"We can surely expect that in our own lives there will come a time when we must make a choice between being loyal to the true faith or giving allegiance to something else which is either opposed to or not in alliance with our faith. O God, we ask of Thee to give us the courage to be ever faithful to Thee. Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Fr. Emil Kapaun, Servant of God
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Three year old Annice from Tanzania performs miracles of healing especially with holy water. She was in her mother's womb for 3 years. She was able to speak and walk at the age of 7 months. People have tried to poison her but she would know in advance and not take the food or drink. God has used her to expel demons. The Virgin Mary appears to her. Watch Video below.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!
During Our Lord’s final discourse, at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, to not let their hearts be troubled, or be afraid. With His words, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!”, He was preparing them for suffering and temptation in the midst of the tragedy of His crucifixion. And after that horrible Friday, their hearts would be tormented, at the loss of their Master. But on Easter Sunday, He would appear to them, and repeat twice, “Peace be with you”, similar words which He had spoken at the Last Supper.
Peace is something we all desire; but often times, we do not work at obtaining peace. We really do not care much for those things, which truly bring us peace. For example, peace is found in a humble and meek heart. Peace is found with patience. And peace is found in doing God’s will to the best of our ability. But do we really strive to have a humble heart, or strive to be patient, or strive, as hard as we could, to do God’s will?
In order for us to have peace, we need to work at it, we need to direct our full attention, on Jesus Himself, who desires to give us His peace. Our Lord desires that we do not seek anything outside of Him alone, and His holy will.
Sometimes, we may think, I would have peace if I did not suffer, or if I did not endure temptations, but the problem with this, is that one cannot have peace, unless one knows how to suffer and one knows, how to endure temptations, because we can never be free of temptations and sufferings in this life.
Sins and our attraction to sins, cause us to lose peace. Due to sin, within our heart, we are agitated, and long to have peace with God, with our self, and with others. So what shall we do to obtain peace?
We must seek the face of Christ, we must long to be one with Him, and keep our attention on Him. We must offer our whole heart to the will of God, not seeking the pleasures of this world, whether they are great or little. Peace can be found in the midst of turmoil, suffering and temptations by living one’s state of life to the best of their ability, seeking to grow in holiness and virtue, being reconciled with God in the sacrament of penance, and peace is most perfectly found in the Eucharist, where we come in contact with our beloved, where we touch His wounds and gaze upon His face, resting within His Heart, as He rests within our heart in Holy Communion.
Through the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Heart, may She obtain for us, the peace we desire. And now, as we prepare our heart for union with Peace itself, Jesus in Holy Communion, listen in the silence of the heart. Perhaps when we receive Him in the Eucharist, Our Blessed Lord will say, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid!” “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name—He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
In the Gospel today, Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit and calls Him, the Advocate.
The Holy Spirit helps us to turn away from sin and practice virtue and because He helps us, He is our advocate.
The Holy Spirit also guides us to the Truth. When we wonder what are the truths about God, His Church and religion, the Holy Spirit will enlighten us to understand the revealed and hidden meanings of God and helps us to proclaim and defend the truth.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love and so helps us to love God, by inspiring us to come to know and love Jesus more. The more we come to know God, the more we will love Him. The more we love God, the more we likewise will love our neighbor.
The Holy Spirit is our consoler, as He comes to comfort us during our sorrows of life and helps us to persevere and not lose hope, no matter the difficult situation.
The Holy Spirit is also our teacher. He teaches us to follow God’s commandments, and teaches us the way to salvation.
The Holy Spirit helps us to pray, so that we can cry out, “Abba Father”. By way of prayer, He leads us to the Father, who will provide for all our needs and fulfill our every desire. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit will help us to contemplate the mysteries of God and come in contact with our creator.
The Holy Spirit works through the sacraments, so that we may receive grace to live out our lives. He inspires us to repent of our sins, and washes them away as one receives God’s forgiveness in Confession. He infuses grace into the soul at baptism, strengthens and makes firm the baptismal grace at confirmation, so that we may become witnessed for Christ. He transforms us, when we receive Holy Communion. He unites couples in their bond of marriage. He anoints the sick to heal their bodies and prepares their soul for death. And the Holy Spirit ordains men to help others to come in contact with the mysteries of God.
Today, let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, to enkindle in our hearts the fire of His Divine Love, that He may create a new heart within us, give us a steadfast spirit, so that we may be sent forth to renew the face of the earth.
The readings give us a glimpse into heaven and how Jesus’ commandment to love-- is necessary to obtain heaven.
The second reading from the book of Revelation provides a glimpse of the state of eternal glory that will be enjoyed in heaven. “Behold God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be His people and God Himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing of pain, for the old order has passed away.”
In
order for us to be happy and hopeful in this life, we must constantly
think of heaven, because
heaven is our final end and is our homeland. Whereas on
earth, we
are a pilgrim on a constant
journey to our final destination.
In
this life, there will always
be heartache, pain, suffering, trials, temptations. But not so in
heaven. On earth we are called the Church militant, but heaven is
the Church triumphant because
all those in heaven triumphed over the struggles on earth.
Jesus is our bridge between heaven and earth. Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. Without Jesus, we cannot go there, because only Jesus can save us. He is our savior. Our Lord Himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”
In today’s Gospel Jesus gave His apostles and us a new commandment, called the “Commandment of love.” He said, “I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another. This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How did Jesus love us? By laying down His life for us. And we are called to do the same, to lay down one’s life for another.
A few years ago, Brian Bergkamp a seminarian, was canoeing with some friends down the Arkansas River in Wichita. It had recently rained and the water was flowing very quickly. His canoe tipped over and one of the girls in his canoe lost her life jacket. Brian selflessly took off his jacket and tossed it to her. She grabbed on to it and was able to swim to shore, but Brian drowned. Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” He gave his life for a friend. He loved as Jesus told His disciples to love. It was very apparent, Brian was a disciple of Jesus.
As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus for 40 days until He ascended into heaven, we are reminded that by Our Lord’s death and resurrection, we can go to heaven.
His resurrection gives us hope for heaven. And we have hope that at the end of the world, we too will have a resurrected body just like Jesus.
We have hope if we lived a life of love and virtue, we will enter the joys of heaven, “where every tear is wiped away”. Just think about heaven for a moment. There is no old age, no suffering, no pain, no tears, no heartaches, no cancer, no mourning, or wailing, no war, no disagreements, no disunity, no physical ailments, no arthritis and no death.
Rather there is joy, peace, love, unity and happiness. Our imperfect relationships on earth, become perfect in heaven. We get to know each other and love each other in a way beyond our imagining. Every question we wanted answered on earth-- will be answered in heaven. Everything we wanted to do in this life, we will be fulfilled and not just fulfilled, but in the most profound and incomprehensible way. As the Lord, said, “My ways are not your ways.” St. Paul said, we have “an everlasting home in heaven”. On earth, we suffer, we go through difficulties, and by doing so we learn to love, to forgive and to grow in virtue.
On earth, we experience heaven every time we come to Mass. At Mass heaven is opened and angels come down and surround the altar. At Mass we join the angels and saints in worshiping God. We sing with the angels and saints, “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of Hosts, heaven and earth are filled with your glory”. We experience a foretaste of heaven when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we are one with Him and we posses Him, just as we will be one with God and posses God in heaven.
We also experience that oneness with God through baptism because God dwells in our heart through baptism. Through baptism God is not just with us, He is in us. That is unless we commit a mortal sin, then He force Him to leave. But He will return if we go to Confession and allow Him to wash away our sins.
On earth, we learn to become like God, by imitating Jesus and by praying to God. In heaven, we worship, adore and praise God in a perfect and harmonious way. The God, whose friend we became on earth, will be our greatest joy in heaven. The God we adored during Eucharistic adoration and received in the Eucharist, we will adore and be one with in heaven.
Just as a helpful hint. When you come to adore Jesus in adoration, spiritual reading is good, but even more important is to talk to Jesus from your heart. Telling Him about your needs, your struggles, your desires and thanking Him and loving Him is so pleasing to Jesus in the Sacred Host.
When you get to heaven you will meet your guardian angel for the first time and get to know him and learn how he loved you and protected you and helped you on your journey to the Father’s house. We will be together with all the angels and saints, whom we prayed to, whom we learned about, and who helped us by their intercession. And we will see the beauty and glory of the Virgin Mary and understand more fully Her motherly care and concern for us. And we will get to know our great grandparents and their parents, their grandparents and we will learn about their life, their struggles, and how they made it to heaven.
What’s on your bucket list? What do you want to do before you die? I would like to say, its good to have desires and dreams and want to accomplish things in this life, but if our life is cut shorter than anticipated, we should in no way be disappointed if we were unable to fulfill our “bucket list”. Why? Because every dream, every desire, every thing we wanted to accomplish in this life will be fulfilled in heaven and greater than we ever could have imagined.
Once we depart from this life, we are no longer able to do any good deeds. Nor make acts of faith, hope and love. We can no longer ask God for forgiveness. The good deeds we do, the love we shared and the sufferings we endured, our prayers, the times we went to church and received Jesus in Holy Communion, the hours we prayed in Eucharistic Adoration all of these and more-- we will take with us to our judgment for as the book of Wisdom says, “Our good deeds go with us.”
St. John of the Cross helps us to know what our judgment will be like. He said, “In the end, we will be judged on love.” In another words, how much we fulfilled Our Lord’s commandment of love, loving our neighbor--- will either be our glory and reward or our eternal loss.
When we share with others God’s gifts He has given to us--- we are practicing stewardship. For example, mowing yards for those who cannot do it themselves, stitching and sewing for others, to use our voice in singing, to smile at someone who we know could use cheering up. There is a lady I know who makes her own greeting cards by her artistic talent. She draws beautiful flowers, birds and animals and writes little notes inside. Her Christmas, Easter and birthday cards are always my favorite. She uses her ability to make people happy. We can give a compliment to a co-worker when they did a good job. To financially help a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. To bake cookies or a meal to give to a neighbor. To help our neighbor move cattle. To donate vegetables from your garden. To send a sympathy card to someone who lost a relative. A few kind words of encouragement for someone who is discouraged. All of these things are acts of love. Stewardship is recognizing God’s gifts He has given to us and sharing them with others out of love for God and neighbor.
Finally, I would like to suggest, that we create a new and different kind of “Bucket”. Let’s get the biggest bucket we can find and fill it with acts of love and mercy and place our good deeds and kind words in it, so that when we go to our judgment, when Jesus said, “How much did you love?” We can hand him a giant bucket filled of love and overflowing with all the good things we did in our life and He will then say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Today, let us entrust our good deeds, our merits and everything we have to the Blessed Virgin Mary, for She will be sure nothing we did in this life will be lost, but rather will be our reward and our glory.
Today is the feast of St. Matthias, who was chosen to be an apostle. After Jesus’ Ascension, Peter rose to the task in the act to replacing Judas to strengthen the brethren and look after the flock. The successor of Peter today carries on the same task of healing scandal, binding on earth, strengthening the brethren and looking after the flock.
Peter had prayed, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two, you have chosen to take the place in the apostolic ministry, from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” When St. Peter prayed this prayer, he wanted the Lord Himself to choose the apostle to replace Judas. As head of the apostles, Peter set out the necessary prerequisite in order to be chosen. Peter said, “It is necessary that one of the men, who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John, until the day on which He was taken up from us, become with us a witness to His resurrection.” Peter is clearly stating that the man must have been with them from the beginning and that the man, who would replace Judas, should also be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
The apostles decided to select two, who were witnesses to the resurrection, and with them, from the beginning of the baptism of Jesus. They therefore chose Joseph and Matthias. They then prayed and beseeched the Lord, “You, Lord who know the hearts of all, show which one these two take the place in the apostolic ministry.” And so, by way of their prayer, they left the decision up to the Lord. They then drew lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was counted with the Eleven Apostles, and became one of the twelve.
Today, we see Peter, the first Pope, immediately having to deal with scandal in the first days of his ministry, the scandal of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and the manner of Judas’ death, the scandal - we could say- of the one of the first twelve bishops fallen from grace as Peter rises to the task we see him fulfilling the ministry bestowed upon him by Christ.
The election of Matthias, by way of lot, is great proof of apostolic succession. He became numbered with the other apostles. The apostles handed on to him what they themselves received.
Although he was the last chosen, he was the second, of the twelve to die. Before he was martyred, he converted many in Palestine. It was believed he lived a very austere life, as he told converts not to serve two masters: pleasure and the Lord. Hostile Jews stoned him to death.
Let us rejoice that the Church today is the same as the Church, which Jesus established. Our bishops are the successors of the apostles.
With Mary our Mother, queen of apostles, let us pray for our bishops, who are the apostles today. We pray that they too may be filled with the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the truth and defend the faith even to the point of death if necessary.
Today is the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima and it takes on a special meaning. I had the great joy of offering Mass on the altar within feet from the actual place in which the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on the holmoak tree. The tree was eventually destroyed by the people who took branches from the tree as relics. But now on the site of the tree is the pilgrim statue Blessed Virgin Mary located in a small chapel called a cappillina.
On May 13, 1917 Our Lady of Fatima appeared the first time, to the three children from Portugal. After the three shepherd children attended Mass, they took their lunch bags and set out with their flocks of sheep to the Cova da iria. After eating lunch, while the sheep were peacefully grazing, the children began to play.
Lucia, states what happened, “Suddenly we saw what seemed to be a flash of lightening. We decided we had better go home. Hurrying toward the road with our flocks, we were only half way down the slope when we saw another flash. We had only gone a few steps further when, there before us, on a small holmoak, we beheld a lady all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated a light more clear, and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it.” The Our Lady spoke to them: “Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm”. Lucia asked Her, “Where are you from?” Our Lady said, “I am from heaven.”
“What do you want of me”, Lucia asked eagerly. “I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
Lucia replied on behalf of the three children, “Yes, we are willing.” Our Lady said, “Then you are going to have to suffer much, but the grace of God will be your comfort. Pray the rosary everyday, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”
Then Our Lady began to rise serenely, going up to towards the east, until She finally disappeared. The children remained spellbound and gazed up into the heavens. This was the first of six apparitions, of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three children. The children had also experienced apparitions by the angel of peace the previous year.
The culmination of the apparitions was on Oct. 13th, and resulted in the miracle of the sun, in which over 70,000 people observed. Later Our Lady revealed to Sister Lucia, He desired to establish world devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and the first Saturday devotions.
Today all of us are aware of Pope John Paul II’s consecration of the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, resulting in the fall of communism. During the Jubilee year, the Pope revealed all the secrets of Fatima, and he himself seemed to fulfill one the prophesies, as he was shot on May 13th in St. Peter’s square. Across the piazza of the shrine is a museum which contains a special ornamented crown, which contains the bullet taken from the body of Pope John Paul II, after he had been shot on May 13th, 1981. The pope asked that the bullet be placed in the crown, because he said it was Our Lady of Fatima, who saved his life.
And we thank God Pope Francis in union with the bishops of the world, for consecrating the world and especially Russia and the Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25th. We pray and we await for the Lord, through the Virgin Mary to bring about the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart.
Today, Our Lady of Fatima continues to call us to live Her messages. During this month of May, may we pray the rosary every day, offer our sufferings for the conversion of sinners, and make reparation for sins against Her Immaculate Heart.
In the Gospel today, after Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, He said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master, nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.”
Suppose we were in the church praying all by our self, when suddenly Jesus appeared to us and asked us to be seated in a chair. And then Jesus knelt down, took off our shoes and used a basin to wash our feet. How would we feel, if Jesus, the Son of the Eternal Father, He who is God, knelt down and began to wash our feet? Surely, we would feel humbled and perhaps maybe even tears would well up in our eyes.
May be we would say to Jesus, “Lord, it is I who should be washing your feet. After all, you created the universe and you created me, you gave me life and you sustain me. You gave me a spouse and family and children. You are the creator, I am a creature. You give me food, clothing and shelter. You are my master. I am your slave. You are infinitely greater than I, and I am an unworthy sinner.”
Our Lord washed the feet of His Disciples to give them an example. He wanted to remind them that a slave is no greater than his master and that they are called to serve others, as He has served them.
And this is what we should do too. We are called to serve to serve each other. We should say to our self, how can I serve the members of my family? What is the most difficult and dirtiest task? I may not be called to wash feet, but perhaps I am called to clean the toilet, to scrub the floor.
A Poor Clare sister once said, “I am so tired of doing the book keeping. I want to do something for Jesus that is holy. I want to be sacristan and to put out the chalice. I want to prepare the items for Mass and work in the chapel, so that I can be with Jesus. But here I am counting money and paying bills”. The priest told her, “Sister, it is more pleasing to the Lord that you count money and pay bills, because this is what He is asking of you. The more difficult and the more lowly the job, and the more we do it with love and joy, the more pleasing it is to Jesus.”
Today, let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, She who is the handmaid of the Lord, to give us the graces we need-- to serve others by our willingness to do the lowliest and dirtiest tasks. Remembering that whatever we do to the least of others, we do for Jesus.
In the Gospel today, Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me.”
The reason why all of us are here at Mass today, is because we believe in Jesus and we believe in His Father, who sent Him.
There are different depths of belief with regard to believing in Jesus and believing in His Father. Some, who are atheists, do not even believe in Jesus and who do not believe in God the Father either. There others, who believe in God the Father, but do not believe in Jesus, such as Muslims and Jews. Still there are others, who believe only in God the Father, and who believe in Jesus, yet they do not believe all that Jesus revealed. They believe only in scripture, but not in Tradition, which comes down to us from the apostles, and they do not believe in the teachings of the Church. We call this group Protestants. And then there those who believe in God the Father and in Jesus and in everything Jesus has revealed through scripture, tradition and the teachings of the Church. This refers to us, who are Catholic.
Faith is a gift from God. It is mysterious, and we can ponder, why God does not give everyone the same faith. Or why some refuse it.
However, if we cooperate with God’s graces, the gift of faith we have received can grow and become stronger. But, if we do not cooperate with God’s graces, the gift of faith can be lost.
The Mass is one of the most beautiful ways to grow in our faith. It takes great faith to come to daily Mass, to listen to the readings, the Gospel and the homily, and have the intention of going out to practice what we hear. It also takes great faith to believe Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist, and because of our faith, we humbly come forward to receive Holy Communion trusting that what appears to be bread is really and truly Jesus Himself, who comes to dwell in our heart.
May we, therefore, pray that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pillar of Faith, will help those, who have not faith, those who lost their faith, those who have weak faith and that others be strengthened in their faith, and that She may help us to bare witness to our faith, by our words and actions, so that everyone who sees our faith, may not remain in darkness, but that they may receive the light of faith.
Today, we celebrate the memorial of Blessed Damien of Molokai, Hawaii. Born in Belgium in 1840, he was forced to quit school at the age of 13, to work on the family farm. He later joined the Congregation the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as a religious. When his brother became ill, he volunteered to go to Hawaii, in his place, and was later ordained a priest, in Honolulu. He traveled about the islands building chapels, and converting many.
At that time, children with leprosy became orphaned, and were taken to a leper colony on Molokai and then forced into slavery. On the island, women and girls were forced into prostitution. Due to no civil order, stealing, drunkenness, and quarreling was common. Due to the fear of contracting leprosy, no doctors or nurses were on the island, and no priests to give the sacraments.
Despite all this, in 1873, Fr. Damien volunteered and went to the island of Molokai, to give the sacraments to lepers in the government run leper colony. Because many feared getting the dreaded disease of leprosy, he would remain permanently on the island. When he arrived, he saw many with rotting flesh, which smelled like a decaying corpse.
He would later succeed in getting Mother Marie Cope, of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, New York, to open a home for the orphaned children. Mother Cope was beatified in 2005 and canonized in 2012.
Since other priests did not come to the island, one of Damien’s greatest sorrows was his inability to go to confession frequently. One time, while anchored to a boat, he confessed his sins in public to a priest, because the other priest feared getting the disease. Despite the terrible conditions, he offered the Sacrifice of the Mass, anointed the sick, and buried the dead.
When Fr. Damien began Eucharistic Adoration on the island, many poor lepers were greatly comforted by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Fr. Damien helped grow crops and food, and built houses for the people. His superiors were often harsh toward him, and failed to help him, in his needs. He eventually contracted leprosy, and died on the island. He was buried in Belgium.
In 1995, he was beatified, at which time, part of his body was returned to Hawaii. When Pope John Paul II beatified Fr. Damien, he said, “Holiness is not perfection to human criteria; it is not reserved for a small number of exceptional persons. It is for everyone; it is the Lord who brings us to holiness, when we are willing to collaborate in the salvation of the world, for the glory of God, despite our sin, and sometimes rebellious temperament.”
Pope Benedict canonized him in 2009. During this month of May, despite our sins and temperament, may we draw close to the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeking to grow in holiness, and we pray that Saint Damien of Moloaki will help us in all our hardships and difficulties of life.
Padre Pio : Russia will Convert Quickly. The USA will follow Russia's lead, but will covert more slowly. (THE USA WILL CONVERT!!!)
Click to Watch Video: Russia and USA Convert
Is it really possible to hear the voice of the Lord? Well, Moses heard God speaking from the burning bush. Samuel heard God calling him three times. St. Joseph heard God in dreams to take Mary as His wife, to flee into Egypt and return from Egypt. St. Faustina heard Him in a vision so clearly that she could describe to an artist the picture he asked to be painted of Him. The first three involve Divine Revelation, while the last private revelation. The first three we are obliged to believe, the latter not.
These stories may seem fantastic to us. But if you stop and think about it, you have probably had times when you’ve experienced God’s presence and sensed that He has a message for you. These senses—even if fleeting—show that we really do have spiritual instincts and that they can be cultivated. It might be easier to understand if we start thinking of simple human instincts. For instance, a mother may be in a room full of crying toddlers, but when her little one starts to cry, she knows the voice immediately and springs into action. A basketball player instinctively knows how to control his arm, his jump, and his aim as he throws the ball through the net. With practice, these responses become automatic. We get to a level where we are confident whenever we engage these instincts. In a similar way, with practice and experience, we can become better at sensing Jesus is speaking to us.
Practice listening to the Lord during the day today—you may be surprised at how available He is. In fact a good foundation of prayer and Scripture reading can prepare you to recognize His presence in the people around you and in His creation. Gradually, the question shifts from if God will speak to you to how He will speak and what He will say.
So listen for God’s voice in the child crying for his parent’s attention. Be ready as he whispers to your heart the words to say to a friend who is sick. Hear his encouragement in the little successes and failures of life.
Don’t worry if you don’t “hear” anything right away. The more you practice, the more you will recognize the voice of Jesus. The more you spend time with Him, the stronger your spiritual instincts will become and we can ask the Virgin Mary to help us to listen and pray, after all, She lived with Jesus for 30 years and knows Him better than anyone else.
“The Lamb who is the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water..”
This weekend, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and Mother’s Day. What a beautiful image: Jesus as a loving shepherd who cares for us and leads us to good pasture and safety. It’s also comforting to know we are the sheep of His flock; He knows each of us by name and calls out to us. And we, His sheep, hear His voice and follow Him.
In the second reading from the book of Revelation, John had a vision in which he saw a great multitude in heaven who stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding branches. They had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they worshiped God, the Lamb, on the throne, who will shepherd them to springs of life-giving water. Jesus is the lamb and the Shepherd, whom was slain and who they worship. And Mary is the Mother of the Lamb and the Mother of the Good Shepherd.
At every Mass, Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world becomes present on the altar. As Catholics we believe that the one sacrifice of Calvary that occurred 2000 yrs ago is re-presented on the altar when the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus. The lamb who was slain, our Good Shepherd becomes present on the altar and we are able to receive the flesh and blood of the Lamb in Holy Communion.
Did you know sheep recognize their master’s voice and even can be called by their own particular name? So when Jesus said, “My sheep, hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” He was using a familiar example to shepherds and farmers who knew sheep follow their shepherd. Shepherds can use specific names to get sheep to do what he wants. He can also use horns or to holler to get their attention to follow him.
I am sure you are aware dogs, pigs and sheep can all come to know their specific name and will follow their master who calls them by name.
When I was a child about the age of 8 yrs old, at our pig farm, we had a pet pig by the name of Frank. I don't know if my uncle liked that since that was also his name. But we would call Frank and he would come to the fence and he would let us sit on top of his back and grab his ears and we would run around the pen with us on the back. Then he would stop by the gate and have my next brother or sister get on his back until he would give each of us a ride in the pen. He was a smart pig and he knew is name.
How much more tenderly does God love us and know us by each of our names? God calls us individually by name.
Jesus used analogies of sheep to help His disciples and us today to come to understand that as our Shepherd, there are things He wants us to do and some things He does not want us to do. For example, He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Jesus wants us to not sin, to be faithful to God. He wanted the early Christians to listen to the apostles and do what they would tell the Christians to do, as He said, “He who hears you, hears me.” (Luke 8:13). Our Lord also declared to His apostles, “he who receives you, receives Me, and he who rejects you, rejects Me and the One who sent Me.” (Matthew 10:1-40).” With these words, Jesus gave His authority to the apostles and their successors, who were bishops and priests so we would hear His voice through the Church in every generation.
We
call the Church, “Mother Church”. As a mother, the Church wants
us to follow Her teachings, because Her teachings will help us to get
to heaven, to respect others, to love God and to live a life of grace
and virtue. She tenderly cares for our eternal salvation by giving us
moral teachings to help us choose between right and wrong. For example, she helps us to know cloning, embryonic stem research, abortion, contraception, euthanasia are wrong. She wants to protect our soul from sin and our lives from evil, so as to direct us to heaven.
Did you know Mother's Day began almost two thousand years ago? It all began due to the people who realized the Church was their mother, at the baptismal font, where they were born into a life of grace, when they first became Christian. Years later, the converts returned to the church of their baptism to celebrate their faith and life in the church they were baptized and then also decided to celebrate a day dedicated to their natural mother. They said, "If we are going to be able to celebrate the supernatural life that we have through Holy Mother Church, then it is also fitting that on this day we should visit our mothers (our natural mothers) from whom we have natural life."
We celebrate Mother’s day this weekend. And every Christian has three mothers. Their natural mother, holy Mother Church and our spiritual Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. What a joy it is to baptize Marli Kay Neufeld after Mass on Sunday and how special to have her baptism on Mother’s Day.
With regard to our own natural mother, George Washington once said this about his mother, "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her." Surely, all of us can say the same about our mother. Our mother cooperated with God in giving us physical life. But mothers do more than just give us life, they teach us to love, especially through their difficulty and suffering, as they care for their children. We come to know some of God’s love, by the love of our mother. Our mother loves us unconditionally and during her whole life, she reveals God’s love for us as she lays down her life for her children sacrificially, in many hidden ways. Do we take for granted sacrifices our mother made for us?
For example: Mothers had to endure morning sickness in pregnancy, pain in giving birth, sleepless nights rocking us due to our irregular sleeping habits, or teething or sickness. In public, we humiliated her with our smelly diapers. We embarrassed her by screaming when we wanted candy, or a toy. What about the times, we threw food on the floor? She taught us to walk, to tie our shoes, and good manners. What grief we caused her by fighting with our brothers and sisters? And as teens, what about the time, we made her worry, by not calling, or when we came home late? How many times did she soften Dad’s response as she stood between us and our father, helping us to receive a lesser punishment, than we deserved.
We also have a spiritual mother. Last week we crowned the Virgin Mary with a wreathe of crowns. The children gave her flowers and we sang beautiful hymns. Avery read to us the beautiful poem by Bishop Fulton Sheen, “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue” We do these things because we want to love Her as Jesus loved His Mother. We received Mary as our spiritual Mother at the Cross, when Jesus said to John, “Behold thy Mother!” At this moment, She embraced us all and took all of us into Her Heart, as our Mother. As John took Her into His home, Jesus wants us to do likewise, to take Her into our home.
Mary never had labor pains when She gave birth to Him, that’s why its called the miraculous birth. But Mary had spiritual and emotional labor pains when She stood at the foot of the Cross and give birth to the mystical body the Church through the agony of seeing Him suffer and die on the Cross. The Mother of the Lamb, the Good Shepherd, had a sorrowful Heart when Jesus was slain on the Cross.
When Jesus was an unborn Infant, He heard Mary’s heart beat for love of Him. After His birth, He felt Her tender love for Him as She pressed Him to Her cheeks. And He would have experienced Her love day by day during the 30 yrs. of His hidden life. She was there for Him as He carried His Cross, stood and watched Him die on Calvary, held Her dead Son in Her arms, and helped place Him in His tomb. Because of Jesus’ love for His Mother, many believe She was the first to whom Our Lord appeared after His resurrection.
As our spiritual Mother, She stands between us and the Father and therefore protects us from the punishment we deserve. She takes the few little good things we do and makes them appear to God as though we have done something great and wonderful. When we err in our ways, She gently corrects us. She comforts and consoles us, when we are sad or lonely. She teaches us to love Jesus as She loved Him. She protects us from our enemies (the devil and the evil spirits). And She helps us to practice virtue.
The Blessed Virgin is often portrayed in art tenderly caring for Jesus. For example, in the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Jesus jumps into the arms of His Mother, so quickly, that one of His shoes is dangling. In Guadalupe Mexico, Mary told Juan Diego, “Let not your heart be disturbed. Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Are you not within my fold?”
As the Mother of the true God, and our mother, She desires to give us Her compassion. She wants us to seek Her help in our sorrows. She sees our tears, consoles us, and gives us peace. And through Her intercession, She keeps us close to Jesus, especially in our sufferings.
On Mother’s day, let us honor and give thanks to God, for our three mothers, our mother the Church, our natural mother and our Blessed Mother. May we always remember we have three mothers and may we love them, cherish them and turn to them, in all our needs, because all three of them help us to get to heaven, where we will experience the fullness of God’s love, which was partially revealed to us by our mothers here on earth.
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In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul who was a persecutor of Christians had his remarkable conversion. Ananias was even afraid to go near him because his reputation of harming Christians was so severe. But he relented and baptized Saul, who would become a great apostle to the Gentiles. After his baptism, he would later change his name to Paul to indicate his new identity in Christ.
When he was blinded by the light, he heard the voice of Jesus who said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” By this event, Jesus wanted to remind Paul that what he did to Christians, he did to Jesus.
Paul would become one of the greatest apostles, starting churches throughout many locations and writing letters that would someday become Sacred Scripture, and used evangelize in every generation.
There is a controversial movie out called, Fr. Stu. Its based upon the real life of a priest, who had a great conversion. It was at the moment of his baptism, he realized God was calling him to be a priest. Coming from a rough background, through boxing matches and moving to Hollywood hoping to become an actor, he like his parents cussed like sailors. However, a young Catholic girl caught his attention and would help him to get baptized. Hoping to someday marry him, she would be shocked to find out he felt the call to become a priest. But he wouldn’t be ordained until after he would go through a number of trials including a debilitating disease, which prevented him from walking. After his ordination he would offer Mass and hear confessions in the nursing home he resided and people would come from all over to have him hear their confessions.
The movie fails to betray his conversion as well as they could have. The movie shows him continuing to cuss after he was a priest, but its my understanding, he no longer cussed after his baptism. So much for holy-wood! Although the theme of the movie is very inspirational, I personally don't recommend watching the movie due to the filthy language and inappropriate scenes. One would appreciate his conversion if one were to read about Fr Stu, rather than to watch the movie. www.pillarcatholic.com did a very good interview with those who knew him.
At least Hollywood brought his amazing story to light to give hope for those who are going in the wrong direction and hope for people seeking men who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others in imitation of Jesus, who suffered and died for us on the Cross.
Today, we make reparation for sins committed against His Sacred Heart and pray that the Holy Spirit will help bring about the conversion of more men to become saints and a witness to God’s mercy. And we praise God for His infinite mercy, who can take the worst sinners and make them into the greatest saints.
