesus in union with the Holy Spirit. For by doing so, graces will flow throughout the world and help innumerable souls to go to heaven. And may the Virgin Mary pray for us and helps to live out our discipleship, as She did, who was the first and most perfect disciple.

22nd Thursday - Catching Fish "Men"

 

 St. Peter is someone, who tried real hard to catch fish, but didn’t succeed, until Jesus came and sat in his boat. He and his fishing buddies owned a fishing business, and worked hard all night on their boat trying to catch fish. But, they didn’t catch a single fish.

Jesus came and sat in one of the boats so the crowd would hear Him preach. When He finished preaching, He told Peter, “Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch.”

Peter didn’t think they would catch anything, because they had worked hard fishing all night long and had caught nothing. Peter said, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command, I will lower the nets.”

But, when he lowered the nets, they caught such a large number of fish, that the nets began to break. The boats were so full they nearly sank.

Peter replied, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Because Jesus worked the miracle, Peter was humbled because he realized it really wasn’t he or the other disciples, who caught the fish, but rather he clearly understood Jesus was responsible for it, and he also recognized his own lack of faith. But Jesus encouraged him, when he said, “Do not be afraid, from now on, you will be catching men.”

In the future the Lord would certainly use Peter to catch many men. For example, on the day of Pentecost, after the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, and after Peter gave his speech, some three thousand were baptized and became Christians. The lowering of the nets would be symbolic of what would become of the Church, as many would be brought to salvation in Jesus Christ. The apostles would go out into the world to spread the nets of the Gospel, and many would be gathered into the boat of the Church.

Perhaps, when we too struggle hard trying to bring many to Christ, and work so hard at it, with seemingly little, or no success, we should invite the Lord into the boat of our lives. And perhaps He will tell us, to once again throw out the nets.

If we see our self as successful in winning souls for Christ, we like Peter, will realize it was not we who brought them to Christ, but it will be the Lord. And with Peter, we will cry out, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

22nd Wednesday - Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law

 

 The Gospel today tells us--- how at sunset people began to bring many sick people to Jesus for Him to cure them. It was most likely a Sabbath day, because the Sabbath observance was scrupulously enforced by the scribes and Pharisees and would have ended at sunset. There were many sick people.

St. Mark states the whole city was gathered together about the door. St. Luke tells how Jesus laid hands on each one. He looks carefully at them and gives each one his full attention, because for Him each person is unique.

Everybody is always received well by Jesus, and is treated by Him with incomparable dignity that the human person always deserves. In particular we can this with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, who was afflicted with a severe fever. Our Lord must have come up to her bed, stood over her and then made the fever immediately go away.

How many of us wish that when we were sick, Jesus would come to us, stand at our bedside and make our fever go away. Jesus still does this today. We can see this in the life of St. Therese of Lisieux. When she was a child and very sick with a fever, she turned and looked at a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She said that Mary smiled at her and Therese was immediately healed. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus healed St. Therese at her bed side.

When we are sick, there is nothing wrong with asking Jesus to heal us. Jesus always gives us His personal and full attention, especially if we are sick and suffering.

I believe Jesus wants to do heal us in whatever ways we need to be healed, but in particular, He wants us to come to Him through His Mother Mary, so that we can love Her and honor Her as He desires.

Today, may we remember that Jesus personally cares about each of us and desires us to turn to Him for help. And may we be like the apostles and intercede for those who are sick and suffering.

The Passion of St. John the Baptist - August 29th

  

Today we celebrate the memorial of the beheading of John the Baptist. Recall that John had been arrested and put into prison because he boldly denounced the adulterous and incestuous marriage of Herod. Herod married the wife of his own brother Phillip, whose name was Herodias. She harbored a grudge against John the Baptist because of his truthful denunciation of the marriage. The daughter of Herodias pleased Herod, by seductively dancing for him. Because of his shameful lust, he told her that she could have whatever she wanted, even half of the kingdom.

The daughter asked her mother what she should request. Out of revenge and hatred, Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. When the young girl asked Herod for the head of John the Baptist, he didn’t want to do as she asked because he believed John was a holy and righteous man. Out of fear of what others would think, especially since he had given his word in front of everyone present, he relented and gave the order for John the Baptist to be beheaded.

This event shows how human respect can be result of such a terrible evil. Rather, than choosing to do the right thing, which would have been to deny the wicked request, he chose rather to do something evil. He chose to please his wife and the young girl, rather than to spare the life of a man. He chose to abuse his power, rather than to humble himself and admit he could not do anything the young girl requested which was immoral.

Behind human respect is pride and the fear of losing the friendship of others. It’s a betrayal on one’s own convictions, a betrayal of one’s neighbor and more importantly it’s a betrayal of God.

How often have we given in to human respect? Every time, we choose to please others, rather than to do what God wants us to do. It’s a failure to spread the Gospel with those we live. It’s a failure to truly love our neighbor by telling them the truth, especially if they don’t want to hear it.

John the Baptist shed his blood for the truth and the sanctity of marriage. John could have been silent out of human respect, and not said anything, but he spoke the truth instead, even to giving up his life. He was not afraid of what others think. And that’s because he was willing to suffer for them. He was concerned about their salvation and was ready to do all that he could to show them the truth, that they may come to know the truth and love the truth, who is Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

Today, let us pray that John the Baptist will help priests and all Catholics to speak out against the sins, which he so valiantly defended. That all of us may not give into human respect.

And so we pray: “O John the Baptist, you who suffered and died for the institution of marriage, we ask that you pray for priests, and help them to defend marriage today, so threatened by divorce, by same-sex marriage, and by cohabitation. Grant that priests may be authentic witnesses, and to even lay down their lives for Jesus, as you laid down your life for Him, who died for you.”

22nd Sunday - Humility

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about the pride of the Scribes and Pharisees. They are concerned about receiving honor at banquets and want to be noticed in public. They prefer their own glory, rather than to give glory to God.

Pride causes us to want to be noticed by others for who we are and for what we do. Pride can give us an unhealthy attitude of wanting others to serve us, rather than we serve them. Pride keeps us from admitting our mistakes for fear of others thinking negatively of us. Pride causes us to take credit for our achievements and be proud of our accomplishments, and want to receive a pat on the back. Pride demands that others serve us, rather than we serve them.

In the flint hills every year near Council Grove, there is an outdoor under the starts concert that is popular. One year, about 10 years ago, the local people were parking cars out in a pasture, when a limousine pulls up. The man parking cars said, “I’m sorry, ma'am, but you can’t park here.” The woman inside the car said, “Don’t you know who I am. I am the governor of the state of Kansas.” The man replied, “I don’t care who you are, you can’t park here. In about 10 minuets, there’s going to be about 200 head of cattle come through here.” The demanding attitude of wanting special treatment and others to serve us is a form of pride. All of us can be prideful at times, we are all human.

We need to remember all we have and all we do are graces and gifts from God. He is the one who gives us the desire to succeed, the intelligence to know things, the wisdom to choose rightly. We need to give Him the credit. The saints tell us, all that we can claim for our self is our sins. Humility is the virtue that conquers the vice of pride.

Humility helps us to admit our sins to God. In confession, we kneel before Him, asking Him to save us from our sins and to help us to get to heaven.

Humility helps us to not judge others. Rather, we say, “If that was me, I would be doing worse than they.”

With humility, we admit our mistakes, rather than always winning an argument or proving we are always right.

Humility causes us to submit to others. Even if we know a better way of doing something, we will do what our boss or our spouse wants us to do.

Humility also helps us to know we need to depend upon God for everything and see His hand in giving us all that we need. We should humbly ask God for help in our decisions and give us the temporal or spiritual things we need.

Humility helps us to hide the good things we do, rather than reveal them to others. We hide our fasting, alms giving, or our charitable deeds--- so that our motivation becomes pure, because we do it please God, rather than to be recognized by others.

If we are praised by others, we should praise God, rather than keep the compliment for our self. For example, if someone tells us we did something well, we should say something like, “Thanks be to God” or “Thank you Jesus!” We also shouldn’t say, “I did a terrible job”, when in fact we did well. Rather, we admit the truth--- and thank God for working through us.

If we are humble, when someone criticizes us, we won't get upset or if we are praised, we won't act as though we didn't do well. As Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, "If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are."

Humility is revealed by the way we respect others, especially the sick, the poor and the mentally ill. Are we condescending? Do we interrupt their speech, don’t pay attention to them, or look down upon them? All of these are forms of pride.

To have humility, we don’t brag about our abilities or our accomplishments. We don’t put others down to make our self look good. We aren’t rude and don’t insult others. To be humble is to compliment others and encourage them. To be humble, we come to know our own strengths and weaknesses. Humility is to help others and serve them, rather than want to be served. We start to focus more on others, rather than our self. To be humble we are not conceited and don’t want to draw attention to our self. We will not pretend to be someone were are not. Humility is asking others for help when we need it. When we think we are better than others, then we are losing humility and becoming prideful.

As an example of humility for children is captains of a team such as basketball chooses players who most of the time would chose the best players to be on your team. But out of humility, one captain chooses a player who doesn’t know how to play the game well, so he can help teach the person to learn as the game is played, even if it means losing to the other team.

Our humility is revealed by how we humble our self before those who are greater than us, especially Jesus, who is God. How do we approach God in prayer, or how do we genuflect to Our Lord in the tabernacle, or receive Him in Holy Communion.

Today, let us all desire to grow in humility, pray for it, practice it, and contemplate it. Meditate on the perfect act of humility of Our Lord’s Crucifixion and gaze upon the humility of God, as He humbles Himself to look like bread, but, is not bread, and is truly God, on the altar.

May we imitate the humility of Our Blessed Mother, who was exalted above all creatures, because She humbled Herself and knew, that “Whoever exalts himself, will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself, will be exalted.”

St. Monica - August 27th

 

 Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Monica, the mother of the great St. Augustine. Monica was born about the year 332 in North Africa, of a Christian family. In her childhood, she sometimes fell into the habit of taking secret great droughts of wine in the cellar. One day a servant spied on the little girl and denounced her as a drunkard, and Monica, covered with shame, gave up the habit. Soon afterwards she was baptized, and thenceforth led a life of irreproachable virtue.

As soon as Monica had reached marriageable age, she married Patricius, who had a violent temper. Monica endured his outbursts with the utmost patience, although he was critical of Christians and their practices. The daily example of her gentleness and kindness finally had its rewards. A year before his death, he became a Christian.

Her son, Augustine, spent time in youthful carousing, which caused his mother great anguish. She disapproved so strongly both of his loose living and of his acceptance of the popular heresy of Manichaeism. Augustine tried to convince her to give up her Christian faith, which he said was the main obstacle keeping them apart.

But Monica did not lose faith. She continually fasted, prayed, and wept on his behalf. She implored the local bishop for help to win him over. But he counseled her to be patient, saying, "God's time will come." Monica persisted until the bishop uttered the words which have often been quoted: "Go now, I beg you; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish."

The joyous day of Augustine's conversion finally came after she followed her son to Milan where they met Saint Ambrose. At Easter, when Bishop Ambrose baptized Augustine, his mother's cup was full to overflowing.

The prayers of Monica have been invoked by generations of the faithful who honor her as a special patroness of married women and as an example for Christian motherhood. She is also the patron of alcoholics. May her example and prayers help all parents with children who no longer practice their faith. St. Monica, pray for us!

St. Louis - August 25th

 

Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Louis King of France. He was born in 1215. His mother was a very good Catholic, and so, taught him the Catholic faith, and all about God’s heavenly kingdom. Louis often times would say “Death rather than mortal sin.” which is what his mother taught him.

His mother prepared him to be truly a holy king. He was crowned king when he was only 12 years old. Can you imagine a 6^th grader being made king of France? Even though he became king of France at the age of 12 years old, his mother ran the actual ran the government until Louis was old enough.

He was taught by Franciscan Friars, and later became a Third Order Franciscan. As king, he became very sick, and made a promise to the Lord that if his health would improve, he would lead a crusade to free the Holy Land from Muslims, because they had taken control and pushed out the Christians.

When he went with his army to fight the Muslims in the Holy Land, he was captured and taken prisoner. While in prison, the Muslims said they would release him from prison, but only, if he denied Jesus. He refused to deny Jesus, our Blessed Lord, because He loved Him with all his heart, mind and soul. Sometime later, he was freed from prison.

Louis was a very good king. He would not tolerate those who spoke filthy words, or spoke bad things of others. Even though, he had lots of money, as king, he used it wisely by taking care of the poor. He was able to get the actual Crown of Thorns of Jesus, and built a Catholic Church in Paris, which he placed the Thorns.

Due to Muslims again taking over the Holy Land, he decided to start another Crusade to battle against them. While on the journey, some of his soldiers became ill. Because he visited them, he got the illness himself, and died, before he could go to the Holy Land. St. Louis and his wife had 12 children, whom he daily prayed with. Before his death he wrote a beautiful letter to one of his sons, who would take over his throne upon his death.

In the letter, he states, “My dearest son, I exhort you above all else to love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with all your strength; there is no salvation apart from this. Keep yourself free from everything you know to be displeasing to God, that is, from every mortal sin. You must be willing to suffer any kind of martyrdom rather than commit a grievous sin. Be kindly disposed toward the poor, the wretched and afflicted; help them as much as you can and console them. Be just towards your subjects. Incline to the poor man’s side rather than to the rich man until you are certain where the truth lies. Be devoted and obedient to our mother, the Church of Rome, and to the supreme pontiff as your spiritual father. Work to eradicate all sin from your country, especially blasphemy and heresy. May the Blessed Trinity and all the saints protect you from all evil. May the Lord grant you the grace to do His will in such a way as to serve him and honor him; and after this life may we both meet to see, love and praise Him without end. Amen.”

St. Bartholomew - August 24th

 

 

One of the apostles, whose name is inscribed on the foundation of the Church, is St. Bartholomew, whose feast we celebrate today.

His call as an apostle, came through the intercession of his friend, St. Philip. When Philip finds Bartholomew he said, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets.” Even though Bartholomew said, “Can any good come from Nazareth?” Philip said, ‘come and see’. When he finally found Jesus, Our Lord looked at him and said, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Jesus highlighted Bartholomew’s guileless virtue. He was not duplicit. In other words, he was frank and honest and his motives were pure. He was truthful. He was not deceitful. Bartholomew wondered how Jesus had known him, after all, he did not recall speaking with Him before. Realizing Our Divine Lord could read his heart, he makes a remarkable act of faith, he said, “..you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel”.

St. Bartholomew lived in the city of Cana. He preached in India and Armenia. While in Armenia, in the city of Albanopolis, it is believed he suffered martyrdom by being flayed alive, and then beheaded by the order of the king of Armenia. He is often pictured in art with flayed skin and a knife in his hand. In the Gospels, he is known by two names (Nathaniel and Bartholomew).

Today, let us imitate St. Bartholomew’s truthfulness and strive to life a life without guile, so that at the end of our life, when we stand at the gates of heaven, Jesus will say to us, Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.”, come enter into my kingdom.

St. Rose of Lima - August 23rd

 

 Today is the memorial of St. Rose of Lima, the patron of Peru, South America, and the Philippines. Her birth name was Isabel de Flores. She was born in Lima, Peru on April 20, 1586 and was the 11^th of 13 children.

Her father was a Puerto Rican, who had come to Peru in 1548 with the Spanish conquistadors. She received the name Rose when a housemaid, gazing upon her when she was still an infant, remarked: “She’s as lovely as a rose.” She was given that name at the time of confirmation. Her mother used to place a crown of roses on her head and had hoped her daughter would someday get married, but Rose had other plans.

She had a great devotion to St. Catherine of Sienna and a very special love of the Child Jesus. When she was 5 yrs. old she had asked the Child Jesus to teach her to read and write, which He did. She obtained cures from the Child Jesus for the sick.

Since she was beautiful, she didn’t want to tempt anyone by her beauty so she cut her hair and rubbed red pepper on her skin to make it appear blotchy.

She lived a life of penance, frequently fasted, didn’t eat meat, spent hours in prayer, mortified herself, flogged herself, wore a hair shirt, and served the poor. She offered up her suffering as a way of atoning for the idolatry of her country, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in purgatory.

When Rose was 20 years old, her mother encouraged her to get married and became extremely angry when Rose told her she made a vow of chastity at the age of 5.

She became a third order Dominican and built a cell in a remote corner of the garden and after a period of trial and desolation, received the joy of spiritual espousal to Christ. Jesus said to her, “Rose of my heart, be thou My bride.”

She died at the young age of 31 and is often pictured holding the Child Jesus and wearing a crown of roses.

As we prepare to receive Holy Communion, let us humble our self before the Lord in a spirit of devotion and prayer in imitation of St. Rose of Lima and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Queenshship of Mary - August 22nd

 

 “The Lord God will give Him the throne of David his father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom there will be no end.”

The angel Gabriel announced the to Mary, that Her Son would be given the throne of David. David was a king, and David’s son, Solomon was a king. The throne of David belongs to a king, and Jesus is the King of kings. David’s mother was a queen and Solomon’s mother was a queen, therefore the Mother of the King of kings, is a queen, as well. Jesus was no ordinary king. Jesus is King of heaven and King of earth. And so, His Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary is also the Queen of heaven and Queen of earth. In heaven are billions of angels & millions of saints. Mary is therefore the Queen of angels, and the Queen of saints.

When Mary was led forth by the King of kings, into heaven at the moment of Her assumption, there was a great company of exalting angels and rejoicing archangels, while heaven was ringing Her praise, and so the prophesy of David’s psalm was fulfilled, “At your right hand stands the queen, clothed in gold.”

We should pray to Mary, as our Queen. May we pray to Her everyday, and speak to Her as a child, speaks to his mother. We should talk to Mary, ask Mary questions, ask favors from Her, and just plain love Her, and treat Her as a queen.

And if we do this, as a queen, She will ask the King of heaven, to obtain all we need. She will comfort us in our sorrows; protect us from danger; and bestow upon us the gifts only a queen can give. She will keep us safe under Her care, and watch over us, Her children. As the queen of angles, She will send angels to guide and protect us. As the queen of saints, She will send saints to help us. She will encourage us in our suffering. And most importantly, She will take us by the hand, and lead us to Her Son.

Let us begin today, to pray to Mary every day, as our Queen and Mother, who loves us. And so, when we make that final journey, as we leave this world of woe, we will have a queen waiting for us, who will take us by the hand, and lead us to the throne of the King of kings, and we will forever sing Her praises, for She will have helped us obtain heaven’s goal.

21st Sunday - Narrow Gate

 

 In St. Luke’s Gospel for today, Jesus walked through towns and villages-- teaching as He went. In one village someone asked Him, “Lord will only a few people be saved?” He answered and said, “Strive to enter the narrow gate, for many I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” Jesus explains more about the wide and narrow paths in the Gospel of Matthew. He said, “For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who enter that way. How narrow the gate and close the way that leads to life. And few there are who find it.”

When those who said, “Lord, open the door for us.”, why did Jesus say, “I do not know where you are from.” And they respond saying, “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.” But Jesus said to them, “Depart from me, you evil doers. And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

Here Our Lord is talking about those who will not be permitted to go to heaven. Even though they listened to what Jesus said and ate with Him, they will be excluded from the kingdom of heaven and will be sent to hell. In another words, they are calling themselves followers of Jesus, but in fact are not true disciples because they refused to follow the narrow path, that leads to the narrow gate. So what is the narrow gate Jesus is referring to?

In the Baltimore Catechism the first lesson is entitled “The Purpose of Man’s Existence”. In the catechism it shows a picture which describes the narrow way and the wide way. In the center of the picture is a post with signs pointing to either the narrow path or the wide path.

A father, mother and child are walking down the narrow path, in which the sign pointing says, “Love of God”. Other signs attached to the post point in the other direction toward the wide path that leads to hell. It reads,” Love of Riches, Love of Pleasure, Love of Fame and Love of Power”. The wide path shows a man with bag of money and a woman looking with vanity in a mirror. At the end of the path is the wide gate and people are walking into the fires of hell.

On the narrow path that leads to heaven is the word “Happiness”, while the path that leads down the wide road says, “Unhappiness.” In the picture we can see Jesus standing with arms outstretched as though trying to encourage those headed down the pathway of hell to come back to the pathway of heaven.

The Baltimore Catechism states, “In reality, most people act as if they were made for these things rather than to love God.” It states, “Listening to these false teachers and imitating their actions will only lead to unhappiness and the loss of heaven.”

The questions in the Baltimore Catechism ask, “Why were we made? and What must we do to gain the happiness of heaven?” The answer is “To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world.”

All of us know that the false happiness we get with riches, fame, power, and pleasure are only fleeting and leaves our heart saddened. But when we strive to know God, by reading about Him in scripture, trying to imitate Him, and getting to know Him in prayer----when we strive to love God, by turning away from sin and false pleasures, and attempting to do His will our daily life--- and when we strive to serve God, by loving others, through good deeds, assisting the poor, doing things for the Church, we walk down that narrow path way to heaven.

We do God's will daily by being the best student we can at school. Doing our best in sports. Parents being good parents. Children doing what their parents ask of them. Being the best spouse, the best grandparent. To do our daily job as well as we can. And we do all of these things for love of God and our neighbor.

Our love for God is revealed in how we much we love our neighbor. The prayer of St. Francis-- shows us how to love our neighbor and how to walk down hat narrow pathway to heaven. It says, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness joy; O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying we are born to eternal life.”

Today, let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, She who is the Queen of Heaven, to give us the strength and the graces we need to follow that narrow path that leads to narrow gate of heaven.

Aug. 20th - St. Bernard

 

 St. Bernard, doctor of the Church, was born in 1090 in France. He comes from a noble family of eight children. Four of them became beatified and one canonized. After the death of his mother, fearing temptations of the world, he resolved to embrace the newly established and austere institute of the Cistercian order. He entered the order in 1112 bringing thirty of his relatives with him, including five of his brothers-- his youngest brother and his widowed father followed later. After receiving a monastic formation from St. Stephen Harding, he was sent in 1115 to begin a new monastery near Aube: Clairvaux, the Valley of Light. At the age of 25, he became the abbot.

He helped to bring about the healing of the papal schism which arose in 1130 with the election of the antipope Anacletus II. At the same time he labored for peace and reconciliation between England and France. His influence mounted when his spiritual son was elected pope in 1145. At Pope Eugene III's command he preached the Second Crusade and sent vast armies on the road toward Jerusalem. Due to his preaching, St. Bernard of Clairvaux was instrumental in getting European leaders to commit to the Second Crusade. Bernard would later blame the failure of the Crusade on the sins of the Crusaders themselves.

Although he suffered from constant physical debility and had to govern a monastery that soon housed several hundred monks and was sending forth groups regularly to begin new monasteries (he personally saw to the establishment of sixty-five of the three hundred Cistercian monasteries founded during his thirty-eight years as abbot).

In his last years he rose from his sickbed and went into the Rhineland to defend the Jews against a savage persecution. He was a brilliant writer, and eloquent preacher. His sermons were so intense, one writer said, “He thinks like the Scriptures and speaks like them.” Bernard died at Clairvaux on Aug. 20^th, of 1153. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1174. Pope Pius VII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1830.

St. Bernard also had a great devotion to Our Eucharistic Lord. One day, he corrected a royal duke, who had banished two bishops from his region. During Mass, Bernard took the consecrated Host, placed it on the paten, and carried it to the back of the Church, where the duke was standing. Holding the Host above the paten before the man he said, “Now the Son of the Virgin, the Lord and Head of the Church which you persecute, comes in person to see if you will repent. Will you scorn Him as you scorned your servants?” The duke became terrified, fell on his face, and abandoned the schism.

St. Bernard greatly loved Our Lady. His sermons on the Blessed Virgin amount to a complete Mariology. He was an eloquent witness to Mary’s Assumption about 840 years before it was proclaimed a dogma. He likewise, spoke of Mary’s title, Mediatrix of All Graces. Dante called him, “Mary’s Faithful Bernard”. The prayer (the Memorare) is attributed to him.

Let us pray the Memorare written by St. Bernard.

Remember, O gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection or implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided, inspired by this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother! To thee I come; before thee stand sinful and sorrowful, O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer them, Amen.

Assumption of Mary - Aug. 15th

 

Today, we join the angels and saints in heaven who are rejoicing as Mary’s body and soul was assumed into heaven.

On Nov. 1st, 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary into heaven as a dogma of the faith-- because it has been the constant tradition of the Church from the very beginning. He said, “With the course of Her earthly life brought to completion, the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, was taken body and soul into celestial glory.”

St. Alphonsus Ligouri in one of his homilies, describes what many Catholics believed in the 1700’s. He said, “The apostles had gathered around the bed of Our Lady because She had informed them that Her earthly time had ended and that She was going to heaven. When all the apostles had arrived, She died--- and then was assumed in heaven before their eyes.”

St. Alphonsus then describes what happened. He said, “Then the host of angels came in choirs, to meet Her, as if to be ready for the great triumph with which they were to accompany Her to paradise. That great soul, that beautiful dove of the Lord, was then loosened from the bands of this life; and She entered into the glory of the blessed”.

Perhaps, we can add to the words of St. Alphonsus Ligouri by imagining--- that when Mary died, She immediately beheld Her Son, who came down from heaven, took Her by the hand to escort His Mother to Her glorious throne and then crowned Her as Queen of Heaven and earth.

When Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven, Her Son, Jesus, immediately glorified her body, like that of His own at the resurrection.

When we die, our soul is separated from our body and it goes to its judgment. Our body remains here on earth to decay. The reason why our soul and body are separated at the moment of death, is because we suffer from original sin due to Adam and Eve and because we are sinners. At the end of the world, our soul will be reunited with our body and it will be glorified---- as Mary’s body was glorified--- when Her body and soul entered heaven at the moment of Her Assumption.

Mary’s Assumption is a reminder to us, what we will receive in the future. Mary received the beautiful grace of Her Assumption for many reasons. First and foremost was because She was the Mother of Jesus, but also because Mary never suffered from original sin and never once committed any sin in Her life.

If we want to receive our glory in heaven, we need to be like Mary, we need to do our best to avoid sin and have nothing to do with sin.

On this Glorious Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we turn to Mary, and ask her to help us to seek the glory of the kingdom of heaven.

20th Sunday - Truth & Division

 

 Today’s readings are about those who proclaim the truth and suffer because of it and those who reject the truth thereby causing division.

In the first reading Jeremiah the prophet is thrown into a cistern because he was accused of demoralizing the soldiers. However, what Jeremiah actually did, was warn the people that if they surrendered to their enemies, their lives would be spared. He was speaking on behalf of God. God wanted to use Jeremiah to save the people. But, they would not listen to him, and instead, the King desired Jeremiah to die a slow and painful death, by being thrown into a cistern. A cistern was a water storage tank that in ancient Israel could hold tens of thousands gallons. Archaeologists have found many cisterns in the Holy Land. Cisterns would often be about 20 feet deep, carved in the bedrock limestone under Jerusalem, and coated with plaster on the inside to keep them water-tight. People would fill cisterns during the rainy season and use them for drinking water during the dry season. Yet, the cistern Jeremiah was thrown into hadn’t had water in it for a long time and was filled with muddy sludge. Jeremiah sinks into the sludge, probably at least up to his knees. There was no food or water, with no hope of escape. But he would later be rescued by the court official who pleaded on his behalf resulting in Jeremiah being taken out of the cistern.

Jeremiah is in image of Jesus. Jesus is the prophet of prophets. The Sanhedrin, declared Jesus deserving of death as a blasphemer, and hands him over to the Romans, accusing him of political revolt, a charge that puts Him in the same category as Barabbas who was accused of sedition. Yet all Jesus did was proclaim the truth of Gospel.

After Jesus was arrested, He was thrown into a dungeon and chained to the wall, until the next day, when He was taken before Pilate and Herod.

Unlike, Jeremiah, whose life was spared, Jesus goes on to be executed. Jesus surrenders to His enemies. As the second reading from the book of Hebrews states, “For the sake of the joy that lay before Him He endured the Cross, despising its shame…” Just as Jeremiah endured opposition, so did Jesus. “Consider how He endured opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”

In the Gospel Jesus speaks of opposition. He said, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Jesus endured opposition to sinners. Not everyone who heard Jesus preach or who saw His miracles accepted Him or the truth He taught.

In another words, those who do not expect division when the Gospel is proclaimed are being unrealistic. And where the fullness of Gospel isn’t preached, its actually false peace. Not based on truth.

Jesus is Truth and truth is objective. It is the same for everyone in every age and culture. Our Lord, then, becomes the cause of unity for those who accept the truth and the cause of division for those who reject the truth. Those who are progressive with regard to the Catholic faith, really are rejecting the truth. They are rejecting Jesus. While those who accept the truth live as faithful Catholics and are accepting Jesus.

`Today people are claiming believe in Jesus, or even claiming to be Catholic, but reject one or more of the basic facets of our Faith.

However, Bishop Tobin said, this in response to a politician who claimed he could separate his faith from politics.

“The politician has been widely identified as a Roman Catholic. It is also reported that he publicly supports “freedom of choice” for abortion, same-sex marriage, gay adoptions, and the ordination of women as priests. All of these positions are clearly contrary to well-established Catholic teachings”; He said, the senator has said, “My faith is central to everything I do.” But apparently, and unfortunately, his faith isn’t central to his public, political life.”

Jesus explains what will happen when the Gospel is proclaimed. He said, “Do you think I have that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” “…father will be divided against his son, and son against his father, a mother against her daughter and daughter against mother…”

There are times when there is division among family members because of the truth of the Gospel. Unity is found in truth. Division is caused by rejecting truth. Jesus prayed for unity, when He said, “Father that they may be one.” What He really meant is that all may accept the truth and therefore be one in the truth.

We can see this problem in the first reading where the Prophet Jeremiah speaks the truth, the word of God, to the people. Not wanting to hear the word of God, the princes tell the king that Jeremiah should be put to death because he does not care about the people. Jeremiah spoke the truth, but it was inconvenient and unpopular. Those who did not want the truth sought to kill the messenger so that they might continue in their wayward direction. Keep in mind that all of these people professed to believe in God and in the Jewish Faith he had revealed.

So division is coming from those who reject the truth of what Jeremiah told them. With regard to the politician, the division is coming from the politician who is rejecting the truth. Just as Jeremiah suffered for the truth and Jesus suffered for the truth, so Christians who stand up for the truth of Gospel will be rejected and will suffer from their own family members, who oppose the truth.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, desires everyone to accept the truth, because by doing so, they are accepting Him, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He desires unity which is found in truth, but knowing we will suffer because of it, as He knows well because He suffered and died because of the proclamation of truth of the Gospel. As the book of Hebrews states, “Brothers and sisters: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.”

19th Tuesday - Guardian Angel

 

 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

When Our Lord said these words, He was speaking about guardian angel, who gazes upon the face of His Father, but also that each angel is also present with the child throughout the child’s life.

Guardian angels defend us from the assaults of the demons, endeavoring to preserve us from sin and the occasions of sin. They strive to keep us on the right path; if we fall they will help us to rise back up again. They encourage us to be more and more virtuous. They suggest good thoughts and holy desires. They offer our prayers and actions to God and above all they assist us at the hour of death. They also protect us from physical danger as well, but most importantly from moral danger.

The church teaches that each person has a Guardian Angel, who watches over us during the whole course of our life. It is also a generally accepted doctrine that communities, the Church, dioceses, and nations also have angels which watch over them. For example, the angel, who appeared to the three children of Fatima, was believed to the angel of Portugal, who identified himself as the Angel of Peace.

We know that some saints such as St. Padre Pio were able to see their angels and had conversations with them. Even though Padre Pio was assaulted by demons, he was also protected and comforted by his Guardian angel. He wrote a letter to his spiritual father in whom he speaks about his attacks from devils, but also his guardian angel.

Padre Pio said, “Saturday it seemed that the devils wanted to finish me off with their blows, and I did not know what Saint to turn to. Then I called upon my Guardian Angel, who after making me wait a while, was right there at last to help me, and with his angelic voice sang hymns to the Divine Majesty. Then, he told me, “I am always near you, dear friend. I will always walk near you…This love I have for you-- will not end, even when you die.”

Today, let us pray remember to pray to Our Guardian angel, asking his help to overcome temptations, but also to keep us safe from all harm. May we come to know how much we are loved for and cared for by our angel and may return our love back to him, who someday we will meet in heaven. Our Lady of the Angels, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!

St. Dominic - August 8th

 

 Today is the memorial of St. Dominic. Dominic Guzman was born in Spain in 1170. After he was ordained a priest, he was sent to preach against the Albigensian heresy, but became disappointed by his lack of success. The Albigensian heresy denied the incarnation of Jesus. They did not believe Jesus became flesh and believed that the body was indecent and thought that the soul was imprisoned in an evil body.

That is until the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and explained the Rosary to him and that he was to preach it everywhere. She added mysteries to each of the decades and he was supposed to preach on these mysteries. During his time, the people had already been praying 150 Hail Marys, but did not have meditations applied to the Rosary until Mary appeared to him.

Due to his success, he gained many followers, who called themselves the Order of Preachers, which later became known as the Dominicans and would include saints like St. Thomas Aquinas.

The words that are repeated when we pray the Rosary come from the angel Gabriel, who said, “Hail full of grace the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.”

With the words of the angel Gabriel, we can see how they would affect those who struggled with the heresy. Truly the fruit of Mary’s womb, which was the body of Jesus was good. When people began to pray the rosary, they would say the words of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary repeated 53 times.

The mediations which were added to the Rosary, by Our Lady through St. Dominic reminded the people about the correct teachings of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as the mysteries were contemplated in the minds of those who prayed the rosary. The body was no longer considered indecent, but rather, truly blessed because it was Our Lord’s body, which would become the instrument of salvation on the Cross and would gloriously rise and ascend into heaven in the person of Jesus Christ.

The rosary was not only a powerful means to crush heresy, but also to crush the enemies of Christianity. Not long after St. Dominic and his friars preached the rosary, the rosary was attributed to the winning the battle of Muret in the 1200’s. Likewise, all of us are familiar with the battle of Lepanto. Pope Pius V beseeched all Catholics to pray the Rosary, to win the battle against Muslims, who attempted to invade Europe in the 1500’s. Because Christians won the battle, the pope established the feast of the Holy Rosary on Oct. 7^th, the day the battle was won.

Besides defeating heresies and winning battles, the rosary increases virtue in the interior life of the soul. Our Lady told St. Bridget, “Whenever I mediated on the beauty, modesty, and wisdom of my Son, my heart was filled with joy. Whenever I thought of His hands and feet which would be pierced with cruel nails, I wept bitterly and my heart was rent with sorrow and pain.”

St. Louis de Montfort said, through the rosary, hardened sinners are converted, great battles have been won, pestilences have ended, people find courage to flee temptations, vocations have been wrought, and faith has been re-enkindled. And through the Rosary we grow in holiness and virtue by leaps and bounds.

Our Lady told Blessed Alan de la Roche, “When you say the Rosary-- angels rejoice, the Blessed Trinity delights in it, my Son finds joy in it too, and I myself am happier than you can possibly imagine”. And Our Lady also said, “After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there is no nothing in the Church that I love as much as the Rosary.”

Today, let us give thanks to God for sending the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic and for giving us the Rosary. May we treasure it and pray it every day, because we want to be made worthy of the promises of Christ, by the mysteries we meditate upon in the Most Holy Rosary.

19th Sunday - Much Required of a Person Who Has Much - Truth

 

What did the parable mean in today’s Gospel? Jesus said the servants are to be ready for their master’s return and so they were to be sure their lamps were lit and be ready for when the master comes to the door and knocks, so they would be ready to let him in. What is all this referring to? The parable refers to the Day of Judgment, when Jesus, the master will come and ask us, his servants, for an account of what each of us did in our life, good or bad. If we are prepared for our judgment all will go well, if not Jesus states the servant will be beaten. In another words, if we don’t prepare every day for our judgment and live as though it were our last day, we will suffer in the next life for not living out our faith as we should. Jesus said, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Catholics are entrusted with much, because we have the fullness of truth revealed by God. Therefore, more is demanded of us. The four marks of the Church help us to know we are the one true Church founded by Christ. And His one true Church was given everything mankind needs to obtain eternal salvation. Do you remember from your Catechism classes, what are the four marks of the Church? The four marks are four ways everyone can tell the Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Christ. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. And no other church makes that claim. We are the only Church who claims to be founded by Christ Himself.

We are one, because we are one if faith, one is sacrifice, one in sacraments and we have one head of the Church, who is the pope. No matter what Catholic Church you go to, in Kansas, in Nebraska, in Ireland, in Brazil, in Africa, in Japan, in Russia, in France, in Pakistan, we all have the same faith and believe in the same doctrines.

We all have the same sacrifice of the Mass. In every Catholic Church, there is a liturgy of the word and liturgy of the Eucharist and everyone receives the real and true body of Christ in Holy Communion.

We are one in the sacraments. In another words, the 7 sacraments are the same everywhere around the world.

And we are one by our obedience and love for the pope and so we are all one in following the pope as head of the Church.

The Church is Holy because the founder of our Church, Jesus Christ is infinitely holy and because we are all called to holiness and are able to become holy by the 7 sacraments, which sanctify us. The teachings of the church are holy and the people who make up the church are holy.

We are Catholic, which means the Church is for every person, no matter race, color, nation or ethnic background, our Church is for everyone.

Our Church is apostolic, which means what we believe has been given to us through the apostles. We have apostolic succession, and so the bishops today are successors of the apostles, through the laying on of the hands through the sacrament of ordination.

Because we are the one true Church founded by Christ and because we have the fullness of truth revealed by God and because we have the four marks of the Church, this causes us to reflect upon the wonderful gift we have of being Catholic and our responsibility to live out our faith. As Jesus said, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

By having this faith, much is required of us. First, of all we are not saved by faith alone. In the book of St. James, he said, “faith without works is dead”. God requires we live out our faith by loving and caring for others, which is why we are to do good deeds. What good would be our faith, if we did nothing with it?

Besides living out our faith and constantly studying it, we must openly profess it. If fail to know our faith or to study our faith, we can eventually lose our faith, which is the pearl of great price. For if we don’t know our faith, how can we believe it and share it with others. If we know our faith, if we study our faith, we will want to profess it because we will want others to know and love what we believe.

The beautiful thing about being Catholic is that priests come and go, but the Catholic faith never changes. You as parishioners remain, the faith remains and what really matters is what we all believe as Catholics.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us everything we need to believe as Catholics. The Catechism is what makes us one in our faith. What is in the catechism has come down to us from the apostles.

We can go to Mass here at Holy Trinity, or at Holy Cross, or St. Paul in Lyons, or St. Joseph in Mcpherson and no matter where we go, the faith is the same because of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is what makes us Catholic, the same faith.

An example of what I am saying is this, if I were to say to you, if you purposely miss Mass on Sunday or Holy Day of obligation it is sin requiring confession before you can receive Holy Communion. This comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph #2181 states, “….the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.”

These are not my words. These are the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is what Catholics believe everywhere.

The parable Jesus gave to His apostles is a reminder, we are to always be ready for the day and the hour when Our Lord will come to knock at our door for our judgment. In order to be ready, we need to study our faith and come to know our faith, to live out our faith, to grow in our faith, to share our faith by professing our faith.

The Virgin Mary is a great woman of faith. May She give us a portion of Her faith, so we will be prepared for the day and hour we will be held accountable when Jesus, Her Son, the Master, returns.