We Witness the Miraculous

March 10, 2024By

Laetare Sunday 2024
We celebrate the midpoint of the season of Lent by looking forward to the glory to come.  The way we pray is the way we believe, which is why Catholic worship has been so attacked by the enemy.  A golden rose would be blessed and anointed on this day by the pope and presented to a favored Catholic monarch.  Our mother on Earth is the Holy Catholic Church, who leads us to the heavenly Jerusalem.  The Gospel text is the great impetus for joy at this Mass.  We know that even when God tests us our future is secure if we pray.  Catholics are surrounded by the miraculous, and we must never allow ourselves to take it for granted.
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Attraction to the Divine

March 3, 2024By

3rd Sunday in Lent 2024
As children imitate their parents, so must we imitate God.  When St. Paul in this Epistle says, “how unbecoming of saints,” he is not referring to canonized saints, but all Catholics.  We are all called to sanctity.  We must battle the temptations about which St. Paul speaks by the Rosary, mental prayer, spiritual reading, and devotion to our guardian angels.  Aristotle, judged from reason alone, without the help of Divine Revelation, that “man should be attracted to divine and immortal things as much as he is able, and however little of these things he experiences, he should love them above all inferior substances.”  We should all heed these words.
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The Real Battle

February 14, 2024By

Ash Wednesday Evening 2024
Our heart should remain forever in the chapel with Our Lord.  Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the great practices of Lent.  The words that were spoken by God to Adam and Eve after the Fall are repeated for us today with the distribution of blessed ashes.  We are reminded of our mortality and the passing glory of this world.  If we always remember our mortality, we will certainly avoid sin.  When we fast it not only makes us weak, but it also brings us closer to God.  Christ came to Earth to suffer and die for our sins, and without His suffering we would not be saved.  How much do we owe Him in penance; how much do we owe Him in love?
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From Dust to Dust

February 14, 2024By

Ash Wednesday 2024
The Church reminds us of the fate that awaits all men.  We are mortal and destined to return to dust.  The sacramental of blessed ashes reminds us of our mortality and also the transient nature of worldly glory.  From the triumphant Roman generals to the Byzantine emperors,  a Memento Mori has been a common practice to remind men that if their hearts are set on perishable things, their souls will perish with them.  For good Catholics this is not a season of sorrow but of liberation from the attachments of the world.  We should see every day we are given as a merciful call from God for a conversion of life.
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Where Joy and Sorrow Meet

February 2, 2024By

Feast of the Purification 2024
The candle is one of the great sacramentals of the Church.  It is like a sacrament in the sense that it is an outward sign, but unlike a sacrament, it does not give grace automatically.  This day links Our Lord and the Blessed Mother so closely.  Today we remember both the joyful mystery of the Rosary and the first of the Virgin Mary’s great sorrows.  Because the Mother of God was not affected by original sin, and because of the Virginal Birth, she was not subject to the law requiring purification.  However, she submitted to it in all humility.  God used the New Eve to carry the New Adam into the Garden, when the Blessed Mother carried Our Lord into the temple.
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Jesus, Deliver Us!

January 28, 2024By

Septuagesima Sunday 2024
These next three Sundays are for an examination of conscience, in which we search out those things in our soul which make us enemies of God.  Today we begin with a view of creation and the fall of man.  Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden because they did not want to be with God.  To choose sin identifies us with the devil, because we refuse to serve God just as he did.  We must follow Saint Paul as our retreat master during these next three weeks, so at the end of our journey we may be among the privileged few to enter the Promised Land.
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Non Sum Dignus

January 21, 2024By

3rd Sunday after Epiphany 2024
St. Paul teaches us to be at peace with all men when it is possible.  Of course, there are times when peace is not possible, but for a good Catholic war is only for the sake of restoring the peace once again.  A person who is vengeful in his anger cannot claim to be a true Christian.  The centurion of the Gospel is a model for all Catholics.  He was compassionate, humble, but so confident and full of faith as to make the Son of God marvel.  We repeat the words of the centurion multiple times at every Mass so we may imitate his humility and confidence before receiving our Divine Lord.
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Now God Has A Name

January 1, 2024By

Christmas Octave 2024
The saints of the Christmas season are St. Stephen, the model of resistance against unbelief, St. John, the Apostle against division within the Church, and the Holy Innocents, who are the models standing against corrupt governments.  Today is the feast of the Circumcision, which offers proof of the true humanity of Christ, because on this day He shed the first drops of His Precious Blood.  In participating in this ceremony of the Old Law, Christ was associated with us sinners, and will be for all eternity.  Today God was given a name that all could utter.  When we call upon the name of Jesus, we ask God to save our soul.  Today is also the Solemnity of Mary which proclaims the Virgin Birth.
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Light Will Conquer Darkness

December 25, 2023By

Christmas Day 2023
We have the privilege of giving glory and proper worship to the Trinity on this day.  We celebrate the dogma of the Redemptive Incarnation.  In His infinite love, God became man, lived with us and died for us.  Our Lord’s enemies try to attack and undermine this great feast, but without success.  We must love justice and hate iniquity.  The Light spoken about in the Gospel is the Son of God Himself.  Everyone is offered the light of God’s grace, and those who receive it are made sons of God.  The devil’s plan is to turn mankind from God, but we know the victory has already been won.  In the face of the world, we are unwavering in our obedience to the Trinity.
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A Silent And Holy Night

December 25, 2023By

Christmas Midnight Mass 2023
It is a true joy to relive the happiness of that night in Bethlehem in which our Savior was born.  It was in silence and solitude Our Lord entered the world.  Just as Christ passed through the rock of His tomb at the moment of His Resurrection, He passed through the womb of the Blessed Mother, without violating her virginity.  This chapel is our Bethlehem, in which we relive the moments of the Nativity.  We are united with all of our forefathers throughout the history of the Church.  Our Lord came not only for the glory of His Father, but for us and our salvation.  Christmas is the beginning of Christ’s victory over the world.
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