Sermon - Servants of the Holy Family

The Meanings of Penance

March 1, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

Ash Wednesday 2017

Ash Wednesday begins the forty days of Lenten practice. Penance is the virtue which motivates the faithful to receive the same named sacrament and do the works of that virtue, namely prayer, fasting & almsgiving. The sacramental of the ashes gives the strength to do this. Also in this sermon, we are given suggested ways of practicing Lenten penances.

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Turn Your Heart From This World

February 26, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

Quinquagesima Sunday 2017

The Mass for this Sunday focuses on the need for the three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity, with the caution from St. Paul in his Epistle that Faith without Charity accomplishes nothing. In the Lenten Season which begins in earnest on Ash Wednesday, Holy Mother the Church provides us with multiple opportunities to practice these virtues. At the same time, we are reminded that our time on earth, no matter our age, is very limited as compared to that of eternity. The words, “Remember Man that dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return” should cause us to make good use of the time we have left.

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I Must Admit I Am A Sinner

February 19, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

Sexagesima Sunday 2017

60 days before Easter and counting. This is a time of conversion – conversion from what? From a sinful lifestyle engendered by our fallen nature as a result of Original Sin and our pride, stoked by the evil, which leads us to commit actual sins. The antidote is a full examination of conscience, confession, and a commitment to place our seeds in the fruitful earth spoken of in today’s gospel. Let us not be among those sowers who heard the Word of God and summarily went their way to perdition.

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Season For The Humble

February 12, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

Septuagesima Sunday 2017

Septuagesima Sunday gives us notice that we are in the season of 70 days before Easter. In this a time of preparation for the Lenten season, we need to cultivate the virtue of humility which wars against the vice of pride. Humility, although absolutely necessary for us to attain heaven, is one of the most difficult virtues to achieve because of the times in which we live. All the inducements of the world tell us we have nothing for which to be sorry. Yet we know that a humble person stands before God in a far more desirable manner than a proud one. In fact, it has been said that a proud man will never get to Heaven. So, we have this seventy-day period to practice the virtue of humility not by “beating at the air” but by subjecting our bodies to a vigorous regime of prayer and sacrifice, leading to the prize we all desire – our eternal salvation.

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Candles For Purification & St. Blaise

February 5, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

5th Sunday After Epiphany 2017

The powerful blessing given on the feastday of St. Blaise is not only for throats but for any other health problem and even for spiritual maladies. We also take home with us a blessed candle on Candlemas Day. The candle is revered as a symbol of Christ Himself who is united with us through this most powerful sacramental. We are encouraged to light a candle when we pray because by so doing we unite our prayer with Christ Himself, whose Body and Soul are symbolized by the candle we hold in our hands or display in our home. The liturgical candle, made almost completely of the wax from virginal bees, is so important that not to have them lit during the Sacrifice of the Mass is a grievous sin.

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Purpose Of Miracles

February 3, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

Feast Of St. Blaise 2017 – First Friday

Who needs miracles? Today’s sermon explains that God could have accomplished all things directly but He knows that due to our fallen human nature, we need miracles to help us believe. So, He sometimes uses secondary causes like the saints in their incorruptible forms, or sacramentals like the blessing of throats with candles today, or even the forces of Nature to prove His Divinity and the Truth of His words. But the point is it is God who is working – sometimes behind the scenes and sometimes in person, like at the Marriage Feast of Cana or the healing of the Leper, to get His point across. So, in answer to the question of who needs miracles, the answer is us, His people.

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Light Of Revelation

February 2, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

Feast Of The Purification Of The Blessed Virgin Mary 2017

The historical outline of today’s liturgy is explained, followed by a review of Mosaic law concerning the Presentation and Purification and how these applied to Our Lord and Blessed Mother. We then learn of Simeon’s role and his special revelation from the Holy Ghost. Also explained is the significance of Candlemas Day and the procession, including the definition of sacramentals and what they do for us.

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Help Us, We Are Perishing!

January 29, 2017By Servants Of The Holy Family

4^th Sunday after Epiphany 2017

We must settle all disputes we have with our neighbor before we come to the Eucharistic table and to love and care for the souls of our neighbors, whether or not we like them personally. St. Frances de Sales who had a bad vice, that of an extreme temper, re-channeled the energy from that vice towards the teaching of the faith to thousands. He wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life and is known today as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Teachers of the Faith. St. Martina underwent unbelievable torture because she would not renounce her Faith and pay tribute to false gods as demanded by the Emperor. How many of the saints have shown us similar acts of heroic virtue and steadfast Faith in the history of the Church and what do we give in return? It is a question we must ask ourselves if we are to be true followers of Christ. We are then taught of the importance of Faith through today’s Gospel reading where the disciples are caught in a storm with heavy waves which tossed their boat to and fro, threatening to sink it. The disciples desperately awoke Jesus from His nap begging Him to save them. He in turn rebuked them for their lack of Faith since He was aboard the boat and would not let harm come to them.

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