Christmas through Mary's Eyes

 

Let us enter into this holy night when Jesus was born through the eyes and Heart of Mary. When Caesar August made a decree that all the world should be enrolled for a census everyone had to return to their hometown from their family generation and register. Joseph took Mary his pregnant wife on an 80-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. But back then, they had no cars or trains or airplanes. Being poor, Joseph and Mary had a donkey that would carry their provisions and allow Mary to sit upon his back, but not the whole journey, for that was too long for the animal to carry an adult. Rich people had horses or camels, but Joseph and Mary were poor, and so had a lowly donkey. It would have been very difficult traveling for a woman 9 months pregnant. From all the jostling while ridding the donkey, Mary wouldn’t have been very comfortable. Due to walking with the donkey, it would take 3 or 4 days to make the long journey. They would have had to sleep out in the open air at night for 3 nights. Where they camped, Joseph gathered wood and lit a fire for the couple to keep warm. It would be a 20-mile daily walk for 4 days. Their feet must have been sore. They must have been thirsty and hungry and eating only the small provisions they brought with them. They needed to be sure the donkey had grain, and stopped every now and then, so it could drink water by a stream. Surely Joseph and Mary prayed the psalms together, that all Jews memorized, and daily prayed together. Mary noticed the hidden sacrifices of Joseph. She saw his bloody feet from walking. She saw how he ate less to allow Mary to eat more. She saw how he was careful to protect Her from passerby's heading in the opposite direction. She witnessed his humility, his trust and how he prayed so fervently when alone. When they weren’t talking, Mary prayed to the unborn Jesus in Her womb, and to God the Father in heaven, asking the Lord for safe travel, to help the world to be ready for the birth of Her child, and asked God to bless the world with peace.

Mary’s intellect and memory was perfect because She didn’t suffer from original sin. Therefore, Mary’s memory would have easily recalled the prophecy of Micah, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The prophet said “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” She therefore knew She was going to give birth to Him in Bethlehem.

She understood, She fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “a virgin shall conceive and bear and son and name Him Emmanuel, because God is with us.” When the angel appeared to Her, and announced She was going to bear a Son, and name Him Jesus, because He would free the people from their sins, She knew His role would be to reunite humanity back to God, to undo Adam’s disobedience. She knew by the angel’s words, Jesus is an eternal King whose throne would be given to Him by his father David and His kingdom would not end. Therefore, out of humility, She knew when Jesus came into Her womb, She was a queen, because back then, the mother of the Jewish King was a queen. Mary also knew within Her womb was the Messiah, and so is the Mother of the Messiah. But something began to cause Her to become anxious. The words from Isaiah, haunted her, that said, His hands and feet would be pierced and that He would be scorned and mocked. She wondered how this would be for Her Son. She understood that if Jesus was the Son of the Most High, that He is God, and therefore, She is the Mother of God. Imagine the prayers She prayed to Her unborn Child, when She carried Her divine Son in Her womb for 9 months. Imagine Her humility by not saying a word to anyone about who He is within Her. Imagine Her prayers to the unborn baby Jesus for humanity, for the Jewish people to accept Him, love Him and honor Him. Within Her womb, She adores thy divine Majesty; she gives thanks to His mercy; she rejoices that she has was chosen for the sublime ministry of being Mother to God. How She must have looked forward to moment She would gaze upon the real and true face God. She certainly could not wait to hold Him in Her arms, to lavish Him with kisses, and pour Her love into His tiny beating Heart. How She praised God for allowing Her to always remain a virgin, and yet be a mother, and so She would comfort, console, take care of, and breastfeed Her child. She longed for the day, She would bathe Him, teach Him to walk, explain the scriptures and ask Him questions, knowing He is God and had all the answers.

When they finally arrived in Bethlehem, they stood in line at the census booth, and when it was their turn, the holy couple recorded their names of “Joseph and Mary of the house of David”. But since the child was not yet born, His name was not to be recorded. They longed to sleep indoors, to get cleaned up from their travel, and to rest in a nice warm inn. But after going door to door, Joseph became sad and upset that he was unable to provide a comfortable place for his pregnant wife about to give birth. He was hurt by the cold hearted innkeepers. Mary trusted God would provide a place for them, and She prayed for those who were rude to them. Back then most people were born in homes and perhaps even at times in an inn. The shepherds who lived out in the field, had to give birth in caves or in tents. Mary and Joseph wondered where they would spend the night? Finally, a woman carrying a pail of water pointed out to them, a cave with animals. In the cave was a stable, and it smelled like manure from the ox and cattle within in it. Joseph gathered some straw, cleaned the floor of the cave and laid straw on the ground for Mary to lay down. Just after he gathered firewood and lit the fire, he went to fetch some water for them to drink. But when he was away, it is then, Mary laid down on the soft blanket. Because She did not suffer from original sin, She was not under the curse of Eve, whom the God said, would have labor pains during childbirth. Mary therefore, would not suffer any pain when giving birth.

Mary suddenly felt a profound peace come over Her. Her heart started to race, because She was excited about being able to hold the infant in Her arms. Suddenly from Her womb a light burst forth from Her side, and there on the blanket, beside Her, laid the Infant Jesus. She quickly grabbed Him and hugged Him to Her chest, weeping tears of joy, She kissed His face and looked at His tiny hands and feet with awe. She cried out, “O Jesus, my God and my baby, how I longed to see your face. Who am I, that you would have me be Your Mother. You created the sun, the moon, the stars, all the wild creatures, the mountains, and flowers, streams, rivers and oceans, and yet you come to us, as a helpless baby to save this dark world from sin. O little Child, O divine Infant, light of the world, I pray for peace in the world, in our hearts and in our families. By the power and grace of your birth split the hearts made of rock and touch the souls of men and women everywhere to grant their conversion. O little Child, who is God, You came to save us from the devil and bring us into the light of heaven. I rejoice with the angels and with all my heart, for you have done great things for us and here You are now coming to us as a baby, so we won’t be afraid to come to you. O how I love you baby Jesus. I adore you my God and my Son. Bless Joseph and Me and help us to fulfill your will.”

So full is Her heart of that divine joy that she cannot keep it to herself, and desires, and even longs to be able to draw others into such a joy. In this moment of the birth of Christ, we are able to understand something of the immense depths

As Mary adored Him, He began to shiver, and so, and from her travel bag, she pulled out swaddling bands of cloth, and wrapped His little body, to keep Him warm. When She was holding Him, and gazing upon Him with the tender love of Her Heart, Joseph arrived and witnessed the sublime silhouette as the light of the fire lit the faces of the Mary and the Child. This image would remain, in His memory for the rest of His life. There they were, Mother and Child. She held Him tightly in Her arms and covered His little body with Her mantle. The image of the Madonna and Child, touched his manly heart. The little babe looked intently at Joseph and as their eyes met, they were both filled with joy. The Infant smiled at him and Joseph’s heart leapt in amazement.

Suddenly, in the distance, they could hear angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to people on earth”. Then there was silence, no animal moved, no owl hooted, the wind suddenly died down, and the silence of the night penetrated the entire earth.

Joseph cleaned the manger, used as a feeding trough, and laid soft hay within it. Mary took the Child Jesus, and laid Him in the manger and the two knelt down and bowed in adoration weeping for love of the little babe. Within a few minutes, shepherds from the field came bringing curds, milk, and honey and a few sheep. One of them spoke up and told them what they witnessed in the field with their sheep. He said, “An angel appeared to us and then there was a multitude of angels who sang. The angel told us to go quickly to Bethlehem and you will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” They asked to hold the baby Jesus, because as the angel said, “He is the Savior, who is the Christ, who is the Lord.” Joseph hesitated. He didn’t want strangers to touch the Child. But Mary nodded giving Her permission, She wanted all to adore Him. The Virgin Mary pondered how God chose the lowliest of the people in the area, who lived outside and had no homes of their own to reveal this incredible event and who the Child truly was. He was not born in a home or a palace for a king and not even in an inn, but rather in a cave where poor people were born. He wanted to be like the least of us, so that we would understand His love for everyone.

On this holy night, let us all look into the manger and cry out with joy, as we gaze upon the Divine Child with Mary and Joseph. “O Come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

4th Sunday, Conception

 

Today’s Gospel is the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, who came to announce to Her, that God desires Her to become the Mother of God, by the conception of Jesus. Mary cannot understand how She can become a mother, because She made a vow of virginity and was not going to break the vow. That’s why She said, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” But, the angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, etc…” The angel’s words gave Mary assurance by telling Her God helped Elizabeth in her old age to conceive a child, who we come know is John the Baptist.

The angel said, “After all, nothing is impossible for God”. Mary then gave Her yes, “Fiat”, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.” At that moment, Jesus, the Son of the living God, came down from heaven in Her womb. The divine person of Jesus united His divine nature with His new human nature, taken from the flesh of Mary. The person of Jesus is divine. We cannot say the person of Jesus is human, because His personhood is divine. He always existed. But when He came down from heaven, by the power of Holy Spirit, He also took upon human nature, called the “incarnation”, meaning “human flesh”.

The conception of Jesus is celebrated by the Church on March 25^th called the Solemnity of the Annunciation. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, Dec. 25^th because He was born 9 months after His conception, on March 25^th, the normal time it takes for a mother to carry Her child to full term. We don’t know if these are the exact dates of His conception or birth, but they are the dates the Church celebrates them.

Because Mary’s Immaculate Conception is celebrated on Dec. 8^th, we celebrate her birthday 9 months later on Sept. 8^th. Mary’s conception was free from original sin. The conception of Jesus was also free of sin, because He is God. We can call the conception of Jesus, “miraculous conception” because His conception occurred by the power of the Holy Spirit in a “miraculous” way.

If we celebrate the conception of Jesus and celebrate the conception of Mary, have you ever thought about celebrating your conception day, the day, you were conceived in your mother’s womb? While it may not be the actual day due to being born early or late, we can choose a day to celebrate our conception. For example, I celebrate my conception day on May 20^th, because my birthday is Feb. 20^th, 9 months before I was born.

Before we were conceived in our mother’s womb, God the Father in heaven, had the idea of creating us. Parents cooperate with God, and are called “co-creators” because they assist God, the creator, in bringing us into existence. At the moment we are created in our mother’s womb, God “places” an immortal soul within our body.

God knows the circumstances we will enter the world when we are born. Some are born into poverty, others into wealth or some enter the world with a single parent or others in a large family.

My oldest sister was created in my mother’s womb, before my parents were married. They divorced when I was 19. My parents eventually received an annulment and my mother re-married. An annulment declares a marriage invalid from the beginning.

After the annulment, I wondered if I was an illegitimate child. Did the annulment mean, I should have never been conceived, and never born, because my parents were never married. This greatly saddened me. But, No No No!

This type of thinking is false. The truth is the father of a child will always be the father. A mother will always be the mother. There is no such thing as an illegitimate child. God brings each person into the world by imparting a soul at the moment of conception. It’s not like He looked down from heaven and said, “Oh, no, here we go again. I have to bring a child into the world due to an accidental pregnancy.” God is not like that! When God creates a child, in the midst of difficult circumstances, He brings something beautiful out of it, (a child), created in the image and likeness of God. The presence of the child in -- what was thought to be an accident--, is there to help the mother and father to grow in love, and sometimes forgive each other or to change their life and lead a new one.

With God, there is no such thing as an “accidental” child. God intends every human being to come into the world, whom He creates, and when He creates the child. The day of our conception is something we should celebrate, no matter the circumstances. It’s the day God gave us life and an immortal soul, with the ability to choose heaven or hell.

Unlike all His other creatures, as human beings, our souls live forever because God created them to be immortal.

Today, some use “contra---ception”. Meaning “against” “conception”, to prevent the birth of a child.

On the weekend of Aug. 12^th and 13th, I did a mission in Oklahoma City on Contraception and Humanae Vitae, which is an encyclical of Pope Paul VI. The document explains why contra--ception is wrong. It tells God - “No”, for a child to come into the world; it prevents the total gift of self; it is contrary to God’s natural design; it can cause a person to use the other for pleasure. These are some of the reasons why it is mortally sinful to use contraception.

When couples begin to use contraception, they are being disobedient to the Church, but most likely don’t understand why.

Due to circumstances in a married couple’s life, they may be pressured into using contraception and not understood that it was sinful at the time. They also may have not known there was a safe, moral and more effective method to space children, when there are serious circumstances to do so. This is called Natural Family Planning, which is 99% effective much more effective than contraceptives.

I would like to give you an example. Suppose a priest discovers just before Mass, he is out of sacramental wine, and he doesn’t have time to go to a neighboring parish to get some. So he goes to the local liquor store and buys wine. He uses it for the Mass, and continues to use it. Later, he discovers the wine is made out of cherries, and therefore the Masses he offered were invalid, because the wine is supposed to be made of grapes. At seminary, he was taught to only use sacramental wine, but he was pressured into getting a different kind, and then was unaware of the severe consequences. It was a serious offense against God and the people of his parish. But, he didn’t intend to offend God or hurt anyone.

This is similar to those who began to use contraception. They are at first pressured into doing something they know they shouldn’t do, but don’t understand the severe consequences. Besides being a mortal sin due to the reasons I previously mentioned, there is also an even more grave reason to not use it.

Most people don’t know, the IUD, the pill, the patch, the injection-- all prevent a conceived child from implanting in the mother’s womb. It takes 5 days for a newly fertilized egg, (a baby), to travel down the Fallopian tube, and implant in the mother’s womb. But due to a device or medicine, it causes the womb to be irritated, and consequently, a newly conceived baby is unable to implant and dies. And the mother did not even know- she was pregnant. How sorrowful for mothers to learn this. They never would have done so, if they knew they could lose children from the medicine or device. They did not know or understand the grave consequences.

God has a purpose for every child conceived, even if it does not live long. God infinitely loves every person, no matter how small. Through the heartache of a child lost by miscarriage or by contraception, God helps the parents to love more, to greater appreciate their own life, and to look forward to being with the child in heaven. So every time, they think of the child, they think of heaven. God brings good out of everything.

We must realize, we are all human, and we all make mistakes, and sometimes we do not realize their gravity until later. For example, the priest should have never used wine from a liqour store, without first seeing if it was acceptable or not. He should have obeyed what the Church wanted and not risk invalid Masses. This is true for those who began to use contraception. They knew they were being disobedient to the Church, but they never checked into why it was wrong, or the consequences of doing so. But, later discover how grievous it was.

Whatever the sin, no matter how big, or how many, Our Lord’s Divine Mercy is for everyone. He wants to wash away all our sins in the ocean of His mercy. All He desires for us-- is to give our sins to Him. Jesus was conceived in His Mother’s womb to save us from our sins. He is our loving Savior. Jesus doesn’t want us to walk around beating our self over the head for what we did. Rather, all He wants of us, is to give Him our sins, and have confidence in His mercy, and once it’s confessed, to put our sins behind us, and forgive ourself.

When Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary, and She went in haste to visit Her cousin Elizabeth, I am sure She prayed to Him inside her womb. She became the first tabernacle, the first one to adore His physical presence.

We can pray to the unborn Jesus through Mary. For example, we can pray:

“O Jesus, Son of the Most High God, and Son of the Virgin Mary, who created the heavens, the stars and every living creature. By the power of the Holy Spirit, You came down from heaven in the womb of Mary. When Your Mother visited Elizabeth, a 5-day journey from the moment of your conception, You did not have eyes, or hands or feet or even a beating heart. Yet, through the womb of your Mother and through the womb of St. Elizabeth, You blessed the unborn John the Baptist, and sanctified him, causing him to leap for joy. I thank you for my conception and birth, and pray, You will bless and protect all unborn children, and help mothers and fathers to follow God’s plan for marriage, spacing their children using Natural Family Planning, so no conceived child will die unnaturally, from a contra- “ception”. We also pray Lord, for mothers and fathers who have lost a child or children, that You will comfort them by pouring your love into their hearts in Holy Communion. Just as Your Mother was a Tabernacle, carrying Your physical presence for 9 months, and She prayed to You within Her, so we become tabernacles when Your physical presence comes down upon the altar-- when the bread is changed into your Body and when we receive Your flesh and blood, within our Heart in Holy Communion.

Give us O unborn baby Jesus, the graces, we need to love others, and to grow in our faith, so that someday, we may be with You and Your Mother in heaven.

When my soul, originally conceived in my mother’s womb, departs from this life, and be with You forever, then, on a future day, known to Father alone, at the resurrection of the dead, my soul will be reunited with its glorified body, and all will leap for joy because You will have blessed us through Mary, your Mother. Amen.”

3rd Sunday of Advent - Jesus is the Messiah

  

In the first reading today, Isaiah the prophet said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners, etc...”

The Jewish people knew this prophecy referred to the Messiah. Isaiah also predicted, “the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” (Isaiah 35:5) The messiah would bring good news and physically heal the sick.

Just as Jesus began His public ministry, he quoted the prophet of Isaiah in a synagogue saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” Then, when He sat down, He said, “Today, these words are fulfilled in your hearing.” By reading this scripture and saying it is fulfilled in their hearing, Jesus was declaring Himself the Messiah.

In the Gospel today, John the Baptist first states he is not the Christ, but rather declares himself, the prophet who Isaiah predicted would be sent to prepare for the way of the Lord. He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord.” John’s mission was to bring as many as possible to repentance before the coming of the Messiah. Only a repentant heart will fully accept Jesus. The Pharisees would not repent and therefore not accept Jesus.

During the time of Jesus, many Jews thought the Messiah would heal the sick, the blind, and the lame. They also thought the Messiah would come to bring about lasting peace. However, they were wrong when they thought the Messiah would come to free God’s chosen people from the oppression of the Romans. Scriptures do not proclaim Jesus as the leader of an army.

Jesus proves He is the Messiah, by working miracles, forgiving sins and raising the dead, including Himself.

In the future, a false messiah will come. He will claim to be the Messiah for the Jews, but he will actually be the anti-Christ. The false messiah will be world leader, who will bring worldly peace, and has answers to wordly problems. He will want to be worshiped as God. However, the Jews will eventually discover he’s false and will embrace Jesus as the true messiah.

There have also been false messengers who claim to be from God. Muhammad, Buddha, and Confucius claimed to be a messengers of God. But how can we know if there were a messenger from God or not

What if someone would claim to be the Messiah or a messenger from God today? If Jesus claims to be the Messiah, and someone else claims to be the Messiah, than how can one know who the real Messiah is?

Bishop Fulton Sheen indicated there are 3 ways we can know only Jesus is the Messiah. The first way is that the Messiah will be able to work miracles of physical healing (healing the blind, cleansing lepers, the deaf will hear).

The second way we know Jesus is the Messiah, is that the morality Jesus declares does not contradict human reason. In other words, the Messiah would never say it’s okay to kill an unborn baby or that homosexual actions are acceptable.

The third way we can know Jesus is the Messiah is that He fulfills all the prophecies of the Old Testament. During the time of Jesus, there were 456 prophecies the Messiah was expected to fulfill.

For example, it was predicted by the prophet Micah that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. “And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.”

Jesus predicted he would die in Jerusalem, and be crucified. As the Gospel of Matthew states, “From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Matt. 16:21 And Psalm 22 prophesied Our Lord’s crucifixion, “they have pierced my hands and feet and numbered all my bones.”

What is the probability of fulfilling all 456 prophecies? To fulfill 4 of the 456 prophecies is 1 in 100,000. Jesus doesn’t fulfill 4 prophecies, He fulfills all 456 prophecies. The chance of anyone fulfilling all 456 prophecies 1 and 184 zeros.

It will be impossible for the false messiah to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament, because only Jesus did that since He is God. The anti-Christ will be human possessed by the devil, whose power is limited.

Did Muhammed or Buddha or Confucius predict in advance where they would be born or predict in advance how or where they would die? No. Only Jesus, who is the true Messiah predicted all these things in Sacred Scripture.

Did Muhammed or Buddha or Confucius ask anyone to have an intimate and personal relationship with them or to love them? No.

But Jesus asked all to have an intimate and personal relationship with Him. Jesus wants all to love Him and remain in His love. He wants all to be His friends. He said, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you....You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

The anti-Christ will not be sacrificial, and won’t be willing to lay down His life for anyone, but rather reject the cross. He will someday work false miracles. He will appear to do miracles, but they not be true miracles. He will claim to raise the dead, but the person he claims to raise from the dead will not actually be dead. The anti-Christ will not be able to predict where he would be born nor how or where he will die. The anti-Christ will have morality that contradicts human reason. He will not ask anyone to have a intimate union with him.

He will reject the cross and the narrow path of sacrifice. He will not do as Jesus, who laid down His life for us. Rather, he will promote worldly honors and pleasures.

So if someone were to claim he is the Messiah today, we could easily tell he isn’t.

John is calling all to repentance to prepare the way for the Lord, so that all will accept Jesus as the Messiah. By making a good Confession before Christmas, we will rejoice in the birth of Jesus and be prepared for His Second Coming.

Jesus is the Messiah, because He fulfilled all Old Testament prophecies, because He truly raised people from the dead and not just some people, He raised Himself from the dead. Jesus healed the blind, the lame, the deaf. Jesus predicted His own coming in Bethlehem and His crucifixion in Jerusalem and that He would rise from the dead. When He comes on the clouds of heaven, only Jesus can and will bring about a lasting peace, when the world will be transformed and made new, and all will receive a resurrected body at the end of the world.

Today, let us rejoice that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is God and let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Messiah, the Mother of God, to pray for us, that we may help all to come to have a personal and intimate relationship with Her Son, who loves us so much, He laid down His life for us, that we may have life with Him in heaven.

3rd Sunday of Advent, "Gaudete" Rejoice in the Eucharist!

 

“I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.”

Today is Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. The Latin word Gaudete means Rejoice. And so, today, we lit, the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath, which represents rejoicing. We rejoice, because Jesus came to us at Bethlehem, will come to us today in the Eucharist, and will come again in the future.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of the rejoicing, we should have, as we prepare for Christmas. He states, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.” The prophet foretells a time, in which the Messiah would come, and bring glad tidings to the poor, heal the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to captives, and release prisoners. The Lord God will make justice and praise, spring up before all the nations.

And this longed for time of rejoicing arrived, when angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, and She conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came into Mary’s womb, the new tabernacle, and a new age dawned, as the prophecy of Isaiah would soon be fulfilled.

The responsorial psalm, is Our Blessed Mother’s beautiful Magnificat. She rejoices knowing the time for the Messiah has come. The Savior of the world would soon be born. When Mary visited Her cousin Elizabeth, She said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; My spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Her words echo the prophet Isaiah, who said, “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God, is the joy of my soul.” Mary rejoiced in God, Her unborn Savior, who is the Emmanuel, God with us, within Her womb. The time had come in which hearts of fathers would turn toward their sons. The day of vindication had arrived. Jesus would soon give sight to the blind, and free prisoners, who were chained to their sins.

Our Lord’s life, death, and resurrection, would open the gates of heaven, to free all those from the days of old. All our ancestors would rejoice at the coming of the Messiah; from Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; kings like David and Solomon, and all who longed for redemption. They rejoiced as they entered the pearly gates of heaven, when Jesus brought them from the dungeon of death on Holy Saturday.

And Jews, who lived during the time of Jesus, thought the Messiah would set Israel free from the bondage of the Romans. But this is not why the Messiah came, rather He came that mankind may be reconciled with God. He came to establish peace on earth, not through conquering men, but through a change of heart, conversion, holiness, and justice.

Today, we rejoice at being set free, from the bondage of sin, especially through the sacraments of baptism and confession. When we go to confession, we rejoice in peace, mercy and freedom, as Jesus absolves us from our sins. And we rejoice, as He heals our broken hearts, wounded by sin, and He sets us free, from the bondage of sin.

Sunday evening at 7pm, there is a combined St. Paul and Holy Trinity penance service at Lyons. There will be 5 priests to hear Confession.

As Mary rejoiced when Her womb, became the first human tabernacle, when God, Her Savior, came to dwell among us, so, we rejoice, most especially in the Eucharist, as He comes to dwell within the tabernacle of our hearts, and the tabernacles, of every Catholic Church.

Today, we rejoice, our Savior, Emmanuel, God with us, comes at Mass, and into our hearts in Holy Communion! And He stays here in our tabernacle.

God is really, and truly with us, in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is Jesus. The Eucharist is God. And so, God is with us! Rejoice always! I say it again, rejoice, God is with us, in the Eucharist!

The same Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is in heaven, comes here, and now, to be with us, on the altar. We should therefore, humble our hearts, to receive Our Lord with great reverence and awe. If we could only see Jesus, in the Eucharist! It looks like bread, tastes like bread, but is no longer bread at all. It is totally and completely Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is with us! Do not the words of Isaiah echo in our hearts, when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion? “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.”

If we really and truly understood, the Eucharist, we would cry out with joy, and sing to the Lord with all our heart. “Rejoice--Our God is Here!” “Jesus Christ, our God, is truly here in the Eucharist!” We would plead with others: Come to the Holy sacrifice of the Mass! Come to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, worthily in Holy Communion! Come to adore Our Savior in the tabernacle, and adore Him in Eucharistic Adoration, He who heals broken hearts, brings peace, and unity to families, and to the world!

Someday, perhaps sooner than we think, Our Lord will come, and bring about justice, and peace to the nations, ending war, terrorism, division, murder, drugs, abortion and euthanasia. He will bring about a civilization of love, life, and peace. And our God will conquer, once and for all, the ancient serpent. As we prepare to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, let us rejoice, rejoice in the Lord always, for God is with us, in the Eucharist, and will come again, in all His glory!

2nd Sunday of Advent - Confession Helps

 

Why would the Church have John the Baptist as its focus during the Advent Season? Aren’t we preparing for the birth of Jesus? Let us recall John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. In order for the people to prepare for the coming of Jesus, God wanted the people to repent of their sins. In other words, one cannot prepare for the coming of Jesus, if one does not first acknowledge one is a sinner and needs His loving mercy.

Pride prevents repentance and one who is proud will not listen to what another person is saying…they think they know better. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were too proud to accept the fact Jesus is the Messiah and because of their pride, refused to repent and because they refused to repent, they would not become one of His followers. To prepare for the way of the Lord, John preached repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

Advent is a time to prepare for the Lord, by making an act of repentance through Confession. I would like to give helpful advice when going to confession.

When we come to Confession, we are supposed to say our state of life. Are we married or single?

If we commit a mortal sin, we are supposed to say how many times we committed a moral sin and also the circumstances of the sin. For a sin to be mortal, it needs to be grave matter, you must know its grave matter and full consent must be given. If any of these is lacking then its a venial sin. The circumstance is like saying, “I missed Mass on Sunday, because I went hunting.”

A venial sin is like stealing a piece of candy, or having angry thoughts, or gossiping. While we are not obliged to confess venial sins, the Church recommends we confess venial sins regularly. When confessing venial sins, we should not confess the number of times. Some priests will tell the people that they don’t need to confess venial sins. But this is really bad advice. Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages confessing venial sins: “Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church. Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father's mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful...” (CCC 1458).

If we forget to confess a mortal sin, it is still forgiven. However, the next time you go to confession, you should tell the priest, that you forgot to confess it. Not because it wasn’t forgiven, but so that you will receive extra penance for the sin you forgot to confess.

If we commit an objectively grave action, though we didn’t know it was sinful at the time, we should still confess it, to break any attachment to the bad action. For example, if we didn’t know birth control was a serious sin or didn’t know playing the Ouija board was sinful, we should confess them.

We shouldn’t confess another person’s sins. For example, “My wife nags at me all the time, and she constantly charges up the credit card.” Or “My husband is lazy. He doesn’t help me clean the house and he never listens to me.” Rather, we should only confess our sins.

We also shouldn’t tell stories. For example, “On my way to work, I got a flat tire, and then a stray dog came by while I was changing the tire and barked at me. Even though I was late for work, my mother called and all this made me angry.” Rather, we should just say, “I had angry thoughts”.

If you have never confessed a serious sin from the past, it’s important to confess it. Once we confessed a big sin from the past, we need to trust in God’s mercy. However, it’s okay to say, for example, “I am sorry for all my sins, especially for using contraception when I was younger.”

When we steal something, we have an obligation to return it. If its not possible to return it, we must still pay for it. We should do it anonymously. We can put the money in an envelope and mail it anonymously to the person or business it was stolen. If you don’t know where the person is, or if the business is no longer in existence, you should donate the amount the item cost, to a charitable organization, but you only do that if you cannot repay what you took or can’t return the item.

When we confess the sins, we should have the intention of not doing them again. If we look at a crucifix or meditate on the sufferings of Jesus, it helps us to be sorry.

Every day, we should examine our conscience and ask God for forgiveness for what we did during the day. If we do this regularly, we will actually begin to see how the motivation behind our sins, and we can even eventually give up some sins.

We should not lose heart if we keep re-confessing the same sins over and over. Welcome to humanity! Saints confessed the same sins repeatedly such as St. Jerome, who had terrible temper his whole life. Jesus called James and John, “Sons of Thunder” because both had a temper.

We should ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us to know all our sins and make a good confession. We should also pray for the priest before confession, so Jesus will help the priest to give good advice.

The devil doesn’t want us to go to confession. He doesn’t want us to tell all our sins. He doesn’t want us to bring sins into the light. For example, a person who may want to hide their sin, may say something like, I looked at a bad video, but they actually viewed pornography, and should confess viewing pornography and not just a bad video.

The devil wants us to think, we don’t need confession. The devil wants us to doubt God’s mercy. For example, he will give us the idea, that a sin is too big, that God will never forgive us. Or that our sins from the past aren’t forgiven. Or the devil uses our pride to keep us from confessing sins because of embarrassment.

If you have purposely withheld a serious sin in confession, it will not be forgiven, nor are any of our sins forgiven, until that one sin is confessed. To purposely not confess a particular sin is to make a sacrilegious confession. For example, some may be afraid to confess adultery, or birth control or were sterilized or that they stole thousands of dollars from their company.

A common sin not confessed is to have received Holy Communion sacrilegiously after committing a mortal sin, and then failing to go to confession before receiving communion.

We should also confess what we have failed to do. Failed to bring children to Mass. Failed to teach your children to pray or failed to teach them the faith. Or failed to bring them to PSR. Or failed to bring children to confession. We, our selves can fail to pray everyday. Failing to financially support the church. Failing to help the poor. We can fail to pay attention at Mass. Fail to help a family member or neighbor who could use our help.

Sometimes, we don’t try to overcome our sins, but only confess, but don’t have the intention of avoiding the sin again and therefore are not really as sorry as we should be.

You can ask the priest for advice for a particular sin. When the priest gives us advice, we should take it to heart and do what he asks of us. Jesus speaks to us through the priest. Our Lord told Saint Faustina, “When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity.” (1602) On another occasion, he said to her, “Come with faith to the feet of My representative…and make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light.” (1705)

You can ask the priest to help you examine your conscience-- by him asking you questions. He can go through the 10 commandments and expound on them. For example, for the 2nd commandment, he will ask you if you took God’s name in vain, such as saying “Oh God!” for no good purpose except as an expression. And would ask if you cussed or used foul language or told dirty or offensive jokes.

When finished with our confession, we can tell the priest, “I am sorry for these and all the sins of my past life, especially for a particular sin.” By saying these words, it helps the priest to know you are finished confessing. You can also ask for specific advice for one particular sin. When we are finished with confession, we should immediately do our penance, and always thank Jesus for washing away our sins. We should confess monthly.

Confession not only washes away our sins, it also gives us grace to overcome our sins. The more often we go to confession, the more peace we have. The more often we go to confession, the easier to overcome sins. We are also more able to see the root cause and our motivations behind our sins, which helps us to more easily turn away from them. Then, when we do our daily prayer, we can ask Jesus for specific help in overcoming our sins.

Every sin no matter how small, hurts Jesus. We can look at a crucifix and see how sin hurts Jesus. Jesus loved us so much, He died on the Cross, so that our sins could be forgiven. There is a beautiful crucifix here above the altar. But this is not what the crucifixion event really looked like.
When I was a newly ordained priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Wichita, a woman from Peru, visiting her family, came up to me crying. I said, “What’s wrong. Why are you crying?” She pointed the large crucifix above the altar, and said, “That’s a terrible crucifix. Its sanitized. There is no blood on that crucifix. Jesus suffered a lot for us. It makes me angry and sick of heart to see Jesus depicted like this.”

My dear friends, the woman had a point. She was right. If we look at a crucifix that hides the blood and wounds, we are doing Jesus a disservice. It’s as though we don’t care about what Jesus went through-- out of love for us.

When we go to confession, we are kneeling at the foot of the Cross. In the confessional, we are telling Jesus, we are sorry for having hurt Him. And through His abundant mercy, He forgives us. When Jesus through the priest absolves our sins, our soul is washed in the blood of Jesus, and it heals the wounds caused by sin. By telling Jesus our sins, we make an act of humility and admit we are a sinner and have hurt Him. Then, when we leave the confessional, we resolve to try not to do the sins again and to make up for them, by doing our penance.

I like to use this as an example of what penance is. If a young boy purposely threw a rock through the window of an abandoned house and, if the owner saw him do it, then, the owner came up to the boy, and said, “You broke my window.” At the first the boy denies it, saying, “It wasn’t me.” But the owner said, “I saw you.” The boy then admits it, and says, “I am sorry, please forgive me.” The owner replies, “I forgive you, but who will pay for the window?” There is punishment due to every sin. We tell Jesus we are sorry, but we need to make up for our sins by doing penance. Doing penance is paying the price for our sins.

The devil tries to get us to fear confession. We can be embarrassed to say our sins. But, we need to trust Jesus. And remember when He discovers a lost sheep, He picks it up and presses it to His Heart.

My dear friends, come to Jesus in the Confessional and trust Him. And know the greater the sinner, the greater one has right to His mercy. Jesus is waiting to give you His mercy and His love. Don’t be afraid. Ask the Virgin Mary to help you to make a good thorough confession. By Her sorrowful Heart, pierced at the foot the cross, the thoughts of many will be revealed and be washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy.

Immaculate Conception - Dec. 8th

 

What and Who is the Immaculate Conception?

The Immaculate Conception is the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. At the very first moment of Mary’s existence, Mary’s soul was kept free from original sin.

The responsorial psalm states, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous deeds”. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which the Church celebrates with great Solemnity, is a marvelous deed that God has done for Jesus, and for mankind.

The purpose of Mary’s Immaculate Conception was so that the Messiah would have a fitting, pure, and perfect Mother, in which Our Lord would descend from heaven, into Her Immaculate Womb.

When the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed on Dec. 8^th, 1854, Pope Pius IX, stated, “The Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of Her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

But how could Mary be preserved from the original sin, if Jesus had not yet come into the world? How could Mary’s soul have been redeemed? That was a hard question that many saints and theologians pondered.

The answer to how Jesus could have redeemed Mary before He came into the world is this: God applied in advance the merits won for us by Our Lord’s suffering death and resurrection to the soul of Mary, because God’s time is eternal.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception can be found in the words of the angel Gabriel as he greeted the Blessed Virgin Mary. He said, “Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” The Church states, that the Greek word “kekoritchemne” means “gratia plena” or “full of grace”. The word is the past perfect tense, meaning that the action of giving grace has already occurred. It was not something that was about to happen to Her but something that has already been accomplished. The word was also used as a title. The angel did not say, “Hail Mary, you are kecharitomene” but rather, “Hail kecharitomene.” Therefore, the word is not simply an action but an identity. Mary’s identity is “Full of Grace” meaning, no sin whatsoever within Her and could also say no sin within Her in the future.

God having ordained that Mary was to be the Mother of His Son, could not permit Her soul to lack a single instant all those graces that would make Her most pleasing to Him. It would be incomprehensible for Jesus to have formed His perfect body from body tainted with the corruption of sin. That is why Mary was created pure and spotless as was the soul of Eve.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception was predicted at the very beginning of the fall of Adam and Eve, when God said “I will put enmity, between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for His heel.”

The enmity is between the Devil, (the ancient serpent), and Mary (the Woman). And it will be complete enmity and forever. If Mary had been subject to the devil for an instant, the enmity would not have been complete. Therefore, Our Lady was never a slave of Satan, that is to say-- her soul, by a singular privilege of God, was never tainted by original sin.

One of the effects of Eve’s original sin was what God told Eve, “I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children.” Today, some movies falsely depict Our Lady as undergoing intense labor pains. But this false view contradicts the early Fathers of the Church, and casts a shadow over Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Mary would not have endured labor pains, due to Her freedom from original sin. Our Lord’s birth is considered miraculous by the Church.

Where Eve committed sin and lost her spotlessness, Our Mother Mary kept Her Immaculate soul spotless-- to the end of Her life. Not only was Mary’s soul preserved from sin, but by Mary’s acts of virtue and her abundant grace, she never-- not even once-- sinned in Her life. St. Irenaeus, who was born in the year 130 AD, describes Mary’s sinless life. He said, “Being obedient (Mary) became the cause of salvation for Herself and for the whole human race.” “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by Her faith.”

Origen calls her “worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, most complete sanctity, perfect justice, neither deceived by the persuasion of the serpent, nor infected with his poisonous breathings.” (185 to 254 AD) St. Ambrose says She is incorrupt, “a virgin immune through grace from every stain of sin. (340 to 397 AD) Theodotus of Ancyra terms Her “a Virgin Innocent, without spot, void of culpability, holy in body and in soul, a lily springing among thorns…” (354 to 430 AD)

In refuting Pelagius St. Augustine declares that all the just have truly known of sin "except the Holy Virgin Mary”.

Even Martin Luther believed in Mary’s Immaculate Conception. He said, "... she is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin. ... God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil. ... Moreover, God guarded and protected her from all that might be hurtful to her"

Today, all of us are familiar with the miraculous medal, which Our Lady gave to St. Catherine Labore. The words, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!” are prayed by millions of Catholics every day. The medal when first given to St. Catherine, was originally called the Immaculate Conception medal. But due to the enormous number of miracles associated with the medal, it became known as the miraculous medal. I would like to encourage you to wear it and daily recite the beautiful words, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!” Our Lady will certainly pray for and protect, those who honor Her by wearing Her Immaculate Conception medal, now called Miraculous Medal.

Most of us are also familiar with the story of St. Bernadette Subouris from Lourdes, France. When St. Bernadette asked Our Lady, what is Her name, The Virgin replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception”. Therefore, we should not be afraid to call upon Mary, as the Immaculate Conception.

Today, as we honor and celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Our Heavenly Mother, let us pray for every grace that God desires to give to us through Mary. Let us turn to Our Lady in prayer, come to Her in our affliction and sorrow, seek Her motherly care and intercession and so strive to imitate Her holy and Immaculate life, so that when Her Son, Jesus, comes to take us to our eternal rest, we will rejoice because we will have prayed:

“O Mary Conceived without Sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!” “O Mary Conceived without Sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!”“O Mary Conceived without Sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!”

1st Sunday Advent - Stay Awake!

Today is a special day, and not just a day, but the beginning of a special season, Advent. During Advent, we focus on waiting, we wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus,

we wait for the Second Coming of Jesus, and we wait for the day we leave this world and go to our judgment.

The words of Jesus in the Gospel today express the mood of this early part of the Advent season: Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come.

In the first reading today, the Jewish people expressed hope in God even when going through a difficult time, and so we heard glimpses of hope in that reading: “Return for the sake of your servants . . .Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you.” This is what Jesus would do, at His first coming. He would rend the heavens and by the Holy Spirit, He came down in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born in Bethlehem. But, also at His second coming, He will rend the heavens and come down on a cloud, just as He had originally went to heaven on a cloud.

Jesus said, ”May He not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: Watch” These words are also good for all of us to hear as we begin Advent. From what sleep are we to awake?

We are to be awake from being asleep in sin, and sleep of failing to care for our self and our family spiritually. In other words, to take a look at our lives and see how we are doing. We do not know when our lives will end and that is why Jesus said, “Watch, therefore, you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or in the morning.”

We need to always be in a state of grace, awake, says Jesus because we do not know when He will call us from this life. You do not want to be like the people who were not ready at the time of Noah when the flood came. In our time, we have the impression that many are asleep to sin.

I recently did the funeral of my cousin, Jendee. She was 45 years old. I witnessed their wedding 18 years ago. She and her husband had two boys, a senior in high school, and a 7th grader. She found out she had pancreatic cancer in June, and died 5 months later just before Thanksgiving. She never made it to Christmas. Instead, Jesus came to Jendee in her hospital room. Within 5 minutes after her two boys came to see her, Jesus came. Praise God, she had received the last sacraments and Holy Communion, a few days before she died. She and her family were not attending Mass, and her boys had not been going to PSR. She never expected to die so young, and at the funeral, I reminded the people Jesus died at the age of 33.

I am sure, she wished she would have been better prepared, by being taking care of the spiritual needs of her boys, by bringing them to church and taking them to religious education classes, and by taking care of her own spiritual needs before she died.

Not everyone is able to prepare for death. Father Mark Beard, is a Youtube priest who preached on preparing for our personal judgment, and the next day after he gave that homily, he was killed in a car accident, and went to his judgment. Some people die instantly from a car accident, a heart attack, an aneurysm, a stroke.

When I went to Medjugorje last year, I was confronted with the possibility of death. I wasn’t afraid to die, but I told the Lord, I wanted to do more things for Him. When we die, we have to be ready to let go of everything, our family, our desires, our dreams. We have to be detached from the things of the world, because ultimately, we can’t take them with us. All of our hopes, dreams, and desires are fulfilled in heaven.

Yesterday, I was visiting with a woman from a nursing home. And she said something to me that was very beautiful. She said every time she thinks of someone, she prays for them. She said I think that is God’s way of reminding me to pray for others.

We need to live every moment of the day, as though it was our last. Not in fear, but to be ready spiritually, so that we have no regrets. Do we make family prayer a priority? Do we value our children’s religious education. What we learn about God and His Church helps us get to heaven, but our worldly honors will not. What do we place first above everything? Is it school activities? Is it our job? Is it our money? God should be first above everything, and allow Him to be involved in everything.

Matthew 25 tells us that we will be judged on love by doing deeds of mercy. Jesus said what you do unto the least of others, you do unto Me. Is there some poor person or family, you can help during Advent. Is there some organization you would like to donate?

There is what is called the principle of subsidiarity, which states that we first are to take care of our immediate family, then our extended family, then our parish, then our community, then those in our state, then our country, and lastly to take care people in other countries.

Is there some relative or someone in the community that you could help?

Advent is a time to prepare to celebrate the first coming of Jesus as a baby. It’s also a time to prepare for our own personal judgment, but also to prepare for His 2nd coming.

What better way to prepare, than to wake from sin. In other words, to prepare our hearts for Jesus which we can do with a good, sincere, and honest Confession this Advent. There is someone you need to be reconciled, to forgive?

In the alleged apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje, She asks for monthly confession. I would like to encourage you to go to Confession at least twice, once at the beginning of Advent and just before Christmas.

Mary asked us to daily read a small paragraph from the bible, to daily pray the Rosary, to fast on Wed and Friday, to attend Mass during the week. Many of you have the opportunity to come to daily Mass.

Just after college and I began to attend daily Mass. I was absolutely shocked at how the German Catholics practiced their faith. Before Advent there was a good number who attended daily Mass, but when Advent started, the church was packed with those who attended daily Mass. They saw the importance of coming to Mass to prepare for Christmas.

I encourage you to come to daily Mass if you are able. Many of you are able to come to Mass on Wed. evening. Come and receive Jesus in Holy Communion.

How beautiful it is, 90% of our families have a weekly Holy Hour. Bring your children with you, so they too can experience Jesus in adoration. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” You can come anytime there is Adoration and you can come also to pray to Jesus in the tabernacle. That’s why its continuous adoration, so anyone may come and pray during the 46 hours of Adoration that we have every week. It’s not just your hour, the time of Adoration is for anyone who want to come and pray. The church is big enough for people to spread out and pray.

At home, pray the Rosary as a family, perhaps on a Sunday evening before going to bed. Father Peyton, used to say, the family that prays together, stays together.

Make time for Jesus in your life every day. Turn off the TV, get away from the phone, the video games, the internet, have some silence in your life, so Jesus can speak to you. Pray together as a family and pray alone. Pray, pray, pray.

Make Christ be with you every day and at all times. How can we be all wrapped up in Christ and have Christ behind us, before us, beside us, beneath us, above us and so prepared for when He comes?

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in the mouth of a friend and stranger. Amen.

Mostly taken from Fr. Tommy Lane