Category Archives: Latin Mass

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

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]

17th Sunday after Pentecost

Beloved in the Lord,

St. Teresa of Avila always carried a statue of the child Jesus with her when she traveled. Her devotion to the Child Jesus began, when one day, as she was coming down the steps of her convent, she saw a beautiful young boy. The Child spoke to her and said: ‘Who are you?’ She said: ‘I am Teresa of Jesus, who are you?’ He answered: ‘I am Jesus of Teresa!’ and then he disappeared. But she would see him many more times.

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Friends in Christ, Our Lord has appeared to many saints over the years in the form of a child: St. Rose, St. Anthony, St. Gemma, St. Teresa, and others.

There are many ways that we personally relate to Our Lord: in his Passion, in his strength, or in his glory; but we can also relate to Christ as a child, and this can help us in an important way, because we ourselves are children of God.

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Christ has taught us to call God ‘Our Father,’ and in numerous cases he has urged us to be like little children.

In the gospel today, Our Lord asks a question about the Savior: ‘Whose son is he?,’ he asks. And they are confused. Christ gives them that mysterious answer quoting Psalm 110:  He says, ‘If David then called Him Lord, how is He his son?

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Christ is the Son of God and the son of Man. And this mystery is hinted at in that psalm. But this only scratches the surface, because this Son of God has come to earth, so that we could become sons of God as well by adoption.

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Back in the 2^nd century, Irenaus said: ‘The Son of God became the Son of man, in order that Man might become sons of God.’ 

Central to our Christian vocation, is our new status as children of God.

In theology it is called ‘Divine Filiation.’ ‘Filial’ meaning son (or daughter). According to John Paul II, divine filiation is the deepest mystery of the Christian vocation and ‘the culminating point of our Christian life.’

St. Paul tells us today: ‘Walk worthy of the vocation in which you have been called.’

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Jesus as Son of God, became Man so that we might also become adopted sons of God. St. Irenaus said this back in the 2^nd century: He says, ‘There are those who do not accept the gift of adoption,’ and they scorn the Incarnation of the Word. Then he says: ‘The Son of God became the Son of man, in order that Man might become sons of God.’ So this is how we can rightly say that being children of God is our central vocation. It’s how the Lord wants us to be.

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Jesus demonstrated this for us. Although Christ sometimes spoke with sternness, or warned about the judgment or of the fire of hell, in the end, the mothers were won over to him, and the children trusted him. Pharisees stood at a distance, but the children came close to him, and parents knew that with Jesus, their children were safe.

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Fr. Goodier says, all of this was because the heart of Christ had something of a child in it. And this must have been felt by those who were attracted to him; by the simple love he showed his Mother, by the trust he placed in others, his delight in the birds of the air and the flowers of the field; this Son of God watched the laborers in the field and the shepherd with his sheep; and we saw the ease with which he told charming stories about royal banquets and sheep gone astray – only a Man with the imagination of a child could speak in such a way.

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Christ demonstrates for us the child-heart that each of us should have. Our child-heart should have a simple love, not complicated; trusting others, trusting God, and delighting in the world. Children are not worried if they make mistakes. A child-heart knows that holiness doesn’t mean never making mistakes, it means to keep trying. It is not a matter of compiling a spotless record, but of beginning again, and trying to do God’s will. Once forgiven, a child simply tries again.

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Sincerity: here is another virtue called for, by divine sonship. Children make very poor liars and deceivers, you can see right through them, why? Because they do not have the practice of deceiving, of conniving, or scheming. A child-heart is sincere and honest. Trusting, not suspicious.

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‘He came unto his own and his own received him not; but to as many as received him, he gave the power of becoming sons of God.’ – That’s what St. John says: ‘He gave us the power of becoming sons of God.’ If we receive him, live for him, we will have a child-like trust. This abandonment to the will of God should always be part of our interior life; this humble recognition of our littleness.

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Faced with a very difficult task, the child has confidence that with his Father, he can do it. Father Fernandez says that by abandoning ourself into God’s hands, we become confident and are never prey to anxiety.

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When St. Thomas More was facing his execution, he wrote to his daughter: ‘Keep your spirits high, my daughter. Nothing can happen to me that God doesn’t want, and all that he wants is really for the best.’

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Trusting God without any conditions brings an unbreakable peace. St. Augustine said, ‘I am only a small child; but my Father lives forever and is my greatest protector.’  Our Father is one who has created galaxies and makes planets for goodness sakes; he is All Powerful. We can trust him.

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Spiritual childhood does not lead to immaturity or childishness. Some people spend their whole life a slave to their fluctuating desires and emotions, acting only for their self-interest. We’ve seen these people – self-centered and pathetic. St. Josemaria said, each of us has a choice: to be children of God or slaves to pride. The child of God is concerned not with his own self-interest, but with pleasing his Father in heaven, living as Jesus would live.

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To refer to the Christian as a child of God is not a mere figure of speech. It is true in the strictest sense, because we are sharing in his divine nature.

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There is a great scene in the Holy Gospels, in which Christ is speaking about the end of the world, and judgment; he is teaching the elders and his disciples; and in the midst of this serious teaching of the adults, children start flocking around him, climbing on him – his apostles try to stop this, but Jesus says: ‘Let the children come to me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God as a little child will not enter it.’

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At the 2^nd Coming of Christ, at the end of the world, it will be the children of the Kingdom who will approach him with confidence. ‘Let the children come to me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’

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Let us ask Mary to pray for us; Mary help us to live as true children of God, and be worthy to approach him on the Last Day.

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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Paul]

16th Sunday after Pentecost

Beloved in the Lord,

back in the 2^nd century, there lived a beautiful young girl named Cecilia. In those days, most people were pagans, accepting the false gods of the Empire. But Cecilia was a Catholic, and not only that, she had secretly consecrated her virginity to Christ, desiring to live only for him.

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But through the course of events, she was arrested, and ordered to give up her Catholic Faith. She refused, and was given the sentence of death. Seeing this beautiful girl’s courage, over 400 persons that day, decided to become Catholic.

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So the authorities went to Cecilia’s home, and there they locked her inside of a steam room, and turned up the heat to suffocate her; but she called out to them saying, ‘it’s cool in here!’ They therefore decreed that she would be beheaded.

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So there, in her own home, an executioner three times tried to decapitate her with his sword, but he could not get her head cut all the way off. Cecilia lived for three more days, all the time urging those around her to be faithful to Christ; at the end of three days she fell asleep in the Lord, and the Pope made her house into a Church, which it is to this very day.

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Friends in Christ, The martyrs endured many challenges, yet they remained faithful to the Catholic Faith, faithful to Jesus. In this they possessed great courage.

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Courage is a virtue that everyone of us should seek; we need courage not only if we are one day called to be a martyr, but if we really think about it, we need courage almost every day, because things come up which make us fearful, or nervous, but we need to overcome our fears, with courage.

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There can only be courage where there is fear. Some people say: ‘Oh, he’s very brave, he’s never afraid.’ But if someone is courageous, it is because there is something to be afraid of. St. Theresa said: ‘If we are never afraid, how could we ever show courage?!’

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Many things can cause us fear: we can be afraid of pain, of getting hurt, or from a medical procedure; little children can be afraid of the dark, or of bad dreams, of dogs, or thunderstorms. Some people fear loneliness or being abandoned.

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Young people might fear auditioning for a play, fear of failure, or fear of tests. Others feel afraid to talk to their parents about a personal problem; young couples can be afraid of commitment, afraid of the unknown. There are many things, even in one day, that can cause us fear. But every fear is a signal to us for courage.

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Fear makes us want to push away from some threat, from something difficult. Courage comes from the hope that we can overcome the threat, or that we can endure it.

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Today in the Epistle, St. Paul says, ‘I pray that you won’t become discouraged, seeing my sufferings; this echoes what Christ has said, when he prayed that his sufferings would not scandalize the apostles; instead he says, each disciple must take up his cross. That means WE must take up our cross; this does take courage, but it is a courage in which he will be helping us.

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For Example: We have a very difficult test in school; we feel fear; but we remember to call on the Lord: ‘Jesus, help me, I know that I am not alone in this test. Holy Spirit, enlighten me to do my best, and then what will be will be.’ Then with our courage alive, we begin – one question at a time, not worrying about the outcome, just doing our best. It’s not that the fear is gone, but we haven’t allowed it to overwhelm us; this is courage: going against our fears.

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Roberta Vinci beat Serna Williams in the U.S. Tennis Open; she was a 300:1 odds to lose! She had no chance. They asked her how she felt during the match: ‘As I got closer to the end, she said, I felt enormous pressure, but I just focused on what I had to do, I said, ‘just put the ball on the court and keep going.’

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Our courage only comes alive, when we feel the pressure. But this is how we can accomplish great things, even if the odds are 300:1 against us.

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I need to get a job; a friend tells me they might be hiring at a certain company. I drive there, but I’m nervous about going in. What if I don’t get the job? I might feel like a failure if it doesn’t work out. What if I don’t know what to say? So we pray: ‘Lord, help me in what I will do.’ And then we put our feelings aside, we go against our fears, and go in. And we don’t worry about the result. This is to act with courage.

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St. Paul says, ‘I can do all things in he who strengthens me.’ In other words, if we do things with the Lord, asking him to be with us, we will have the courage we need.

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‘But I am often kind of a coward, I don’t have the courage to do things that I should. How do I get courage.’ Well, two things to remember: First, as we have said, we have to pray for it, asking the Lord to give us the strength to do this thing. His grace is important. And the second is: courage is a virtue that grows with practice.

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Do we think St. Cecilia only acted with courage for the first time, when she was a martyr? No way! During her time growing up, she certainly practiced doing what was kind of difficult, going against her fears in smaller things. In this way, she developed a habit, an instinct for courage. For this reason we should ‘step-up’ to challenging things even though we have some fear. Then little by little, it gets easier!

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Some people are very afraid of being embarrassed or of saying the wrong thing. I had a friend in college who was afraid of public speaking in front of big groups of people, but his career would require it. So, going against his fears, he spoke to small groups at first, then bigger groups. By going against his fears, he got used to it, and now is comfortable speaking, but it took acts of courage.

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If the risk for us is pain, or embarrassment, or failure – so be it. We recall the Lord’s promise: ‘Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ Josh 1:9 If it is the right thing to do, then we summon up the courage, and just do it – come what may.

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A woman with great courage was Mary. She agreed to be the Mother of the Savior, having no idea what lay ahead; she just said ‘yes’.

Mary, pray for us, that even in our fears, we will have the courage to do what is best, and act always for the glory of God.

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[Entrusted to the prayers of Venerable Antonietta Meo]

 Friends in Christ, in the year 180 BC, the Greeks heard that a lot of money was stored at the Temple in Jerusalem, and so in their greed, they sent a man named Heliodorus to steal the money that was kept there.

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Upon his arrival, Heliodorus was told by the priest that the money in the temple was a care-fund for the needy; nevertheless, Heliodorus said that the next day he and his soldiers would go into the Holy Temple to take the money. The high priest was sickened by this, and so all the people and the priests began to pray.

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The next day, Heliodorus marched with his men into the Holy Temple, but as he was approaching the treasury, there suddenly appeared a dazzling horse, ridden by a fearsome rider, whose armor and weapons were of gold, and two other young men at his side. The horse rushed Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs. The two men scourged him until he fell wounded to the ground. His soldiers put him on a stretcher and took the nearly-dead man out. He only was able to recover from his terror because the priest prayed for him. But he vowed to never take their money again.

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Friends in Christ, greed and the thirst for money has led people to theft, robbery, and to even gamble away their lives. Today then, we wish to discuss for our lesson, the 7^th commandment.

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The 7^th commandment is, ‘Thou shall not steal.’ Today in the Gospel, Our Lord says, No man can serve two masters; if he loves one he will hate the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.

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The love of mammon – this greed, this thirst to be satisfied with things – can easily lead people to want what is another’s, and this can mean theft. Stealing is the unjust taking of what belongs to another; and so it goes directly against love of neighbor.

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When I was young, in our town, no one ever locked their doors, even at night. Life was very peaceful. Then I remember one day, when our mother told us, that someone had gone into Mrs. Frank’s house, and taken her purse. She was very sad. We were in shock, that someone would take something from someone who was so nice. Then we had to begin locking our doors. Everything was different.

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Stealing wounds our neighbor, and it is against the law of God. Think of how you feel if you come home, and someone has been in your house, and taken things. It feels very bad. Jesus says, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ And so it is forbidden to ever steal something.

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In the days of St. Francis of Assisi, birds sometimes would gather to hear him teach; one day, during the planting of the corn, a Raven swooped down to pick up a planted seed, and flew to a nearby tree. But Francis scolded him, ‘Raven, did I not teach you not to steal?!’ And in a moment, the Raven replaced the seed in the farmers field!

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If a bird will even listen to the commandments, then we certainly must. People think that they are being sneaky when they steal from a store, or put a lower price tag on a dress; but God sees it all. God sees that we are being bad. Let us rather follow St. Paul’s advice: ‘Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work, so that he may have something to share with those in need.’

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The 7^th Commandment is for the good of everyone, young and old. Children must never take money from their siblings or their mother’s purse, and adults must not falsify expense accounts, pirate software, or cheat on taxes.

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If Joe is walking along and sees a wallet on the ground, what should he do? He could see if anyone nearby may have dropped it. He can look inside to find the person’s ID, and call them. I know a boy who did that, and he got a nice reward!! If we find some money, we have to make the best effort to discover whose it is, and return it. If after our best effort nothing can be done, then may we keep it.

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Stealing is a mortal sin if it involves something that is of significant value, or if it’s theft hurts the person a great deal. If Thomas steals $50 from Andrew, that would be a mortal sin, because it’s a big amount of money. If he steals gum from his brother, it’s venial sin; but if he steals a writing pen from his neighbor, and it is a cherished pen from his grandfather, it is serious, because the pen has important sentimental value.

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Now theft requires us to try to make up for what was done, returning what was stolen if we can. Sometimes that is not possible, but we may never keep what we stole, we can give to charity.

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Scripture says that those who steal and do not repent, will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So it is important to repent, and go to Confession. Bribery, vandalism, and excessive gambling are all sins against the 7^th commandment. Sure, a little gambling is ok; it can make a game more exciting; but it becomes a sin if we waste money that is needed for our family, or if we violate the law, or waste a lot of time on it, or especially, if we become addicted. Gambling addiction has ruined many families.

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As Christ has said, stealing money or things, always has it’s origin with bad desires in the heart. A person feels that he is lacking something, and must take it from his neighbor – instead we must teach ourselves to be satisfied with what we have, and to respect the possessions of others.

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Regarding use of money, it is good to teach children to manage their money. If a child has an allowance of a dollar, show them that they must set aside 40 cents for savings, 10 cents to give to the church or the poor, and the rest they can spend. Kids who learn how to save their money for something are learning how to obtain something in an honest way, and so are not prone to crave other people’s things. Instead of wanting what others have, we should thank God for what we DO have.

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Jesus says, do not be anxious for your life, or worried about what you don’t have. Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap, yet their heavenly Father feeds them. Be not worried about other things, for your Father in heaven knows what you need.

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I told our school children that when I was young we never had to lock our doors, no one stole things. A little boy asked: ‘How can we get it to be like that again?’ I said, we have to start following Jesus, then it will be like that again.

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O Lord, help us – Mary, pray for us. That by our own uprightness and honesty, the world will become more like the Kingdom of God.

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Entrusted to the prayers of Venerable Mother Maria Kaupas

Beloved in the Lord, in today’s Epistle to the Galatians, it speaks over and over about the ‘Promise.’ This Promise, which was foretold to Abraham and the prophets of old. This ‘Promise,’ is Jesus Christ. Christ has fulfilled the promise of old because he has come to save his Church.

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St. Paul will say in Ephesians 5, that the relationship of Christ to his Church is displayed in the relationship of husband to wife. They make promises to each other. ‘I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.’

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This promise then, is suppose to reflect the great Promise of Our Lord: that his love will never cease; we may be unfaithful to him, but he will never be unfaithful to us. And so that same St. Paul calls marriage a ‘great mystery,’ because it is a sign of Christ’s love for his Church.

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There is a lot of talk about the upcoming Synod on the family, and the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. And so I thought we could speak a bit today, about marriage and the family.

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Marriage has been called a ‘social sacrament,’ because this sacrament is not just for the couple, but for the whole community. 

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I am so happy that in our parish we have a number of new families who are just glowing, full of joy at their new children that are coming along one after the other. It is a real blessing for us all.

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It is true that some couples find that they are not able to have any biological children, but we often see that God is making their marriage fruitful in other ways; some of our best aunts or uncles, to whom we are very close, could not have children of their own.

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Family is the foundation of society. If family is happy, stable, and a place where children learn good habits, society will thrive. The Christian home should be a place of peace, happiness, and real affection. Yes, trouble and friction can arise, but if Jesus is the center of our home, every difficulty can be overcome.

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I know that after children are grown and out of the house, husbands and wives sometimes struggle with their relationship. Why is this? It is because we are at our best when we are thinking of others; children in the house force us to think of others – after all, little ones have many needs!

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But whether our children are little or are grown, they are helped most by their parents, if their parents love each other. ‘Love’ does not just mean feeling good, when everything is fine. Love is really revealed during the little trials that happen. A woman sighs in love over her handsome, witty husband; but when he is unhappy or angry because of something – or when he is sick and grumpy – or smelly! – she cares for him in patience. That is true love.

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If the promise of marriage is to reflect the Promise of Christ, marital love and intimacy should be kept pure, without any lust. Some people take delight in sinning together, but this ruins their friendship; they start to see each other as accomplices, and this situation is hard to heal. The love that flourishes is a wholesome love.

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Holy Scripture says: ‘Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy; it is not proud. It is not arrogant and does not insist on it’s own way. Love is not resentful and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil.

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So spouses should lead each other on the path of goodness, because sometimes one or the other is weak. In this way, marriage will be a blessing, not a curse.

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Of course there are always some quarrels. St. Josemaria says never argue in front of your children; children notice everything, it makes them form judgments. They think: ‘Mommy is bad or Daddy is bad.’ Don’t make them suffer. ‘Be patient, he says, and later you can argue, once the child is asleep, but just a little, because you might not be in the right!

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A man must never view his wife as 2^nd class, holy scripture says that he must be ready to sacrifice himself for her, like Jesus did for us. And the woman must never hen-peck or be overbearing; St. Paul says ‘wives, be subordinate to your husbands.’ It is poison to a marriage for the woman to be controlling, or for the man to be tyrannical.

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Parents don’t bring their children into the world in the way animals do. Parents know that their children have souls and that the most important thing is that they be Christian children, who love God and will one day reach heaven. This work of guiding a child to be Godly, is assisted by brothers and sisters, aunts or uncles, grandparents, and others. But it is parents’ responsibility to teach their children to pray and to help them learn their catechism. This does not mean only sending them to Catechism class, it means sitting down with them: ‘Let’s see your book. What have you learned today? ‘Who is this? ‘It’s Jesus.’ Tell me what he did for us. ‘Do you know the commandments? Are they written here?

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But we should also speak on difficult subjects with our teens. They should learn from us about the origin of life, about the beautiful meaning of sexuality and it’s place only within marriage. Young people can feel anxiety as they go through changes in their bodies, parents should speak and listen to their children. Do not let the public schools form our children with indecent or false ideas.

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Yes, children sometimes become rebellious. But we should really take time to listen to them. Sometimes they are at least partly right. They can even get caught up with influences from school or the university, and seem to lose their faith. I know a mother who is sad because her son does not go to Church anymore. But I told her, be patient and pray for him. God will bring him back in time.

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About this, I quote again St. Josemaria : ‘Speak calmly and sincerely with your child, heart to heart. Not with all of them together, but one by one. You know each of them well, so each must be treated in a different way. Talk and be friends with them; they will understand you very well because the same faith that you have, still beats in their hearts; perhaps on top they are carrying a heap of filth that has been thrown on them by someone. Let them go to confession and you’ll see how well things go.’

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We must keep our families pure and good; we pray for our spouse and our children, entrusting them to the Blessed Virgin. Mary, pray for our families, that regardless of the turmoil of the world, our homes will always be safe places of faith and joy.

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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Augustine]

6th Sunday after Pentecost

Beloved in Christ, in the Book of Genesis, we read of how the descendants of Noah multiplied and became very wicked. Their sins darkened their heart, and so they fell into idolatry. They built this Tower of Babel: They said, ‘Come, let us build a tower, that the top of it would reach up even to heaven.’ In their arrogance and pride, they believed they could build a tower to heaven, to challenge God.

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Friends in Christ, the world shakes it’s fist at God. The world makes it’s laws, thinking that man’s laws can supersede God’s laws.  The world is in rebellion against God. Open rebellion.

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I’ve heard a lot from people of faith lately: ‘Father, I’m angry at the Supreme Court,’ ‘I’m upset about how the world is going and what is being taught to my kids.’

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We all know that our nation has plenty of failings, but what is perhaps most painful, is to think that we are now a nation that stands for sin, legalizing evil in complete contradiction to Christian religion. I’d like to speak today about the response that we might have to all of this insanity.

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One response might be that we must work to elect different public officials who will defend marriage and innocent life and decency – and who will put God-fearing decent people on the Supreme Court. And we certainly should be part of such an effort.

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But this would not be the highest sort of response for us. What is needed most, that we can and must do is: we must make Reparation.

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We don’t speak much these days about Reparation.[i] To ‘Repair,’ is to restore something to good condition again. When a house is falling apart, it has to be repaired. In the moral realm, the repair of a sin or evil is done by Reparation, meaning an oblation of one’s self. Moral order is restored by some penalty being inflicted on the wrong-doer or else it is self-imposed.

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When Tommy, in anger throws a rock at Mr. Smith’s window, the boy must pay to replace it. Reparation. But if he can’t pay, his older brother may step in and say ‘I’ll pay it for him.’ Or it could be that Tommy is unrepentant and refuses to pay; in which case, to repair the damage, his older brother still might pay it for him, to repair the damage.

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This is the case with our world. Those who are stomping on the moral law and shaking their fist at God are not repentant. Evil is being done. But the moral order is being badly disrupted. Someone has to do reparation.

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Now our Protestant friends may not understand this; they may say, ‘Jesus paid the price for all sins.’

Jesus Christ has come to this earth for one purpose: To make Reparation. To repair what has been ruined through sin, and restore our relationship to God. From the moment he was shivering in that stable, ridiculed in his life, crucified, and still mocked and wounded every day of human history – Christ has been expiating the sins against God, manifested continually in the Mass.

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The Catholic Church teaches that the person of Christ who walked the earth and is now in heaven, does not constitute the whole Christ. The whole Christ consists of himself plus ourselves, his mystical body. And so he wishes to make each of us another Christ, and that means that we must do what he does; we must participate in the expiation of sins, and in the redemption of the world.

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At the offertory of Mass, a drop of water is placed in the chalice with the wine. If the wine represents Christ, then the drop of water is us. The wine alone would be adequate for the consecration, but the Church insists that the drop of water be placed there also. In the end, the water, mixed with wine, becomes Divine Blood. So our offerings – ourselves – we become one with Christ’s offering.

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St. Paul offered his sufferings; he says to us: ‘I rejoice in what I am suffering, I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ.’ What could be lacking in Christ’s sufferings? Our part. Ourselves.

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Jesus Christ expects his followers to take up the cross, and participate in his work of Redemption; for this reason, when St. John Vianney saw all the sins of his parish, he immediately began Reparation: fasting, eating only boiled potatoes, sleeping on the floor, scourging himself.

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St. Rose of Lima was determined to offer her life in reparation for sin and the corruption of her society. So, she inflicted penances on herself; while yet a child, she fasted 3 days a week on bread and water. She ate bitter herbs and during Lent she existed on five lemon seeds a day. Ready to offer any pain, one time when her mother put a beautiful garland of flowers on her head, she unknowingly stuck it to Rose’s head with a pin so deep, that there was great trouble that night prying it out of Rose’s head. She said nothing.

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Friends, we must become true Christians who offer ourselves in sacrifice to God – in reparation for the sins of our world. Jesus wants us to become great, like him. And so we must become a victim. ‘I beseech you brethren,’ says St. Paul, ‘that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing unto God.’ (Rom 12:1) He says that our ‘old man’ must be crucified with Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed.

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How can we Christians who know all this – how can we waltz through life on easy street while the world destroys itself morally? We have to make reparation, it’s our vocation.

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What are the sacrifices that we are to offer? The best way, is the ‘little way;’ St. Teresa tells us. We can make reparation in a hundred little ways, for our sins and those of the world. Choose a food that is not our first choice; don’t turn on the air, take water instead of soda, or giving up the nap. Little things.

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St. Josemaria says that spiritual sacrifices are even better: ‘the mean word that you left unsaid, the bad joke you didn’t tell; the cheerful smile for those who bother you, silence when unjustly accused; your kind conversation with those who are boring.’ (The Way, #173)

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‘But a life of sacrifice takes all the fun out of life,’ you say. Not at all. Haven’t we noticed that those who live a life of indulgence are often empty and discontent? Far from ‘taking the fun out of life,’ sacrifices give us joy. It is true. Because in so doing, we are helping Jesus repair the wrongs of this world.

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When Mary appeared at Fatima, she asked: ‘Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear the sufferings He sends, as reparation for sinners?’

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Let us answer Mary’s challenge. Let us be other Christ’s, and answer the evil of the world with reparation;

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[Entrusted to the prayers of Blessed Bartolo Longo]

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[i] See article ‘Reparation is Fundamental Obligation of Christianity, Raoul Plus, 1921.