All Saints Day
Beloved in Jesus Christ, at every Mass, there comes the point after the Lord’s Prayer, when the priest breaks the large Host into 3 pieces, one of which is placed into the chalice. What is the meaning of these 3 parts of the Sacred Host?
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According[i] to Thomas Aquinas, Pope Sergius, and others, since the Host is the Body of Christ, one of the pieces represents the Church on earth, another, represents the Church in Purgatory, and the 3rd part, placed into the Chalice represents the glorious Church in heaven. The entire Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, is composed of the Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant.
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We on earth continue the battle in the spiritual life, with many enemies, seen and unseen; we are in the spiritual combat for souls, for our soul, for heaven: and this is the Church Militant. Those who are in Purgatory, expiating their sins, being purified for heaven, this is the Church Suffering, those who are helped by our prayers, and who help us.
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Today’s great Feast has us look to the Church Triumphant. Today is All Saints Day. The saints have won the victory and now rejoice in heaven. In the Book of Revelation today, St. John gives us this vision of the glory of heaven: ‘And I saw a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, and peoples, standing before the throne in the sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands – [the palm was a sign of victory] ‘with palms in their hands they cried with a loud voice, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Blessing, and glory, and thanksgiving, honor, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever.’
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The saints are rejoicing in heaven, praising God, and interceding for us as well. They have won the victory, and these great saints are an example for us. If we are tempted to fear, in the fight for our souls, we should look to these heroic models who fought hard to be virtuous in this life, and to find glory in the next.
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St. Antony of Egypt says,[ii] ‘those who compete in the Olympics are not crowned after achieving victory over their first opponent, or their second, or third, but only after they have defeated every one of their competitors. In the same way, he says, all who wish to be crowned by God must train their souls to be disciplined, and conquer all their temptations: greed, lust, envy, anger, vanity, and all the rest.
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If we feel discouraged over our battle with our failings, God has given us many great examples to help us. There are saints who died to protect their purity, such as St. Maria Goretti or St. Agatha, and there are saints who repented, and overcame their impurity. There are saints who had brilliant minds and used them to preach the gospel; and there are saints who could not even read.
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St. Alphonsus says that in heaven we will find two groups of saints praising God: the innocent ones, and the penitents; the Saint Teresa’s and St. Barbara’s – the innocent ones; and the St. Augustine’s and the St. Camillus’s, who repented. We have all the models we need, to give us hope in this warfare, this fight for holiness.
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There was once a man named Ignatius who wanted to be great in the world; he was a soldier, and dreamed of fame and honors. But in battle, his leg was shattered by a cannon ball, he spent a long time recovering in the hospital. There, they gave him some books to read about the saints, it’s all they had. While he read those books, he thought: ‘Why could I not do what St Francis did, or St Dominic? ‘The saints did these things, then I will too.’ And he did. And he was St. Ignatius of Loyola.
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Today therefore, is a day to look to our friends the saints for inspiration, who had to follow Christ each day, resisting temptation, praying, beginning again, the same as us.
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Tomorrow is All Souls Day. We pray for those in Purgatory, that they be purified of their sins and reach heaven. We can obtain a plenary Indulgence tomorrow for someone in Purgatory; we do this by visiting a Church and praying the Our Father and the Apostles Creed. And pray for the Pope. Confession within 20 days, and receive Holy Communion.
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We can also obtain a Plenary indulgence for a Holy Soul from today, November 1st, to November 8th, by visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead.
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During many days of the Liturgical year, we remember one of the saints at Mass, almost every day; the saint’s feast day usually coincides with their death, because what matters for us, is not if we have fallen or committed sins, as long as we have repented and turned our life back to Jesus Christ. What matters, is who and what we are at our death. Are we a friend of God at the end. So the saint’s feast days are usually the day of their death.
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The Blessed Virgin however, has a feast day on her birthday; this is because Mary was born a saint, she was born ‘full of grace.’ The grace of the Blessed Virgin exceeds not only each saint, but all the angels and saints put together. And so as we show our devotion to the saints today, above all, we give our heart to Mary, Queen of the saints.
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May the Lord help us to become saints, one day at a time, until our last breath on earth.
To the most Holy and undivided Trinity, to the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified; to the spotless maternity of the most Blessed and glorious ever-virgin Mary, and to the whole assembly of Saints, be everlasting praise, honor, power, and glory, from every creature, and to us forgiveness of all our sins. Forever and ever.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John Vianney]
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[i] Summa Theologica, III, Q. 83 a5
[ii] Philokalia, p. 340
Friends in the Lord, in the first reading today, St. Paul, speaking about the next life says, that the sufferings of the present time are nothing, compared to the glory that will be revealed to us; then he says: For creation awaits with eager expectation – he says that creation itself, will be set free from corruption, and that creation is groaning in labor pains.
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The next life, the world to come, involves not just God and angels and mankind, but it also includes all of creation. The Catechism teaches this, in #1042, it says: The universe itself will be renewed: The Church . . . will receive her perfection in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man will be perfectly re-established in Christ. Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal the “new heavens and a new earth.’
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Therefore, not only will we be resurrected in our full body and soul alive, but the cosmos itself will be renewed, making a Paradise for us with God. As the Catechism says in 1047, the visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, “so that the world itself, restored to its original state, should be at the service of the just, sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.’ This is why St. Paul says that creation itself is groaning in eager expectation.
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A new student to our school, who previously had little religious instruction, showed visible enthusiasm on his face, when he heard about the beautiful world that awaits us in heaven. We ourselves should renew our anticipation and hope in the world to come.
Friends in the Lord, today we encounter this scene in the gospel where is this woman, totally bent over for 18 years.
There are serious cases of people who are quite bent over, who get older and their spine is curved from arthritis; but if we look at this scene in a spiritual way, we can see that this woman who is looking down at the ground all the time, not able to straighten up and see the world, or take in a panorama of life – that is what sin does to us. Sin takes away our ability to see everything in it’s wonder; we are stuck with our eyes on the earth instead of up toward heaven. We are in pain also – sin makes us unhappy, takes away our hope, and ruins the joys of life.
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But Jesus Christ cures this woman with a touch! Just like that. Our Lord wants the same for us in our spiritual life; he wants to cure our souls of the poison of sin, and he can do it just as simply as with this woman, for us, by means of Confession.
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Christ’s priest – his ambassador sent in his stead, by the simple words of absolution heals the person of even the greatest maladies.
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Sometimes young people, who get into something very bad, and for the first time experience the horror of serious sins – when they come to confession and confess – yes, we talk a little, some advice on how to avoid that situation again and such…. but after they hear the words of absolution – forgiveness –
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I must say, in these cases, I have never heard such gratitude to God in my life: ‘Thank you,’ they say. A lot of people say ‘thank you’, but these young people sometimes say ‘THANK YOU!’ a few times. This is because they know what it is to have Jesus forgive them, and, like that woman in the gospel, to feel the weight removed that had bent them over, so they are able to stand up, straight again.
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There is a beautiful prayer from the psalms that we say in the Old Latin Mass, before Communion, I wish it had been kept in the new Mass. It really expresses this feeling: ‘What return shall I make to the Lord for all he has done for me? I shall take up the chalice of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.’ Mass is the only place we can make adequate thanks to God, for all he has done in forgiving us.
Friends in Christ, in the first reading today from the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul says ‘Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all have sinned.
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He is referring here to the doctrine of Original Sin. Adam and Eve were supposed to have been King and Queen of the earth; Adam, the high priest, offering creation to God. Adam was supposed to be the head of the human race.
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The first man and woman possessed sanctifying grace, the life of God in their soul; had Adam and Eve remained faithful to God, their offspring and all of the human race would have inherited this life of grace; we would have been truly happy, and immortal. Original Man was free from suffering, had great knowledge, and perfect integrity of body and soul. But sin entered the world; there was the Fall, and the loss of grace, and because of that, death entered the world, creation was wounded.
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This loss was for everyone. From that day forward, people are born into this life in the natural state: human, yes, but without the Divine Life in them. And death became part of human life.
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Jesus is called the New Adam. He has come to do what Adam should have done: be faithful to God, withstand temptation, be the perfect human being, and the High Priest, offering everything to our Father in heaven.
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Because Christ is the true head of our race, when he conquers sins and death, he does this for everyone. St. Paul says it: ‘just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all. Just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous.’
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So this is a summary of how Christ is the New Adam. This salvific act of Jesus is effective for all, available to all, because Jesus Christ is a Divine Person, and in his Person he encompasses all. It is the source of our gratitude and unending thanksgiving, that Christ has made all this possible for us.
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By baptism, we are restored to this grace: sanctifying grace. And eventually, through holiness in this life and fully in the next, we will be restored to all the supernatural gifts of Paradise.
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‘If by that one man’s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.’
21st Sunday after Pentecost
Beloved in the Lord, St. John Cassian tells[i] of an ancient monk of the desert who decided that he would not eat any food unless God gave it to him in a miraculous way. As he wandered in the desert, starved with hunger, he encountered some savage people who felt sorry for him, and offered him some bread. But he was so stubborn, that he would not accept it, and he later died of starvation.
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In the course of our life, we meet people who are stubborn, bull-headed, and inflexible. Some say that being stubborn is a virtue, a sign of strength. But is this strength? Is it virtuous to be stubborn? If we look in the Holy Scriptures, and the writings of the saints, we will not find stubbornness to be a virtue; the Bible refers to those who are ‘stiff-necked or stubborn, always as a negative. ‘Stubborn as a mule,’ – this is not a compliment!
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But there are some virtues that seem similar. The virtue of fortitude for example, which means the courage to do something good, no matter how much we have to suffer. There is the virtue of perseverance. This means, that when we do something difficult, we keep going, we ‘persevere’ even when others might be against us. It sounds kind of like stubborn. And then there is the virtue of faithfulness. Remaining faithful to God, to our spouse, to the Church, no matter who or what is trying to oppose us or tempt us.
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In the Epistle today, St. Paul says ‘Be strengthened in the Lord and in his power. Put on the armor of God, that you may stand against the deceits of the devil.’ He speaks in military language – take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.’ St. Paul is speaking of the life of virtue, of faithfulness.
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St. Joan of Arc needed to have courage to keep following what the Lord was asking of her. She needed ‘perseverance’ when everyone was against her; and she showed the virtue of faithfulness to God even when they burned her at the stake. She was unmovable, she was faithful through it all. But this was not stubbornness. The strong, virtuous person is striving for what is good, for what God wants. But the stubborn person is not. Acts 7:51 says: ‘You stubborn people, you are always resisting the Holy Spirit.’
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A stubborn person holds tightly to his OWN will, not God’s will. A stubborn person insists on his own preferences, and won’t give in to other ideas or what God might want. Normally, the virtuous person will accept decisions that are not easy for him; he will accept what his boss asks him to do, even if he does not like it; and in many things during the course of a day, he will accede to the other person’s preferences out of humility. A virtuous person will accept many things that go against his own will, because he wants to do God’s will.
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Sometimes, a virtuous person must stand up against popular opinion; if a teen finds that his friends are speaking or acting against the moral law of Christ, he will stand firm in the Truth. He will be immovable, in standing for what is right, even if the whole world is against him. They may call him stubborn, but this is not stubbornness, it is faithfulness, because he is following God.
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A stubborn person get’s his mind fixated on one way of doing things – his own way – and will listen to nothing else. He may insist that the quickest way to Franklin Park is through Bensenville, because that’s all he knows, and that’s that! Reasoning with him or showing him maps will not change his mind. Some people are so bull-headed, that even if all the evidence shows that they are wrong, they will not change their mind. And this is because he has to protect his ego; feeling insecure, he says to himself, ‘If I give in at all, people will walk all over me; it will appear that I am weak, so I must never back down.’ The stubborn person creates a world-view necessary to protect himself, lest he appear weak, and he therefore doesn’t trust anyone.
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Stubborn people are very good at making decisions; they make the decision and act, full steam ahead! They don’t wait around for advice or other ideas, and they don’t consider the possibility that they might be wrong. A bull-headed person can be a strong leader and get things done, although he might go down a wrong path, because he does not ask for advice.
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To the stubborn person, the worst thing that could happen, is to appear weak. St. Thomas Aquinas says[ii] that the stubborn person is too attached to his own opinion and unwilling to give up his own will; the person wants to appear to be great, and not weak, and therefore fears that any weakness might be discovered in him.
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Now some people do not have the courage to be openly aggressive, and so they have learned to get their way by more subtle methods: doing a job begrudgingly, slowing down their work as a statement of protest, excuse-making to avoid what they don’t accept.
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Dr. Allers, in his famous book on Psychology[iii] says (that) serious problems with obstinacy are often due to mistakes in a child’s upbringing. If a child has feelings of worthlessness or inferiority, and is not shown understanding, but is criticized, the reaction can become anti-social behavior: he sets himself against the world and doesn’t trust anyone.
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Obstinate children are generally very unhappy, and will spend their life protecting their self-esteem. If they have a choleric temperament, they will be openly confrontational; if their temperament is melancholic, their stubbornness will be seen by passive methods of defiance. The diaries of such children are full of complaints of loneliness, thoughts of running away, and longings for affection.
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But obstinate children are easily helped. A 12 year old girl who at home was stubborn and obstinate, and who went away to a school run by some Religious Sisters, she changed completely. The first nun to meet with the girl spoke to her with affection and understanding, and that was the end of her obstinacy.
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If our co-worker or family member is stubborn and bull-headed, we might just try telling him that one of his ideas is very good, and showing him some real affection. What the stubborn person does not realize, is that if he would trust a little, and open his heart, people would not hurt him; if he would not be so insistent on his own way people would respect him more, not less.
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Stubbornness is not a natural virtue, nor a Christian virtue; it is not a virtue. But courage, perseverance, and faithfulness, these are virtues. Living them means dying to our own will, and embracing God’s will, especially if it is not what we prefer.
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May the Blessed Virgin intercede for us; Mary, pray for us, that despite our failings, we may become virtuous, and configure ourselves more to Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Thomas Aquinas]
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[i] Philokalia(1), p. 101.
[ii] Summa Theologica, Q. 132 a5, under Vainglory.
[iii] The Psychology of Character, pp. 162-170
29th Week in Ordinary Time
Beloved in the Lord, today in the Gospel we see these two brothers James and John who have gotten it into their heads, that they want to be at places of honor when Jesus arrives in his kingdom. They are obsessed with this: ‘We want you to do for us whatever we ask.” Our Lord says, “What do you wish?” “That in your glory, we may sit, one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said, “You do not know what you are asking. These brothers had latched onto this idea, and they WANTED it.
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Now James and John had a nickname, they were called ‘Sons ofThunder.’ We might say they were brash and bull-headed. ‘Do for us what we ask!,’ they say to Christ.
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In the course of our life, we meet people who are stubborn, bull-headed, and inflexible. Certain people think that being stubborn – sticking immovably to what they want – they think this is a virtue, a sign of strength. But is this strength? Is it virtuous to be stubborn?
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If we look in the Holy Scriptures, and the writings of the saints, we will not find stubbornness to be a virtue; The Bible refers to those who are ‘stiff-necked, stubborn, and hard-hearted, always as a negative. ‘Stubborn as a mule,’ – is not a compliment!
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But there are some virtues that seem similar. The virtue of fortitude for example, which means the courage to do something good, no matter how much we have to suffer. There is the virtue of perseverance. This means, that when we do something difficult, we keep going, we ‘persevere’ even when others might be against us. It sounds kind of like stubborn. And then there is the virtue of faithfulness. Remaining faithful to God, to our spouse, to the Church, no matter who or what is trying to oppose us or tempt us.
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St. Joan of Arc needed to have courage to keep following what the Lord was asking of her. She needed ‘perseverance’ when everyone was against her; and she showed the virtue of faithfulness to God even when they burned her at the stake. She was unmovable, she was faithful through it all, and became a great martyr. But this was not stubbornness.
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The strong, virtuous person is striving for what is good, for what God wants. But this is not what a stubborn person is doing. Acts 7:51 says: ‘You stubborn people, you are always resisting the Holy Spirit.’ So a stubborn person holds tightly to his OWN will, not God’s will. A stubborn person insists on his own preferences, and won’t give in to another’s ideas or what God wants.
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Normally, a virtuous person will accept decisions that are not easy for him; he will accept what his boss asks him to do, even if he does not like it; and in many small matters in the course of a day, he will accede to the other person’s preferences out of humility. For a virtuous person – he will accept many things that go against his own will, because he wants to do God’s will.
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Sometimes, a virtuous person must stand up against popular opinion; if a teen finds that his friends are speaking or acting against the moral law of Christ, he will stand firm in the Truth. He will be immovable, in standing for what is right, even if the whole world is against him. They may call him stubborn, but this is not stubbornness, it is faithfulness, because he is following God. But the stubborn person holds onto his own preferences and his own will, even in silly, insignificant things.
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A stubborn person get’s his mind fixated on one way of doing things – his own way – and will listen to nothing else. He may insist that the quickest way to Franklin Park is through Bensenville, because that’s all he knows, and that’s that! Reasoning with him or showing him maps will not change his mind. Some people are so bull-headed, that even if all the evidence shows that they are wrong, they will not change their mind. The stubborn person in-effect, does not live in the real world. He has his own world; it is very simple and very clear, but it must be protected.
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And this is because he has to protect his ego; feeling insecure, he says to himself, ‘If I am not stubborn, if I give in, people will walk all over me; it will appear that I am weak, so I must never back down.’ Such obstinate persons are described as having too much ego, unwilling to be wrong; hot-tempered, self-centered, fearful of the unknown, controlling, or defensive.
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The stubborn person creates an entire world around his ego, in order to protect himself, lest he appear weak. And he therefore doesn’t trust anyone. St. John Cassian tells[i] of an ancient monk of the desert who decided that he would not eat any food unless God gave it to him in a miraculous way. As he wandered in the desert, starved with hunger, he encountered some savage people who felt sorry for him, and offered him some bread. But he was so bull-headed that he would not accept it, and instead died of starvation.
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Stubborn people are very good at making decisions; they make the decision and act, full steam ahead! They don’t wait around for advice or other ideas, and they don’t consider the possibility that they might be wrong. A bull-headed person can be a strong leader and get things done, but he might go down a wrong path, because he is not careful.
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To the stubborn person, the worst thing that could happen to him, is to appear weak. St. Thomas Aquinas says[ii] that the stubborn person is too attached to his own opinion and unwilling to give up his own will; this is due to pride, the person wants to appear to be great, and not weak, and therefore fears that any weakness might be discovered in him.
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Some people do not have the courage to be openly bull-headed, and so they have learned to get their own way by more subtle methods: doing a job begrudgingly, slowing down their work as a statement of protest, excuse-making to avoid what they don’t accept, or manipulating the situation in defiance.
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Dr. Allers, in his famous book on Psychology[iii] says (that) serious problems with obstinacy are often due to mistakes in a child’s upbringing. If a child has feelings of worthlessness or inferiority, and is not shown understanding, but is criticized, the reaction can become anti-social behavior: he sets himself against the world and doesn’t trust anyone.
.
Obstinate children are generally very unhappy, and will spend their life protecting their self-esteem. If they have a choleric temperament, they will be openly bull-headed and confrontational; if their temperament is melancholic, their stubbornness will be seen by passive methods of defiance. Diaries of such children show that they are full of complaints of loneliness, thoughts of running away, and longings for affection.
.
But obstinate children are easily helped. A 12 year old girl who at home was stubborn and obstinate, and who went away to a school run by some Religious Sisters – she changed completely. The first nun to meet with the girl spoke to her with affection and understanding, and that was the end of her obstinacy.
.
If our co-worker or family member is stubborn and bull-headed, we might just try telling him that one of his ideas is very good, and showing him some real affection. What the stubborn person does not realize, is that if he would trust a little, and open his heart, people would not hurt him; if he would not be so insistent on his own way, and even admit sometimes that he is wrong, people would respect him more, not less.
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Stubbornness is not a natural virtue, nor a Christian virtue; it is not a virtue. But courage, perseverance, and faithfulness to God – these are virtues. Living them means dying to our own will, and embracing God’s will, especially if it is not what we prefer.
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May the Blessed Virgin intercede for us; Mary, pray for us, that despite our failings, we may become virtuous, and configure ourselves more to Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Thomas Aquinas]
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[i] Philokalia(1), p. 101.
[ii] Summa Theologica, Q. 132 a5, under Vainglory.
[iii] The Psychology of Character, pp. 162-170
28th Week of Ordinary Time
Beloved in Christ,
A while back, I was asked to go to a Youth Rally in order to hear confessions for the young people there. I wasn’t sure what this would be, but upon arriving, I saw that the school gym was packed, and the speaker was a young man in blue-jeans named Jason. I noticed, that the young people were totally focused on what he was saying.
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In his talk, he described a young woman who grew up in a sad household; her father had left them, life was hard. He said, this attractive young woman was asked out on a date by the captain of the football team. He told her he loved her. She heard words she had never heard. She wanted to be loved. So she got very involved with him, allowing affections to become sins. Her friends told her, as long as you are in a “committed relationship,” that’s what matters. So she gave away a gift that HE had no right to – her purity. It didn’t take long for him to lose interest, because he no longer respected her.
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She then had to find “love” again; she jumped from “committed relationship” to “committed relationship;” from boy, to boy, to boy, seeking to fill an inner sadness. Did those boys want to be her husband? No. or a father of her children? No. or her protector? No.
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The gym that day felt electrically charged: every single young person there knew EXACTLY what Jason was talking about, with a truth not found in People Magazine or Youtube or Vogue. ‘That young woman, he said, found herself in a despair. That is – until she met Jesus. Until she met the mercy of God. She went to confession and confessed it all. She learned what it means to be pure, and chaste, and self-controlled; she learned a new way to be happy. And she learned that it wasn’t too late for her.
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From then on, every weekend, when her ‘friends’ asked her to go out partying, she said ‘no;’ instead she wrote letters to her future husband. Every time she felt sad, she wrote a letter to her future husband. ‘Oh my beloved, I have done many bad things with my body and my life. But now I am saving myself for you. I am living in the Lord, because he loves me, and wants me to be happy. I know that my sexuality is made by God for love, for family, and for children. I am now waiting for you, my beloved.’ Such letters she wrote.
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From those late high school days, and into college, whenever she felt sad, she wrote a letter. Jason said, ‘eventually, she had a large stack of letters to her future husband. ‘And how do I know that,’ he asked? Because she is now my wife. And she gave them to me on our wedding night.
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Friends, our young people are under attack today with perhaps the greatest evil ever unleashed. They are in the midst of a war against goodness, against love, and against life itself. There is a mind-set almost everywhere that we call the ‘culture of death.’ It is a view that says: do whatever you want. This is freedom. Your sexuality is yours, for your fun. Before marriage – fine. Within marriage, no limits; no need for children, just have fun. And if you get pregnant, we can fix that too. We have the Plan B drug. We have abortion. We will kill your baby for you, and everything will be fine. —— No. It won’t be just fine; I have met many wounded people, and they tell me that it was not ‘just fine.’ It is a lie.
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October is Respect Life Month. The bishops ask us to speak about these subjects, we have to speak about what is going on. Last month the Holy Father, on a satellite meeting with youth, broadcast around the country – he told a young woman ‘You are courageous because you brought your daughter into the world. ‘You could have killed her in your womb,’ he said, ‘but you respected life.’ He spoke very clearly on this, but the newspapers did not report what he said. Time magazine even changed his words.
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You may have seen in the news the abortion-giant Planned Parenthood, that runs abortion clinics – they have been caught on secret video selling body parts of little babies, sitting at expensive dinners and laughing, while they negotiated the best price for a little child’s body parts, for money. This is demonic. This whole thing is demonic.
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Jesus has a totally different plan for our lives. He wants us to live a pure life, a wholesome life, and never be connected with this culture of death. In that rally I was at, Jason told those young people, when you give your body to another, you are saying: I give myself – my whole self to you. But this is meant for marriage. Without vows, without a life-long promise, this is not a giving of self, it is using another person, and this wounds countless hearts and lives.
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‘I have come, says the Lord, that you may have life. And have it more abundantly. What happens when sexual love is trivialized, and made into a recreational sport? Ask those kids in that high school gym. They know. Broken hearts. Venereal disease. Depression. Fear. Despair. These are the fruits of this culture of death. The world does not believe our kids can live in chastity and holiness – instead it tells them, here is your freedom: pills and diaphragms, and gels, and abortions and death and suicide. That’s freedom.
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NO! Our bodies are not machines to be manipulated. Our body is intimately connected to our soul, and to God. St. Paul says: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you.” ‘And you have NOT authority over your own body, he says, but rather the husband. Whose the husband he speaks of? It’s Jesus. It is Christ who has authority over our body, our soul – he has authority over our whole selves; Jesus is Lord. We must teach this. We must live this. ‘Jesus, you are Lord of my life, let me live for you!
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Many have not protected their virginity or they have taken someone’s purity from them. You may know someone who felt panicked or trapped and had an abortion or cooperated in it. But Jesus has not given up on them. The Lord says, it is not too late. I love you. I LOVE YOU. ‘Come to me, all you who are burdened, and I will give you rest.
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That day at the gym, I heard many amazing confessions, of young people who had made mistakes, but who decided to choose Jesus and follow the path of joy. And not only them, but hundreds of people every week here in confessions at our parish on Fridays and Saturdays or when they call – many are leaving their sins behind and are choosing to follow Jesus.
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We see in the gospel today this young man who could not leave what he had, in order to follow Christ.
He could not leave it.
And then it says, ‘he went away sad.’
The ways of sin are sadness, God’s way is joy. St. Paul says: God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather of power and love and self-control, so do not be ashamed of your testimony of our Lord.
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Some young people today are giving testimony; they are making bold promises. Promising to be virgins until marriage, or to regain their spiritual virginity until marriage. I’ve seen young men and women wearing purity rings; ‘What is that ring for?’ I ask. ‘It’s a purity ring Father, until I’m married.’ Men and women.
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Some young people are taking a stand, and they are not sad at all, but happy. It takes guts to take a stand. But that is the advantage of being a Christian.
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May the blessed Virgin help us to be great persons; Mary, pray for us to be pure and faithful and courageous, that we will be true followers of Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of Mother Cabrini]
20th Week after Pentecost
Beloved in Christ,
A while back, I was asked to go to a Youth Rally in order to hear confessions for the young people there. I wasn’t sure what this would be, but upon arriving, I saw that the school gym was packed, and the speaker was a young man in blue-jeans named Jason. I noticed, that the young people were totally focused on what he was saying.
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In his talk, he described a young woman who grew up in a sad household; her father had left them, life was hard. He said, this attractive young woman was asked out on a date by the captain of the football team. He told her he loved her. She heard words she had never heard. She wanted to be loved. So she got very involved with him, allowing affections to become sins. Her friends told her, as long as you are in a “committed relationship,” that’s what matters. So she gave away a gift that HE had no right to – her purity. It didn’t take long for him to lose interest, because he no longer respected her.
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She then had to find “love” again; she jumped from “committed relationship” to “committed relationship;” from boy, to boy, to boy, seeking to fill an inner sadness. Did those boys want to be her husband? No. or a father of her children? No. or her protector? No.
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The gym that day felt electrically charged: every single young person there knew EXACTLY what Jason was talking about, with a truth not found in People Magazine or Youtube or Vogue. ‘That young woman, he said, found herself in a despair. That is – until she met Jesus. Until she met the mercy of God. She went to confession and confessed it all. She learned what it means to be pure, and chaste, and self-controlled; she learned a new way to be happy. And she learned that it wasn’t too late for her.
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From then on, every weekend, when her ‘friends’ asked her to go out partying, she said ‘no;’ instead she wrote letters to her future husband. Every time she felt sad, she wrote a letter to her future husband. ‘Oh my beloved, I have done many bad things with my body and my life. But now I am saving myself for you. I am living in the Lord, because he loves me, and wants me to be happy. I know that my sexuality is made by God for love, for family, and for children. I am now waiting for you, my beloved.’ Such letters she wrote.
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From those late high school days, and into college, whenever she felt sad, she wrote a letter. Jason said, ‘eventually, she had a large stack of letters to her future husband. ‘And how do I know that,’ he asked? Because she is now my wife. And she gave them to me on our wedding night.
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Friends, our young people are under attack today with perhaps the greatest evil ever unleashed. They are in the midst of a war against goodness, against love, and against life itself. There is a mind-set almost everywhere that we call the ‘culture of death.’ It is a view that says: do whatever you want. This is freedom. Your sexuality is yours, for your fun. Before marriage – fine. Within marriage, no limits; no need for children, just have fun. And if you get pregnant, we can fix that too. We have the Plan B drug. We have abortion. We will kill your baby for you, and everything will be fine. —— No. It won’t be just fine; I have met many wounded people, and they tell me that it was not ‘just fine.’ It is a lie.
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October is Respect Life Month. The bishops ask us to speak about these subjects, we have to speak about what is going on. Last month the Holy Father, on a satellite meeting with youth, broadcast around the country – he told a young woman ‘You are courageous because you brought your daughter into the world. ‘You could have killed her in your womb,’ he said, ‘but you respected life.’ He spoke very clearly on this, but the newspapers did not report what he said. Time magazine even changed his words.
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You may have seen in the news the abortion-giant Planned Parenthood, that runs abortion clinics – they have been caught on secret video selling body parts of little babies, sitting at expensive dinners and laughing, while they negotiated the best price for a little child’s body parts, for money. This is demonic. This whole thing is demonic.
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Jesus has a totally different plan for our lives. He wants us to live a pure life, a wholesome life, and never be connected with this culture of death. In that rally I was at, Jason told those young people, when you give your body to another, you are saying: I give myself – my whole self to you. But this is meant for marriage. Without vows, without a life-long promise, this is not a giving of self, it is using another person, and this wounds countless hearts and lives.
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‘I have come, says the Lord, that you may have life. And have it more abundantly. What happens when sexual love is trivialized, and made into a recreational sport? Ask those kids in that high school gym. They know. Broken hearts. Venereal disease. Depression. Fear. Despair. These are the fruits of this culture of death. The world does not believe our kids can live in chastity and holiness – instead it tells them, here is your freedom: pills and diaphragms, and gels, and abortions and death and suicide. That’s freedom.
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NO! Our bodies are not machines to be manipulated. Our body is intimately connected to our soul, and to God. St. Paul says: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you.” ‘And you have NOT authority over your own body, he says, but rather the husband. Whose the husband he speaks of? It’s Jesus. It is Christ who has authority over our body, our soul – he has authority over our whole selves; Jesus is Lord. We must teach this. We must live this. ‘Jesus, you are Lord of my life, let me live for you!
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Many have not protected their virginity or they have taken someone’s purity from them. You may know someone who felt panicked or trapped and had an abortion or cooperated in it. But Jesus has not given up on them. The Lord says, it is not too late. I love you. I LOVE YOU. ‘Come to me, all you who are burdened, and I will give you rest.
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That day at the gym, I heard many amazing confessions, of young people who had made mistakes, but who decided to choose Jesus and follow the path of joy. And not only them, but hundreds of people every week here in confessions at our parish on Fridays and Saturdays or when they call – many are leaving their sins behind and are choosing to follow Jesus.
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We see in the gospel today how easily Our Lord can heal; he heals the man’s child with a simple request and with faith. Our Lord does not promise all physical healing, but he ALWAYS will grant us healing of our soul, our heart, our life, regardless of the failings of our past. The ways of sin are sadness, God’s way is joy. St. Paul says: God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather of power and love and self-control, so do not be ashamed of your testimony of our Lord.
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Some young people today are giving testimony; they are making bold promises. Promising to be virgins until marriage, or to regain their spiritual virginity until marriage. I’ve seen young men and women wearing purity rings; ‘What is that ring for?’ I ask. ‘It’s a purity ring Father, until I’m married.’ Men and women.
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Some young people are taking a stand, and they are not sad at all, but happy. It takes guts to take a stand. But that is the advantage of being a Christian.
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May the blessed Virgin help us to be great persons; Mary, pray for us to be pure and faithful and courageous, that we will be true followers of Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of Mother Cabrini]
Friends in Christ, when we are born into this world, and then soon baptized, we walk in the grace of God, our soul is beautiful. But over the passing years we are subject to the wiles of the devil and the pounding temptations of this world. Over time, we can form bad habits, even vices.
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Habits of lying, gossip, theft, of greed; impure thoughts or vices, or habits of judging or of envy. If we really look into our soul, we discover weaknesses and failings that often entrap us. The saints say that inevitably we are punished for our sins; our sins lead us into trouble, or give us an embarrassingly bad reputation or make us sick over ourself; but our falls also humble us. They can make us better. Our temptations and failings are the reins by which God restrains our human arrogance.
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But we do wish to improve, and overcome our vices. St. John of Karpathos says that the devil lurks like a lion; he lays in our path hidden traps and snares in the form of temptations and bad thoughts; but if we use force against the Enemy – if we expend much effort and time in prayer, we can reach a state in which our mind is no longer troubled, and so attain the inward heaven where Jesus dwells. Prayer and effort will do this, will have us conquer.
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In the gospel today Our Lord tells us of the man who is persistent in his asking for help; he says that the man in the house will get out of bed because of this persistent asking. Each time we fall we must get up again and continue after Christ until we reach him. If we are persistent in fighting our bad habits, and ask unceasingly in prayer, we will receive gifts far beyond what we deserve.
Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Friends in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The origin of this feast goes back to 1571, when Europe was in great danger. The Muslim empire of the Turks, had captured many people, and made them slaves, and now their army was on the move again, preparing to attack Europe. These Islamic armies had already captured the island of Cyprus and smashed the religious paintings and churches there. Now, they were loading hundreds of ships with guns and canon, to begin the assault on Italy, and then the rest of Europe. The Pope had tried to warn of this danger, but people had not listened.
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Still, one brave man flew into action. His name was Don Juan. Don Juan convinced people to get boats together to defend their countries.[i] Yet this Catholic army was very small and gave little hope of victory. Nevertheless, the Holy Father called people everywhere to pray – and to pray especially, the Rosary. ‘We will call on Mary, he said. And she will save us. The Holy Father blessed the little Catholic fleet as it set off for battle against overwhelming odds; he gave each man a rosary.
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On Oct 7th as the battle drew near, the Pope spent the entire night in prayer. Priests offered Mass on each Catholic ship; all the men went to confession and received Holy Communion. For 3 hours, 65,000 sailors recited the Rosary. Then they arranged the formation of boats, into the shape of a cross. Don Juan flew a flag on his ship; a blue flag, for Mary, with a picture of Jesus on it. He went to each man with a crucifix, and said: ‘Give your life for Christ.’ Then he hung the crucifix on the front of the ship.
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At 2 o’clock in the morning they saw the massive, Turkish fleet coming. But then, an amazing thing happened: the wind, which had been against them, suddenly shifted. Now it was with them, helping them. Also, many oarsmen in the Turkish ships who were slaves – they stopped rowing. The battle raged. Don Juan’s ship gained speed, and rammed into the flagship of the Turkish commander. Sailors ran onto the ship and battled with swords and arrows for 2 hours.
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Now during this time, the Pope had been praying; abruptly, the Holy Father rose to his feat, and walked to the window; looking into the blue sky he said: we must thank God. For we have won a great victory in this hour. Truly, at that very hour, the green Moslem flag of Allah was pulled down, and the flag of Jesus Christ was raised up. The Turks had lost, and Europe was safe. The Holy Father wept for joy, and in cities all over Europe, church bells rang in thankfulness. In gratitude to our Lady, this would become a permanent Feast: The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
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Mary wants to give us victories in our life, not in the battles at sea, but in the storms of life. Let us then pray the Rosary daily, for our needs, and especially for Holy Mother church in these days.
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[i] He also got the Knights of Malta to help him.
