Feast Of St. Joseph 2017
St. Joseph was a holy man who fulfilled the law with devotion and heart-felt piety. He was chosen to be the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to be the foster-father of the Son of God. In that capacity he was the image of God the Father. As the redemption depended on Our Lady’s “Fiat” at the Annunciaton so it was protected by her marriage to St. Joseph and his protection of her and the Holy Infant.
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After a brief remark about the great reformer pope, St. Gregory VII, we learn what St. Paul means in his epistle to do all in the name of Jesus. The story of the Magi and the epiphany is explained. Finally, our patronal feastday of the Holy Family is spoken about, especially in light of the 40th anniversary of the founding of our religious community on this day.
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Feast of the Purification 2016
After childbirth, the Hebrew women were considered ritually unclean because of the shedding of their blood. The Blessed Mother was exempt from all the requirements of the law, because she had not shed blood in her virginal birth and because she had no need for a sin offering. The newborn children were required to be presented to the temple to show that they belonged to God first and were only loaned to their natural parents for a time. This presentation of Our Lord was a portent of that day on which the Virgin Mary would offer her Divine Son on Calvary to God the Father. This feast was celebrated in the most ancient days of the Church in the Holy Land, and was used as a means of combating a pagan celebration of the time. The use of the powerful sacramental of the candle is a testament to our glorious and bloodstained past, when the Mass was offered by candlelight in the catacombs.
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Feast of the Holy Family 2016
In this Gospel, the Holy Family went to Jerusalem for the Bar Mitzvah of Jesus Christ because He had reached the age required to become a “Son of the Law.” This was the moment when a Jewish boy would take on the responsibility of an adult. For Our Lord it meant that He officially and juridically became the public and formal representative of God, His Heavenly Father. The reason Christ stayed in the Temple was because from that moment the Temple was His true home. Our Lord’s “Father’s business” was liturgical worship. The actions of Christ are a clear lesson to us that our obligations to Almighty God exceed all other obligations, even those towards our family. When the Gospel says that “He advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God,” it means that as His humanity developed, He manifested more perfectly His wisdom and perfections.
This feast was instituted as a defense against the attacks on the family, and to combat the errors taught about the family’s purpose in society. It teaches us the sublimity of the passive virtues of family life: silence, humility, and fidelity to duty. These virtues, so often scorned by the world, are the very foundation of a holy human existence.
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Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus 2016
St. Telesphorus led the Church as pope soon after it was founded. He is one of the many saints who corroborates the fact that our Church is certainly apostolic. This pope gave us the midnight Mass on Christmas, along with the Gloria chanted at the Mass, and many other practices we have to this day. The star which led the magi was not a natural phenomenon, but clearly a miraculous guide to lead these men to Our Lord. Uttering the Holy Name of Jesus obtains an immediate response from Our Lord. God the Father loves to hear us invoke the Name of His Son. Christ was given this Name at the moment of the circumcision, when He began our redemption by shedding the first drops of His Precious Blood. There is no more lofty prayer than the Name of Jesus.
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Christmas Midnight Mass 2015
We should pay special attention to the repetition of the phrase “swaddling clothes” in the Gospel account for today. The importance of these swaddling clothes is found in the care and love shown to the Holy Infant. Even though this Child was rejected by so many and was forced to be laid in a filthy feeding trough for animals found in a dark cave, there are those who still loved Him and cared for Him. This is the story of Christ’s entire life – rejected by many but ardently loved by a few. The Savior entered the world through the painless, virginal birth of His Mother. This birth prophesied the Resurrection, in which Our Lord passed through the tomb with new life, while leaving the tomb shut. On this feast, we celebrate the stupendous moment in which our Redeemer first appeared to mankind in the Flesh. God the Father became father in a new way today, and all Heaven celebrates the birth of His Son. On this feast, our sorrows are lifted and we look forward to a greater day to come.
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Feast of the Assumption 2015
This Gospel recalls the mystery of the Visitation, in which we see Elizabeth as an old woman humbling herself before the young Virgin Mary. A momentary gift of reason was given to the infant, St. John the Baptist, in the womb of his mother when he received the revelation that he was in the presence of the Redeemer. On that day the Blessed Virgin was recognized for the first time as the Mother of God.
The Dogma of the Assumption was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in modern times, but it was held, from the earliest days of the Church, that those who dared to question this dogma were enemies of God. Even the saints are looking forward to that final day when their souls will be united with their bodies in Heaven. This feast is a proclamation of that future day on which we will feel for the first time the embrace of our Blessed Mother.
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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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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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Feast of the Holy Family 2015
Children belong to God, and it is the responsibility of the parents to instill the principles and values necessary to live in the world. Children must remember that their parents are people, not simply objects fulfilling a role in their lives. In all the years of Christ’s private life no one knew He was the Son of God. This speaks volumes about His humility. “I must be about my Father’s affairs,” means that fidelity to God comes before natural attachments, and even obedience to parents. Christ’s hidden life was spent in love and obedience, and by this Christ demonstrated that the life of prayer and meditation is far superior to the active life.
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