Be On Guard

3rd Sunday after Epiphany 2025
As Catholics, we should be well informed about the feast days celebrated this week.  We should know the details of the account of St. Paul’s conversion and how it changed the course of the Church, as well as the lives of Saints Polycarp, Francis de Sales, John Bosco, and Ignatius of Antioch.  In the Epistle for today’s Mass, St. Paul instructs us to avoid the sin of revenge.  We must believe that God will reward the good and punish the wicked, either in this life or the next.  In this Gospel account, the deforming disease of leprosy is shown as a symbol of sin.  We are reminded to have gratitude toward God for both spiritual and corporeal favors.  The Roman centurion was a friend to the Jewish people and a monotheist.  His beautiful words of faith have echoed through the centuries at countless Masses.  We must imitate the virtues of this good centurion if we wish to be cured of our spiritual illness and live a holy life.
#20250126K

Listen Now

The Holy Family Provides

Feast of the Holy Family 2025
The Blessed Mother kept the mysteries of Our Lord’s life in her heart, and we should invoke her help whenever we meditate on those mysteries.  Holy Scripture shows St. Joseph to be the clear head of the Holy Family, not by his words but by his actions.  The event recorded in the Gospel took place when Christ was twelve years old, at the time when He became a “Son of the Law.”  By His words Christ makes it evident to the whole world that He knew He was God at every moment of His life.  St. Paul tells us in his Epistle the virtues of the Holy Family which we must imitate and use in examining our consciences.  The father is the head of the family and must be the example of the virtue of religion.  The mother is the heart of the family, who keeps all the spiritual and material needs of the children in her heart.  God has given us parents to assist us in attaining Heaven, and children are called to submit to their parents in holy obedience.  Nothing bad will ever happen to us but that which our loving Father allows.
#20250112M

Listen Now

His Birth in Our Hearts

Christmas Day 2024
Although all three Masses of Christmas refer to the birth of Our Lord in the hearts of mankind through grace, this is the Mass which is particularly focused on that aspect of Christmas.  The indwelling of the Son, with the Father and Holy Ghost, in the souls of the just, was promised by Christ while He was on Earth.  When the Holy Trinity make Their abode in us, Their vital presence communicates a created share of God’s life to our souls.  Our Lord did not choose to be born in the palace of a King, nor in the bustling environment of the inn, but in a secluded cave.  If our souls are as proud as a royal palace, or as filled as the inn with the distractions of the world, Christ will not seek admittance.  But if our souls are emptied of worldly attachments and as humble as the cave, Christ will not resist in entering.
#20241225B

Listen Now

We Must Answer to God

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.
#20241117M

Listen Now

God’s Mercy For The Merciful

21st Sunday after Pentecost 2024
The Gospel for this Mass gives us hope in God’s mercy and fear of His justice.  The debt we owe God for a single sin we have committed we could never hope to repay, so when we approach Our Lord at every Mass we beg for His mercy in the Kyrie.  God is quick to offer forgiveness, and even showers us with additional gifts.  Those who squander these gifts and fall back into their evil habits, assuming God will always show mercy, are like the man in the Gospel who warranted the wrath of his king.  Those Catholics who refuse to forgive the offenses they receive from their neighbor will be condemned as wicked servants, exemplifying the words of St. James, “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy.”
#20241013B

Listen Now

Our Reminder To Love

Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2024
Emperor Constantine saw a vision of the Holy Cross in the sky which led to his victory.  Years later, St. Helena led an expedition to the Holy Land and miraculously found the true Cross of Our Lord.  Hundreds of years after that, Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persians and rescued the Cross which had been stolen.  This feast was prepared by Our Lord through the many miracles He has performed.  The Cross is the sign of victory over our enemies and gives us the knowledge of God’s love for us, which is, in the end, the only knowledge necessary.  When God’s love is revealed to us, we must respond by offering all our love in return.  The love we are given through the Cross raises us to such heights that we are able to love God with a share in His own sacrificial love.
#20240914S

Listen Now

No Lover But Christ

16th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Carmelite Perpetual Profession – The perpetual vows are received by the prioress of the convent, but the veil comes from the hands of the priest or bishop.  In taking the black veil the novice shows herself to be a true bride of Christ, so it is fitting that it be given by him who is acting in Persona Christi.  In the early days the veil sheltered the face of a married woman from the gaze of the world, her beauty and innocence being reserved for her spouse alone.  So too with the perpetual vows of a nun.  She is the spouse of Christ and she will accept no other lover.  The nun is called to be generous and giving especially in the service of Christ’s representatives – the priests.  The Carmelites in particular share in a special way in the interior life of the priest.  This life is the means of sanctification and union with God.  It requires great love and confidence in the unfailing assistance of Our Lord.
#20240908

Listen Now

For Those Who Have Lost Their Way

1st Friday Conference September 2024
St. Tarcisius lived during the days of great persecution.  He was ordained an acolyte or deacon as a young man, and was commissioned to care for the Christian prisoners.  While bringing Viaticum to these captives, St. Tarcisius was accosted by a group of pagans.  He gave his life rather than expose the Holy Eucharist to desecration.

Devotion to the Holy Infant of Prague is loved and honored by Our Lord Himself.  Our Lord is not a child now, but this is the humble state in which He first appeared in the world.  The statue depicts the Holy Infant as both God and Man, as well as King of all creation.  His welcoming gentleness seems to radiate out from the Infant Jesus of Prague.  He makes Himself a guide to all those who have lost their way.

Much is said about the accomplishments of St. Pius X, but not enough about his interior life.  His prayer had reached the heights of contemplation and was directed by the Holy Ghost.  He radiated goodness and wanted to comfort everybody, yet fought unwaveringly against the enemies of his spiritual children.
#20240906

Listen Now

Can You Pass This Test?

15th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
This Mass teaches us about Everlasting Life, while the Divine Office offers us the example of Job, who praised God in both prosperity and adversity.  In the Psalms we ask that we are protected, but that we do not forget our enemy.  In the Gospel we see a representation of the Church weeping over her children, dead through mortal sin, in the widow of Naim.  All temptations are tests, and it is what we do with those tests which makes the difference.  We should test ourselves by comparing how closely we follow the commandments of God versus the dictates of the world.  This test will tell us if we are on the path towards the gates of Hell, or if we have been stopped by Our Lord on our road to death to be restored in His life.
#20240901M

Listen Now

His Will Be Done

14th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Those souls who are advanced in the spiritual life begin to experience the sweetness and joy of virtue in the Fruits of the Holy Ghost.  It is difficult to live a life of virtue when one first begins his journey, but it becomes easier the more one progresses.  The Gospel for this Mass is meant to reassure the faithful that, in His divine providence, God will provide all we need for the future.  Our anxiety is dispelled when we remember that even the difficulties and trials of our life come from the hand of God for the sake of sanctifying our souls.
#20240825B

Listen Now

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    •‎  ‎ Sunday Mass: 9 AM  ‎ • ‎  719.985.4129 ‎  •