Easter 2015 – Midnight Mass
Feast of The Resurrection 2015
April 5, 2015
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Easter Vigil 2015
We are privileged to be a part of the unbroken history of this liturgy. Catholic worship is more than merely a compilation of rituals. It is a true reliving of the past. Because of our fallen nature, and the sins we commit, we are not placed in friendship with God but in enmity with Him. Merely human worship, therefore, does not suffice in pleasing God. There is only one worship that is acceptable to Him and that is the worship of His Divine Son. Every act of the Divine Son is infinitely holy. In the instant when His death on the cross took place, the destiny of the universe was changed, and the true Promised Land of Heaven was opened to us.
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Good Friday 2015
This day we put God to death with our sins. Christ saw all our sins and suffered for each one of them. He bore the pains which we all deserve for our innumerable crimes. In this liturgy we acknowledge our sins in all humility and plead for God’s forgiveness. We do not have the ability to be sorry for our sins without the loving gift of God’s grace. The unveiling of the cross reminds us that it is not only the Cross of Christ but our own cross, and we all suffer because we are all called to love. We have the ability to turn all of our pain into love of God.
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Palm Sunday 2015
This is the most important week of the liturgical year, and we are reminded of the necessity of all the sacraments, but especially of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. We begin this week with a look towards the future triumph when we celebrate Our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. We meet Christ now with the palms and in the priest in the procession, and we will meet Him in the future when He leads us into the heavenly Jerusalem. We must have the disposition that God desires when we received the palms, so we may be victorious over sin. Let us, by our fervor, make up of the sins for our life during this week.
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Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2015
What beautiful words the angel spoke to the Virgin Mary: “Nothing shall be impossible with God.” Everything is under God’s power, and He is the Author of all. We all exist to manifest the goodness of our Creator. Evil is only permitted to occur so we may be sanctified by it. This is called the Golden Mass because of its beauty and the many favors that are granted to those who pray fervently on this day. This is the beginning of our redemption. In the silent moment after the fiat of the Blessed Mother and the departure of the angel, the Son of God became man. Christ became a priest at the moment of His conception, because in Him the whole cosmos is united.
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Passion Sunday 2015
“The reason that you do not hear is because you are not of God.” We should pray that these frightening words are never directed towards us. We must ask ourselves who is more evil, the people in this Gospel who desire to put Christ to death, or all of us, who believe in Christ’s divinity and still continue to sin? There is still time to hear the voice of God and change the direction of our lives. This season of the Passion is given to us so we may make a conversion of life. We must follow the example of the Apostles’ conversion in these final days of Lent.
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Feast of Saint Joseph 2015
When a person is given a vocation, he is always given the divine help necessary to reach his final goal of Heaven. Even the people who miss their divine calling are given sufficient grace to save their souls. Many people, especially in our days, lack confidence in God and are too afraid to fulfill their great calling in life. St. Joseph was called to be the spouse of the Mother of God and the earthly representative of God the Father. This was a vocation which was truly beyond human ability to fulfill. The only doubts St. Joseph entertained were doubts about his own judgment. He recognized his poverty in every way, but was filled with confidence in God. Like the priest, St. Joseph had custody over the Body of the Son of God and was willing to lay down his life to protect Him. The patron of all our needs is St. Joseph.
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Laetare Sunday 2015
Penance has a variety of meanings. It refers to the infused virtue that inclines a person to hate his faults, the sacrament of penance, and the works we perform to make up for our sins. Mortification refers to works which put to death evil inclinations. Propitiation is an act by which someone who has been offended is now appeased. The Mass and our prayers are great works of propitiation. When we make satisfaction, we punish ourselves for our sins. Our sufferings may be offered to God as a form of satisfaction. Atonement refers to the union with God which is achieved when our sins are expiated or wiped away. This is the Sunday of the Golden Rose, on which the pope would take a golden rose and give it to a privileged monarch, who was favored by the pope. The rose is seen as a foretaste of the happiness of Heaven.
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3rd Sunday in Lent 2015
This is the Mass of sight, and today we ask God to let us see the truth and follow it. Today we are reminded to know our enemy and not underestimate him. The miracle of this Gospel is discredited by modern “theologians,” who are the equivalent of the pharisees in our day. Every Mass during this season is teaching us. We are like the catechumens during this season and should take advantage of the lessons in the Mass texts, which warn us about the devil and encourage us to be forearmed against his assaults.
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First Friday Conference – March 2015
We know the story of Saints Perpetua and Felicity from their firsthand account. During one of the general persecutions of the Church, these two heroic, young women gave their lives for Christ.
It is important to understand the meaning of a “type” and how God uses types or prophecies to foreshadow things to come. We see one of the most vivid types of Christ in the patriarch Joseph. Just as Joseph was the favorite son of his father and the envy of his brothers led to their murderous desires, so too was Our Lord, the only Son of God, put to death out of envy. Joseph became the savior of his family by offering them life-giving bread during famine, as Christ redeemed the world and gives to us the Holy Eucharist.
Catholics should not be troubled by temptations, or confuse them with sins, but view them as opportunities for merit. Even those trials from the devil may be turned to acts of love for God.
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