The Obligation of Gratitude

Passion Sunday 2025
In the Epistle for this Mass, St. Paul makes reference to the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Hebrew Day of Atonement and how they prefigured the sacrifice of Our Lord.  The Redemption of the human race was the fulfillment and consummation of all the sacrifices of the Old Law.  Passiontide is not only a time of deep sorrow but also a time of profound gratitude for the gifts we have been given.  The very fact of our existence should be enough to inspire a lifetime of gratitude, but when considering the humiliation and suffering which the Son of God endured out of love for us, our thanksgiving should know no bounds.  It is only through the Mass and our union with the prayer of God the Son to His Father that we can give sufficient thanks for the inestimable gifts we have received.
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Fortified by Heavenly Bread

4th Sunday In Lent – Laetare Sunday 2025
At this Mass we are encouraged to continue onward in our journey through Lent with the help of the Holy Eucharist.  Our Lord gave His ambassadors the power to cast out devils, and in a certain sense, we all participate in this power when confessing our sins.  With this miracle of the multiplication of the loaves Our Lord prepared His followers for Holy Communion.  Baptism and the Holy Eucharist are the sacraments called to mind in this week’s liturgy through the manna in the desert and the water from the rock.  On this Sunday of the Golden Rose, let us remember the Mystic Rose, the Blessed Mother, who will guide us to our eternal reward.
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Grace Upon Grace

3rd Sunday in Lent 2025

It is only by divine grace that we can absorb everything this Mass contains.  Grace builds upon grace, and to those who accept the graces of God more is given.  This Lent could determine our eternal sentencing at our judgment.  Have we kept our Lenten resolution?  Our Lord is praising His Mother in today’s Gospel.  She listened to the Word of God, the Logos, and remained with Him her entire life.  This is the Mass of the liturgy.  The Introit describes liturgical prayer, and how we look up to God as He looks down on us.  Today we can conquer the devil with the help of the sacrament of Penance.
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Angelic Virtue and the Greatest Sin

2nd Sunday in Lent 2025

St. Julian of Cilicia is a little-known saint who was martyred during the reign of Emperor Diocletian.  He is a model of Catholic fortitude because of the torments he endured rather than offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.  He was tortured for over a year, but he never compromised.

St. Paul instructed the laypeople of Thessalonica to strive after perfection.  We should deny ourselves with constant concern for salvation.  We never remain stagnant in the spiritual life, but are always either growing closer to God or falling away from Him.  St. Paul speaks directly to us when he instructs the practice of purity of mind and body.  The practice of purity places us higher than the angels and if we do not practice it, we are lower than the animals.  We are tempted most of all at the moment when we are dying, and if we don’t have control over our thoughts in those moments we will be lost.  Let us make ourselves suffer a little for love of our God.
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The Value of Penance

1st Sunday of Lent 2025
We must imitate the example of Our Lord in the face of temptation.  When we are afflicted by evil thoughts we should turn to the powerful defense of Sacred Scripture.  Christ’s victory over the devil in this Gospel foreshadows His ultimate victory on the Cross.  Unless we do penance, we will surely perish.  We should have a thorough understanding of what the word “penance” means.  Lent is a time of joy, when we shake off sin and prepare for Heaven.  This season presents to us God’s mercy and gives us the opportunity to obtain a peaceful conscience.  God in His justice is bound by His very nature to punish sin, but when we punish ourselves with works of penance, even our smallest acts have great value, if they come from the heart.  There are many such acts that every Catholic should know and put into practice during this season.
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The Beginning of Our Sanctification

Ash Wednesday Evening 2025
The sacramental of ashes is meant to be for us a memento mori – a reminder of our mortality.  We have the testimonies of St. Justin Martyr and St. Irenaeus, from the earliest centuries after Our Lord, which speak of the ancient practices of Lent and the use of blessed ashes, as well as the numerous examples of ashes being used by penitents in the Old Testament.  On this day, we stand at the border of our sanctification, and if we take advantage of the days ahead, we could be true saints by the end of this season.  There is no more difficult conflict than the battle to overcome oneself, so we must use the tools available to us in order to win our victory.  The practice of mental prayer, spiritual reading, and almsgiving are the great tools which Holy Mother Church instructs us to use during the season.
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We Are The Enemy

Ash Wednesday 2025
We are beginning the most sacred and ancient season of the liturgical year.  This season is particularly for the catechumens who are learning the Faith, and the public penitents who desired to be reunited with Our Lord.  The public penitents were sprinkled with ashes to remind them that they are dust and unto dust they shall return.  It was by the popular demand of the rest of the faithful that the sacramental of ashes was shared with all of us.  We are all sinners, and we unite with those public penitents in making up for our sins.  We have been shown the consequences of sin, we know our predominant fault, and we are ready for battle against self.  Everything we do during these days must be from the heart and caused by charity.  Today many “recall” Lent but do not live it.  The reminder of death we receive in the ashes gives us an increase of life.  We should remain joyful in our penance because through it we are becoming saints.
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The Bravery of the Saints

Passion Sunday 2024
Saint Patrick stood for the true God against the pagans in Ireland.  He threw down the idols of the druids and established the Catholic Church in what is now known as the Island of Saints.  Saint Cyril of Jerusalem fought against the Arian heresy and was persecuted for it.  His bravery and steadfastness in defending the Faith are examples we must follow.  Saint Benedict saw the corruption in Rome during his time and left to become a hermit.  He started his famous Benedictine Order, which has produced thousands of saints.  If we pray with confidence and humility, we have nothing to fear. We must stand courageously beside the saints in defense of God.
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We Witness the Miraculous

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

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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