The Value of Penance

March 9, 2025By

1st Sunday of Lent 2025
We must imitate the example of Our Lord in the face of temptation.  When we are afflicted by evil thoughts we should turn to the powerful defense of Sacred Scripture.  Christ’s victory over the devil in this Gospel foreshadows His ultimate victory on the Cross.  Unless we do penance, we will surely perish.  We should have a thorough understanding of what the word “penance” means.  Lent is a time of joy, when we shake off sin and prepare for Heaven.  This season presents to us God’s mercy and gives us the opportunity to obtain a peaceful conscience.  God in His justice is bound by His very nature to punish sin, but when we punish ourselves with works of penance, even our smallest acts have great value, if they come from the heart.  There are many such acts that every Catholic should know and put into practice during this season.
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The Beginning of Our Sanctification

March 5, 2025By

Ash Wednesday Evening 2025
The sacramental of ashes is meant to be for us a memento mori – a reminder of our mortality.  We have the testimonies of St. Justin Martyr and St. Irenaeus, from the earliest centuries after Our Lord, which speak of the ancient practices of Lent and the use of blessed ashes, as well as the numerous examples of ashes being used by penitents in the Old Testament.  On this day, we stand at the border of our sanctification, and if we take advantage of the days ahead, we could be true saints by the end of this season.  There is no more difficult conflict than the battle to overcome oneself, so we must use the tools available to us in order to win our victory.  The practice of mental prayer, spiritual reading, and almsgiving are the great tools which Holy Mother Church instructs us to use during the season.
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We Are The Enemy

March 5, 2025By

Ash Wednesday 2025
We are beginning the most sacred and ancient season of the liturgical year.  This season is particularly for the catechumens who are learning the Faith, and the public penitents who desired to be reunited with Our Lord.  The public penitents were sprinkled with ashes to remind them that they are dust and unto dust they shall return.  It was by the popular demand of the rest of the faithful that the sacramental of ashes was shared with all of us.  We are all sinners, and we unite with those public penitents in making up for our sins.  We have been shown the consequences of sin, we know our predominant fault, and we are ready for battle against self.  Everything we do during these days must be from the heart and caused by charity.  Today many “recall” Lent but do not live it.  The reminder of death we receive in the ashes gives us an increase of life.  We should remain joyful in our penance because through it we are becoming saints.
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Trade Nothing and Gain All

March 2, 2025By

Quinquagesima Sunday 2025
In today’s Epistle, St. Paul teaches us about the greatest of the theological virtues.  In Heaven there is no need for faith nor hope, but charity will last for all eternity.  We are told by the Church Fathers that the blindness of the man in this Gospel represents our own blindness, and we too should cry out today for Christ’s help.  The work we put into any effort in life, apart from that which aids in the salvation of our souls, will eventually be taken away from us.  The saints realized that they could trade those things that have no value here on Earth to gain everything for all eternity.  Not only the one who desires riches, but also those who work tirelessly just to survive, must not lose perspective.  We should never care for sustaining our temporal lives so much that we risk losing our eternal life.  Today we come to the end of this season of examination of conscience.  We ask that God open our eyes and give us true sight, so that in seeing God we may love Him, and in seeing ourselves we may cease to love ourselves.
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We Must Be The Fertile Ground

February 23, 2025By

Sexagesima Sunday 2025
The season of Septuagesima is a very ancient season of the liturgical year.  The color violet reminds us to examine our consciences and reflect on our lives.  In this season, the Divine Office calls to mind the history of man’s creation and fall, and the Gospel last week instructed us that it is never too late to labor for Christ and gain Heaven.

In today’s Epistle, St. Paul gives his credentials to the gentiles to convince them of his authority as a true minister of Christ, yet all he accomplished was made possible only by the grace of God.  In the Gospel of St. Luke, Our Lord tells us to possess a good heart so that the word of God might bear fruit in our souls.
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Saved By Love

February 9, 2025By

5th Sunday after Epiphany 2025
This week in the liturgical year is filled with important days.  The lives of St. Blaise and St. Apollonia, as well as the details of the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes, should be well known to every Catholic.

During these days, we consider the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt.  They covered a distance of roughly 300 miles through the desert, and all the pains they suffered during this trip were offered up for us.

God wills the salvation of all men, but not all are saved.  With the graces He offers at every moment, our God tries to save us despite the sins we continually commit.  God gives us his love always.  We must not only know God, but we must love Him, because it is only through love that we are saved.  If we truly love God, He should occupy our thoughts more than anything else and we should be on fire with love when we receive Him in Holy Communion.
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Her First Great Sorrow

February 8, 2025By

Feast of the Purification 2025
This feast marks the end of the Nativity and Epiphany seasons. Today we remember both the purification of the Blessed Virgin and the presentation of Our Lord in the temple. The Mother of God was exempt from the legal requirement of purification, however she still submitted to the law due to her humility and desire to be united to sinners. In the Old Law, parents were required to present their first-born son in the temple and to offer five shekels in order to “buy back” the child who was being loaned to them for a time by God. This should remind all parents that your children are not yours but belong to God first. St. Simeon prophesied that Our Lady’s life would be filled with sorrow. This is how she merited the title of Queen of Martyrs and Mater Dolorosa.

Blessed candles, one of the great sacramentals of the Church, are blessed today in the ceremony which has existed from the earliest days of the Church.
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Be On Guard

January 26, 2025By

3rd Sunday after Epiphany 2025
As Catholics, we should be well informed about the feast days celebrated this week.  We should know the details of the account of St. Paul’s conversion and how it changed the course of the Church, as well as the lives of Saints Polycarp, Francis de Sales, John Bosco, and Ignatius of Antioch.  In the Epistle for today’s Mass, St. Paul instructs us to avoid the sin of revenge.  We must believe that God will reward the good and punish the wicked, either in this life or the next.  In this Gospel account, the deforming disease of leprosy is shown as a symbol of sin.  We are reminded to have gratitude toward God for both spiritual and corporeal favors.  The Roman centurion was a friend to the Jewish people and a monotheist.  His beautiful words of faith have echoed through the centuries at countless Masses.  We must imitate the virtues of this good centurion if we wish to be cured of our spiritual illness and live a holy life.
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The Holy Family Provides

January 12, 2025By

Feast of the Holy Family 2025
The Blessed Mother kept the mysteries of Our Lord’s life in her heart, and we should invoke her help whenever we meditate on those mysteries.  Holy Scripture shows St. Joseph to be the clear head of the Holy Family, not by his words but by his actions.  The event recorded in the Gospel took place when Christ was twelve years old, at the time when He became a “Son of the Law.”  By His words Christ makes it evident to the whole world that He knew He was God at every moment of His life.  St. Paul tells us in his Epistle the virtues of the Holy Family which we must imitate and use in examining our consciences.  The father is the head of the family and must be the example of the virtue of religion.  The mother is the heart of the family, who keeps all the spiritual and material needs of the children in her heart.  God has given us parents to assist us in attaining Heaven, and children are called to submit to their parents in holy obedience.  Nothing bad will ever happen to us but that which our loving Father allows.
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Simple New Year’s Resolutions

January 5, 2025By

Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus 2025
Not only this day, but this entire month is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus.  The first miracle the Apostles worked was the cure recorded in today’s Gospel account.  The Second Commandment of the Decalogue is: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.  We live in a time that deliberately violates this commandment.  God’s name is “I am Who am”, and the Jews were forbidden to say this name except once a year in the Holy of Holies.  In the Old Testament, we see David ask for God to have mercy on him because of the love he has for His Holy Name.  We have been instructed to do all in the name of Our Lord.  Let us fall on our knees with the Magi in adoration of Jesus Christ and in reparation for the blasphemies against Him.
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