Favored By God

March 25, 2021By

Feast Of The Annunciation 2021
This feast celebrates the moment when salvation began with the acceptance by the Blessed Virgin Mary of her role as Mother of God and Co-Redemptrix of the human race.  God became Man today and the Incarnation is the chief teaching of the Catholic Church about Jesus Christ.  This also marks the anniversary of Our Lord’s ordination as a priest.  All this elevates the Immaculate Virgin to the threshold of divinity by her proximity to the hypostatic union which took place in her womb.  This can be considered her greatest feast.  It was a privilege for some of us to have visited the Holy House of Loretto because this is the place where it started.  We should not be rude in prayer by letting ourselves be distracted from speaking with God.
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Our 40 Day Lenten Retreat

February 17, 2021By

Ash Wednesday Evening 2021
Ashes are a sacramental so we should stir up our hearts and receive them devoutly.  By popular demand the reception of ashes was extended to all the faithful not just the public penitents.  We should imitate the penitents and catechumens during this spiritual retreat and practice acts of penance like prayer, fasting, almsgiving and studying.  Our Lord taught us about these in the Sermon on the Mount from which today’s Gospel comes.  We enter Lent with Christ as our Leader so we imitate Him in His sufferings and eventually in His Resurrection.
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Ultimately Penance Is Love

February 14, 2021By

Ash Wednesday 2021
Neglect of practicing penance during Lent is a cause of the problems we experience in the world today.  The virtue of penance is a power from God which makes us hate sin, be sorry for it, make reparation for it and convert because sin offends God Who loves us.  Penance spurs us on to mortify our evil tendencies and remove the obstacles during Lent so to make room for Our Lord.  The Liturgy teaches us these things and the acts of penance are traditionally known as prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  Many ask for penances during Lent and several recommendations are given to help us make a good and holy Lent.
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Purity of Intention

February 14, 2021By

Quinquagesima Sunday 2021
In preparation for Ash Wednesday and Lent there is a review of the laws concerning fast and abstinence.  Today is also the feast of St. Valentine and his impact in our own day.  The Epistle for this Mass is taken from St. Paul and teaches us the importance of doing all our works, especially the upcoming penances, with purity of intention which is produced by charity.  The Gospel tells of the cure of the blind man by Our Lord.  We are that blind man who need God’s help to see our sinfulness and do something about it.
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Purification, Presentation and Candles

February 2, 2021By

Feast Of The Purification 2021
This feast was already old in the fourth century.  It celebrates Our Lady’s fulfilling the Law by going to the temple forty days after giving birth so she could be admitted once more ceremonially to worship.  Her humility was extraordinary because she was not bound by the Law but she freely submitted as her Divine Son did also.  In addition, on this same day, Christ was presented in the temple as the first born Son to receive His rightful place and to be ransomed for a time until His hour has come and He will return to complete the sacrifice.  The candle which is blessed and used in today’s procession reminds us of the Holy Infant being carried in the first procession centuries ago which revealed the Light of Revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.
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Season of Examination

January 31, 2021By

Septuagesima Sunday 2021
This week is the feast of St. Agatha whose veil is a precious relic that has protected the city of Catania from various cataclysms throughout history.  The significance of wearing a veil is explained.  Septuagesima season is a transition from the Christmas to the Easter cycle and an immediate preparation for Lent.  It is a time for the catechumens and penitents especially.  We recall the story of Genesis and the fall of Adam and Eve whose crime is inherited by us and known as original sin.  This week examines the effects of original sin in our lives so we are ready to combat these vices as soon as we reach Ash Wednesday.
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Ave Maria

December 8, 2020By

Feast Of The Immaculate Conception 2020
This feast day honors the infallible teaching of the Church that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her existence, was free from original sin and all sin by reason of the future merits of her Son’s Passion and Death.  Her redemption is unlike ours because hers was preservative, meaning evil never touched her, whereas ours is liberative, meaning we were freed from evil that held us.  This exclusive privilege of hers was so she would be a worthy mother of the Son of God and that, although not the same degree, she would be like her Son in holiness and finally that she would be duly prepared to be the Co-Redemptrix, congruently not condignly as her Son alone could be.  All these doctrines prove for us Wordsworth’s line that Our Lady is “our tainted nature’s solitary boast”.
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See The Rosary As Our Lady Does

October 2, 2020By

Feast Of The Holy Guardian Angels – First Friday Conference, September 2020
Devotion to the angels is critical for the priest and the faithful.  In the Gospel Our Lord says to become as little children and learn to trust Him.  This is indispensable. October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary and St. Dominic and Blessed Allan taught the people about its importance by giving the fifteen promises attached to its recitation.  The Mysteries of the Rosary are the memories for Our Lady of the Incarnation, Redemption and Heavenly reward of her divine Son. The Rosary is a prayer that easily leads to contemplation.  Any problems or difficulties will disappear with its recitation.
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God’s Most Loyal Angel

September 29, 2020By

Feast Of St. Michael The Archangel 2020
The opening words of the Apocalypse begin today’s Epistle and show St. Michael proclaiming Christ as the Ruler of the world.  The Gospel warns against the scandal of the innocent because their angels ever behold the face of God.  This feast honors the leader of the angels, St. Michael, who earned his name in defending God’s honor against the attacks of Lucifer who refused the divine invitation.  He and his cohorts rebelled as many have done since because they are proud.  St. Michael and the angels protect us from these enemies of our souls and aid us on our path to heaven.  St. Michael, defend us in battle!
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She Is In Bitter Grief

April 10, 2020By

Good Friday 2020
The Church mourns the death of God in an even more dramatic way this year.  The Solemn Liturgical Action expresses this loss through the Passion of St. John and the two prophecies.  Then we join with Christ on the Cross for His universal prayers for all.  We venerate our means of salvation by reverencing the Holy Cross and finally we join with our Savior in Holy Communion.  All of this inspires us to return the Divine Love of the Sacred Heart which shed every drop of the Precious Blood for us and to convert from sin which exacted such cruelty upon our innocent Lord.
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Jan
15
St. Paul the First Hermit

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