St. Anthony of Padua - June 13th

 

Today is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua. St. Anthony was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1195 and given the name Ferdinand de Bulloen. The clergy in the Cathedral of Lisbon educated him. At the age of 15, he became an Augustinian religious brother.

For 8 years, he devoted himself to study and prayer. Due to his remarkable memory, he acquired a thorough knowledge of scripture.

In 1220, some Franciscans were martyred in Morocco and their relics were brought back to Portugal. St. Anthony longed to be martyred like the Franciscans. So he joined the Franciscan order, with the hope that he would be martyred. He changed his name to Anthony due to his devotion to the Anthony of the desert. With great zeal he received permission to set out to Morocco to preach to the Moors, but had to return to Europe due to a severe illness.

As a sickly young brother, no one suspected he had intellectual gifts. If he wasn’t praying in the chapel, he was either serving the brothers washing their dishes and pots. At an ordination service, none of the Franciscans or Dominicans were prepared to deliver the sermon. His superior told him to go and speak whatever the Holy Spirit put into his mouth. All who heard his address were astonished, with his eloquence, fervor and learning. Due to this event, he was sent to preach in the province. He was an immediate success as a preacher and particularly effective in converting heretics. Due to his teaching at the university against Albigensians, he developed the title “hammer of heretics”.

The mere sight of him, brought sinners to their knees, for he appeared to radiate a spiritual force. Crowds flocked to hear him, hardened criminals, careless Catholics, heretics—all were converted and brought to confession. Men locked up their offices and shops in order to go and hear his sermons and women rose early in the morning or stayed overnight in the church to secure their places. Because the churches weren’t large enough to accommodate the crowds, he preached in public squares and marketplaces.

Once Anthony had traveled to the city of Rimini because it was a hotbed of heresy. The city leaders had ordered everyone to ignore him, so no one turned up for his homilies. Wherever Anthony went, he was greeted by silence. As he walked outside of the town, he came to the mouth a river. There he began to address the not the crowds, but fish.

He called out, “You, fish of the river and sea, listen to the Word of God because the heretics do not wish to hear it.” Suddenly there were thousands of fish neatly arranged in rows, all pushing their heads through the surface of the water as if they were straining to listen to every one of Anthony’s words. The people of Rimini, seeing this miracle, gathered to listen to Anthony. They were so moved by Anthony’s words, by his call to conversion, that they abandoned their hardened positions and returned to the Church.

On another occasion, a heretic said he did not believe in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. St. Anthony challenged the farmer to not feed his mule for three days and then come and bring the mule’s favorite grain. The man did as St. Anthony told him. With St. Anthony holding the Eucharist in one hand and the farmer holding a bucket with the mule’s favorite grain, the mule walked up to Saint Anthony and fell on its knees before the Blessed Sacrament. The mule’s owner was immediately converted and believed in the true presence.

St. Anthony is also invoked to help find lost articles. In our own diocese the bodies of two people were found due to the intercession of St. Anthony of Padua. In 2016, Brian Bergkamp, a seminarian from the Diocese of Wichita drowned by saving the life of a young lady. He threw his life jacket to her, sacrificing his life for her. His body could not be found, and consequently, a novena was prayed to St. Anthony and it was on the 9^th day of the novena Brian was found.

In 2020, Savanna Schneider, a blind young lady, and a new Catholic convert, went missing. It’s believed she got lost in a field near a city and could not find her way back. Her body was found on the feast of St. Anthony, June 13th after her friends prayed to find her body and a Mass was offered that morning asking St. Anthony to locate her body. The coroner said she died the same day she was found.

St. Anthony is also an intercessor for the poor, infertile and pregnant women, and of travelers. People sometimes give bread to the poor, for the purpose of obtaining his intercession, which is often called “St. Anthony bread”.

One night, when St. Antony was staying with a friend in the city of Padua, his host saw brilliant rays streaming under the door of the Saint's room, and on looking through the keyhole he beheld a little Child of marvelous beauty standing upon a book which lay open upon the table, and clinging with both arms round Antony's neck. With an ineffable sweetness he watched the tender caresses of the Saint and his wondrous Visitor. At last the Child vanished, and when St. Antony, opened the door, he charged his friend, by the love of Him Whom he had seen, to "tell the vision to no man as long as I am alive."

In the spring of 1231, after preaching a powerful course of sermons, St. Anthony’s strength gave out and died at the age of 36 after receiving the last rites. He was canonized within one year after his death and at the moment he was canonized the church-bells of Lisbon rang without ringers.

Due to the many miracles worked at his tomb, he became known as the “wonder-working saint.”

Due to his sermons, St. Anthony was declared a doctor of the church in 1947. In a sermon composed for his fellow Franciscans, he wrote: “Christ who is your life hanging before you, so that you may look at the cross as in a mirror. There you will be able to know how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other than the Blood of the Son of God could heal…. Nowhere other than looking at himself in the mirror of the cross man better understand how much he is worth.”

If we do not have a devotion to St. Anthony, now is the time for us to begin praying to him. Though it is good to pray to him for lost articles, it is better to pray to him for lost souls and to ask him help for help in growing in virtue and holiness. St. Anthony, pray for us!

10th Week Thursday - Purgatory

Today’s Gospel speaks about purgatory. It states, “Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise, your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

Who is the judge? Jesus is the judge who judges each soul at the moment of death. St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians said, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor 5:10).

The book of Revelation describes why there is purgatory. It states, “But nothing unclean will enter [heaven], nor any[one] who does abominable things or tells lies. Only those will enter whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Rev 21:27).

What is the prison?, but purgatory. And one will not be released until they have paid the last penny. We are not released until we have made recompense for our sins.

What is purgatory like? St. Paul states, “For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Cor 3:11-15). Purgatory is often described as a place of fire. The fire is not a consuming fire, but a purifying fire.

The Bible teaches that God uses fire and discipline to reform and purge His children. If this is not done during one’s lifetime on Earth, it must be done in Purgatory.

The Catechism states, “#1030 All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”

St. Gregory the Great said, “As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.”

The book of Maccabees speaks about praying for the dead. It states, “Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.”

From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.

The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead. We can pray the Rosary, offer our Holy Communion, the graces we receive during Mass or the time we spend with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration, for a poor soul too.

St. Augustine said, “This fire of Purgatory will be more severe than any pain that can be felt, seen or conceived in this world.” Therefore, who wants to go to purgatory, who wants to suffer more in the next life, than in this life, let us pray God will use our pain and suffering in this life, to remit the punishment due to our sins, that we may skip purgatory, and have a straight shot to heaven and avoid fire and purification in the next. St. Faustina saw the Virgin Mary visiting the poor souls and giving them comfort and relief, let us pray to Her asking Her to deliver our family members and friends who have gone before us.

Ascension of Jesus - Year C

 

This weekend, we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. The feast of the Ascension reminds us that through Our Lord’s suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, He opened the gates of heaven for us and now there are saints in heaven.

Due to the original sin of Adam and Eve, no one could go to heaven before Jesus came. Now that Jesus’ life on earth is complete, we see where we too will someday go—to heaven. The ascension reminds us, Jesus is our savior and we need Him to get to heaven our home and that our life will someday end, so we can be with Jesus and those who have gone before us.

At the moment of death, our soul leaves our dead body behind to be buried. Our soul then goes to its judgment, where our entire life is shown before us. We see all the good that we did, and all the bad too. Then Jesus, the eternal judge, will give us our sentence.

Those died unrepentant, with a grave sin on their soul, will go to hell forever to be punished.

Those who died, without serious sin, but still need to make up for their sins, will go to purgatory, until their soul is purified, before going to heaven. And those who made up for their sins in this life, will go straight to heaven.

No one who died before Jesus came could go to heaven, except for Enoch and Elijah. From the time of Adam and Eve, the wicked who died unrepentant went to hell. But those who repented of their sins and lived a righteous life, such as Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, went to a temporary place, that was not heaven, and not hell. The word “hell” had two meanings. The first meaning everyone is familiar-- is the place of eternal fire and damnation, where the fallen angels went and damned souls go to be tortured.

But the other meaning of hell is what we say when we recite the Creed. We say, Jesus “descended into hell, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”

The word “hell” that we say in the Creed is referring to the temporary place where those who died before Jesus came, and who repented of their sins, but could not go to heaven, waited for Jesus to come and take them to heaven. This is sometimes called the “netherworld.”

There is an ancient homily that describes-- how on Holy Saturday, the day after Jesus died, Our Lord descended to the netherworld and brought the righteous to heaven.

Here is part of the homily: "What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parents like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.”

As Catholics, we do as the early Christians, we pray to the saints, asking them to pray for us. We believe those in heaven are friends of Jesus and they can intercede for us.

Bishop Jackals, our former bishop, said we should not pray to the dead, except to saints, blessed, venerable, servants of God and only those the bishop approves who lived a life of holiness and virtue. We should not therefore pray to our deceased relatives and friends, with the exception of baptized children, who died before the age of reason and never sinned, and so are saints.

However, we can ask Jesus to tell a person who has died, something. For example, we can say, “Jesus please tell my grandmother that I love her”. Or “Jesus tell my friend, that I miss him”. But, we should not pray directly to a person, unless the bishop gives permission or if approved by the Church. But, we can ask Jesus to tell them something.

We can see how our faith in Jesus’ resurrection and ascension gives us hope-- that heaven is real and that we are able to go there, if we live a holy life.

Pope St. John Paul II in his Ascension homily in 1979, said, “The instructions indicated, above all, that the Apostles were to wait for the Holy Spirit, who was the gift of the Father... The Apostles, moreover, were instructed to teach – to proclaim the Good News to the whole world. And they were to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus, they were to speak explicitly about the Kingdom of God and about salvation. The Apostles were to give witness to Christ to the ends of the earth. The early Church clearly understood these instructions and the missionary era began. And everybody knew that this missionary era could never end until the same Jesus, who went up to Heaven, would come back again.”

There is a belief that Virgin Mary was with the Apostles when Our Lord ascended into heaven is tradition not found in scripture. The tradition is so common that many stain-glass windows depict His Mother with the Apostles when He ascended into heaven.

Scripture tells us, “Then when He had said this, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Surely, Our Lord kissed His Mother and embraced Her before He went to heaven. Was She standing beneath Him giving Her Motherly hand wave or blowing Him kisses? Perhaps tears welled up in Her eyes as She just watched, knowing She would be unable to gaze upon His face until She sees Her Son in heaven?

Luke says that during those days Jesus was staying with the apostles. That could mean Jesus was with the apostles for many meals, or simply that Jesus was with the apostles often. One thing is clear: Luke wants us to understand that Jesus spent a lot of time with the apostles after He rose.

Near the end of the Gospel of John, John states, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” (John 20:30)

While we may surmise Our Lord may have helped them to know how to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to hear Confessions, and impart other sacraments, and their meaning, etc… we must leave them to the Easter mystery. We can trust everything Jesus did with them during those 40 days was for the good of their souls, the souls of the early Christians and for the future of the Church, that will last until He returns in glory, because the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.

The feast of the ascension is forty days after Easter. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Our Lord. He is the supreme King and Ruler of this world. He governs it invisibly in heaven and on the Last Day will return to visibly, and in glory, to judge the just and the wicked.

When Jesus comes again, at His Second Coming, there will also occur the General Resurrection, where bodies will come forth from their graves and be reunited with their soul and will receive a resurrected body like the body of Jesus.

Today, let us rejoice in the Ascension of Jesus in heaven, and look forward to the day, when we will be there, with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, all the angels, and saints, and all our loved ones who have died and are now with them in our eternal home, prepared for us by Jesus.

6th Sunday - Peace I Give to You

 

(REVISED DUE TO ERRORS--MY APOLOGIES) During Our Lord’s final discourse, at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you! Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

He was preparing them for suffering, shock, and temptations in the midst of the tragedy of His crucifixion. And after that horrible Friday, their hearts were tormented and troubled, at the loss of their Master.

When a tragedy occurs, just like the Apostles, we can lose our peace, and our hearts can become troubled. The shock can cause us to doubt and be afraid.

But, on Easter Sunday, Jesus appeared to the Apostles, knowing they were troubled and afraid. Twice Jesus said, “Peace be with you”.

All of us were shocked to hear about Nate Dold. His death caused our hearts to be troubled. Our hearts and prayers go out to Paul and DeeDee and his brothers, sisters and family.

Jesus, as God, knows the future and I believe the Lord gave us that Eucharistic Festival and Adoration Under the Stars to prepare us for the tragedy we are now going through. During the Eucharistic Festival, we had peace in our hearts adoring Jesus in the Eucharistic Adoration, and we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs together as a parish.

Not everyone was able to attend, but those who did attend were channels of grace to fellow parishioners and our community and the whole world.

Jesus in the Eucharist reminds us, He is with us when there is calm, when the wind doesn’t blow, when the weather is beautiful. But He is also with us when there is turmoil and difficulty and when there are tornadoes and storms.

Jesus gives us peace. Our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Sometimes, we may think, we will have peace, if we did not suffer, or didn’t have temptations, if there are no storms, if there are no difficulties. And we think we will have peace if our relationships with others were always good.

Jesus reminded the apostles, “Not as the world gives, do I give it to you.” Worldly peace is false peace, such as we will only have peace if we get an A on test, or if we win the game or the championship. We will only have peace if we get the promotion. We will only have peace if everyone in the family gets along. Worldly peace is really false peace. It lacks peace in Jesus.

Tranquility, freedom from disturbance, freedom from suffering and pain, and harmony in personal relationships with family and friends is really a description of heaven. We live in a fallen world. There will always be disunity, suffering, temptations, pain and tragedy.

If we want peace, we find it in Jesus, who dwells within our soul.

We cannot have peace, unless one knows how to suffer and one knows, how to endure temptations, how to endure difficulties, because we can never be free of temptations or sufferings or difficulties in this life.

Peace is in living a life of virtue. Peace can be found in the midst of suffering. Peace in times of turmoil. Peace in imperfect relationships and peace can be found when things don’t go our way because if we have Jesus, no matter what goes on, we will have peace.

I have a friend who is nun in a monastery. She once told me that no matter what is going on in the world, or in her community, she has peace, because she hides in the Heart of Jesus.

This is where the Cross comes in. We embrace the cross. We lift high the cross. We keep our eyes of the Cross. And if we do, we have peace no matter the difficulty or hardship or tragedy. Through the Cross and resurrection, there is peace. We can have peace of soul despite storms, loss, suffering and diffculties.

St. Paul’s words give us encouragement. He said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I would like to share a comment from a teammate wrestler of Nate. The comment was posted on the Birzer Funeral Home obituary.

The young man said, “When I first started ---wrestling, I admired the way (Nate) treated the kids on the team. He’s like a big brother to them. I quickly became one of the kids who looked up to him even though he’s younger than me. Back in Blackwell, Oklahoma, where we wrestled together, he lost one of his matches, and I asked him a question “how do you not get so upset-- when you lose because I get really (angry)? And his response sticks with me.

(Nate said), “I guess I just realized it’s just a sport, and you’re supposed to let your anger out on the mat, not be mad when walking off of it.”

By these words we can see that Nate had an inner peace and not a worldly peace. Nate embraced the cross of the virtue of self-control. He knew true success is when one has peace of heart, and not a worldly success, with false peace.

Therefore, if we have the peace of Jesus, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose. It doesn’t matter if there are storms or difficulties.

At every Mass, after the consecration, when the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus, the priest says: “Lord Jesus Christ, who said to Your Apostles, Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. Who live and reign forever and ever.” At Holy Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration, we turn to Our resurrected Lord for peace and He gives it to us when there is calm, but He also gives peace in times of turmoil.

May we embrace the cross of suffering, the cross of imperfect relationships, the cross of pain, the cross of practicing virtue, the cross of heartache and unite our crosses to the Cross of Jesus and Our Lord will stand before us and say,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you! Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid”, because I am with you and will help carry your Cross of your pain, of suffering, of loss and failure.” “Keep your eyes on me. Keep your eyes on the Cross. Keep your eyes on heaven, where there is no pain or suffering or loss, but where all the faithful departed rest in peace.”

All of us are sinners and we have attachments to sin and so many of us would need purgatory after death, to purify our soul, so it go to heaven unstained.

I would like to encourage our young people to light a candle for Nate. By lighting the candle, you are making the commitment to pray for Nate.

At Mass you can offer your Holy Communion for him and when you go home, you can pray a Rosary for him.

Adults can have a Mass offered for Nate, by contacting Shayla Grasser.

Let us all keep him in our prayers, though he may be in heaven, if he is in purgatory, he will be so grateful, that we prayed for him and helped him to go to heaven.

May the soul of Nate and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. And may Our Lady Queen of Peace, help us to turn to Jesus, when our hearts are troubled and afraid and also in times of calm.

5th Sunday - Love Your Neighbor (Rosary Retreat)

 

The readings today give us a glimpse into heaven and how Jesus’ commandment to love-- is necessary to obtain heaven.

In today’s Gospel Jesus gave His apostles and us a new commandment, called the “Commandment of love.” He said, “I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another. This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus said, love one another, as I have loved you. How did He do that, but by laying down His life for them, and for us. And they responded with love.

All of the apostles, except John would lay down their life for Jesus, as martyrs. But, they attempted to kill John, by boiling him in oil, but he miraculously survived.

The apostles laid down their life for others, by preaching the Gospel, even when they knew it was cause their death. They loved their neighbor so much, they wanted them know and love Jesus and with Him in heaven.

There is no greater example of how we should love one another, than the Virgin Mary. At the moment of the annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Her asking Her to become the Mother of Jesus, She gave her fiat, Her Yes. The angel Gabriel told Mary that Her cousin Elizabeth was six months pregnant, but the angel didn’t ask Her to go to visit Elizabeth.

But, out of love of neighbor, Mary was concerned for Her cousin Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist. Out of love of neighbor, the Gospel tells us, She went in haste to visit Her cousin Elizabeth. Mary immediately responded because She understood Elizabeth would need help, since she was advanced in years and it was her first and only child.

The virtue associated with the Visitation is love of neighbor. While praying the Rosary, when we meditate on Mary’s action of thinking about her cousin Elizabeth before Her own needs, makes us want to respond to the needs of others out of love of neighbor.

Ladies, if you were a virgin and made a vow of virginity and if you knew you could keep the vow and still become a mother, wouldn’t you be enthusiastic and thrilled? And then immediately after you became pregnant, wouldn’t you want to tell others the wonderful news?

But, wait a minute. How could She? Imagine Her telling others, “Hey! Everyone! You will never believe what happened. An angel appeared to me and the Holy Spirit came down upon me and now I am pregnant with Jesus, the Son of the Father. I’m still a virgin and I am also the Mother of the Messiah!” If She would tell others, people would think She’s crazy.

If you were the Virgin Mary, and if you kept it to yourself, wouldn’t you think about preparing for the birth, perhaps making infant clothes and a baby blanket and telling Joseph to make a crib?

If you knew, Jesus, the Son of the eternal Father, had just come down in your womb, wouldn’t you spend extra time praying to Jesus in your womb and thanking God the Father? I suspect many of you would tell your friends and they would give you a baby shower.

Mary didn’t do any of these. Rather, Our Lady continuously prayed to Jesus inside Her, though She quickly went to visit Elizabeth. She was able to see God in others, whom She helped and prayed for.

Mary kept the secret of Her pregnancy to Herself and most likely didn’t even tell Joseph. She knew it was up to God to tell him how it happened. Only after Joseph went the trial of having to trust Mary, and not understanding how it could be, only then, did God send an angle to give him peace and understanding.

What young pregnant teenage girl would travel five days on a mule, spending 5 nights out along the side of the road, for the purpose of helping an elderly cousin who is pregnant and return home doing the same thing for another 5 days. Hot days, cold nights, little food, dusty roads, sleeping outdoors.

Scripture doesn’t say if Mary stayed until John the Baptist was born. But we know she stayed for three months, which would be about the same time he would be born. Mary certainly would not spend three months and then leave just before her cousin gave birth.

Mary’s love of neighbor is especially seen meeting Jesus on the way of the Cross and standing at the foot of the Cross. If people were beating your son, condemning him t be crucified and nailing Him to a tree, wouldn’t you try to stop them? Wouldn’t you yell at them and perhaps even curse at them?

But, not Mary, She prayed not only for the soldiers, the chief priests, and the crowd mocking Jesus, She prayed for all of us and offered everything as a sacrifice for our salvation. Out of love of God and love for neighbor, She endured it all.

How did Jesus love us? By laying down His life for us. And we are called to do the same, to lay down one’s life for another.

As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus for 40 days until He ascended into heaven, we are reminded that by Our Lord’s death and resurrection, we can go to heaven.

His resurrection gives us hope for heaven. And we have hope that at the end of the world, we too will have a resurrected body just like Jesus.

We have hope if we lived a life of love and virtue, we will enter the joys of heaven, “where every tear is wiped away”. The Holy Rosary will help us to obtain the virtues we need, by praying it often meditating on the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Just think about heaven for a moment. There is no old age, no suffering, no pain, no tears, no heartaches, no cancer, no mourning, or wailing, no war, no disagreements, no disunity, no physical ailments, no arthritis and no death.

Rather there is joy, peace, love, unity and happiness. Our imperfect relationships on earth, become perfect in heaven. We get to know each other and love each other in a way beyond our imagining. Every question we wanted answered on earth-- will be answered in heaven. Everything we wanted to do in this life, we will be fulfilled and not just fulfilled, but in the most profound and incomprehensible way. As the Lord, said, “My ways are not your ways.” St. Paul said, we have “an everlasting home in heaven”. On earth, we suffer, we go through difficulties, and by doing so we learn to love, to forgive and to grow in virtue.

And we arrive in heaven we will see the beauty and glory of the Virgin Mary and understand more fully Her motherly care and concern for us. We will see how when we prayed the Rosary, not only did it help us to get to heaven, but many others. Praying the Rosary will have helped us love our neighbor, by assisting those we pray for, in their spiritual and temporal needs.

Speaking of how we love our neighbor, and how that affects our judgment, the book of Wisdom states, “Our good deeds go with us.” St. John of the Cross helps us to know what our judgment will be like. He said, “In the end, we will be judged on love.” In other words, how much we fulfilled Our Lord’s commandment of love, loving our neighbor--- will either be our glory and reward-- or our eternal loss.

When we share with others God’s gifts He has given to us--- we are practicing stewardship. For example, mowing yards for those who cannot do it themselves, stitching and sewing for others, to use our voice in singing, to smile at someone who we know could use cheering up. There is a lady I know who makes her own greeting cards by her artistic talent. She draws beautiful flowers, birds and animals and writes little notes inside. Her Christmas, Easter and birthday cards are always my favorite. She uses her ability to make people happy. We can give a compliment to a co-worker when they did a good job. To financially help a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. To bake cookies or a meal to give to a neighbor. To help our neighbor move cattle. To donate vegetables from your garden. To send a sympathy card to someone who lost a relative. A few kind words of encouragement for someone who is discouraged. All of these things are acts of love. Stewardship is recognizing God’s gifts He has given to us and sharing them with others out of love for God and neighbor.

Finally, many people have a “bucket list,” important things they want to do before they die. I would like to suggest, we create a new and different kind of “Bucket Bucket list”. We trust everything we ever wanted will be given to us in heaven and in a more profound and unimaginable way.

Let’s get the largest bucket we can find, and fill it with acts of love and mercy and place our good deeds, kind words and rosaries we prayed in it, so that when we go to our judgment, when Jesus said, “How much did you love?”

Then we will hand him a giant bucket filled of love and overflowing with all the good things we did in our life and He will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Today, let us entrust our good deeds, our merits, our prayers, our rosaries and everything to the Blessed Virgin Mary, for She will make sure, nothing we did in this life will be lost, but rather will be our reward and our glory.

4th Sunday, New Pope, Good Shepherd Sunday

 

On Thursday, May 8^th, the second day of voting in the Conclave, and upon the fourth ballot, minutes after a hungry baby seagull appeared with mother and father on the jumbotron focused on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, white smoke billowed from the smoke stack.

Also, May 8^th is the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii (a church built in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary), and Feast of the apparitions of St. Michael in a cave in Italy. A great day for a new pope was elected, so we can see Our Lady and St. Michael are interceding for the pope and the Church.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the first ever American pope, stepped out onto the loggia, taking the name, Pope Leo XIV, greeted by tens of thousands of pilgrims, visitors, and citizens of Rome.

He had a stately bearing, wearing the papal mozzetta (red cape) and stole, as Pope Benedict XVI had done upon his election in 2005. Pope Leo XIV spread his hands as a father welcoming his children. A microphone was set before him, and he spoke in Italian as he gave his papal address from a prepared speech, as Pope Benedict XVI had done 20 years earlier. Then Pope Leo XIV gave his first address.

Bishop Kemme sent an email to priests saying: “With great joy and profound gratitude to God, I join the universal Church in celebrating the election of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. Born Robert Francis Prevost, our new Pope brings with him a remarkable blend of pastoral wisdom, deep missionary experience, and devoted service to the Church. As an Augustinian friar and the first American-born Pope, he has served the people of God across cultures and continents—from his roots in Chicago to the missions of Peru, and more recently in the heart of the Vatican, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. His years of work as a bishop in Peru and as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine have shaped in him a shepherd’s heart—one that listens, serves, and leads with humility. His recent role overseeing the appointment of bishops worldwide has shown his deep care for the future of the Church. We now look to him, our new Vicar of Christ, with faith and filial devotion. May Pope Leo XIV guide the Church in the light of the Holy Spirit, with courage, compassion, and fidelity to the Gospel.”

As we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus helped Peter understand, that He is the chief shepherd of the Church. He asked Peter, the same question three times. “Peter, do you love me?” Each time Peter responds, “Yes, Lord you know that I love you.” Jesus told Him, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.” 

To feed the lambs, to tend the sheep and feed the sheep is what shepherds do, that is why the pope is the chief shepherd of the Church. As chief shepherd, the pope is to feed the people with the truth of the Gospel, passed down to us from Jesus and the Apostles. The pope is also to protect the sheep from the wolves of heresies such as modernism, communism and socialism.

Modernism promotes the idea that doctrines can change according to the times and so there are no moral absolutes, which is relativism.

Communism & socialism, promotes atheism, and affirms the doctrine of the community of goods and denies the right to ownership of private property. The pope is to warn the faithful of wolves who want them to lose their faith, and lose their God given right to own property.

The pope is to protect the Church from schism, which is a deliberate separation from Church structure. He is to help the faithful to be loyal the Church and loyal to the pope, not departing from any Church teaching but to maintain unity.

The pope is to protect the faithful from apostasy, which is the abandoning of one’s Christian faith and principles. An example of an apostasy would be if a cardinal, bishop or priest states that public officials who promote abortion and or same-sex marriage, can receive Holy Communion, which contradicts Church teaching and is apparent there is a loss of faith among the clergy, which Our Lady of LaSallette predicted in 1846.

Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd. Our Lord appointed Peter as the shepherd of the Church and his successors has the duty to care for and protect the sheep.

The pope is to maintain unity, preach the fullness of truth, safeguard the faith, and strengthen faith in Jesus.

When Jesus said, “My sheep, hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” He used a familiar example of shepherds and farmers who knew sheep follow them.

We hear the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, through the voice of the Church, which proclaims Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition in what is called the Deposit of Faith, that has been passed down to us from Jesus and His apostles, through the centuries unto today.

How much more tenderly does God love us and knows each of us by our name? Jesus used analogies of sheep to help His disciples and us today to come to understand that as our Shepherd, there are things He wants us to do and some things He does not want us to do. For example, He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Jesus also does not want us sin, and wants us to be faithful to God. He wanted the early Christians to listen to the apostles and do what they would tell the Christians to do, as He said, “He who hears you, hears me.” (Luke 8:13). With these words, Jesus gave His authority to the apostles and their successors, who were bishops and priests so we would hear the voice of the Shepherd through the Church in every generation.

Our Lord told Peter, our first Pope, “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

These words remind us that the Church is indefectible and can never be destroyed. The Catholic Church, founded by Jesus on His apostles, will continue until Jesus comes on the clouds of heaven.

In the book of Revelation, those wearing white robes were washed in the blood of the lamb. They are washed in His blood through the sacrament of baptism, but also those who laid down their life for Jesus, as martyrs.

Beginning with Peter, did you know the first 27 out of the first 31 popes were martyred? All the apostles, who were the first bishops were martyred, except John.

Jesus is both Shepherd and lamb, who laid down His life for us. He desires the shepherds today, to do the same for the people, even as martyrs, if necessary.

Bishops and cardinals wear the red hat to remind them to be willing to lay down their life for the sheep. Red is a reminder of the shedding of blood, as martyrs.

Today is Mother’s day and also Good Shepherd Sunday, let us honor and give thanks to God, for our three mothers, our mother the Church, our natural mother and our Blessed Mother. May we never forget, we have three mothers and may we love them, cherish them and turn to them, in all our needs, and be faithful to them, because they help us to obtain heaven, to be with Jesus, “The Lamb who is the center of the throne will shepherd (us) and lead (us) to springs of life-giving water and God will wipe away every tear from (our) eyes.”

And let us pray, for Pope Leo XIV, that the Virgin Mary will help him fulfill his role as chief shepherd of the Church, the vicar of Christ, feeding the people of God, the sheep, with un-compromised truth, passed down to us from Peter, our first Pope.