Divine Mercy Sunday, Death of Pope Francis

Catholics around the world mourn the death of Pope Francis and we pray for his soul, that he may rest in peace. Today, (Yesterday) was the funeral of Pope Francis.

The pope is our spiritual father. The word “pope” (papa) means “father”. The pope is the successor of St. Peter and there is a line of men, who held the office from Peter unto today. In Eucharistic prayer 1, are some of the early popes: Peter, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius. Pope Francis was the 266th pope.

The day after the pope dies, the Church begins a Novena for the soul of the pope and for the cardinals who will elect the next pope. We are currently praying the Rosary Novena in our parish for his soul.

The primary purpose of a cardinal is to elect a pope. There are currently 252 cardinals, only 135 can vote, because those over 80 are not allowed to vote. The conclave begins 15 to 20 days after the death of the pope, which means they probably won’t begin until after May 5th. It’s called conclave, which is Latin or “with the keys”, meaning the room in which they vote is locked and no one may enter or leave during voting. The conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

The duty of the pope is to protect the faith and boldly announce the Gospel to the world. The man in white represents the leader of the Church. We honor the office of the pope given to us by Jesus to guide and lead the Church. We love our pope despite his weaknesses and failings.

Pope Francis was a very controversial pope. 

First, we must admit it has to have been very difficult for an 88 year old man, with health problems, to guide and lead a Church with 1.4 billion Catholics. We also have to take into consideration, his personal background, being a member of Jesuit order, not known for their faithfulness to the Church and joining them when he was a young man.

One of his controversial actions was when he renounced the title “Vicar of Christ”, meaning one who acts in the person of Christ and is the supreme head of the Catholic Church.

He was a pope of the peripheries by appointing new cardinals from countries from the edges of the world, that never had them before. He was often seen with the poor and was a great defender of the unborn saying to kill an unborn child was murder.

He allowed women to be involved in Church governance but would not allow women to deacons-- nor priests.

He believed in climate change and wanted to protect the earth. He was present in the Vatican gardens when a group of Catholics bowed down & worshiped a wooden fertility goddess, called Pachamama, representing mother earth. After the idol was placed on the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica, a young man from Austria, took the idol and tossed into the Tiber River, because of the sacrilege.

Pope Francis requested that priests bless homosexual couples. All bishops from the entire continent of Africa refused to obey, saying that it would be sinful to bless them.

Pope Francis was in favor of immigration, including illegal immigration.

Under his leadership an agreement was made with China allowing the communist government to appoint Catholic bishops, rather than the Catholic Church, which caused faithful Catholics in China to be persecuted by the Chinese government.

He attempted to change the structure of the Church through the synod of synodality by allowing lay people to be part of what priests and bishops have traditionally took part.

He gave the Argentinian Conference of Catholic bishops permission for the divorced and remarried civilly, without changing their life, to receive Holy Communion, which contradicts thousands of years of Church teaching. Morality can’t be different from country to country.

He said all religions are pathways to heaven. But, Jesus Himself and His Church is the only pathway to heaven. Our Lord said, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to Father, but through me.”

Pope Francis is quoted as saying, “What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is...”  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that Catholic teaching “affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.” 

We have to remember, every word any pope speaks is not infallible. Only when he clarifies faith or morals binding the entire Church to believe it, are the pope’s words infallible.

For example, Pope St. John Paul II restated the infallible teaching that women cannot be priests in 1994. On Nov 1st 1950, Pope Pius XII declared Mary’s Assumption an infallible dogma. In 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX.

It is rare when a pope makes an infallible statement. The many controversial statements by Pope Francis are not infallible and there may have doctrinal mistakes within them, as well as other popes too in their writings and words. During the pontificate of Pope Francis, he never officially made an infallible proclamation.

As Catholics we obey the Pope in all things except those which may contradict the Deposit of Faith (Scripture and Tradition) and or if we are asked to do something sinful, we refuse, like the bishops of Africa who said it would be sinful for them to bless a homosexual couple. However, we honor and respect the pope, as the successor of St. Peter.

We trust in the mercy of Jesus, and Our Lord’s words, “Peter, you are rock and on this rock, I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it.” We trust Jesus, that the Catholic Church will continue until Jesus comes in all His glory, although the Church will go through Her passion before the 2nd coming.

On Feb 22nd, of 1931, the feast of the chair of St. Peter, when Jesus appeared to St. Faustina, he held one hand raised-- in blessing and the other hand touching his garment at his chest. From the point on his garment two rays of light emanated (one red and the other white).

Jesus said, “Paint a picture according to the vision you see and with the signature, ‘Jesus I trust in You!’ I desire that this picture be venerated first in your chapel and then throughout the whole world.” 

Since Jesus appeared to St. Faustina giving her the image to paint on February 22nd, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, perhaps, Our Lord wanted us to trust in God’s mercy with regard to popes. Perhaps, He also wanted us to have mercy on popes, realizing they are human and can make mistakes.

The feast of the Chair of St. Peter is a reminder that the pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth and that he acts for Jesus through the Church.

In the Gospel today, the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room and were afraid. But Jesus came to them with his message of peace. He said, “Peace be with you!” They were no longer afraid. It is like that for us too. We will not find peace until we find it in Jesus. Jesus’ message for each of us today is to find our peace in Him. In the Gospel, He also breathed on them, and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'. By these words Jesus inaugurated the Sacrament of Confession.

Jesus asked Sr. Faustina that the Sunday after Easter be celebrated as a Feast of Mercy and be preceded by a novena beginning on Good Friday. Jesus promised those who go to confession and receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday would obtain a complete remission of all sin and all punishment due to sin.

The cardinal of Poland- at the center of the devotion said, the Lenten confession is sufficient for the requirement of the devotion, as long as one is not currently in mortal sin.

Canon Ignacy Rozycki from Poland came to the conclusion that the extraordinary grace promised by Jesus on the Feast of Mercy is a gift of grace equaled only by the grace of Baptism. Therefore, today, if we have the intention of having all our sins forgiven and all the punishment due to our sins washed away, our soul will become like it had been at baptism. And, if we were to immediately die after receiving Holy Communion, we would go straight to heaven. There would be no purgatory time at all. All sins and punishment due to our sins will be completely washed into Our Lord’s infinite ocean of mercy.

Jesus said, “Let no soul fear to come to me, even if its sins be as scarlet. This feast emerged from the bosom of my mercy and is founded in the depths of my mercies.”

Sr. Faustina was given the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Jesus said, “Say unceasingly this chaplet. Anyone who says it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as a last hope. If the most hardened sinner recites this chaplet even once, they will receive grace from my infinite mercy. I want the whole world to know my infinite mercy. I want to give unimaginable graces to those who trust in my mercy.” Jesus also said, “I desire the confidence of my people. Let not even the weak and very sinful fear to approach me, even if their sins be as numerous as all the sand of the earth all will be forgiven in the fathomless pit of my mercy.”

St. Faustina said, God’s infinite divine mercy is given to the world today, to prepare for the second Coming of Jesus.

This Sunday (today), we will celebrate Divine Mercy Devotions, with a Eucharistic Holy Hour at 3pm. Please come and pray for God’s mercy for the Church, our country and our families. I encourage you to daily pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Rosary for the upcoming conclave when the cardinals will gather to elect the next pope.

Next Sunday will be our Eucharistic Festival. Two priests will hear Confessions beginning at 4pm, at 4:50pm Fr. Michael Kerschen will give a talk on the Eucharist. We will have an extra Mass at 5pm on Sunday and we will have hamburgers and hot dogs at the Parish Hall. We will then watch the video “Jesus Thirsts” a powerful movie on the Eucharist. After the movie we will have a Eucharistic Procession and then go to Jon and Laurie’s farm for outdoor Eucharistic Adoration under the Stars. Singer and musician Chris Rowden from Wichita will be here to sing and play music for the procession and for Adoration Under the Stars.

Three of our children will make their First Communions at the 6:30pm Mass Saturday. Next Sunday at the 8am Mass we will have the Crowning of Mary and a Living Rosary outside by the statue of Mary at the Parish Hall.

Next weekend will be grand weekend, a weekend of joy and glory. Please sign up on the paper at the entrance of the church or notify Susan Wempe so she will know how much food to make.

Let us rejoice and give thanks today for God’s mercy, on this Feast of Divine Mercy. When we receive Holy Communion today, we will be free from sin, and the punishment due to sin (all our purgatory time washed away). No matter which pope leads the Church, we will trust in God’s unfathomable mercy. And let us pray much for the soul of Pope Francis and for the college of cardinals, who elect the next pontiff, that he may be a man who will lead the Church as Jesus desires.

Easter Sunday - Resurrection of Jesus

 

Jesus is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Before Jesus appeared to anyone, He rose from the dead. There are no human witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus. No one was in the tomb. His dead body, marred by His terrible Passion on Good Friday, literally rose from the dead and was immediately transformed into a glorious body.

When He rose from the dead all wounds and blood disappeared, except for the wounds in His hands, feet and side. Why didn’t the Lord allow anyone to see His resurrection? Faith. He desires all His followers to believe that by His own power, He rose from the dead.

The Gospel of John explains that the burial cloths were rolled up in a separate place. This suggests that if the body were stolen, no thief would have taken the time to wrap up the burial cloths and placed them in a separate place.

One could imagine the lifeless body of Jesus wrapped in the shroud, lying on a cold slab, when suddenly in a flash, a light so immense and brilliant the naked eye would have been immediately blinded, and the body was suddenly and instantly transformed bursting through the cloth, resulting in Jesus standing immediately next to the slab. Now only the shroud remained.

At the moment of the resurrection, the shroud imploded, as the body instantly came through the cloth in a micro-burst, and Our Lord stood there in the tomb alive with His resurrected body with a divine tunic.

Jesus desiring to help His Apostles know His body was not stolen, but risen, wrapped the burial cloth covering His head and placed it in a separate place in the tomb. When Jesus rose from the dead, to depart from the tomb, and because of the gift of subtlety, He walked directly through the large stone covering the entrance of the tomb, or the wall, without the stone needing to be rolled away.

Jesus was not in the tomb when “there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.” Consequently, Jesus would have departed the tomb prior to the stone being rolled away by the angel, and therefore, Jesus walked through the wall of the tomb or the large stone before the angel rolled it back.

Sacred Scriptures tell us Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene. But, there is a pious tradition mentioned by Pope Saint John Paul II, that Jesus appeared to His Mother Mary first. He said, “How could the Blessed Virgin, present in the first community of disciples, be excluded from those who met Her divine Son after He had risen from the dead?” “Indeed, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared.”

Unlike Mary Magdalene, who wasn’t expecting to find the risen Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary knew Her Son Jesus would rise, and so, sorrowfully, but patiently, waited for His resurrection. In a spirit of prayer, Our Lady awaited Her glorified Son. We can imagine the meeting of Mother and Son when Mary was kneeling in prayer waiting for Her Son to come. Suddenly, Jesus appeared to His Mother, and at that moment, She instantly recognized His glorious body. Her sorrow vanished and Her Heart was filled with joy. Since She was kneeling, She first saw the wounds in His feet and immediately bent over and kissed them and adored Him. Our Lord reached out His hands to help Her up and then She saw the wounds in His hands and kissed them. As Jesus took His wounded hands and helped Her up from the ground, surely, She embraced Her Son, kissed His face, and hugged Him. What once were tears of sorrow, immediately turned into tears of joy. What were their first words to each other? Our Lord may have simply said, “Mother!” and She could have responded, “My God, my Son!”

We are reminded of the many appearances of Our Blessed Lord after He rose from the dead. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, the two men on the road to Emmaus, once to St. Peter, and three times to His apostles, twice in the upper room, and once on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Jesus appeared to 500 at one time. Scripture also tells us Jesus appeared to James. Our Lord appeared on the Mount of Olives to the eleven giving them His great commission to preach to the whole world. There is a pious tradition His Mother was on the mountain with them before He ascended into heaven.

With Jesus appearing to so many people, it would be difficult to make up such the story, if it were not true. The Resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact. If Our Lord’s resurrection did not happen, why would so many people be willing to lay down their lives, especially in the first three centuries and even up to today? To lay down one’s life for something false would be ridiculous.

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, and much to her amazement, she discovered two angels sitting there. One angel sat at the feet where the body of Jesus was laid and the other at the head. Can you imagine seeing two angels in a tomb? It would be scary to go by yourself inside a tomb early in the morning. No one would expect to see two angels sitting there. After the angels asked her why she was weeping, she said, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take Him.”

Immediately after this, she encountered Jesus, but didn’t know it was Our Lord. Only when He said her name, “Mary”, did she recognize Him. She immediately ran to tell the apostles that she had seen Him.

Just think about this for a moment, according to scripture, who did Jesus first appear? Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute.

Jesus wanted us to know He loves sinners, puts behind their sins, and bestows special graces upon those who truly desire to live a life of discipleship.

This the Easter message: Jesus is risen! Jesus is alive. Jesus loves sinners. Through His suffering, death and resurrection, Our Lord came to save us. He opened the gates of heaven by becoming one of us and passed from death to life and unto eternity, so that we may be with Him forever. God loves us so much He sent His Son in the world to save us, that we might have life with Him.

There is a book written by a Franciscan of the Renewal, Fr. Mark Mary Ames, CFR, called The Father, 30 meditations to draw you into the Heart of God. In the book is a story of Julissa a six year old girl in Honduras. The little girl’s mother became addicted to alcohol and turned to prostitution to provide income for her family. Over the years, Julissa’s mother didn’t take care of her daughter and soon her aunts and members of the local Catholic parish took care of her.

Unfortunately, as Julissa became a teen, she started to get into trouble with drugs and alcohol, promiscuity and then prostitution. She would go into the streets and not return for months. Sadly, over the next 10 years Julissa became like her mother.

The local parish and her aunts did everything they could for her to get an education and have a better healthier life. But, nothing seemed to work. Finally, Julissa disappeared for several years as addiction and brokenness took over all aspects of her life.

One day, the Franciscans heard the sad news that, although Julissa was in her 20’s, she dying due to the compromise of her immune system caused by the life she was living. They found her, visited her often, and prayed with her giving her consolation in the final days of her life. When she was offered Confession, Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion, she was reconciled to God. Just a few days before her last breath, she received the mercy of God poured out through the sacraments and died a happy death, despite the fact most of her life, she had lived addicted to drugs, alcohol and was a prostitute.

Just as Jesus forgave Mary Magdalene, a prostitute, Jesus forgave Julissa and restored her soul to the state of grace bearing witness to the resurrection of Jesus, who suffered, died and rose from the dead, that we may have life and have it abundantly in heaven. Jesus, through a priest, came to her at a time she needed Him the most.

My dear friends, we must never forgot Jesus loves us and desires that we be saved. May we be faithful to our life as a Christian and like Mary Magdalene and Julissa proclaim, “He is Risen! He is risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Vigil - Resurrection of Jesus

 

This is the most blessed and most joyful night of the year as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

Think about it, Jesus rose from the dead! Death is not the end. It is only the door to beyond. We do not want the resurrection of Jesus to have to fight for room in our lives; we pray Jesus’ death and resurrection will be the center of our lives.

We began our celebration tonight with a service of light, which symbolized Jesus rising from the dead, and bringing light to all of us. The light of Christ has shone in the world scattering darkness forever. We had been waiting for this moment for thousands of years.

We heard in the readings tonight an account of the creation of man and woman (first reading) and the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt (third reading). This was in God’s plan for mankind, but the high-point in God’s plan for us was the resurrection which is why tonight is the greatest celebration of the Church. This night is the most blessed of all as we heard in the Exsultet, the Easter Proclamation.

Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that there is life beyond the grave. Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that there is more to each of us than meets the eye, that we have an immortal soul. We will live forever with God.

Think of the glorious future that awaits each of us. In the letter to the Romans which we heard tonight Paul wrote that we will imitate Christ in his resurrection. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Savior we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of His glorious body.”

Just think of it, your body will be transformed to become a glorious body like that of Jesus. Do we live like someone who believes in such a glorious future? When we do, everything in this world takes on a new perspective, so that we do not become possessed by our possessions. We cannot take our house, car, boat, pets, or money to heaven. We should use our possessions to help others, and if we have unnecessary items, we can give them away to others who need them. We should be detached from all our possessions. Ultimately, all that we have comes from God and belongs to Him. How can we use what He has entrusted to us, to help others, especially those in most need?

In heaven, all our desires will be full-filled. And since we are promised to be transfigured like the risen Jesus, it is natural to pray every day. It would be a contradiction to say that we believe in God but not pray. The reason we have so many problems is because we don’t pray enough. Pray, pray, pray. Personal prayer and praying the Rosary keeps us focused on Jesus.

“Our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Savior we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body.” John, in his first letter, says something similar, “My dear people, we are already children of God, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.” (1 John 3:2) Our second reading at Mass tomorrow concludes, “But when Christ is revealed—and he is your life—you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.” (Col 3:4)

Let us us keep our heart and mind on Jesus, knowing He is risen. He is alive. He is with us. He loves us and wants to be part of everything we do.

And may the Virgin Mary, our Mother, who was the first to see Her Son after He rose from the dead, give us the same Easter joy She had when She saw Him, embraced Him, and spoke to Him after He had been crucified and buried. Mostly taken from Fr. Tommy Lane

Good Friday - St. Thomas Aquinas

 

Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us?

There was a great need, and it can be considered in a twofold way: in the first place, as a remedy for sin, and secondly, as an example of how to act.

It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what He desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.

If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. And if He gave His life for us, then it should not be difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for His sake.

If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when He suffered He did not threaten; He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and He did not open His mouth. Therefore Christ’s patience on the cross was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before him, bore His cross and despised the shame.

If you seek an example of humility, look upon the crucified one, for God wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.

If you seek an example of obedience, follow Him who became obedient to the Father even unto death. For just as by the disobedience of one man, namely, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many were made righteous.

If you seek an example of despising earthly things, follow Him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Upon the cross He was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, and given only vinegar and gall to drink.

Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches, because they divided my garments among themselves. Nor to honors, for He experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns they placed it on my head. Nor to anything delightful, for in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” St. Thomas Aquinas

As we venerate the cross, let us give thanks to God for the sufferings Jesus endured for love of us, so that our sins could be forgiven and that would learn to carry our own cross in patience and in love.

And if we carry our Cross, we know the Virgin Mary, will meet us on our road to Calvary and stand with us when we are on the Cross, praying for us, just as She did for Her Son Jesus and will pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.

Mass of the Lord's Supper - Holy Thursday

When I was in high school, someone asked me, "If you could have anything in the world, what would you want?" Even though I was not practicing my faith well, I said, “I would like to go back in time and be at the Last Supper and also be there at the Crucifixion of Jesus.”

Little did I know every Mass, we are at the Last Supper and every Mass we are at the Crucifixion of Jesus. How interesting, I would end up becoming a priest and now daily say the words of Jesus at the Last Supper and also make present the sacrifice of Calvary on the altar.

Every day, you have the opportunity to come to Calvary, to come to the Last Supper when you come to Mass. Everyday, you have opportunity of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion.

Today as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the very First Mass, we thank Jesus for giving us the Eucharist and the priesthood. Pope Saint John Paul II said in one his Holy Thursday Letters to priest, “There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.”

You see priests involved in many different activities. No matter what type of good work a priest does the high point of the priest’s ministry is celebrating the Eucharist. It is the most important moment of the day for the priest. And so the Pope writes, “The ordained ministry…enables the priest to act in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) and culminates in the moment when he consecrates the bread and wine, repeating the actions and words of Jesus during the Last Supper.”

Before this extraordinary reality we find ourselves amazed and overwhelmed, so deep is the humility by which God “stoops” in order to unite himself with man! If we feel moved before the Christmas crib, when we contemplate the birth of God, what must we feel before the altar where, by the poor hands of the priest, Jesus makes his Sacrifice present in time? We can only fall to our knees and silently adore this supreme mystery of faith.

To come to Mass is a privilege. To receive the Eucharist is a privilege. To come to adore Jesus in our Eucharistic Adoration is a privilege. These are privileges because the Eucharist is the greatest gift God gives us on earth, because the Eucharist is the gift of God Himself.

The price of the Eucharist was very costly. Every time Mass is offered we hear how much it cost Jesus to give Himself-- to us-- in the Eucharist. Jesus said, “This is my body, which will be given up for you.” And when He had taken the cup, He said, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, to be shed for you, so that sins may be forgiven.” Our Lord gave His body and blood on the Cross, so that He could give us His body and blood in the Eucharist.

At the Last Supper the apostles were ordained priests so that Our Lord could give Himself. At the Last Supper, the apostles made their first Holy Communion. Yet one of them would betray Jesus. Even though Judas was ordained a priest by Jesus and even though Judas made his first Holy Communion at the Last Supper. Scripture tells us that Satan entered his heart and then he took the morsel, which was the Eucharist. Judas received the Eucharist in the state of mortal sin, and what did he do, but left the Last Supper early before it was over.

The eleven apostles would ordain other men as bishops, priests and deacons. These eleven men would offer Mass, hear confessions, and preach the Gospel wherever they went.

All of them, but John would be martyred. John would take care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and watch over Her until She was assumed into heaven.

The succession of priesthood is past down to us today through the sacrament of Holy Orders. That’s why today, bishops are considered apostles and priests and deacons are ordained by the bishops. One of the primary purposes of the priesthood is to make available to the people the priceless gift of the Eucharist in every time and place until Jesus comes again.

At the Last Supper, Jesus took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist… Our Lord said, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."

Deacon Keith Founier said, “How extraordinary! The God who fashioned the entire universe, who dwells in inaccessible light, is now present as a Man among men; serving the very humanity that had been created through Him. This God, before whom all the Nations will one day bend the knee, bends His human knee before the ones He had chosen to carry His redemptive mission forward until He returns in glory.”

Jesus washed the feet of the apostles to remind them that as priests, they were to carry on the redemptive work of Jesus by serving the people, especially by offering the Mass.

Lay people cannot offer the Mass, but lay men, women and children are also called to serve their neighbor. That’s what the stewardship way of life is all about. It is about serving God and serving our neighbor, which finds its source and its strength from the Eucharist. That’s why Eucharistic Adoration in our parish is so incredibly powerful, because the more we come to adore Jesus, the more we want to serve others, and serve God by our time and talent.

Today, we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist, the greatest of all sacraments, because the Eucharist is Jesus Himself, and as St. Thomas Aquinas states the Mass is the greatest of all miracles.

It is a reminder of the sublime and glorious and most Holy event, the worship of God. It is a reminder we should humble our self before receiving Holy Communion and make a sign of reverence before. Many churches in the diocese of Wichita and throughout the world are installing communion rails. We are able to use the kneeler here at Holy Trinity throughout the week. Tonight, out of reverence for Jesus in the Eucharist, I encourage you to receive Communion kneeling, if you are able, and start receiving on the tongue. I encourage you make the commitment to dress up for Mass, to not wear shorts to Mass or to Adoration. In the Eucharist is God Himself. It is not bread. It is not wine. The Host is truly the Risen Jesus.

Randy Blaise, a parishioner of St. Peter in Schulte, Kansas proved his love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Last month, in Topeka, a satanist was performing a sacrilegious event mocking the Mass and holding what may have been a consecrated Host.

As the satanist threw the Host to the ground, Randy threw his body on top of the Host to prevent it from being stomped on, and immediately consumed it. The satanist assaulted Randy beating him, until the police came and arrested the satanist. Randy was willing to defend the Eucharist from profanation.

All of us are called to defend Jesus in the Eucharist too and show the greatest possible reverence to Our Lord truly present in the Sacred Host.

On this Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, let us praise God for the wonderful gifts of the priesthood and the Eucharist.

May we thank Jesus every day for the precious gift of Himself, the Eucharist, given to us at the Mass, which comes to us through the hands of the priest.

May we give Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the most reverence possible, humbly acknowledging He is God and we are naught.

5th Sunday of Lent (Rachel's Vineyard Retreat) for Parents of an Abortion

 

When the adulterous woman was brought before Jesus in front of the crowd what did she feel?

Embarrassed, shame, guilt, anger, fear, sadness, judged, condemned, burdened.

But after her encounter with Jesus, how did she feel? Unburdened, free, loved, peace, joy, thankful.

This weekend you have encountered Jesus. Jesus did not condemn her. Jesus forgave her. Jesus revealed His love to Her. Jesus defended her. Jesus did not condemn you. Jesus forgave you. Jesus revealed His love for you. Jesus defended you.

You have done something very beautiful for yourself and your family. You have sought peace, mercy, forgiveness and love and Jesus in His abundant mercy has bestowed it upon you.

Jesus saw your suffering and His Heart was touched. He felt sympathy for you, and He consoles the one who suffers and makes the pain His own. Jesus could not see the tears in the person’s eyes without wiping them, because His compassion is always aroused by our pain.

Through baptism, Jesus dwells in us and because He dwells in us, He feels what we feel. When we are sad or feel lonely or misunderstood, He feels those feelings.

The compassionate Heart of Jesus suffers when He sees souls in sin. Jesus waits untiringly for our conversion. He sees the misery of our soul and wants to relieve that misery with His love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. Weary, Jesus waits until we ask. His body thirsts, but His Heart thirsts even more to relieve our misery. He sits with infinite patience—waiting just as He waits for us…

Jesus said to the woman, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to stone her.” They all slowly walked away and then Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one sir?” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Our Lord sends her away free from her enemies. If Jesus does not condemn her and he doesn’t want others to condemn her, than certainly she should not condemn herself.

Jesus once told His disciples, “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.” He also means we need to merciful to our self, as God is merciful to us.

Evil spirits convince us to sin and then accuse us after we have sinned. But God is infinitely merciful. Jesus told St. Faustina, “The greater the sinner, the greater one has the right to my mercy.” He also said, “Though one’s sins be as scarlet, and as many as sands on the shore, all is washed away in the ocean of my mercy.” Jesus wants us to trust in His Mercy.

If we have self-deprecating thoughts or thoughts doubting God’s mercy, remind yourself that Jesus has forgiven you. Don’t allow those thoughts in your mind, and then eventually, they will become less and less. The burden that you have carried, Jesus lifts and frees you of it, with His unfathomable mercy. Repeat often: Jesus, you have forgiven me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Have you ever heard of Bernard Nathanson? He was a Jewish abortionist who did over 7,000 abortions. He saw the evil he was doing and eventually discovered the love of Jesus and became Catholic. When he was baptized all his sins and the punishment due to his sins, were all washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy.

Baptism washes away all sin and the punishment due to all sin, so when he was baptized, if he would have died, he would have went straight to heaven. How infinite is God’s mercy.

Something you may want to do is to make an act of forgiveness toward the abortionist and to anyone else who encouraged you to get it, such as boyfriend, or parents and to make an act of forgiveness towards yourself. We need to forgive.

For example, we can say, “In the name of Jesus I forgive the abortionist. In the name of Jesus, I forgive my boyfriend. In the name of Jesus, I forgive myself.”

The Sunday after Easter is called the feast of Divine Mercy given to us by Jesus through St. Faustina. If a Catholic goes to Confession during Lent and if he or she receives Holy Communion in the state of grace, on the Sunday after Easter, their soul will become like it was at baptism. All sins and all punishment due to one’s sins are washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. All purgatory time is eliminated.

After receiving the sacrament of confession and after obtaining God’s divine mercy on the Feast of Divine mercy, some might still feel guilty. But this is false guilt caused by wounded emotions. If we have these feelings, we need to remind our self, “Jesus has truly forgiven me and these are just feelings”. We don’t go by feelings, we go by what is true.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. When He finds a lost sheep, He picks up the lamb and carries it on His shoulders and when He comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!” In another scripture, Jesus tells those around Him, “The angels in heaven rejoice over one repentant sinner.” So, every time we go to Confession, angels have a party in heaven. Jesus came to forgive sinners. He said, “I came not for the righteous, but for sinners.”

Who did Jesus first appear to when He rose from the dead, St. Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute? Who did Jesus appear to on the road to Damascus? Saul who persecuted Christians and encouraged the killing of St. Stephen. But Saul, changed his name to Paul and became a great saint.

St. Augustine was promiscuous and fathered a child out of wedlock, but he had a conversion and became not only a priest, but a bishop, a saint and a doctor of the Church.

Jesus can take anyone, no matter their sins and make them saints.

I would like to encourage you to do several things when you get back to your normal life. First, I suggest you pray the Rosary every day. When we meditate on the joyful mysteries of Jesus conception, visitation, birth, presentation in the temple, and finding in the temple, we come in contact with the beauty of family life and there is great healing. When we meditate on the sorrowful mysteries, the agony in the Garden, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the Cross, and especially the crucifixion, we see how much Jesus loves us and we when we unite our sufferings and agony with the sufferings and agony of Jesus, it gives great peace to our soul knowing Jesus understands what we go through.

Finally, I would to recommend you come before Jesus in an adoration chapel or before Jesus in the tabernacle. There as we adore Our Lord in the Eucharist whether in a monstrance or in a tabernacle, in the silence, Jesus will pour His healing rays of love into your hearts. Never has anyone not left who did not have more peace after being with Jesus in the Eucharist. During adoration, Jesus will embrace you, wipe away your tears and give joy to your heart, knowing, everyday is a new day and we can live a new life in Christ.

May you turn to the Virgin Mary, our Mother in heaven, who will place Her mantle upon you and keep you close to Her Immaculate Heart. She will give you a mother’s love and encourage you on your daily walk with Jesus, Her Son. For with Mary, you will encounter Jesus every day.

Passion Sunday - Palm Sunday

 

The Gospel for Passion Sunday, also called Palm Sunday is powerful because we see how much Jesus suffered-- out love for us.

Many spiritual writers tell us to regularly meditate on the Passion of Jesus. When we gaze upon Our Lord’s sufferings during prayer, we come in contact with the powerful saving mysteries, that touch our soul.

If one wants to grow in their sorrow for how we hurt Jesus by their sins, thinking about the sufferings of Jesus will move our heart to love Him more. The sufferings of Jesus will inspire us to practice our faith better. The sufferings of Jesus also remind us of our sins and our failures.

When most of us confess our sins, we confess what we said and what we did, but we forget to mention what we failed to do. Every sin is really a rejection of the Cross. All of the apostles, except John rejected the Cross, by not being there for Jesus during His three hours of suffering. But, they later repented. There was only the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary and John the Apostle.

Here are some ways we may have rejected the Cross, by what we have failed to do. As parents did you fail to bring your children to the Stations of the Cross during Lent? Did you fail to fast, do penance, and offer sacrifices during Lent? Did you fail to bring the entire family including your children to Confession regularly? Did you fail to teach my children to pray? Did you fail to read the bible regularly? Did you fail to pray to Jesus everyday? Did you fail to compliment your family members, friends and co-workers? Did you fail to make God first in you life, your family, and all that you do? Do you place school activities above God? Did you fail to bring my children to Mass preventing them from receiving Holy Communion, hearing the Word of God and being at the Sacrifice of Calvary? Did you fail to visit or call a parent or grandparent? Did you fail to apologize to someone you hurt? Did you fail to pray for relatives and friends who have died? Did you fail to forgive someone and held a grudge? Did you fail to dress up for Mass? Did you wear shorts to Mass or during Eucharistic Adoration, which is failure to respect the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Did you fail to bring your children to Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration? Did you fail to contribute financially in support the church to help pay for the gas, electricity, insurance, water, and other church expenses? Did you fail to help the poor?

For children, did you fail to do your homework? Did you fail to keep your room clean? Did you fail to pray for your parents, brothers and sisters and friends? Did you fail to help someone else who needs it? Have you failed to come to Confession on your own, rather than waiting until an adult told you to go? Did you fail to share something you have with others? Did you fail to read a short paragraph from the Bible everyday?

All of these ways and many more, are ways we reject the Cross. They are ways we fail to love Jesus as we ought by not trying to live the life of a disciple. Just as the Apostles repented and asked Jesus for forgiveness, you too can do the same and resolve to stand with Jesus at the foot of the Cross, with the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and John the Apostle.

On Sunday, (this evening) at 7pm, there will be a penance service at St. Paul in Lyons with 7 priests hearing Confessions. Remember, if you go to Confession during Lent and receive Holy Communion on the Sunday after Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) all your sins and the punishment due to your sins, will be washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. And all purgatory time is washed away.

Will you take advantage of God’s mercy given to us, poured out on the Cross for our salvation?

4th Sunday of Lent, The Father's Heart

 

Today’s Gospel of the Prodigal Son helps us to take a peek into the Heart of God the Father.

In the parable, the son took half of the family’s inheritance and spent it all on himself. He used the money for prostitutes. He did not care about his family, and wasn’t involved in their life, until he lost everything. He was unconcerned about his family and how they might be worried about him.

“Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have enough food to eat, but here I am, dying of hunger! I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”

He must have slowly walked back home with his head hung down, expecting the worst. We see that he did not know his father’s heart.

What does his father do? He sees his son in the distance and runs out to meet him. He threw his arms around him, kissed him and hugged him. His father ordered his servants, “Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals in his feet. Take the calf and slaughter it.”

In the parable, the father was extravagant in His mercy. The prodigal son squandered his family’s inheritance by living a very sinful life, didn’t know his father’s heart, who was ready to welcome him back, to forgive, and even have a feast because of his repentance.

His brother also didn’t know his father’s heart. He thought his father should punish his brother, rather than have a feast. He was jealous and didn’t want to attend the feast.

I’m the chaplain for Living Giving Wounds, a newly formed national organization in Wichita whose members are Adult Children of Divorced Parents.

When children, whose parents divorced, become adults, often times, they have to deal with all sorts of difficulties, due to the dysfunction from when they were children.

After my parents divorced, one day, one of my younger sisters left home without telling anyone where she went. She took off with her boyfriend and no one could find her. After our family filed a missing person’s report, she came home, which caused an avalanche of anger and arguing among family members. It was a terrible situation. She didn’t experience the heart of God the Father.

In divorced families, some have more severe events in their lives than others. But, all have wounds from their parent’s divorce. For example, some children have never seen their father, since the divorce. Some parents pit their children against the other parent.

When becoming an adult, childhood scars can make one feel out of place. Like they don’t belong anywhere. They have a false notion that no one else has difficulties.

Divorce is traumatic for children who can grow up with false guilt, where they blame themselves for their parent’s divorce. Some parents even blame their children for it, which is very unjust. Some feel shame, thinking God doesn’t love them and sometimes have difficulty loving and forgiving themselves.

But, Life Giving Wounds helps them to look at their wounds, and discover God the Father’s healing balm and loves them extravagantly, that they are precious in the eyes of God. In fact, I personally believe all those who suffer from divorce are God’s special children, including parents.

There is a false idea, that those who are married have perfect marriages, and so the divorced can feel out of place. But, the truth is you do not know what goes on behind closed doors. There are no perfect marriages. There are people in every parish, who have very deep heartaches with regard to their family. But, it’s hidden.

We all have problems. We all make mistakes, and we all have family crosses.

Through Life Giving Wounds, we help adult children of divorced to forgive their parents and family members. We show them, that God can redeem these wounds and give them peace.

After I finished college and when I was working in Hays, I volunteered at an emergency shelter for teens. The teens who came to the shelter were either runaways or seriously neglected by their family. Some suffered from verbal and physical abuse, and other types of abuse that I can’t mention in a homily.

One evening while working at the emergency shelter, as I was watching TV, I noticed there was no noise in the house and it was oddly quiet.

I went to check on the teenage kids, and all 5 of them escaped through a window. Shocked and not knowing what to do, I called my supervisor, who called the police to report the missing children.

Those of us who were working at the shelter, drove our cars down the streets of Hays looking for them.

When I saw them walking on the sidewalk, I pulled my car up beside them and asked them to get in. Some didn’t want to return, but I reminded them that they had no other place to go. After about an hour, two teens were still missing.

I happen to drive by a Mexican restaurant and noticed the two sitting in a booth. We all went inside, sat together and a soda pop together.

I convinced them to come back to the house. As we were going back, I noticed a police cruiser and told the officer-- all were found safe.

The teenage children expected that I would yell at them or to take them to the police department. When we got back, they said, “Aren’t you mad at us?” I said, “No, I was worried about you and care about you. I’m glad you are safe.”

The teens in the emergency shelter would eventually go to foster homes-- to either someday be reunited with their family or be adopted or live in foster homes, or when they are of age-- to be on their own.

Just as the prodigal son and his brother didn’t know the heart of their father, and his brother didn’t know his father’s heart, so also the teens who ran away from the shelter, didn’t know the Heart of God the Father.

Jesus revealed the Father’s Heart by giving us the parable of the prodigal son, but also by forgiving the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman who committed adultery, He forgave the good thief on the cross. Jesus forgave Peter who denied Jesus three times, forgiving Zacheaus the tax collector, who cheated many. He forgave Saul, who persecuted Christians and who took the name, Paul and became an apostle to the Gentiles, who wrote many letters in the New Testament.

Over the centuries Jesus has forgiven a prostitute, who became a cloistered nun. He forgave a satanist, Barto Longo, who eventually promoted the Rosary, will be canonized this year. He forgave abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who was responsible for 7,000 abortions and became a pro-life leader. Jesus forgave Don Calloway was promiscuous and addicted to drugs, who was later ordained him a priest and is now Fr. Calloway of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception.

Do you have a false view of God the Father’s love and mercy? The Father gave everything He had, so that we could receive His mercy. And that everything was His only Son, Jesus, whom He sent into the world, to be scourged at the pillar, crowned with thorns, spat upon, slapped, carry a cross, stripped of his clothes, His hands and feet nailed to the Cross and then He died and if that wasn’t enough, after He was dead, His Heart with pierced with a lance.

By looking at a Crucifix, can’t you see how much the Father loves you? How can one reject God’s mercy, when the Father gave us everything, His only begotten Son?

Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25th

 

The Feast of the Annunciation we celebrate today calls us to reflect on a central mystery of our faith, namely, the Incarnation. There is the traditional practice of praying the Angelus, pausing three times a day to recall this turning point in salvation history when “the Word through whom all things were made,” when “the Word who was in the beginning with God and who was God,” “became flesh and dwelt among us.”

And why did God’s Son do this? So that what he took on might be redeemed. He came to share in our human nature that we might share in his divine nature. God can save the world however he chooses, but what method did he chose? He chose the flesh, our humanity, our flesh and blood. As one Ancient Christian writer put it: “The flesh is the hinge of salvation.” Obedient to his heavenly Father, Jesus chose to save us by taking on our flesh, and by offering himself upon the cross, suffering in his flesh. Thus, he turned “the cause of our downfall into the means of our salvation.”

As Christians, we firmly believe that God is not merely an idea or a concept, but he has come to dwell among us; he has taken flesh through the womb of the Virgin Mary. This feast calls us to remember the sacredness of being people of flesh and blood. Indeed, the human person is not merely a spiritual being, but a unity of body and soul.

But today we recall this beautiful mystery of our faith: The Word became flesh and dwells among us, and the flesh is the hinge of salvation. It is not in spite of our bodily limits that God saves us and saves the world, but it is exactly through them that he carries out his saving work.

We matter, every part of us matters, every part of us is sacred, not just our soul but also our body. And it is through our body, even in our weakness, that God is at work for the salvation of the world. Indeed, each of us has the capacity to offer with Jesus all our aches and pains, all our limitations and struggles, all our victories and all our endurance, for our salvation and that of the whole world.

I would like to begin praying the Angelus before weekday Masses. The Angelus was created by St. Bonaventure, who ordered that it be prayed three times a day in all the Franciscan monasteries and then soon parishes also began to pray the Angelus, at morning, noon and evening. He wanted to remind everyone, that Jesus came down from heaven in the womb of Mary and that it was a most remarkable event, that raised our human nature to great dignity. It reminds us that our body is sacred. It’s holy. It reminds us that God sent His only Son to save us, and He so, by taking upon our human nature that would be the instrument of salvation on the Cross. During the Creed, today and on Christmas, we are required to kneel, rather than bow at the words, “For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”

In Little River, we have the joy of having three sirens everyday, just after each siren would be a great time to remember the incarnation of Jesus.

And let us thank the Virgin Mary, for Her fiat, Her Yes, when She said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me, according to thy word.”, which resulted in Jesus coming down from heaven into Her Immaculate womb.