Our Spiritual Resolutions

December 1, 2024By

1st Sunday of Advent 2024
Today is New Year’s Day in the Church, and we are reminded by the violet color at the beginning of the liturgical year to do penance for our sins.  We have a lot of work to do this Advent to prepare for the coming of Our Lord into our souls.  This is the time to make spiritual New Year’s resolutions.  If we wish to obtain our heavenly reward, we must perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and maintain purity of body and soul through prayer and mortification.  The Son of God honored our flesh when He took to Himself a human nature.  In following the purpose of this Advent season, let us “put aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light!”
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True Mercy and Forgiveness

November 10, 2024By

25th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
We live in a time when the weeds spoken of in the Gospel are found among the members of the Church’s hierarchy – those called to be the wheat.  Catholics frequently ask for God’s mercy, but it is only when we practice this virtue ourselves that Our Lord will dispense His mercy.  Every act of forgiveness comes from the Heart of Jesus Christ, because we are incapable of forgiving without His help.  Those in the state of grace participate in the life of Heaven; and they begin to live and love like God.  The spiritual life is like swimming against a river, if we are not making constant progress, we are being carried down the river.  Let us never give up the fight, strengthened by God through prayer.
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Care For The Departed

November 2, 2024By

All Souls Day 2024
We come to this Mass to help the Poor Souls.  Holy Mother Church does not neglect any of her children, even those detained in Purgatory, because God greatly desires that we care for the dead.  The origin of the maniple that the priest wears was originally a handkerchief to wipe the tears from his eyes, and in union with him we all weep for the Holy Souls today.  Everything is directed to the souls in Purgatory.  Even on this First Saturday, when the Blessed Mother is usually the focus, she defers to the suffering souls.  We pray for final perseverance, so that when we are attacked by the devil in our last moments, we will turn to God.  Heaven is only for the perfect, and in order to enter we must have no attachment to sin.  If we do not remove those attachments in this life, we must remove them in the next.
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Your Steps To Sanctity

November 1, 2024By

All Saints Day 2024
This feast has a twofold purpose: firstly, to give honor to all the saints, especially those unknown saints in Heaven; and secondly, to remind us of our ultimate goal.  We are given great encouragement to follow their example in the pursuit of holiness, knowing that if they could achieve sanctity in this life, so can we.  Our Lord began His public teaching with His instruction on the beatitudes – the summit of Christian perfection.  Like a fruit that has not yet ripened, the practice of virtue in its early stages is hard, bitter, and distasteful, but with continual practice virtue ripens into the Fruits of the Holy Ghost, which make the service of God sweet, easy, and enjoyable.  If we steadfastly follow the example of the saints, this will be our feast as well someday.
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St. Francis’ Knowledge and God’s ‘Little Ones’

October 4, 2024By

1st Friday Conference, October 2024
St. Francis of Assisi is greatly misunderstood and mistakenly viewed as the saint of the ecologists.  He composed a poem, which he gave to the members of his order, and this “Song of the Sun” demonstrates St. Francis’ love of nature – not for its own sake but because of its Creator.  The gift of knowledge gives one a better appreciation of God’s attributes through the beauty of the natural world.  This makes us desire the happiness of Heaven and earnestly pray that we may possess it.

The hallmark of the life of St. Therese of Lisieux is the doctrine of spiritual childhood.  In the Gospels, Our Lord not only spoke of the necessity of spiritual childhood for salvation, but warned against giving scandal to the innocent “little ones.”  St. Therese made the appreciation of her helplessness and complete trust in God the foundation of her spiritual life.  She spent her life doing little things with great love, and if we do the same, we too will be safe.
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Can You Pass This Test?

September 1, 2024By

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.
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His Will Be Done

August 25, 2024By

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.
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A Share In His Strength

August 4, 2024By

11th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Confirmation Sunday August 2024 – In Confirmation one receives a character, an increase of sanctifying grace, as well as special sacramental grace.  Through this sacrament we receive a greater share in Christ’s strength and victory on the cross.  Those confirmed are now adults in the Faith and are enabled to defend the Church publicly.  Confirmation is known as the Sacrament of the Holy Ghost because through it we are given a perfection of His seven gifts.  The Holy Ghost is the Person of Love and, if we pray for it, He will give us a share of the bond of union which exists among the Persons of the Trinity.
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Where Are The Martyrs?

May 19, 2024By

Pentecost Sunday 2024
Pentecost is called the birthday of the Catholic Church because, although it was conceived on the Cross, this is the first day the Church manifested herself in the world.  Not only every human being, but all nations and governments are called to convert to Christ.  True Catholics reject the false tenets of religious indifferentism.  The Holy Ghost expresses God’s love for us because He is the Person of Love.  In these days when there is such great cowardice within the Church, we pray for the virtue of fortitude to help us persevere in the face of adversity.  The Holy Ghost will provide us with the strength of the saints and martyrs.
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Avoiding Occasions of Sin

April 7, 2024By

Low Sunday 2024
Today is called Low Sunday because it is small in comparison to the great feast of Easter.  St. Thomas’ doubt has made it easier for us to believe, because the proofs of the Resurrection that Christ offered help strengthen our faith.  Now that we have put to death the old man, we must shut the doors of our soul to the world.  After we have been given new life, like Lazarus we are bound hand and foot if we remain attached to the world.  Even the great can fall if they do not avoid occasions of sin and resist the devil “steadfast in the faith.”
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26
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