God’s Chastisements and the Three Days of Darkness

November 24, 2024By

Last Sunday after Pentecost 2024

This Sunday is not only a reminder of the end of time, but a reminder of the end of each individual life and our particular judgment.  Christ foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, typifying the chastisements the world will face in the last days.  We should be encouraged in seeing how God spared the Christian community of Jerusalem who heeded His warnings.  We too should watch for the signs in our own times and prepare our souls for Christ’s coming.  Whether or not we witness the Three Days of Darkness and the coming punishments of the world, we know that we are all destined to face God and must prepare to do so with the time we have left.
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We Must Answer to God

November 17, 2024By

26th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
In this Epistle St. Paul encourages the Thessalonians, who were enduring persecution for the Faith, instructing them to persevere in their struggle.  The parables in the Gospel similarly encourage Christ’s followers by explaining the external growth of the Church as well as our internal growth in sanctity.  God’s ways are not ours; His way is irresistible.  We should be encouraged by the words of this Gospel and never forget the favors God has sent us.  Our battle is with principalities and powers, and it is easy to be fooled by the sophistries of a pagan society – a society which constantly makes excuses for the murder of the unborn.  Each of us, even the great and powerful, will have to make an answer to God for the choices of his life.
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True Mercy and Forgiveness

November 10, 2024By

25th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
We live in a time when the weeds spoken of in the Gospel are found among the members of the Church’s hierarchy – those called to be the wheat.  Catholics frequently ask for God’s mercy, but it is only when we practice this virtue ourselves that Our Lord will dispense His mercy.  Every act of forgiveness comes from the Heart of Jesus Christ, because we are incapable of forgiving without His help.  Those in the state of grace participate in the life of Heaven; and they begin to live and love like God.  The spiritual life is like swimming against a river, if we are not making constant progress, we are being carried down the river.  Let us never give up the fight, strengthened by God through prayer.
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Love Alone Matters

November 3, 2024By

24th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
If Catholics choose to vote, they should be aware of the importance of voting with a well-informed conscience on the moral teachings of the Church.  The Epistle for this Mass explains how Christ came to save all mankind, although many rebel and have contempt for Our Lord.  The true Church is indefectible and will never be destroyed.  All virtues are contained in love of God and neighbor.  In this Gospel we see the ship as an image of the Church.  God performs great miracles in the lives of each one of us.  Let us never grow accustomed to the incredible favors we have been given.
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Our Belief In Purgatory

November 2, 2024By

All Souls Day 2024 – Evening
The Vestment for tonight’s Mass displays a cross intertwined with the branches of a weeping willow, reminding us to weep for those souls who have not reached their heavenly reward.  Because of its implicit denial of the general resurrection of the dead, the practice of cremation was so condemned by the Church that it incurred the penalty of excommunication.  We see how ancient the practice of praying for the dead is from the account of the Machabees.  To say that everyone goes to Heaven directly contradicts the words of Christ, the Scriptures, Tradition, and reason.  The souls in Purgatory are so close to their eternal end, and we must do what we can to speed their journey.
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Care For The Departed

November 2, 2024By

All Souls Day 2024
We come to this Mass to help the Poor Souls.  Holy Mother Church does not neglect any of her children, even those detained in Purgatory, because God greatly desires that we care for the dead.  The origin of the maniple that the priest wears was originally a handkerchief to wipe the tears from his eyes, and in union with him we all weep for the Holy Souls today.  Everything is directed to the souls in Purgatory.  Even on this First Saturday, when the Blessed Mother is usually the focus, she defers to the suffering souls.  We pray for final perseverance, so that when we are attacked by the devil in our last moments, we will turn to God.  Heaven is only for the perfect, and in order to enter we must have no attachment to sin.  If we do not remove those attachments in this life, we must remove them in the next.
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Our Day of Celebration

November 1, 2024By

All Saints Day 2024 – Evening
This is the feast day on which our heavenly victory will be celebrated one day.  Many of us personally know saints in Heaven – the baptized infants who have died.  The sign which marks the saved on their forehead is that sign given to us in Baptism.  Every time we come to Mass the liturgy is training us how to get to Heaven.  We can see this in the word “labor,” which is sung over a long melisma during the Mass.  This is to encourage us to persevere with diligence in this life.  A priest, who lived near a religious community dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, once remarked how often he was called to give a dying religious Extreme Unction on Friday nights.  There is little doubt that this was because Our Lady desired to take them to Heaven on Saturday, the day dedicated to her.
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Your Steps To Sanctity

November 1, 2024By

All Saints Day 2024
This feast has a twofold purpose: firstly, to give honor to all the saints, especially those unknown saints in Heaven; and secondly, to remind us of our ultimate goal.  We are given great encouragement to follow their example in the pursuit of holiness, knowing that if they could achieve sanctity in this life, so can we.  Our Lord began His public teaching with His instruction on the beatitudes – the summit of Christian perfection.  Like a fruit that has not yet ripened, the practice of virtue in its early stages is hard, bitter, and distasteful, but with continual practice virtue ripens into the Fruits of the Holy Ghost, which make the service of God sweet, easy, and enjoyable.  If we steadfastly follow the example of the saints, this will be our feast as well someday.
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His Priestly Reign

October 27, 2024By

Feast of Christ the King 2024
This feast was instituted in our times to combat secularism.  Those who claim that we need not proselytize, or that all religions are paths to God, are in direct contradiction of the words of our Redeemer.  The doctrine of the kingship of Christ comes from both His divinity and His humanity.  God owns us because He is our Creator and, by the union of His human and divine natures,  He became Head of the human race.  Christ is both priest and king and will continue His priestly reign until the end of time.  The Catholic youth should have one anthem echo in their hearts: “We have no King but Christ.”
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Plead For The Children!

October 20, 2024By

22nd Sunday after Pentecost 2024

This Sunday is a fitting prequel to the feast of Christ the King, reminding us of all we owe Our Lord.  As we approach the end of the year we continually ask for mercy from God.  With the approach of the feast of Christ the King, we should reinvigorate ourselves in fulfilling our duties.  Parents and teachers should especially strive by both word and example to raise the youth to be virtuous members of the Church.  Good parents would save their child from physical danger, yet there are Catholic parents who do not think twice about the moral dangers to which their children are exposed.  We must plead to God that he will save our children – those under our care as well as the unborn.
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