Candles For Purification & St. Blaise

5th Sunday After Epiphany 2017

The powerful blessing given on the feastday of St. Blaise is not only for throats but for any other health problem and even for spiritual maladies.  We also take home with us a blessed candle on Candlemas Day. The candle is revered as a symbol of Christ Himself who is united with us through this most powerful sacramental.  We are encouraged to light a candle when we pray because by so doing we unite our prayer with Christ Himself, whose Body and Soul are symbolized by the candle we hold in our hands or display in our home.  The liturgical candle, made almost completely of the wax from virginal bees, is so important that not to have them lit during the Sacrifice of the Mass is a grievous sin.

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Help Us, We Are Perishing!

4th Sunday after Epiphany 2017

We must settle all disputes we have with our neighbor before we come to the Eucharistic table and to love and care for the souls of our neighbors, whether or not we like them personally.  St. Frances de Sales who had a bad vice, that of an extreme temper, re-channeled the energy from that vice towards the teaching of the faith to thousands.  He wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life and is known today as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Teachers of the Faith.  St. Martina underwent unbelievable torture because she would not renounce her Faith and pay tribute to false gods as demanded by the Emperor.  How many of the saints have shown us similar acts of heroic virtue and steadfast Faith in the history of the Church and what do we give in return?  It is a question we must ask ourselves if we are to be true followers of Christ.  We are then taught of the importance of Faith through today’s Gospel reading where the disciples are caught in a storm with heavy waves which tossed their boat to and fro, threatening to sink it.  The disciples desperately awoke Jesus from His nap begging Him to save them.  He in turn rebuked them for their lack of Faith since He was aboard the boat and would not let harm come to them.  

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Pray And Believe

3rd Sunday After Epiphany 2016

The time after the Epiphany continues to show us the revelation of God becoming Man. This is proven in the Gospel by a miracle to the Jews in the leper and to the Gentiles in the centurion’s servant.  We are also called during this time to join with the angels in adoring the Incarnate God.  Prayer is essential for salvation and faith.

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Epiphany Conference

The Nativity is feast of Light.  The three-fold manifestation of this is seen in the Magi on the Epiphany, the theophany at Our Lord’s Baptism and the miracle at the wedding feast of Cana.  Baptism is the official consecration of Christ as priest (although priest from Annunciation).  Cana teaches about transubstantiation and the role of the Blessed Mother and prayer.  Christ identifies Himself as our spouse and we are united in Holy Communion.

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Rule Of Faith

2nd Sunday After Epiphany 2017

St. Paul instructs us in today’s epistle to do all by the Rule of Faith which is the guide that Tradition has over the written word of God.  Faith is paramount in life and essential to enter heaven.  The entire Liturgy was given by Our Lord and the miracle of changing water into wine pre-figured transubstantiation.

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Contemplative Feast

Feast Of The Holy Family 2017

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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Live In The Present

Octave Of Christmas 2017

The Octave Day Of Christmas is a re-celebration of the Nativity.  It also commemorates the Circumcision of Our Lord as well as the Solemnity of The Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Church has long celebrated major feasts for more than just one day through what are called octaves or 8-day periods, week-long celebrations which include the day of the Feast itself.  Today is the 8th day of the Octave of the Nativity and it gives us the opportunity to once again rejoice in this tremendous Feast Of Christmas.  As well, it celebrates the Circumcision of Our Lord which is a “type” for our Christian Baptism, as it was for the Jews a sign of the individual’s acceptance into the “chosen people” or the Jewish religion of the Old Testament.  Inasmuch as the circumcision of Jesus was carried out on the lap of the Mother of God, it also reflects the solemnity of Mary in Her singular role as Co-Redemptrix of the human race.

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God Became A Man

Christmas Midnight Mass 2016

St. Joseph’s care for Blessed Mother and The Holy Infant is explained.  We also learn of the significance of the swaddling clothes and that the Savior wrapped in them was how the shepherds recognized Him.  Finally, the beautiful and consoling doctrine of the Incarnation is clearly stated for us to appreciate.

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Go To Heaven For Christmas

Second Sunday of Advent 2016

“Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?”  This question posed to Our Lord by the disciples of St. John the Baptist in no way implies that St. John himself had any doubts about the Divinity of Our Lord.  St. John had been informed by revelation who Jesus was: “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” but John knew that he must decrease so that Christ must increase and he wanted his disciples to follow Jesus, not himself.  In today’s Mass we have both the Joy of Christ’s coming on earth and the forewarning of Christ’s Second Coming in the scriptural readings for the Second Sunday of Advent.  The big question is: will we be prepared for both?  Unless we pray that we will be among the elect, it will not happen – so now is the time to do so.

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Swaddling Clothes and a Manger

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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