All Saints Day, Nov 1st

 

Who are your heroes? Who are the people who inspire you, and who you want to be like? Young people often times put up posters of their heroes. Many of them are athletes such as football or basket ball stars. Yet, there can be no better hero, than the saints. To have the pictures of the saints on our walls reminds us of those who lived out the beatitudes and made it to heaven. They ran the race and received the crown of glory when they entered heaven. They remind us of what’s most important in life and that we too can become heroes.

This why the Church gives us a feast to honor all saints, known and unknown. Perhaps you have known ordinary people, who did the best they could to get to heaven. Someone who never complained when they were sick; Or a person who lived a life of charity and thought nothing of themselves.: Or someone who never said an unkind word about anyone. It’s easy in the all busyness and cares of life to forget about them and so, one day a year, we pause to remember all those holy people. Without them, the faith would not have been kept alive for us. “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” They physically parted from us, but are spiritually near to us, praying for us and encouraging us by their example.

We are all called to be saints. The Beatitudes give us the pattern of Christian way of life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices.  It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else.  It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love" (CCC # 1723).

The Beatitudes turn worldly values upside down. The world pursues happiness in wealth, power and fame, but the Gospel demands of us values that are essentially different. Do you want to give in to the demands of a worldly way of life, or have you decided to live true and authentic Christianity? The choice to live the Gospel changes our entire life, tells us how to act, how we are to dress, how we are to speak and how we are to interact with others. 

On this Solemnity of All Saints, may once again pray to the saints and look to their example, in helping us to strive to be saints, that one day, we too will join the whole company of heaven. And we pray to Mary, the Queen of All Saints, may She obtain for us the grace to live the life of a saint, in imitation of Her, the greatest of All Saints.

30th Sunday - Love God with All Our Heart, Love Neighbor as Our Self (Peace)

  

In the Gospel today, the Pharisees were happy to hear that Jesus had just silenced the Sadducees, because the Pharisees and Saduccees did not see eye to eye on many things, and even had different theologies. The Saduccees didn’t believe in angels and also didn’t believe in the resurrection, but the Pharisees did.

One the scholars of the law, a Pharisee, tried to test Jesus, asking Him, “Which commandment of the law is the greatest?” Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

I am so excited to get back from Medjugorje and to tell you about my trip. Over the next few weeks, I hope to give you some gems that came from Medjugorje. Whenever I mention Medjugorje in a homily, I always need to preface it with the Church’s teaching on the alleged apparitions. The Church has investigated it with a commission. The commission found the first week of the apparitions were worthy of belief, as all voted but 1 in favor of it. The commission was evenly divided on whether the apparitions after the first week were authentic. But, the pope has the final say on the commissions results and as of today, he hasn’t made a declaration. Therefore, we may continue to believe, if we so choose. It’s private revelation, so no one has to believe it, even if it were given positive affirmation.

Pilgrims who went on the trip, paid about $2500. But, I only paid $250, to be the chaplain of the group.

In the Gospel today, Jesus said, we are to love our neighbor as our self. So to put in a little different way, we can ask, do we really love our self as we ought? If we fail to love our self, then we will not love our neighbor as we ought either.

Some pamper themselves, while others fail to take care of themselves. I had six sisters and with my mother, there were 7 women in the house with three of us men, my brother, my father, and I. In the morning the girls put on their makeup that included eye shadow, mascara, rouge, eyeliner, lipstick, finger nail polish, ear rings, necklaces, they used blow dryers and curling irons. Today some girls also use false eyelashes. Us men, we had cologne, under arm deodorant, we shaved and combed our hair, which all took less than 5 min. The girls took about an hour to get ready for school.

By taking care of our appearance, it shows we love ourself. But if we go overboard with our appearance, maybe we don’t have peace with our self and love our self as well as what we think we do.

Inside we are wanting others to love us, and pay attention to us. And some feel like they need to draw attention to one self. But the love we are seeking isn’t found in others being attracted to our appearance. The beauty of the soul is found in the personality of the person, their virtues, their way of loving.

The alleged apparitions of Our Lady Queen of Peace have a constant message of calling the world to peace and conversion. Peace in our hearts, in our homes and in our families.

Some today treat their appearance as though they want to look like someone their not. Others treat their body like it's not worth much. Some write on their hands when they have no paper. Some don’t take showers like they should. Others eat too much. Some diet too much. Some get drunk. Others smoke or chew tobacco. My father, my uncle, and a brother-in-law all died from lung cancer due to cigarette smoke. Some men make their body out to be their god, by spending 2 or 3 hours a day in the gym, and they are proud of their physic and try to show it off. Others don’t take care of their body and eat and drink foods that harm it.

God wants us to love our self, to take care of our self, to not harm our bodies. After all St. Paul said, “...do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price? So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 16:19-20)

All that time in the gym or all that time in the restroom trying to make oneself more beautiful, could be time spent in prayer to God and to pray for others and in doing good things for others. There must be a way we can take care of our self and yet not go too far one way or the other.

During lunch, at the hotel, one of the elderly ladies asked me a question. She said, “Is it true, it's a sin to get a tattoo?” I said, “Yes, it's in the book of Leviticus.” It states, “Do not... put on tattoos or marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” She said, “I just tattooed my makeup.” I said, “What! What do you mean you tattooed your makeup.” She said, “Its permanent. We can tattoo eyebrows, eyeliner, mascara, rouge, etc..” I said, “I don’t think the Blessed Virgin Mary wore make up.” She said, “But don’t you think we women should look pretty?” I was going to say, “But you look pretty without it.” But chose to not say anything.

An amazing event happened the same day with regard to beauty. Later, all of us were present for an alleged apparition that Maria had with the Virgin Mary. During the apparition, I prayed for all of you and for many other intentions. After the apparition, Maria gave us a talk about living a life of peace. Maria had no idea we had that conversation about what was said earlier in the day at the table. But after the apparition, she said, “As you can tell, I don’t wear makeup because makeup is a worldly thing”. She then said, “Someone once asked the Virgin Mary, why She is so beautiful, and the Virgin Mary replied, “I am beautiful because I love.”

The Virgin Mary loved God with all Her Heart, mind, and soul, and She loved Her neighbor as her self. We can turn to Our Lady and ask Her to help us to love our self, to love our neighbor and to love God. Obviously, the Virgin Mary didn’t wear makeup, but that which makes her beautiful is Her love.

Pilgrims who come to Medjugorje to try to find the most beautiful statues, which they think resemble the Virgin Mary. The visionaries have said that there is no statue or painting that adequately looks anything near to the Virgin Mary. The visionaries describe Mary as having black hair, blue eyes. She wears a white veil and a grayish blue dress.

But, Mary’s love for God and love for neighbor is what makes Her so beautiful. The visionary Maria had no idea the women in our group and I had just been talking about make up and tattooing. It seemed to me like the Lord was using Maria to help the women to understand, that they don’t need to wear make up to be beautiful. Their beauty comes from love that flows from their hearts.

Today’s Gospel is the recipe for peace. To love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as our self. The apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje are about peace. Peace in our heart, our family, and the world.

We need to not just take care of our self physically, we also need to take care of our self spiritually, through daily prayer, Confession, Rosary, the Holy Mass, reading the Bible and by doing good deeds and practicing virtue.

The Lord wants all of us to love, and by loving, we are beautiful. Everyone knows Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s face had many wrinkles. But the smile on her face revealed the love within her heart, and that is what made her beautiful. She was beautiful because she loved God with all her heart and loved the poorest of the poor, loving her neighbor as her self, by taking care of them. She treated others as she would have wanted others to treat her.

Today, let us resolve to take care of our self, to love our self, in such a way, that we will the see beauty of loving others and loving our self, and especially loving God with all our heart. Let’s try to not be someone we are not, and to accept the appearance God gave us.

As 1 Samuel 16:7 states, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

If we want to have peace, let us look no further than to have peace with our self, and to treat our self as God would want us, so that we will treat others with that same love.

27th Sunday The Power & Beauty of the Rosary

 

In the second reading today, St. Paul said, "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, making your requests known to God.”

The Rosary is a very efficacious way that we can make our petitions known to God, through Mary.

The month of October is dedicated the Holy Rosary and Oct. 7^th is the feast of the Holy Rosary. What I would like to do today is give you a better awareness of the power of beauty of the Rosary.

In the year 1170, Dominic Guzman was born who later founded the Order of Preachers, called the Dominicans.

During his time, there was a heresy called the Albigensian heresy, which falsely believed the body was bad and human beings were spirits trapped in physical bodies. They also saw the material world as evil and believed husbands and wives should not have marital relations. Women were placed in the dominant position. Sort of like feminists today. They were permitted to touch a man, but a man was not permitted to touch a woman. The Albigensian women despised pregnancy.

Due to the Albigensian heresy, which spread across Europe, Dominic and his friars fearlessly preached against the heresy, but didn’t convert any heretics.

Not knowing what to do, he prayed to the Virgin Mary asking Her how to overcome the heresy. And it was then Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and gave him the mysteries of the Rosary and told him to preach the Rosary and its mysteries which she gave them.

The Rosary had existed for centuries before Mary appeared to St. Dominc, but now for the first time, Our Lady gave Dominic and the world meditations to pray with the Hail Marys. She gave him the joyful, sorrowful and glories events in the life of Jesus. Pope John Paul eventually gave us the luminous mysteries.

When the Dominic preached the mysteries of the Rosary, it revealed the goodness of Our Lord’s body as seen through the mysteries of His life, His birth, His sufferings, and His resurrection. It helped all who mediated on the mysteries of His life to know the body is good, and therefore the Rosary and the preaching of St. Dominic on the Rosary, the people turned away from the false views of the Albigensian heresy and ended it.

When we pray the Rosary, we are to meditate upon the specific event in the life of Jesus from the Gospel, while at the same time pray Our Fathers and Hail Marys. It’s a double prayer. We pray audibly with words and also meditate in our mind on the mysteries in the life of Jesus.

For example, in the joyful mysteries we think about the annunciation when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and Jesus was conceived in Her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we meditate, we picture this event happening before our eyes.

The second mystery during the visitation when Mary traveled to visit Her cousin Elizabeth by way of donkey and when She arrived She greeted Her cousin Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist leapt for joy.

The third mystery is the birth of Jesus. We watch the miraculous birth of Jesus and Mary wrapping the Divine Child in swaddling clothes and placing Him in the manger while Joseph looks on.

The fourth mystery is the presentation of Jesus in the temple when the elderly Simon, takes the Child Jesus into his arms and blesses Him. The 80-year-old woman, Anna, who fasted and prayed for the coming of the Child is overjoyed to finally gaze upon the baby Jesus.

In the 5^th mystery Joseph and Mary search with tears for the 12-year-old Jesus for 3 days because they lost Him. But now, see the joy in their faces when they finally find Him in the temple speaking the doctors and scribes.

When we meditate on these mysteries we receive graces because every event in the life of Jesus, can help bring us to salvation.

When you pray the Rosary, allow the event to come alive in your mind. Even though we were not there when Jesus lived and walked the face of the earth, through these meditations, we can be there spiritually and these events touch our hearts and our minds to a greater love of Him and knowledge of His love for us.

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

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

Pope St. John Paul II, in his encyclical Virginum Rosarium, said that when we pray the Rosary, we contemplate the face of Christ. We come in contact with Christ through the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, which is the Gospel in miniature, he said.

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

Our Lady told Blessed Alan de la Roche, “When you say the Rosary angels rejoice, the Blessed Trinity delights in it, my Son finds joy in it too, and I myself am happier than you can possibly imagine”. Our Lady said, “After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there is nothing in the Church that I love as much as the Rosary.”

Sister Lucia said, “The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary.”

Do you know why the rosary is called a rosary? St. Louis De Montfort, said that the word “rosary” means “crown of roses”. If we pray the entire rosary: the joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries, with attention and love, we would place a crown of 203 white roses, and 21 red roses on the head of Mary in heaven. The white rose represents “Hail Marys”, the red Rose represents “Our Fathers”. Every time we pray a Hail Mary, we are giving a beautiful rose to the Mother of Jesus. The rose is the queen of all flowers. A complete rosary makes up an entire crown of roses.

St. Louis De Montfort also tells us a story about another holy man, who was a follower of St. Francis of Assisi. One day, when the bell rang for him to eat dinner, he didn’t show up. So one of the brothers went to see what had happened to him. He was found in his room. The room was bathed in a heavenly light. He was facing the Blessed Virgin Mary, who had two angels with Her. When he would say the Hail Mary, beautiful roses kept coming out of his mouth. The angels took each rose, one by one, placing them on Our Lady’s head, and She smilingly accepted them. Since no one had returned, two more went to find out what happened. These two Franciscan brothers found them with Our Lady, who still had not left, and she remained until the whole rosary was completed. All of these Franciscans brothers were witnesses to this miraculous appearance of Mary.

From now on, whenever we pray the Rosary, let us recall that we can end wars, convert hardened sinners, eliminate heresies, solve any problem either temporal or spiritual and that we spiritually place a heavenly crown of roses on the heads of Jesus and Mary.

Today, let us begin to offer Jesus and Mary a crown of roses, by praying the rosary. Not only will we please Our Lord and His Mother Mary greatly, but we will help many to go to heaven, and we will grow in great holiness too.

It is of great importance with regard to what is going on in the Church and the world, to turn to Mary as our refuge and sure support. Don’t just pray one Rosary a day, pray as many Rosaries as you are able every day.

O Lady, most beautiful queen,

I offer you a rose, not to be seen.

I pray an angel from heaven may place it,

above your head for all to see.

As I pray, the rosary to you,

I offer a spiritual rose that is new.

May I crown your head,

before I go to bed,

sweetly praying your rosary,

O Lady, most beautiful queen.

I love you. Amen.

Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us, who have recourse to thee.

27th Sunday - Tenants Must Bear Fruit

 

In the first reading God speaks of his love for his vineyard which is Israel. Through Isaiah God described his chosen people, Israel, as a vineyard and declared how disappointed He was that instead of yielding grapes they produce sour grapes. The sour grapes were the result of not attending to the vineyard as they ought. Since through the prophet Isaiah God had already described His chosen people as a vineyard, we can easily understand why Jesus told a parable in the Gospel today where he describes the Church as a vineyard.

In the parable in the Gospel the landowner sent servants many times to collect the produce of the vineyard. But each time the servants were killed. The servants represent the prophets of the Old Testament who suffered for preaching the Word of God by being killed violently. Then the landowner sent his son, Jesus, who was also killed. The landowner took the vineyard from those tenants and gave it to other tenants. The vineyard in the parable is the Church, and so when the vineyard is taken from those tenants (Jewish leaders) and given to others (the apostles, disciples and the Church) it is a symbolic way of saying that the Church would consist not only of the chosen people, the Jews, but all.

From time to time God continues to send us good tenants (saints, martyrs and holy men and women) to encourage us to be good tenants of the Lord’s vineyard (the Church) and to bear fruit. Who are some of the very good tenants of the Lord’s vineyard today?

Pope St. John Paul II gave the world hope and courage and clear Church teachings.

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta showed us the importance of the corporal works of mercy by helping the world to see Jesus in the poorest of the poor.

Mother Angelica, who someday may become a saint, gave us the spiritual works of mercy by way of the Eternal Word Television Network, providing the Mass, the Rosary and Spiritual programming throughout world day and night.

St. Faustina revealed the Divine Mercy of Jesus in order to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus.

Fr. Emil Kapaun was an ordinary farm boy from Pilsen, Kansas, who died in the Korean War for his fellow soldiers. As a priest chaplain, he anointed dying soldiers on the battlefield and allowed himself to be captured by the enemy to give soldiers spiritual help and encouragement.

In 2020, a 15 yr. old boy, Carlo Acutis, was declared “blessed” in Milan, Italy. In 2018, he was declared “venerable” meaning he practiced heroic virtue. The miracle approved for his beatification was approved by the pope. It involved the healing of a young Brazilian boy afflicted with a rare congenital disease of the pancreas. For three days, the child’s family prayed a novena with a priest who was devoted to Carlo. On the third day, the child said he wanted to eat after days of not being able to eat solid foods, she said. The doctors later discovered he was completely healed.

Blessed Carlo received his First Communion at the age of 7. Since his First Communion, he received the Eucharist every day by devoutly attending daily Mass and would pause for hours in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. He placed the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the center of his life and he called it “my highway to Heaven”.

He wanted everyone to know and love Jesus in the Eucharist, so much so, he developed what later become known as the International Miracles of the Eucharist display. He sought out all the known approved 187 Eucharistic miracles and made a display that has been traveling all over the world.

Our Lady was his great confidant and he never failed to honor Her by reciting the Holy Rosary every day.

Carlo was very gifted with everything related to the world of computers so that both his friends and adults with computer engineering degrees considered him a genius. Everyone was amazed at his ability to understand the secrets of computers normally only accessible to those with specialized university degrees.

When I was hospitalized in Tulsa, Carlo worked, what I call a little miracle with a computer. In every patient room is a computer that the nurses use to document patient records and medications, etc… When the nurse came to my room to give me medicine, she attempted to turn on the computer, but it wouldn’t come on. She tried multiple times to start it, but it wouldn’t. I even got out of bed and tried to start it, but nothing happened. She then went to get a portable computer so she could administer my medication. When she came back, she looked at me and said, “Oh, you got the computer started.” I said, “No, I haven’t touched it since you left. But I prayed to Blessed Carlo Acuti to start the computer and apparently, he started it.” The non-Catholic nurse was shocked and didn’t know what to think.

Carlo’s interests involved computer programming, film editing, website creation, editing and laying out small publications, to helping those most in need especially children and the elderly.

His modern and up-to-date ways combined perfectly with his profound Eucharistic life and Marian devotion, which helped to make him that very special boy everyone admired and loved.

He offered his suffering up for the Pope and the Church.

He once said, “To be always united with Jesus, this is my plan of life”. These few words Carlo Acutis, said outline the distinctive feature of his short life: living with Jesus, for Jesus, in Jesus. (…) “I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God”.

He died of galloping leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15 and when his coffin was opened this year, he was found totally incorrupt. He looks as though he is sleeping.

That my friends, is how we can become good tenants in the Lord’s vineyard. To always be united to Jesus, never doing anything to displease the Lord and to do the best we can to be holy by living life of virtue.

As Jesus said, “I chose you from the world to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”

Let us strive to love and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray Her Rosary daily and grow in love with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, which, as Carlo said, “is the highway to heaven”.

Saint Faustina - Oct 5th

 

Today, is the feast of St. Faustina. She was born on August 25, 1905 in Gogowiec in Poland of a poor and religious family of peasants, the third of ten children. She was baptized with the name Helena in the parish Church of Ðwinice Warckie. From a very tender age she stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience, and also her sensitivity to the poor. At the age of nine she made her first Holy Communion living this moment very profoundly in her awareness of the presence of the Divine Guest within her soul. She attended school for three years. At the age of sixteen she left home and went to work as a housekeeper in Aleksandrów and Ostrówek in order to find the means of supporting herself and of helping her parents. At the age of seven she had already felt the first stirrings of a religious vocation.

After finishing school, she wanted to enter the convent but her parents would not give her permission. Called during a vision of the Suffering Christ, on August 1, 1925 she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and took the name Sister Mary Faustina. She lived in the Congregation for thirteen years and lived in several religious houses. She spent time at Kraków, and Vilnius, where she worked as a cook, gardener and porter. Externally nothing revealed her rich mystical interior life. She zealously performed her tasks and faithfully observed the rule of religious life. She was recollected and at the same time very natural, serene and full of kindness and disinterested love for her neighbor. Although her life was apparently insignificant, monotonous and dull, she hid within herself an extraordinary union with God.

The years she had spent at the convent were filled with extraordinary gifts, such as: revelations, visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Passion of the Lord, the gift of bilocation, the reading of human souls, the gift of prophecy, or the rare gift of mystical engagement and marriage. The living relationship with God, the Blessed Mother, the Angels, the Saints, the souls in Purgatory — with the entire supernatural world — was as equally real for her as was the world she perceived with her senses. In spite of being so richly endowed with extraordinary graces, Sr. Mary Faustina knew that they do not in fact constitute sanctity.

Jesus appeared to her asking to establish the Feast of Divine Mercy and asked that she have an image made of Himself revealing white and red rays from His chest and with the words “Jesus I trust in You” as its signature. Those who Confess their sins, receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday will have all their sins forgiven and the punishment due to their sins, all washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. Jesus wanted her to reveal His mercy to prepare for His Second Coming.

The Lord Jesus chose Sr. Mary Faustina as the Apostle and "Secretary" of His Mercy, so that she could tell the world about His great message. In the Old Covenant — He said to her —I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.

Jesus told Sr. Faustina, “The greater the sinner, the greater right one has to my Divine Mercy”.

Sister Mary Faustina, consumed by tuberculosis and by innumerable sufferings which she accepted as a voluntary sacrifice for sinners, died in Krakow at the age of just thirty three on October 5, 1938 with a reputation for spiritual maturity and a mystical union with God. The reputation of the holiness of her life grew as did the cult to the Divine Mercy and the graces she obtained from God through her intercession. In the years 1965-67, the investigative Process into her life and heroic virtues was undertaken in Krakow and in the year 1968, the Beatification Process was initiated in Rome. The latter came to an end in December 1992. On April 18, 1993 our Holy Father John Paul II raised Sister Faustina to the glory of the altars. Sr. Mary Faustina's remains rest at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Kraków.

26th Sunday, Humility of God

 

In the Gospel today, one son at first refused to do his father's will and then changed his mind and did it. The other son said he would do the will of his father, but later refused. Jesus was always obedient to the will of His heavenly Father.

Today’s second reading speaks about the humility of Jesus. St. Paul said, “…He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found in human appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the Cross.”

Imagine for a moment, what if God the Father said this to Jesus, His only-begotten Son, “I want you to become a man and to live with human beings. You will have two natures, both human and divine. For many years they won’t recognize your divinity and will treat you as one of them.

To become human, you must descend from heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit and become an unborn fetus. You will be so small, you won’t have eyes to see, ears to hear, nor a mouth to speak. For nine months, you will be in the womb of a Virgin, who will take you place to place as you grow inside Her. You will eventually have a heart, which will beat, but that heart will someday be pierced after your death. You will be born in poor conditions and placed in an animal trough. The breath of animals will keep you warm. Your Mother and step-father will teach you talk, to walk, to write, and you will grow in wisdom and strength. You will be Jewish and speak their language. As you grow, you will work beside your stepfather. The trees you created, you will cut down and make into furniture and later a tree you created will be used to hang your hands and feet by nails. The humans will mistreat you, they will ignore you. They will not know you are my eternal Son, who is God. Eventually many will come to know who you are, as their Messiah, their Savior and God. You will come to know hunger and thirst and sweat. You will need to sleep, eat and pray. You will continue to have power to change stones into bread, but will not do so. I want you to establish a Church and through its sacraments, every generation will have the opportunity of becoming one with us through baptism so that we may dwell within their hearts. They will be able to confess their sins to a representative who will share in your priesthood. The sacrifice you make on Calvary will become present in every age on the altar-- in what will be called the Holy Mass. But your greatest act of humility will be that you will take the form of bread and the humans will eat your flesh and drink your blood, so that we can be one with them and bring them to eternal life.

In your Eucharistic humility, you will enter into the hearts of humans and in your hidden unity, when you are one with each person, who receives You in Communion, you will pour into their hearts your love and grace to grant them eternal life and raise them up on the last day.

In your humility, priests will move your divine presence in the Eucharist to and from place to place and keep you stored in a humble tabernacle.

People will come and gaze upon your humility in the Sacred Host. They will kneel before you during Eucharistic Adoration, and it will cause them to humble themselves by receiving You in on their tongue.

Many of them will be your followers, who will die out of love of you as martyrs. Others will betray you and hand you over. They will accuse you falsely, spit upon you, slap you, and hit you with their fists. They will place a crown of thorns on your head and scourge your back until you are nearly dead. They will have you carry the wooden beams they will hang you. One of your greatest sufferings, will be to see your Mother stand beneath your Cross and with tears flowing from Her cheeks, Her Heart will be pierced. They will place your dead body in Her lap, and then in a tomb. But three days later, by your own power, you will rise from the dead, receive a glorified body and greet them.

Saints will write about your humility and your example and inspire others to come to know you and love you and the Holy Spirit and accept me as their heavenly Father. For what they do to you, they do to me, and you will tell them, “The Father and I are One.” The Holy Spirit will be sent to give birth to the Church on Pentecost and will guide them to all truth. When you ascend back to me on a cloud with your physical body marked by your wounds, the angels will bow down in awe of you and your humility. So that at your name, Jesus, every knee shall bend, of those in heaven and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to my glory.

And Jesus responded with the same words His Mother would someday say, “Be it done unto me according to thy word.” When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of woman subject to the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we may receive out adoption as sons and daughters.

I would like to close with these words of St. Francis of Assisi about the humility of God in the Eucharist. St. Francis of Assisi told his friars: “Kissing your feet, therefore, and with all the love of which I am capable, I implore all of you brothers to show all possible reverence and honor to the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in Whom that which is in heaven and on earth has been brought to peace and reconciled to almighty God . . . How holy, just and fitting must be he (the priest) who touches with his hands, receives in his heart and mouth, and offers to others to be received the One Who is not about to die but Who is to conquer and be glorified, upon Whom the angels longed to gaze . . . Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble, and let the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest! O wonderful loftiness and stupendous dignity! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! The Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under an ordinary piece of bread! Brothers, look at the humility of God, and pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves that you may be exalted by Him! Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally!”

25th Sunday, Come Late Receive Same Reward

 

“You too go into my vineyard”.

Jesus told this parable to help us better understand how generous and merciful God is. And it helps to understand how God’s chosen people, who were faithful through the centuries before Christ, have no reason to complain about the Gentiles (non-Jews), who are now able to receive the same reward, the gift of being a Christian, a follower of Christ, a worker in His vineyard and the gift of eternal life.

The Gentiles are those paid for only one hour of work, while the Jews are those who worked all day to obtain the same reward. The Jews have nothing to complain about because they receive what has was promised to them.

But the seeming unfairness of the landowner’s decision can still leave us feeling a bit unsettled. We might react differently, however, when we consider the lives of two people who, like the workers in this parable, came to the vineyard later in life.

Felix Leseur was raised Catholic in 19^th century France, but lost his faith in medical school and became an atheist. His wife, Elisabeth, on the other hand, grew closer to God and began praying fervently for her husband’s conversion. After her death at the age of 47, Felix began reading her diary. The deep faith he saw in the diary touched him, and he returned to the Lord at the age of 56 and eventually became a Dominican priest. In her diary, she explained how she offered all her pain and suffering for her husband, so that he could become her faith. She had the most remarkable results. Her strength was in her pain. Her greatest suffering was her loneliness, because her husband was not sharing her faith. She was tempted to think, she married the wrong person. She became an invalid for 10 years.

However, she believed God would and could change her husband’s heart, even if she wouldn’t see it in her life. Dr. Leseur, the atheist, dismissed her faith as the fancies of a pious woman.

He went to Lourdes to write a book against the Virgin Mary. However, as he looked up into the face of the statue of Mary, he received the great gift of faith. His conversion was total and complete. He saw it all. At once. Father Leseur would someday be a powerful preacher and give a retreat to Bishop Fulton Sheen.

St. Angela of Floligno was born in 1248 to a wealthy family in Umbria, Italy. Married at a young age, she reveled in the wordly life and all its trappings. But a series of natural disasters and ongoing war led her to reexamine her priorities. At the age of 37 she sought the Lord’s mercy in Confession. Then after the premature deaths of her husband, mother, and two children, she gave up all her possessions and became a lay Franciscan. She entered the Lord’s vineyard as religious, who took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

These examples show us that God’s mercy can touch the hearts of a most anti-Catholic person and a very worldly woman, even after they lived most of their life before their conversion.

As a priest, I baptized a 97 year old unconscious woman, who died within an hour after she was baptized. She always wanted to be baptized, and she received her gift, even though she didn’t know it, until she went to her judgment. All of her sins and the punishment due to her sins were washed away. So when she died, she went straight to heaven. No purgatory time.

This seems unfair if someone was baptized as an infant, and lived their whole life trying to be overcome sin, and they end up in purgatory. The older lady, never had to confess her sins, never attended Mass regularly, and never received Holy Communion. Yet, she went straight to heaven. Does that seem fair?

Once, I baptize an 85 year old man, Confirmed him, gave him his first Holy Communion, and for the rest of his life he was a practicing Catholic. He became a worker in the Lord’s vineyard by his daily living out of his Catholic faith.

Over the years, I heard Confessions of people, who hadn’t been to Confession for 50 years or longer. Yet, God in His mercy forgave them.

Before I thought about becoming a priest, when I was a young, I never went to Confession for 20 years. But after I started practicing my faith, I realized God was calling me, then I became a priest at the age of 40. I was like one who only worked an hour, but God the full pay being a worker in His vineyard. Though undeserving, I pray, God in His mercy will give me the whole enchilada when I die.

Even if someone converts in their later years, God can still make them a saint because His mercy is infinite.

Is there anyone in your family, you have given up on, thinking that they will never come to know and love God?

When we hear about people like Felix and Angela, we don’t begrudge them the heavenly reward they are now enjoying. We don’t begrudge the people who lived many years of a sinful life, but they had a conversion and were able to enter God’s kingdom. They were able to be workers in His vineyard before God called them home to heaven.

It doesn’t matter that they came later to the vineyard. God and his angels in heaven still rejoiced, and so should we-- anytime we hear of someone turning to God later in life.

God is always inviting people to “go into my vineyard”.

Today at Mass, pray for those you know, who have not yet accepted his invitation to become a close follower of Jesus. May they one day receive the reward he so graciously has in store for them! “Father, we praise you for your mercy and generosity, which have no bounds!”

24th Sunday - God Forgives Those Who Forgive Others

 

God forgives those who forgive others.

The first reading threatens us with judgment, if we seek vengeance; it states, “The vengeful will suffer the Lord’s vengeance, for He remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; and then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Can a man nurture anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord?”

We should therefore, not be revengeful, but forgive; not nurture our anger, but pray; and we can expect peace and joy and the healing of our heart from Our Blessed Lord.

The Responsorial Psalm, reminds us to imitate the Lord in mercy and forgiveness. "The Lord is kind and merciful; slow to anger and rich in compassion." He forgives our sins, redeems us from destruction, and crowns us with kindness and compassion. Our Lord is mercy itself and always desires to forgive, and is always kind and full of compassion. It is us who block His mercy, by our lack of forgiveness toward our neighbor.

In the Gospel, St. Peter wondered, “How many times we must forgive others”. He was familiar with rabbis, who stated that a person should forgive, up to three times, but should not forgive the fourth time. Peter knew the number “Seven” was the "perfect number". And, so He asked if a person should be forgiven up to 7 times, thinking he would outdo the Rabbis. He thought, that to forgive 7 times, was something very great. However, Jesus replies, No; make that seventy seven times! He meant a limitless number of times. Since God is infinitely merciful, we must forgive without limit and so imitate God’s mercy and compassion for us.

Jesus then tells the parable of the man, who was forgiven a huge debt, but later would not forgive a much smaller debt, owed to him by one of his servants. Since he had not forgiven, as he had been forgiven, Our Blessed Lord states, he would be handed over to the torturers, until he paid his last debt. He said, “So will His heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Our forgiveness from God is therefore, dependent upon those whom we forgive. If we do not forgive those who hurt us, we will not receive God’s forgiveness. To forgive from one’s heart often requires true faith.

Forgiveness does not mean, we forget the injustice or need to have a relationship with the person who hurt us. Forgiveness is an act of the will. When we forgive, we are saying, “I forgive. I want the person who hurt me to repent and change their life. I want the person to go to heaven.” Sirach said, “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?” Rather, he said, we are to “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.”

Frequently, we are offended by the most trivial things—such as a lack of gratitude, a sharp word, in a moment of weakness. Someone we love, becomes angry, and says something they do not mean. At other times, we can become upset from serious causes too, such as one who threatens divorce, or families who suffer from an alcoholic, and so have to repeatedly forgive, or families with serious strife, or those who suffer from abusive bosses or co-workers.

However, despite injuries, which we receive from others, St. Ignatius, who was martyred in the second century of the early Church, said, “Meet their angry outbursts with your own gentleness; Their boastfulness with your humility; Their revilings, with your prayers, Their error with your constancy of faith; Their harshness with your meekness. Let us prove ourselves, ( as) their brothers, through courtesy. Let us strive to follow the Lord’s example and see, who can suffer greater.”

These words sound beautiful, but all of us know how difficult it is to be meek, humble, and gentle, and strive to follow the Lord’s example. Our Lord’s most splendid example to forgive comes from His forgiveness of all of us, who by our sins, crucified Him. Our Divine Lord is always ready to forgive everyone. Our power to forgive comes from Christ’s love and forgiveness on the Cross. His glorious last words on Calvary, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” gives us strength to forgive, and gives the antidote to heal the wound. The antidote is to pray for those who hurt us; to truly believe they did not know what they are doing; and to ask God to forgive, those whom have hurt us.

St. Francis of Assisi’s also speaks of these things within his prayer to God with regard to the Our Father, he said, “Forgive us our trespasses’ through thy unspeakable mercy, through thy merits of thy passion and death of thy most dearly beloved Son, through the intercession of the Holy Virgin Mary, and all the saints. As we forgive them that trespass against us; grant us the grace that we may sincerely and truly forgive our enemies, and pray earnestly to Thee, for them, that we may never return evil for evil, but seek to do good to those who injure us.”

If we find ourselves with an unforgiving heart, let us seek the Lord’s mercy through the Sacrament of Confession. In the words of the late Pope John Paul II, he said,“Just as the Lord is always ready to forgive us, so we must always be ready to forgive one another. And how great is the need for forgiveness in our world today—indeed in our communities and families, in our very own hearts! That is why the special sacrament of the Church for forgiveness, the Sacrament of Penance, is such a precious gift from the Lord. In the Sacrament of Penance, God extends His forgiveness to us in a very personal way. Through the ministry of the priest, we come to our loving Savior with the burden of our sins. We confess that we have sinned against God and our neighbor. We manifest our sorrow and ask for pardon from the Lord. Then, through the priest, we hear Christ say, to us: “Your sins are forgiven; Go and do not sin again”. Can we not also hear Him say to us as we are filled with His saving grace: “Extend to others seventy times seven, this same forgiveness and mercy.”

Let us ask Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, for a large and forgiving heart, like Her own. She will help us pray for those, who hurt us; She will help us avoid brooding over our injuries; Not return evil for evil; She will ask God to forgive those who hurt us; She will give us the understanding, that they knew not what they were doing; She will draw us to Her Son’s font of mercy in the sacrament of Penance; And She asks Her Son to help us to forgive, as we have been forgiven.

And when we go to meet our maker, we will have great confidence and trust in Our Lord’s words of His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

Our Lady of Sorrows - Sept. 15th

 

Today, we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Many of us are familiar with the book called the Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas A Kempis. He had also written some works on the Blessed Virgin Mary, which when compiled together are called the Imitation of Mary. He has a very beautiful meditation on Our Lady of Sorrows, that I will now quote. Thomas A. Kempis states:

“Be sorrowful, now my soul, with sorrowing Virgin, the weeping Mother, loving Mary. If you love Mary, you should share in Her sorrows with Her, in order that She may help you in your sufferings.

See, the Holy Mother weeps for Her only Son. Stop for a moment, therefore, and learn from the Virgin Mary how to mourn, for Her bitter tears can move your heart to its depths. See Her at the foot of the Cross, racked by profound sorrow, this woman who on a day long past was filled with heavenly music at the manger. She is overwhelmed by the cruelty of the soldiers, this woman what at one time was honored by the royal Magi. She is covered with the blood of Her Son, this woman who had been caressed by His candid gaze.

The radiant Star of the Sea is battered by many fearful storms, but Her mind, which remains fixed on God, is not overcome by human malice. No, She stands upright by the Cross with unwavering patience, with persevering love, without fear of those who threaten Her death, without fleeing from those who curse Her.

She endures everything with peaceful soul and endeavors to stand beside Her humiliated, Son, giving no answer to her cruel enemies. She says no words of contempt, makes no sign of indignation. She only utters deep groans, weeps bitterly, gives anxiously, shares closely in Her Son’s suffering, and is immensely afflicted. She does not grow angry with the crucifiers, but prays for the slanderers, She is saddened by those who deride and blaspheme Christ, and She prays for them. Thus, She stands by the Cross in a sea of tears, and by Her example of meekness brings a consoling patience to all in distress.

O all you who pass on the way to Calvary, look upon the sorrowful presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Look to the right of the Cross, and see Mary, the Mother of Christ.

There can be no sorrow like Hers; never in the history of the world was there a Mother who shared Her Son’s suffering with such love, for all the wounds inflicted on the limbs of Jesus She received in Her soul. She became a martyr every time She gazes on the bloody wounds of Her Son.

See to it, then, devout soul, that you imprint these things on your heart. Be meek and courageous when the moment of temptation comes. Do not be troubled and do not despair if you are deprived of something you greatly love or if you are denied something you think necessary for you. The friends of Jesus are often tried by serious afflictions.

Most merciful Jesus, Son of Mary, I ask you to grant me the gift of tears and to wound my heart with the deep compassionate love that I know tore at the heart of your faithful Mother. Look on me with your compassionate eyes with which You looked on your Mother and Your disciple John as they stood weeping by the Cross, at that time You when you entrusted each to the other and said farewell to them, “Behold your Son; behold your Mother.”

23rd Sunday, Admonish the Sinner

  

Image from the BALTIMORE CATECHISM.

The readings today place before us one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy, which is to admonish the sinner. In case we may have forgotten, there are 7 spiritual works of mercy. To admonish the sinner, to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, to comfort the sorrowful, to bear wrongs patiently, to forgive all injuries, & to pray for the living and the dead. Now, let us see how the readings today, speak of the spiritual work of mercy of admonishing the sinner.

In the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, those who are appointed as watchman over the House of Israel, are to help the wicked to see the error of their ways. If the watchman fails to do so, not only will with the wicked perish in his sin, but so will the watchman. But if the watchman warns the wicked, and the wicked refuses to listen, --the wicked man shall die of his guilt, but the watchman shall be saved because he will have attempted to help him.

This reading today, is a reminder that we have an obligation to help someone who appears to be caught in sin, and our failure to help them will result in the same outcome as the sinner. If we remain silent, when we see someone doing something that is clearly wrong, we will be responsible for that same wrong, because it is really a failure to love them as we ought. We fail to be concerned about their salvation.

If the person is saying or doing something scandalous, there is an even greater obligation to say something to the person, most especially if one has authority of them.

A few years ago, the archbishop of San Francisco, publicly corrected a high profile politician, who was Catholic and is a member of his diocese. She considers herself a practicing Catholic, continues to receive Holy Communion even though she publicly supports abortion, including infanticide, and attempts to enact its legislation. It's important to admonish sinners, for the sake of their soul, and help amend their life, for love of neighbor, whose soul is at serious risk of losing heaven.

Because of many other Catholics causing scandal, some wondered why the US Bishops in their document that came out last year, on the Eucharist, during the Year of the Eucharist, failed to mention anything about Catholics causing public scandal and a Christian’s obligation to admonish a public sinner.

St. Paul admonished the Corinthians for their lack of respect towards the Eucharist. Back then, he told them, at times, they need to abstain from receiving Communion. Some of them were mixing food with the Mass. He said, “So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in?”

He warned of the consequences of receiving the Lord unworthily. He said, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor 11:27-30). Paul foresees serious consequences for profaning the Eucharist and out of love for them and love for Jesus in the Eucharist, he admonished them.

While the first reading spoke about the obligation to admonish a sinner, the Gospel gives us the method in which we are to admonish fellow Christians.

First, we must speak with the person (alone and privately) and try to win the person over to the truth. If that doesn’t work, then we are to bring one or two others with us to speak to the person, to again attempt to convince them.

If that does not work, then we take it to the Church. Which means, a priest or the bishop should visit with the person about their behavior. And if that does not work, then we treat the person as a non-believer. Why would Jesus say to treat someone like a non-believer? Perhaps, if we continued to have a friendship with them, the person could be a source of an occasion of sin, such that by being around them, we may continue to fall into sin, or may even lose our faith. We have an obligation to protect our soul, and the souls of our family members from persons who could harm us spiritually.

When I was pastor of a Sacred Heart parish in Halstead, Jared (not his real name), who was a junior in high school, told his father that another boy was saying lies about his sister Kathy (not her real name), who was a freshman in high school. The boy thinking his father would do something about it, was surprised when he said to his son, “You take care of it. Talk to him yourself.” He wanted to teach his son a lesson, by doing as Jesus said in today’s Gospel. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone….etc...

The boy was fearful of a confrontation. He thought he may get into a fight. But he did as his father told him. He went to boy telling lies about his sister, and in a charitable way asked him to stop. To his surprise, the other boy said he wouldn’t do it anymore. It all ended, in a peaceful way. The father taught his son, that at times, he needs to address the problem himself privately, and to do it in the manner Jesus said in today’s Gospel. To go the person our self first.

When I was in high school, I worked at a grocery store. I stocked shelves and bagged groceries. There used to be a very negative woman customer, who came to the store every week. Every time she came in, she complained about something. For example, she would say, “Bananas are 4 lbs for a dollar at the other grocery store, and you are selling them for 3 lbs for a dollar.” Or she would say, “The peaches went up in price since last week, 10 cents a can.” Week after week, there was always some negative comment she would make.

It became so bad, as soon as we saw her coming down the aisle, we would immediately leave that aisle, and go to the next aisle to stock shelves. One day, she caught on to what we were doing. She said, “Why do you young people go down a different aisle, when you see me coming?” Being young and not so savvy as to what to say, I blurted out what was true. I said, “You complain every time you come in the store, and we don’t want you to ruin our day.” She said, “Do I really complain like that all the time?” I said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you are grumpy.” A week later, she came back to the store, and she never again, not even once, complained. She always had good positive things to say. While I hadn’t thought of correcting her, it seemed like the Lord presented the moment for me to blurt out some helpful words of advice to change her life for the better.

However, we should not become “admonish happy”, by correcting others for their faults all the time. Our first obligation is to first correct our self, to look inside our own heart, and see how we can live a better life, how we can follow Jesus and His Church’s teachings more faithfully.

We should also examine why we admonish someone. Our primary motivation should be Christian love-- to help our neighbor to obtain what he or she spiritually needs. But also to correct an injustice that may be happening. We shouldn’t do it to try to control others or in a spirit of authority.

St. Paul in the second reading, helps us to know how we are to treat our each other. He said, “You shall love your neighbor, as yourself”. We should do to others, what we would want others to do to us.

At times, because it may make matters worse, to correct someone by words, we may correct them indirectly by our good example, that we do not approve of their actions.

There is no greater way to love our neighbor, than to help them to get to heaven. Let us ask the Virgin Mary, to pray for us, so that we may be faithful in the role God has for us, in helping others to get to heaven. And may we see that admonishing others is a spiritual work of mercy, and may do it with tenderness and compassion.