2nd Sunday In Lent 2021
Our Lord took the three apostles who would soon be tested during His agony in the garden and showed them a glimpse of His divinity during the theophany on Mt. Tabor so they would be strengthened by the remembrance of it at that crucial time. We too are consoled by this sight as we struggle through Lent with our eyes always fixed on the goal which is our glorification in the end with our Risen Savior.
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1st Sunday In Lent 2021
Jesus Christ leads us by example as we begin Lent. He sanctified the forty days we have begun by first spending that number of days in prayer and fasting in the desert before He started His public life. Upon its completion He overcame Satan and his temptations. We will do the same during this Lent as we walk in Christ’s footsteps by doing penance that will regain control of ourselves. We make up for the sin of eating that Adam and Eve committed. We follow our ancestors who made Lent holy and would not mar these forty days with war, court proceedings and other distracting activities.
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Ash Wednesday Evening 2021
Ashes are a sacramental so we should stir up our hearts and receive them devoutly. By popular demand the reception of ashes was extended to all the faithful not just the public penitents. We should imitate the penitents and catechumens during this spiritual retreat and practice acts of penance like prayer, fasting, almsgiving and studying. Our Lord taught us about these in the Sermon on the Mount from which today’s Gospel comes. We enter Lent with Christ as our Leader so we imitate Him in His sufferings and eventually in His Resurrection.
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Ash Wednesday 2021
Neglect of practicing penance during Lent is a cause of the problems we experience in the world today. The virtue of penance is a power from God which makes us hate sin, be sorry for it, make reparation for it and convert because sin offends God Who loves us. Penance spurs us on to mortify our evil tendencies and remove the obstacles during Lent so to make room for Our Lord. The Liturgy teaches us these things and the acts of penance are traditionally known as prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Many ask for penances during Lent and several recommendations are given to help us make a good and holy Lent.
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First Friday February 2021 – Feast Of St. Agatha
With the beginning of the Easter Cycle through the season of Septuagesima it is a good time to review what the Sacred Liturgy is and how it leads our spiritual lives through the purgative, illuminative and unitive states. The Holy Mass is the highest form of prayer in the worship of the Mystical Body of Christ and this vocal prayer is also the springboard for mental prayer which culminates in contemplation. An analysis of the liturgy, the essential element in the lives of all saints and the foundation of all of schools of spirituality, is a profound and deep one that should make us appreciate ever more the treasure we have been given. The praying of the Rosary is our daily link to all these divine benefits.
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Passion Sunday 2020
The last two weeks of Lent are the most sacred and have a special name, Passiontide. In today’s Gospel, Our Lord proclaimed His Divinity with the result that He had to hide from those who wanted to stone Him. The Church incorporates this into Passiontide by hiding Christ and all the reminders of Him by veiling the Crucifix and statues. This year it is more dramatic because many are unable to even come to the chapel. Given these circumstances we should unite more than ever with the texts of this Mass and cry out for deliverance. We should practice prayer, especially the Rosary, and all the exercises of the spiritual life with renewed purpose so as to strengthen ourselves, with God’s grace, during this present crisis and for the future.
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Laetare Sunday 2020 – Carmelite Clothing Day
This is a joyful day and a preparation for the total gift of self that is to come at the religious profession. All has been left behind and that includes any reliance on self because now it is time to rely on God alone. Religious life is the proximate call to holiness and the ceremony of the clothing in the Carmelite habit is meant to impress this on us. The habit, especially the Brown Scapular, is the constant sacramental reminder of the call to contemplative prayer and divine union. As a chosen bride and spouse of Our Lord, the religious is joined to Him on the Cross as a victim for the Church, priests and the salvation of souls. Do not look back but press on to the goal of union with Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.
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3rd Sunday of Lent 2020
St. Paul teaches us the importance of imitating God during Lent. These are trying times which offer us the opportunity to face them as Our Lord would. In the Gospel we see how the insincere twist even the holy works of Christ to their own destruction. This account ends with Jesus praising His Blessed Mother for hearing the words of God and keeping them. The feast of St. Joseph is later this week and he is the patron of our community. Finally, we should practice the consoling devotion of making a spiritual communion, especially if we are unable to receive Holy Communion.
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Funeral Mass March 7, 2020
Our first duty in the face of death is to pray for the soul of the faithful departed so that she may be released from Purgatory as soon as possible. We have confidence because all the consolations of the Faith through the sacraments were given to the deceased but we still must pray always for her. God rewards those who suffer for Him, especially out of loyalty which He values highly. Catholics look forward to the day when they can meet their beloved dead and see them again in heaven.
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