1st Sunday of Lent, Year A -Temptations

 

Years ago, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic school in Wichita, a 3^rd grade boy asked me a question. He said, “Is there sin in heaven?” I said, “No, there is no sin in heaven.” He asked me again, “Are you sure, there is no sin in heaven?” I said, “Yes, there is no sin in heaven.” He then said, “But didn’t the devil and the bad angels sin in heaven?” That was a pretty smart question. I said, “Yes, you are right. But that was a one time event, and now there will never be sin in heaven again.”

Before God created Adam and Eve, Lucifer was the most intelligent, strongest, and most beautiful of all angels. The book of Revelation Chapter 12:7 details what happened in heaven with regard to the angels. It states, “And war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels making war against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, but they were not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Lucifer, also called Satan, fell from grace. As for the particular sin the bad angels committed, many theologians believe in their prefallen state, the angels were given a foreknowledge of humans (who would be inferior to them), as well as a foreknowledge God himself (Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity) would take on human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary and then Jesus redeem the universe through his death on the cross. This revelation, angered Lucifer because it meant he and the other angels would have to worship God in His human nature. Lucifer and the other angels who fell, were so proud of being superior to men that their arrogance wouldn’t allow them to worship Jesus Christ the God-Man. This refusal–“ I will not serve”–stemmed from pride. Therefore, the root of Lucifer’s fall as well as the other 1/3 angels who rejected God, was most likely pride and disobedience.

And since then, the bad angels (now known as demons) want to do everything they can, to cause the loss of human souls to show their anger towards God. Satan and his demons use temptation to persuade human beings to sin.

For example, in the first reading from Genesis, Satan tempted Adam and Eve, and in the Gospel, Jesus was tempted by Satan. Both were tempted in three ways. First--Adam was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree. Second--He was tempted to vain glory “your eyes will be opened”. His third temptation was to the height of pride “you will be like gods”.

Jesus was also tempted with food—to change a rock into bread to satisfy is hunger from fasting. He was to tempted to vain glory ---to show off His power—by jumping off a cliff. His third temptation was the desire for worldly riches and fame to have all the kingdoms of the world, so as to hold God in contempt.

We are all tempted in three different ways, the world, our self and from evil spirits. So not all temptations come from evil spirits.

Everyone is tempted. If Jesus was tempted, we are tempted too. Jesus, as God, overcame every temptation, and as God, we turn to Him to help us overcome ours.

Often times, people try to overcome temptations by themselves, and forget they need Jesus, who came to save us from our sins. Our Lord has also given us the sacraments and sacramentals to help us.

Confession is the most powerful way to turn away from temptations. In confession, we are washed in the blood of Jesus, our sins are forgiven and completely absolved, we receive sacramental graces to overcome sin, we receive advice from Jesus, through the priest to help us with our temptations.

Being in the presence of the Holy Sacrifice, we receive sacramental grace from the Cross of Jesus. When we receive Holy Communion, the Lord comes to dwell within us and gives us spiritual gifts, such as consolation, spiritual strength to turn away from sin, our union with Jesus helps us to practice virtue. We receive love poured into our hearts when our heart is united to the Heart of Jesus.

We also have sacramentals, that bestow grace, especially crucifixes, scapulars, holy water, medals, rosaries. The St. Benedict Medal has power due to an exorcism prayer prayed by a priest.

We also have the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the many saints that we can turn to, in time of temptation. Our guardian angel’s mission is to help us become holy, to grow in love of God, to protect us from evil spirits and help us to get to heaven. We should pray the guardian angel prayer everyday. We can also specifically ask our guardian angel to help us during temptations. We also have other good angels as well, especially St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, who we can turn to.

St. Michael is especially helpful when battling against evil spirits because as a lowly archangel, he stood up and led the other good angels to cast out Lucifer and the fallen angels. In response to Lucifer’s rejection of God, “he will not serve”, St. Michael is believed to have said, “Who is like God?”

A number of years ago, Bishop Kemme asked all priests pray the St. Michael prayer at the end of Mass. But we should also pray the St. Michael prayer when tempted, because when we call upon St. Michael, he immediately comes.

I have a rock from St. Michael’s cave, where it is believed St. Michael appeared to people on a British island. It is a wonderful sacramental I keep next to my bed and at times carry with me.

We need to have blessed objects like statues, crucifixes, blessed pictures of Jesus, Mary and the saints in every room of the house.

We should pray when we under temptation, especially, the Our Father, which asks us to be delivered from evil and the Hail Mary is very effective. The Virgin Mary is the new sinless Eve and She is the one who is at enmity with Satan. She has tremendous power over all evil spirits. She is the queen of angels, which means, evil spirits, who are fallen angels, must submit to Her power and authority given to Her by God. Besides the Hail Mary, we can pray, the prayer on the miraculous medal, which states, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee.”

By wearing a miraculous medal, or a crucifix, demons have difficulty tempting us. A simple sign of the Cross, will cause demons to flee. When we call upon the name of Jesus, every knee must bow and every tongue confess, Jesus is Lord. The name of Mary is likewise powerful too.

The world and each of us are in a spiritual battle. And we need to take up our weapons for battle. The power from all these weapons comes from Jesus, who is God, and who overcame every temptation of the devil. He is like us in all things, but sin.

Jesus wants to help us. We need to turn Him often and remember He is always with us. When we have Jesus, we have nothing to fear. Demons like darkness, but the light of Christ scatters all darkness, because light can not be over come. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who walks with me, does not walk in darkness.”

When someone remains in mortal sin, people don’t realize it, but demons influence them because are not in the state of grace.

Evil spirits can tempt children and adults through the Ouija board, astrology, wicca, black and white magic, video games with magic, spells & wizardry and... the dark web are all portals for evil spirits to enter into our life. Evil spirits hate us. They want to destroy us. They want us to burn in hell forever by rejecting God. You know the old saying, “If you mess with fire, your gonna get burned.”

If you have ever played these in the past, you should confess them to break any kind of attachment, you may have to them.

Jesus, wants us to be with Him in heaven, where there is peace, joy, happiness and love. We need to reject sin and temptations. We should hate sin, but love sinners.

Evil spirits can cause addictions and they can use them to negatively influence us. There are many kinds of addictions such as pornography, gambling, stealing, alcohol, drugs, excessive watching of television, the internet, video games. We should confess these in confession. Confession can break bonds with sin, and it removes evil from our lives, through repentance and sacramental grace. Confession is the most powerful way to break addictions, however sometimes we need supplemental help, such a deliverance prayers, therapy, treatment or medicine.

In the bulletin this weekend, I attached “Prayers of Protection” anyone can pray. When we are battling against evil spirits through temptation, we can bind them, and ask Jesus to deliver us us from them. Through baptism, we have the authority of Jesus to be delivered from evil spirits such as, “In the name of Jesus, I bind the evil spirit of lust or greed or anger, or the demon of addiction of gambling, to leave me and command you to go to the foot of the Cross of Jesus and remain there until Jesus sees fit what to do with you.”

But, we should not directly command them to leave others. For example its dangerous to say, “I command you evil spirit, etc…to leave a specific person.” Only priests and exorcists can command evil spirits in that way, because they have the authority to do it.

Exorcists have authority by the bishop to expel demons. Over the years, I have seen people who are possessed. A 19 year old man, became possessed by playing tarot cards, just one time. The repeated playing of the Ouija board can lead to possession too. When someone is attached to a serious sin and refuse to try to turn away from it, they too can be possessed. Our diocese has a priest exorcist, who can expel demons from a possessed person.

It may surprise you, yoga is an opening for evil spirits. Priest exorcists warn against yoga, because the meditations, breathing exorcises and positions, were originally created to worship false gods. This does not mean, people can’t do stretching exercises, but we should not do them in the form and manner used by another religion.

A pentagram or the numbers 666 can attract evil spirits. Some, will say, I just like the shape of the design of the pentagram, or I just like the numbers, or I don’t have any bad intention, but, these kinds of things are Satan’s instruments and we should avoid them because they attract evil spirits.

We should have our house blessed once a year by a priest and it is a very good practice to sprinkle holy water regularly and even each night in our bedrooms, before we go to bed.

I would like to tell you a short story about the importance of blessing the home. If a grave sin occurred in a house or any location, demons become attached to that place. For example, if there is a murder or illegal drugs are used, or if someone played the Oujia board or in a certain place, the room will attract demons.

When I was in Wichita, as an associate, I was asked to bless a home of a woman who had a 3 year child. She told me late at night she would hear footsteps and the TV and toys would turn on by themselves. At first, I thought she was crazy. I told her to unplug the TV and take out the batteries of the toys and I would come to bless her house. When I did the blessing, as I made the sign of the cross, we all felt a gust of cold wind go through the house. A few weeks after the blessing, while tearing up carpet, they discovered a pentagram used by a previous occupant of the house. They removed it, and I came to bless the house again, and there was no more problems after that.

We should not be afraid of evil spirits, but rather be afraid to commit sin because serious sin can cause us to end up in hell and because sin hurts and offends God, who loves us.

If we stay in the state of grace, if we pray regularly, if we go to confession regularly, attend Mass regularly and receive Holy Communion often, while in the state of grace, we will be protected.

Jesus loves us and cares for us. He does not allow us to be tempted more than we can handle. By our successful fighting against them and overcoming them. Temptations can actually help us to grow in virtue and holiness. As we begin Lent, I encourage you to turn to Jesus, His sacraments and sacramentals, to help you overcome temptations.

Evil spirits do not only tempt in gardens and deserts, they tempt us wherever we are. But compared to God, they are like dust bunnies.

Ash Wednesday

 

Lent it a time to reflect upon ways we can draw closer to Jesus and remember life is short because we are dust and to dust we shall return. We can draw closer to Jesus, through prayer, fasting, alms giving and repentance.

In our private prayer time with Jesus everyday, we should tell Him we love Him and we worship him. Then tell Jesus your sins. Our lies, gossiping, angry thoughts, using dirty words, disobeying parents, fighting with our brothers and sisters, not doing our homework, having impure thoughts, looking at bad things on the internet. Being lazy, self-pity, etc.. Pride, selfishness, etc.. and then tell Jesus you are sorry for our sins by making an Act of Contrition. Its important to daily thank Jesus for the many good things he does for us. Having a roof over our head, food to eat, clothing to wear, family who cares about us, a good school to attend, the gift of our faith, etc.. And finally, we should pray for others, especially the sick, the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the lonely, pray for the poor souls in purgatory, that they can go to heaven. We can pray for our own needs too. We receive lots of graces when we daily pray the Rosary.

By fasting we deny our self nourishment which helps us to love and care about the poor who don’t always have food to eat. Fasting helps us to control our appetite, so we deny our self unnecessary pleasures. Fasting causes us to hunger for Jesus, the Bread of Life in the Eucharist. Fasting is powerful against evil and temptations. Fasting strengthens our will so we can more easily turn away from sin. Fasting not only cleanses our body, but especially our soul. In addition to abstaining from meat on Ash Wednesday & Fridays of Lent, we could fast once or twice a week.

Jesus wants us to give alms to the poor. When helping the poor, we should first look to those in our own family and community that could use financial help. And then the larger church in other places like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, pregnancy centers. Remember what Jesus said, “What you do the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” When we help the poor, we are truly helping Jesus in disguise of the poor.

All of us should confess our sins monthly. To confess once a month and from here on afterward to confess every month regularly, this way, when its time to go to our judgment, we will have few sins on our soul and not spend much time in purgatory. It also can help prevent us from dying with a mortal sin on our soul, which will cause us to lose heaven forever.

When a priest places ashes on the forehead he has two choices he could say. One choice is: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Or he can say, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” When we say we are dust and to dust we shall return, it means this life is short and passes away quickly. Ashes also reminds us to do penance for our sins. To turn away from evil and turn toward God.

In European countries, ashes are placed on the top of the head, so no body can see they are doing penance. In the US and other countries, ashes are placed on the forehead as a witness to our faith as Catholics.

At the end of Mass each person will receive a miraculous medal. I encourage you to wear it everyday during Lent to be a witness to your faith. In the Gospel Jesus said to keep our deeds, like alms giving, prayer and fasting secret. But Our Lord also wants us to be a witness to others. You can also give a miraculous medal to a friend or family member. We should have enough for each person to take two medals. They all have a string attached and are blessed.

Dear friends let us resolve to make this a holy Lent. Through prayer, fasting, alms giving and by turning away from sin and turning towards Jesus living out the Gospel, we will have a fruitful Lent.

 

Saints Francisco & Jacinta - Feb. 20th

 

Today, Feb. 20^th is the Feast of Saint Jacinta and Francisco. In 1917, when Jacinta was 7 years old, when Francisco was 9 yrs old, and when Lucia was 10 yrs. old, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them in Fatima, Portugal.

God chose to reveal to the children the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asking reparation be made for sins, which offend Her Heart. Our Lady showed the children a vision of hell. They saw many souls falling into hell, because no one did penance or offered sacrifices for them. This vision caused the children to offer many prayers, sacrifices and penances on behalf of sinners, and to make reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The three children did penance, by fasting and not drinking water, when they were thirsty. They gave their food to poor children and so they went hungry. They also tied a rope around their waist, and even wore it to bed. However, Our Lady appeared the children and told the children to take the rope off, before going to bed, (but could keep it on, while they were awake). Due to the angel’s appearance to the children, they would do penance by kneeling on the ground reciting the prayer of the angel taught them: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love you.”

Lucia would become a nun in a Carmelite monastery, and do penance as a religious sister. She was called Sr. Mary Lucia of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Little Francisco’s penance was to console our Lord in the tabernacle. He often was found praying before the hidden Jesus in the Eucharist. Jacinta was known for her strict fasting, and long hours of prayer. She was somewhat of a mystic, and at times, could predict future events. When her coffin was opened, she was found to be incorrupt.

The three children suffered much, and were even thrown into prison, suffering at the hands of authorities, whom threatened, to be put them in boiling oil.

However, the children’s penance, which was most pleasing to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was the penance of fulfilling their daily duties, and by accepting and patiently bearing, all the sufferings God would send them.

They were constantly offering all kinds of sacrifices, as a penance, in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and begged for the conversion of poor sinners. Jacinta and Francisco died shortly after the apparitions, which fulfilled the prophecy of Our Lady, that She would soon come, to take both of them to heaven. Lucia died in the Carmelite monastery at Coimbra, Portugal at the age of 97, on Feb. 13th, 2005. Francisco and Jacinta were canonized May 13^th, 2017 in Fatima, Portugal.

As we begin Lent children of Fatima inspire us to do all different kinds of penances, especially fulfilling our daily duties, accepting sufferings as they come, praying for the conversion of sinners, and to pray in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

7th Sunday - Retaliation, Body is Temple of the Holy Spirit

 

Today’s homily I will focus on the law of forgiveness also called the law of retaliation which was before the time of Jesus and how Jesus elevated the law of forgiveness. I will also speak about how we are to treat our body and the bodies of others, as temples of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us to forgive. Before the time of Jesus, the Israelites were given what was called the law of retaliation. Jesus refers to this law in today’s Gospel, when He said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. What does eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth mean?

Before the law of retaliation was given to the Israelites, when someone was injured or offended, they would return the injustice by vengeance, which was often time, worse than the original offense. But the law of retaliation prevented this.

Rather, for example, if you punched someone in the face and it caused him to go blind in one eye, he could legally hit you in your eye to cause you to go blind in one eye. Or if you were hit in the mouth, and a tooth broke off, you could hit him in the mouth and cause one tooth to break off. Without the law of retaliation, one would break more than one tooth or cause both eyes to go blind through returning an injury. Because of the law of retaliation, the dispute was supposed to be taken to a judge, who would be sure that no one would respond in a way that did more harm-- than the harm that was done to them.

In the New Testament, Jesus established an even greater advance with regard to forgiveness and mercy. He said, “If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well”. “If someone presses you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.”

The Christian is to submit to an injustice, rather than retaliating in a spirit of anger. The Christian should therefore, prepare to bear injuries for the glory and honor of God and the salvation of souls, rather than to return punishment to the one who hurt us.

Yet, this does not mean we should always patiently submit to personal injuries. For example, when Jesus was struck on the face by the servant of the high priest, Our Lord said, “If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness to the wrong, but I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?’ In another words, because Jesus didn’t submit to the injustice, it prevented the servant from doing it again, and therefore, prevented the man from committing an additional sin.

Jesus wants to help us to understand--at times, it is better to virtuously, put up with injustice, and at other times---it is better to defend oneself, with the goal of helping to bring someone to repentance.

When I was in 6^th grade, I had an 8^th grade friend, who I will call Billy the bully. Billy is not his real name. In 6^th grade, I weighed maybe 90 pounds. Two years older than I, Billy was tall, weighed 180 pounds and was very strong.

He used to pick me up over his head and threaten to throw me across the yard, but he never did. When we wrestled, he would pin me down for a long time, which greatly angered me. He would pick me up and squeeze me with a bear hug for about 10 minutes, which caused me to be angry at him because I felt helpless. He wanted to prove how strong he was. He would tighten his stomach muscles and tell me to hit him in the gut, as hard as I could. Out of obedience, I threw my hardest punch in his gut, but he would just laugh and tell me to do it again. He never once flinched.

One day, when he wasn’t looking, I landed the hardest punch I could, in his very soft gut. I was shocked. It didn’t seem to bother him at all. However, he returned the punch in my gut and I doubled over and fell to the ground. I couldn’t breathe. I had the wind knocked out of me. Once I was able to breathe, I went home crying. Seeing my pain, he kept apologizing, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have hit you that hard.” I was angry at him for a long time. I should have forgiven him, especially since he made it known he was sorry, but I didn't.

So now let’s remember, the Old testament rule, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. According to the law of retaliation, he had a right to hit me, as hard as I hit him. But, we were just kids and goofing around, we had no idea about the law of retaliation.

However, based upon the new law, given by Jesus, it would have best if Billy turned the other cheek and perhaps warned me not hit him without his permission, and if I would do it again the future, he may retaliate. But as young kids, neither of us had that in mind and we were just playing around.

The next question is, if someone gives you permission to hit him, is it okay? When I was in high school, I took a summer Karate boxing class. I was a very small young man, maybe weighed 120 at the most. But I was absolutely vicious when boxing. In fact, I never lost a match. No matter, the size of my opponent, all were afraid of me. I had absolutely no empathy towards my opponents. I could care less if I caused them pain. It was understood we each had each other’s permission to hit each other because that was part of the game.

We wore different color belts (white, yellow, brown, the coach wore a black belt). We would get a certain number of points if we kicked or punched our opponent depending on if we hit them in the head or the torso, or if it was our foot or our boxing glove etc..

One day, I punched a kid and he flew back and landed on his back. The coach blew his whistle, got into my face and said, “What are you doing! Your not supposed to hit your opponent as hard as you can, your only supposed to make contact!” 

It was at that moment, I realized there was something wrong with me, that I wanted to hit someone as hard as I could, and not care if it caused him pain. After that, I lost all matches. I was afraid to hit my opponents.

What was beneath, that rage, that viciousness, that lack of caring for another human being? I will give you a hint, in the first reading, it said, “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

It took me years to understand why I did, what I did. Beneath that rage, that viciousness, that lack of caring for others, was a grudge and a desire for revenge, that I didn’t even know I had. Guess, where it came from? It came from Billy, the bully. I saw Billy in my opponents. I wanted to get even with Billy. And saw my opponents as though they were him.

What I really needed to do was to forgive him. And once I forgave, the anger and desire for revenge went away. As it said in the first reading, “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Is there anyone, you need to forgive? Its as simple, as saying, “Jesus, I forgive Billy”. Or I forgive my mother or my father, or my sister or my friend or the bully at school. With forgiveness comes peace in our heart and we should confess our unforgiveness or a grudge in confession too.

But, if you have someone’s permission, is it okay, to hit them, even if they might get injured?

In the second reading St. Paul said, “Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”

Why do you think St. Paul made this statement? What was going on during his time? There were large amphitheaters, where thousands of people would watch gladiators fight to death. Or gladiators would fight wild animals. The people would cheer when another gladiator struck his opponent severing his arm or if he loped off his head. Don’t you think it would be seriously sinful to take pleasure in watching another person get seriously wounded or to be killed?

Perhaps that is why St. Paul wanted to remind the people of Corinth, our body is temple of the Holy Spirit.

When I was in 7^th grade, I went out for football. I was the smallest kid on the team and very skinny. One day, during practice, the coach told me to put my head down and hit the other kid as hard as I could in his waist. So when the ball was snapped, I ran across the line and hit other kid to make room for the running back. The other kid, whose name was Jeff, was knocked to the ground and the coach hollered, “That’s it, you did great. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do.” But Jeff, just laid there groaning. He couldn’t get up. His mother happened to be at the practice and helped him up. She took him to the hospital and Jeff had to have emergency surgery. When I hit him, his appendix ruptured. I felt awful. He could have died. Back then, I was not religious. I didn’t visit him in the hospital and didn’t even pray for him. I no longer liked football and didn’t want to play anymore. And Jeff ended up a big scar from surgery.

“Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”

Have you ever watched UFC fighting? Years ago, before I was a priest, I used to watch it. Both men, have each other’s permission to hit and kick and even to knock the other out. But, does that make it right? Did you know when someone is knocked out, it’s actually a concussion that causes swelling of the brain? Broken teeth, cuts on the face and hands, damage caused to the brain happens at these fights. Even if someone allows another person to hurt them, for the sake of seeing who is stronger, does that make it right? It seems to me, it would be seriously sinful to take pleasure in watching another person get injured. It is also sinful to allow someone to physically injure us.

We should treat each other as a temple of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So, if you don’t love yourself enough to care for your own body, is that a good thing? We need to love our self, we need to care for and protect our body. We are created in God’s image and likeness. As human beings we have dignity and should treat our self and others with dignity. That dignity comes from God, who dwells in each of us through baptism.

When I was pastor in Halstead, I had four altar servers who were severely injured in football. A 6^th grade boy got a concussion. One altar server got a broken arm. A former altar server played college football and shattered a bone in his leg and tore ligaments. He had to wear a cast for almost 6 months and then needed physical therapy so he could walk normally. He walked with a limp for almost a year.

A junior in high school got a concussion. The brain injury cause him to have problems with his mind. His brain injury was bad, he became paranoid and tried to burn down is own home.

Often times, people with concussions are unable to control their emotions and have extreme anger outbursts. The doctor told his parents, if he gets another concussion, it could have severe consequences. The boy slowly got better and despite the doctors recommendation, they let him play again, because they said, “He likes to play.” Thanks be to God, he didn’t get another concussion and his paranoia went away. But, he was put in a very dangerous situation, that could have affected him for the rest of his life.

“Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”

We have an obligation to care for our self and our body. To care for our children, not only physically, but especially spiritually.

I believe we need to re-evaluate what is most important in our life. God must be first. Our children’s religious education must come before any school activity that prevents our children from growing in their faith. If we fail to do that, we are failing to help our children to get to heaven. It’s great to win a championship, but its infinitely greater to win glory in heaven. When it’s all said and done, only faith in Jesus helps us to get to heaven. Every other worldly pursuit, no matter how good is straw compared to our eternal life in heaven.

Listen to the words of St. Paul, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run so that you may attain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

St. Paul pommeled his body by fasting, overcoming temptations, denying himself and striving for virtue.

Listen to the words of St. John Chrysostom. He said, “We bloodied no weapons, nor stood on the battle line, nor bore any wounds, nor saw any fighting, and yet we won the victory. All this was the glorious result of the Cross….The cross is our trophy raised against the demons, our sword against sin, and the sword Christ used to pierce the serpent. The cross is the Father’s will, the glory of the only-begotten, the joy of the spirit, the pride of angels, the guarantee of the Church, Paul’s boast, the bulwark of the saints, the light to the entire world.”

My friends, let us look to receive the crown of glory that never fades, by practicing our faith, learning our faith, making sure our children have the opportunity to learn their faith, and by sharing our faith with others. May, the Virgin Mary, whose body was a temple, when She carried Her unborn Infant Son, who is God, in Her womb, help us to love and care for our own temples and the temples of each other, with love.

6th Thursday - Peter & Infallibility

 

Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” The disciples did not directly answer the question, bur referred, to what others say who Jesus is. They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And so, Jesus asked them point blank, “But who do you, say that I am?” There most likely would have been a bit of silence, as most were afraid to say anything.

But Peter boldly proclaims, “You are the Christ.” Here Peter, the first Pope, spoke on faith and morals. The Church declares that popes have the gift of never erring in their proclamation of faith and morals, when binding all the faithful of the universal Church to believe it. This gift is called papal infallibility.

However, popes can make errors in faith and morals when they say things in homilies or in Church documents, encyclicals personal conversations or interviews, that contradict the faith, because they are human. But a pope can never bind all the faithful to believe a doctrine that contradicts Church teaching on faith or morals.

Today’s Gospel ends with Jesus rebuking Peter. Our Blessed Lord told His disciples that He would suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes and then be killed, and rise on the third day. Not wanting Jesus to go to Jerusalem to be crucified, Peter rebukes Jesus. Our Divine Lord returns the rebuke, with His own rebuke, and states, “Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Peter rebuked Jesus, because He didn’t want Him to go to Jerusalem. He wanted to prevent Jesus from suffering and dying, which is a noble thing to do. However, Our Lord wanted Peter to know, he was thinking in an earthly way, not a heavenly way. Back then and even today, people view suffering and pain and death as a terrible misery to avoid.

But Jesus wanted to teach Peter and us a lesson that when suffering and pain is united to the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross, and when we embrace pain and suffering its precious and valuable and good for our salvation and the salvation of souls.

Peter would eventually embrace pain, suffering and death because he would later be martyred for Jesus, by crucifixion, upside down.

Today, let us give thanks to God for the gift, He has given us, through the popes, which is the gift of the office of St. Peter, to always, without fail, guide and lead, the Church on faith and morals, despite their human weakness.

6th Sunday - Heaven, Hell, Purgatory

Today’s readings speak of heaven, hell and purgatory.

The book of Sirach, mentions both heaven and hell. It said, “If you keep the commandments, they will save you.” For what are the commandments saving you? Hell. The reading goes on to say, “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” Life refers to eternal life, which is heaven. Death refers to eternal death, which is hell. Whatever he chooses, will be given him.

In the second reading, Paul mentions heaven, he 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.” There is nothing on earth that we see or hear compared to heaven. We can’t imagine the joy, the love, the peace, the beauty, the wonder and awe of heaven. I gave a homily on heaven about three months ago.

In the Gospel today, Jesus mentions, heaven, purgatory and hell. With regard to heaven, Our Lord speaks about those who obey and teach the commandments, will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven and one must be more righteous than the Pharisees to enter the kingdom of heaven.

In speaking of purgatory, Our Lord 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.” Jesus makes it clear the offender must pay for his sins. He is referring to a temporary prison (purgatory) and will then be released once he paid the price for what he has done. The court refers to our personal judgment at death. The judge refers to Jesus, who is our eternal judge. We should daily pray for the poor souls in purgatory to relieve them of their suffering and help their soul to be purified for heaven. I preached on purgatory in the past.

This weekend, I thought I would focus on hell. I have actually rarely preaching on it during a Sunday Mass. The Gospel mentions hell three times.“Whoever says, ‘You fool’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.” During the time of Jesus, if a person would call someone a fool, it would be the same as if they would disown the person and would never have anything to do with them. Because to call someone a fool back then was a very serious offense, that’s why Jesus said the person would be liable to Gehenna. Today, when we call someone a fool, it takes on a different meaning, and more likely mean to be imprudent.

Jesus also said twice, “It is better if you lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.” The Catechism states, “Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” or “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. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he “will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,” and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!” CCC #1034

Some may think it would be cruel to speak about hell in the presence of children, yet the Virgin Mary, showed hell to the three children of Fatima, ages 10, 8, and 7. Lucia describes their vision of hell. 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. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear." Our Lady 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 fire of Hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy." Because of that vision, every time we pray the Rosary, we pray 5 times Jesus will save souls from the fires of hell.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, promises, those who wear the scapular and live out their Christian faith, will not suffer eternal fire.

St. Jean Marie Vianney used to preach the greatest act of charity towards our neighbor is to save their soul from Hell. He said, the second act of charity is to deliver souls from Purgatory.

The souls in hell hear curses, complaints, accusations, weeping and gnashing of teeth. No kind or friendly word will ever fall on their ear, nothing but groans and shrieks to which they add to their own lamentations and unavailing regrets. There is no love in hell. There is only hate and despair. Since, hell is everlasting, that it means it lasts forever and ever. Torture, pain and suffering forever.

Today many think God is too merciful to send anyone to hell. Some say there is no hell or that its empty. Others believe everyone goes straight to heaven, as though no one goes to purgatory or to hell. But all of this contradicts the words of Jesus who said hell is everlasting. God is not only infinitely merciful, He is also infinitely just. But His greatest attribute, is His mercy.

The Church teaches that every sin has punishment due to it, and that is why we are supposed to do penance for our sins. If justice is expected in this life through civil laws wouldn’t God expect justice in the life to come? Whether its purgatory or hell.

How does someone go to hell? By committing one mortal sin, and then dying without being repentant of it. Mother Angelica told the story, that a priest told her. The priest went to visit a dying man in the hospital and the man was very angry. He ordered the priest to leave his room. But the priest took out a crucifix and handed it to the man and said, “See how much Jesus loves you. He died for you, that your sins be forgiven. Please tell Jesus you’re sorry for your sins.” But the man took the crucifix and threw it against the wall causing it to get broken into pieces and said, “I don’t want to go to heaven. I want to go to hell.” And at that moment, sadly to say, the man died. How terrible!

The vision of hell caused the children of Fatima, to not 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. This is why the children of Fatima wore a rope around their waist as a penance and why they fasted often and gave away their food to other poor children, why they themselves went hungry. Although they never had a vision of heaven, they wanted all souls to go there because of love.

To see the Virgin Mary in a way that was so full of splendor caused them to want to go to heaven to be with God, with Mary and the angels and saints.

The Baltimore Catechism states committing a mortal sin is like renewing the passion of Jesus. Its like crucifying Jesus. Some will say, I love Jesus, but yet they commit a mortal sin. If we love Jesus, we would do everything we can to not hurt Him. Every sin wounds Jesus, but mortal sin, cuts off our relationship with God and wounds our soul mortally.

We shouldn’t only avoid mortal sin out of the 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.

Today, let us seek the kingdom of heaven and do everything we can to keep it. May 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, we should immediately ask the Lord to forgive us.

Finally, let us do penance, offer up our sufferings, make sacrifices and pray the rosary daily for the conversion of sinners, so that as we help many souls to 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.

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, and refuge of sinners, help to trust Jesus and believe that no matter how many or how big sins we commit, God will always forgive us, if we humbly ask pardon for them.