With the Commemoration of the Holy Machabees we are reminded of their heroic sacrifice for the Faith and its practices. We are called to be like them today and prayer is essential to remaining faithful.
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Feast of St. Michael 2015
Since at least the fifth century, St. Michael the Archangel has been given widespread honor in the Church. We have this feast to thank God for creating the angels, and to help us rejoice in their happiness and imitate their great love of God. Although they were not redeemed as we were, the angels receive all their virtues from Our Lord, making each of them a reflection of His perfections. We also honor the angels today because of the pivotal role they played in our Redemption. When reciting the Gloria at the Mass we should remember we are reciting the prayer of the holy angels, and if we ask them to, they will join us in our prayers.
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18th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Our Lord worked the miracle recounted in the Gospel because of the strong faith of the men who brought the paralytic to Him. We are only capable of doing evil by our own power, but all the good we do is because of the help of God’s grace. The Church has taught for 2,000 years without error. Through this we see the truth of St. Paul’s rhetorical question, “what grace are you lacking?” Christ came to bring us to Heaven. And our faith, when it is enlivened by charity, allows us to begin to experience Heaven while we are still on earth.
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17th Sunday after Pentecost 2015
There was only one religion started by Our Lord, and we should never be swayed to think otherwise. Centuries ago, when devotion to the Holy Rosary had begun to decrease, a terrible plague was sent throughout Europe as a chastisement. The Blessed Mother and Our Lord appeared to Blessed Alan de la Roche and instructed him to promote the Rosary through his preaching. By his efforts, this devotion was restored. In our own day the Holy Rosary is often ignored or suppressed. We should be on fire for the defense of Our Lord and His Mother and use the Holy Rosary as a prayer of penance to make up for the sins of mankind.
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Feast of the Seven Sorrows 2015
The Epistle for this Mass makes reference to Judith of the Old Testament who was a type of the Blessed Virgin. The seven swords depicted in the Immaculate Heart represent seven key moments of suffering in the life of our Holy Mother, however, her life was filled with many sorrows. We have been given a privilege to live in times of great trials in the Church in which we may suffer for Our Lord. Everything that Christ merited on the Cross He willed to share with His associate, His Virgin Mother. Few remember that the basis of this feast is found in the Immaculate Conception, which prepared the Blessed Mother to be a pure victim. Her suffering was made far greater because of her sensitivity of soul and her deep hatred of sin. She has her Immaculate Heart in Heaven to this day so she might compassionate us in the sorrows of our life.
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Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2015
We are in a battle between those who fight for the Holy Cross and those who oppose it. This day commemorates historical events which are tied to the Cross of Christ, including the conquest of Emperor Constantine, the discovery of the Cross by St. Helena, and its rescue by Emperor Heraclius from the infidel Persians. In the ancient world, the cross was a sign of shame and torture, but at the end of time it will appear in the sky as the sign of salvation to the faithful and conquest of the powers of evil.
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16th Sunday after Pentecost 2015
When we see the moral attacks on society, and especially on the sacrament of Matrimony, it should be a wake-up call for all of us. We should strive to pray better and attend Mass more frequently when we witness how dire is our situation.
This Mass is given to us to counteract pride. Our Lord is drawn to the humble and repulsed by the proud, just as all of us are. God must give us grace to move us to perform a good action, He must give us grace to sustain us in doing what is right, and a grace to bring the good work to completion. This is how utterly dependent we are on His continuous help.
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15th Sunday after Pentecost 2015
When Our Lord raised the son of the widow of Naim to life, the miracle was instantaneous, with the child restored as if he were simply waking from sleep. As Christians we know that all suffering is sent for a reason, and sometimes the greatest joys come from times of sorrow.
The Epistle for this Mass speaks about fraternal correction, a teaching so often misunderstood by Catholics. Remember Our Lord describes himself as meek and humble of heart. The virtue of meekness is related to clemency, which gives us the ability to forgive easily insults. A man who is humble recognizes what he is of himself. This is what made the saints lowly as the dust. Pride is the most deceptive of all vices, even disguising itself as humility. We should be well instructed about this vice so we may recognize it better and more effectively uproot it from our souls.
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14th Sunday after Pentecost 2015
St. Raymond Nonnatus is celebrated this week by the Church, and presented to us as an example of generosity and love of neighbor that we are all called to imitate. If God created you, how much easier is it for Him to provide your material needs. Our Father in Heaven is truly our Father, more than even our biological father, because He has given us a share in his life. Our sanctification should be the number one priority in our lives. We are aided in avoiding sin and striving for virtue when we recall the remorse of the damned. The lost souls have great remorse for three reasons: for the shortness of their sin, how easily they could have changed their lives, and their knowledge of the happiness of the saints. We must spend our life preparing for our death.
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13th Sunday after Pentecost 2015
The Old Law was given to the Hebrews to protect them from the evil practices of the pagan world. We can follow their example today by remaining on guard against worldly influences and striving to be examples for those outside the Church. The Gospel informs us of the importance of gratitude. We should daily thank God, from the bottom of our hearts, for the gifts we are continually given. The Holy Mass is not only an act of worship, but the most perfect thanksgiving offered to God.
The Octave Day of the Assumption is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lord desires that we honor His Mother’s heart, which endured so much anguish for our sakes. We must all surrender to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God.
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