The First Fruit of the Redemption

August 15, 2025By

Assumption Evening 2025
Judith of the Old Testament is a figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary who crushes the head of Satan and defeats sin.  In the Gospel, the Blessed Mother was early with child when she traveled to visit her cousin Elizabeth. With the infant Jesus only three days old in her womb, the Virgin Mary was affirmed by St. Elizabeth to be the Mother of God.  Tradition teaches us that when the Blessed Mother was near death, the Apostles were inspired to come to the place where she was to die.  Before the Apostles’ very eyes, she rose from the dead and was assumed into Heaven.  The Blessed Mother is the first fruit of the Redemption.  It was only in view of the coming Redemption that she was preserved from Original Sin.  Today is a true homecoming.  Heaven, not Earth, is our home, and we pray that Our Lady will lead us to that home one day.
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Hail Mary, Full of Love

August 15, 2025By

Feast of the Assumption 2025
In the Epistle for today’s feast, the applied sense of Scripture is used to connect Judith’s conquest over the prince of the Hebrew’s enemies in the Old Testament to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s victory over the Prince of Darkness.  The passive word Assumption is used to express the direct action of the Trinity on Our Lady in bringing her, body and soul, into Heaven.  One can only imagine the great joy in Heaven at the entrance of its Queen.  In the Hail Mary we are meant to greet the Holy Virgin with fervor and love.  Divine Charity, which we possess in Sanctifying Grace, far surpasses the greatest and most noble of human love.  The intensity of this Divine Love in the Blessed Mother is unimaginable, and it transformed even her smallest works into actions warranting the greatest merit.  What our Savior desires most from us is that we love Him in return.
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His Temporary Absence

May 29, 2025By

Ascension Thursday Evening 2025
The Church is filled with joy on this day, because of Our Lord’s glorious entry into Heaven and because our human nature, hypostatically united to the Son of God, now sits at the right hand of the Father.  However, despite the great joy, the Apostles surely felt some sadness at the departure of their Lord and Redeemer.  We feel the same way during those moments in our spiritual journey when we no longer receive consolations and Our Lord seems far from us.  It is only by our passage through these purifications that our love of God may be tried, purified, and perfected.  Today God calls us to our heavenly Home.
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The Ever-Ascending Prayer

May 29, 2025By

Ascension Thursday Morning 2025
During these forty days following the Resurrection, Our Lord appeared to all his disciples.  After He gave them His command to preach to the world, He ascended into Heaven.  Throughout the Gospels, the cloud is the symbol of the Holy Ghost, and when the cloud took Our Lord out of their sight it was as if the Holy Ghost was embracing Him, welcoming Him home.  Our Lord with His human nature and all His wounds is even now sitting at the right hand of the Father, perpetually praying for us.  We read in the Postcommunion about these “visible mysteries.”  In the liturgy, “mystery” is a synonym for “sacrament.”  The virtue that we need most in this age of crisis is hope, because the devil is forever trying to discourage us.  Today is the feast of hope.
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Pray In My Name

May 25, 2025By

5th Sunday after Easter 2025

Although Memorial Day is a secular holiday, every Catholic should remember those who courageously gave their lives in service of our country and pray for them on that day.

This Mass commands us to pray in the name of Our Lord, and we fulfill this command through the liturgy.  We should pay special attention to the prayers of today’s Mass.  The maniple was not originally a vestment of the priest.  In ancient times, so many priests needed a handkerchief during the liturgy, because they were moved to tears, that the handkerchief became an official vestment.  St. James the Less reminds us to be a doer of the word, not a hearer only.  He was the cousin of Our Lord, and he is chosen to teach us the truths of the Faith during Paschaltide.  We remember this month that the Blessed Mother is Queen of Heaven and Earth, let us treat her as such.
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The Support of the Church

May 18, 2025By

4th Sunday after Easter 2025

The Church would not be able to distribute its spiritual blessings to us without our support.  A Mass stipend is not a payment for the Mass, but merely a gesture of gratitude and a donation for the daily sustenance of the priest.

This week we recall the lives of Saints Bernadine of Siena and Rita of Cascia.  St. Bernadine fought tirelessly against the vice of gambling, as well as witchcraft and sins of impurity, while St. Rita lived a life of heroic virtue as a wife, mother, widow, and Augustinian nun.  She is the saint invoked for impossible causes.

In the Epistle for today’s Mass, St. James speaks of the source of our consolation and reminds us that we are the greatest creation of the Holy Trinity.  We must remain pure and meek as we cast out all evil from our lives.
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Necessary Obedience

May 11, 2025By

3rd Sunday after Easter 2025

On Mother’s Day we must call to mind the Mother of all of us – the Blessed Mother.  From the instant of the Immaculate Conception, she loved the Blessed Trinity more than all the angels and saints, and that love and holiness increased every moment of her life.

Today, on their feast day, we must recall the details of the lives of the great Saints and Apostles Philip and James.

We cannot be saved without the virtue of obedience. We must first of all be obedient to the will of God and to true principles. This is a time of great joy for all Catholics, because we spend this time in the company of the risen Christ.
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Why Did He Ascend?

May 9, 2024By

Ascension Thursday Evening 2024
Today is one of the happiest days of the year because we celebrate the triumph of Christ, and through Him the triumph of the Church.  Christ ascended into Heaven to begin His heavenly priesthood of mediation between God and man.  By this mediation He sent us the Holy Ghost and His sevenfold gifts.  He proved that His kingdom is not of this world, increased the merit of our faith, and invited us to follow Him to our celestial home.  By separating Himself from us for a time, Our Lord purifies and spiritualizes our love, so we may be more perfectly united with Him in this life and the next.
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The Paschal Mystery Completed

May 9, 2024By

Ascension Thursday Morning 2024
After Christ sacrificed Himself for our sins and conquered death through His Resurrection, His physical, glorified Body entered Heaven so that we may all follow Him there.  The Paschal Candle is extinguished after the Gospel to represent Our Lord’s departure from the Earth.  This is the day of great joy because today the Son of God went home.  We will all receive our bodies at the end of time.  To deny this dogma is the heretical rejection of the teaching of Our Lord.  Even the apostles were rebuked by Christ for their lack of faith.  This is a warning to all of us who are so weak in faith.  We must not be discouraged; we have become new people and have been prepared for a greater calling.
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Untainted Love of God

May 5, 2024By

5th Sunday after Easter 2024
The Gospel for today recalls the words of Our Lord at the Last Supper and is chosen to prepare us all for the Ascension and Pentecost.  We should pray with all our heart and will to receive the Holy Ghost in a more perfect way this year.  It does not matter how evil or how ignorant we are, God will still hear our prayers when we ask for anything to aid in our salvation.  The day of our First Holy Communion is the most important day of our lives.  God made us to receive Him on Earth and join Him in Heaven when we die.
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