Prayer and Fasting

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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Our 40 Day Lenten Retreat

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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Ultimately Penance Is Love

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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Purity of Intention

Quinquagesima Sunday 2021
In preparation for Ash Wednesday and Lent there is a review of the laws concerning fast and abstinence.  Today is also the feast of St. Valentine and his impact in our own day.  The Epistle for this Mass is taken from St. Paul and teaches us the importance of doing all our works, especially the upcoming penances, with purity of intention which is produced by charity.  The Gospel tells of the cure of the blind man by Our Lord.  We are that blind man who need God’s help to see our sinfulness and do something about it.
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Give All To Receive All

Sexagesima Sunday 2021
Saints this week are our friends like St. Apollonia.  The Liturgy is our ordinary means of sanctification and reception of sacramentals is a practical aspect of this.  St. Paul is the dominant character during this season of Septuagesima and tells in the Epistle of all he has sacrificed in fulfilling Our Lord’s prophecy about his suffering for the Name of Jesus.  The Gospel shows the Word of God gently warning all to receive Him well and thereby receive a hundredfold.  Finally, we need to follow Catholic principles in our daily lives and imitate the Catholic Supreme Court justice and not the famous author who wrote that lying is permitted if done for the sake of the nation.
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Season of Examination

Septuagesima Sunday 2021
This week is the feast of St. Agatha whose veil is a precious relic that has protected the city of Catania from various cataclysms throughout history.  The significance of wearing a veil is explained.  Septuagesima season is a transition from the Christmas to the Easter cycle and an immediate preparation for Lent.  It is a time for the catechumens and penitents especially.  We recall the story of Genesis and the fall of Adam and Eve whose crime is inherited by us and known as original sin.  This week examines the effects of original sin in our lives so we are ready to combat these vices as soon as we reach Ash Wednesday.
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Warning Signs Of The End

First Friday Conference December 2020
Advent is the time of preparation for Christmas and the second coming of Christ.  The sacred liturgy has the ability because of God’s power to relive a past event like the Nativity, bring its graces to us in the present and prepare us for its fulfillment in the future with Our Lord’s return.  St. Matthew’s Gospel about the signs at the end of time is meant to warn us for the trials of those days.  St. Luke also gives these signs and encourages us to lift up our heads knowing that our redemption is near.  This conference then contains a listing and description of the signs of the times so we can be ready.
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Jesus, Come To Me, Embrace Me

Palm Sunday 2020
While unable to attend Mass, we must be more devout at home, especially by practicing spiritual communion.  The Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity and the action of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost in our souls will inspire us.  That type of inspiration is what moved the people in Jerusalem to proclaim Our Lord King today; although they cried for His death less than a week later. The palm is a sign of victory and why it was used to welcome Christ into the Holy City.  It is a pledge of our victory today.
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Deliver Us, O Lord

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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What Is Keeping Me From God?

First Sunday of Lent 2020
This sermon begins with a review of the Lenten regulations and a recalling of the life and the struggle for his vocation of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast is this week.  Then we learn about the sacramental of ashes which is a powerful aid during this season which offers us more graces than at any other time during the year.  With this help we perform supernatural works which overcome everything that separates us from God.  After His forty days of fasting in the desert, Our Lord showed us how to defeat the devil and his temptations.  We are meant to follow Christ’s example.
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