The Church begins to prepare us for the end of the liturgical year with this Mass which reminds us of judgment. The Gospel gives the great commandments of the Law: love of God and neighbor, and the importance of faith in God Incarnate. St. Paul reminds us to express our charity by promoting peace. The enemy to all this is the devil which the Collect prays that we avoid his evil influences.
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Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2017
Relics of the true Cross are in our shrine and give us a link to the origins of this feast. The Cross had its antecedents in the Old Testament but its exaltation began with Constantine’s victory under its banner. His mother, St. Helen, discovered the true Cross and later the Emperor Herclius saved it from the Persians. The mystery of the Cross, if known and lived, will be our path to a glorious triumph in heaven and peace and consolation during the trials and sufferings of this life.
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13th Sunday after Pentecost 2017
The Collect Prayer for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost sums up our desire for an increase of the theological virtues and a desire to love God as He wants. For this, we should pray the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity daily because these virtues are essential for gaining heaven and we can never have enough of them. The Gospel reminds us that we must be grateful to God for His gifts as the leperous Samaritan was after Christ healed him.
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Assumption Day 2017
Through Our Lady’s Assumption God has empowered the Mother of God with extraordinary intercessory power which enables Our Lady at Fatima to promise salvation to those who embrace devotion to Her Immaculate Heart. The anticipated resurrection of the Blessed Mother is one of the reasons why She can assure heaven to Her devotees. The Immaculate Conception and the Blessed Virgin Mary’s fullness of grace and love are causes of Her Assumption. Her union with the Passion and Death of Her Son is a further reason for Her joining Him in His Resurrection and Ascension.
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Good Shepherd Sunday
The words of today’s gospel: “I am the Good Shepherd” have a significant meaning for those of us “sheep” who look for protection and guidance from their Shepherd. There is also a reference to the last three chapters of the Book of Isaiah – prophecies relating specifically to the coming of Christ which curiously were deleted from a version of the Old Testament. One can only wonder why this was done. In any case, we should all remember the words of Jesus: “I know mine and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.”
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Low Sunday 2017
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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. Â
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“Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: for The Lord is nigh.”  These words taken from St. Paul’s epistle to the Philippians for the Third Sunday of Advent may seem strange in today’s times because of all that is wrong in today’s world  However, they are as true now as they were when they were first written because they refer not only to the upcoming Feast of the Nativity but to the Second Coming of Our Lord and Savior at the end of time. We can be joyous because we have already been saved through Baptism.  The promise of what lies ahead for us, if we are faithful, is far greater than any of the problems and sufferings that we endure in this life. The Lord is indeed nigh and all we have to do is recognize His presence in our midst and pray that He keeps us true to our baptismal promises.
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“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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The new Liturgical Year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. Liturgy is derived from a Greek word and means public worship. It differs from private prayer in that the ends of adoration, thanksgiving, reparation and petition are united with the entire church and its public prayer. The official prayer of the Mystical Body is then made sublime and sacramental through the presence of Christ. The best example, of course, is the Eucharistic Sacrifice wherein Christ Himself unites his prayer to the Father with our own. But the other sacraments accomplish the same type of worship in their own way – even the sacrament of Penance. The prayers of today’s Mass offer hope in the Final Coming to those who have kept the Faith with humility rather than the judgment of the proud predicted in last Sunday’s scriptural readings. The famous words: “Look up your salvation is at hand” are meant to give us that hope.
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