Labor Day 2025 - Engaging in God's work and rest

 

For over a century, Americans have celebrated Labor Day on the first Monday in September. This national holiday was established in the 1880s for two reasons: to mark the irreplaceable role of the American worker in making this country prosperous and strong; and to have time to attend speeches and events on the spiritual and educational aspects of work, the worker and the good that comes from work.

From the very beginning of our Sacred Scriptures, God the Creator is revealed to be quite different from the gods of the various pagan religions. Unlike the greek gods who lay in luxury on Mt. Olympus, for example, aloof from the toils of man, the God of the Bible is very clearly a worker. He’s more like a farmer, gardener, a sculptor, and builder than an apathetic aristocrat.

God is intimately involved in His creation, getting his hands dirty to bring about his salvific plan. He cultivates land into a garden. He fashions man out of the clay of the earth.

It follows then, that created in God’s, image man and woman, too, are to be workers—filling the earth, subduing it. God personally creates, sustains, cultivates, and redeems the world, and so our work is a continuation of God’s own labors. Whether you are a factory worker, a teacher, a nurse, an engineer, a parent, or retired but still giving your time in service, work is the way we participate in God’s creative action.

Good honest work is also at the service of others: The person who garbage man is making life safer and more pleasant for his neighbors. The parent who prepares a meal is serving the well-being of their family. The student who studies hard is preparing to offer their gifts to society in the future.

But work is not meant to consume us or define us entirely. God Himself rested on the seventh day, teaching us that while work is good, it is must not be all-consuming. Our ultimate dignity does not come from productivity but from being children of God. That’s why Labor Day, like the Sabbath, calls us not only to honor work, but also to remember the importance of reflection and renewal in God.

In the Gospel today, those who use the talents given to them by their master are praised by the Lord, and those who squander them and hide them, are condemned.

Labor Day is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how you have used your talents for the glory of God and for betterment of your family and fellow man, to repent of those times when talent has gone squandered, and also to listen to the voice of inspiration. Even if you are retired from formal work, you do well to consider what new project might God be calling you to, in order to serve the community and the Church.

As we prayed in our Psalm today, may the Lord grant success to the work of our hands, and in all things, in all pursuits, in all our labors help us to serve Him, for the cultivation of the earth, for the building up of His kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians will work together in harmony for the building up of the Church and the spread of the Gospel

That our young people, especially those at risk of disengaging from society, may come to discover the fulfillment found in work and self-sacrifice.

For the unemployed and underemployed, and that all who work may receive a just reward for their labors.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: may they know God’s strength and peace and the assistance of the Christian people.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, those who have supported us by their work, those who fought and died for our freedom, for all of the souls in purgatory and for X, for whom this mass is offered.

Gracious Father, you created us in your divine image, hear our prayers, and grant us the help we need to work always for your Holy Will, through Christ Our Lord. 

 

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024 - The Holy Archangels and the protection of the little ones

 

When we recite the Nicene creed every Sunday, we profess God as the Creator of “all things visible and invisible.” 

The visible part of creation is of course that which we can detect with our eyes—with our senses--He created the water, the earth, the stars, the planets, the rocks, the plants, the animals, and us. All that which can be seen with the naked eye, with a microscope, with a telescope, or with a scientific instrument can be traced back to the creative act of God. 

The “invisible” part of creation refers to the nonmaterial, the creatures of pure spirit, known as angels. The Catechism says, “The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scriptures usually calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith.” Angels really exist. They aren’t just metaphors. The angels were created by God as much as you and me.  

And who are the angels?  “As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal (that means God calls each of them by name) and immortal creatures” and as the letter to the Hebrews puts it “ministering spirits” because “With their whole being the angels are servants of God”.

How many angels are there? The number of angels is nearly countless and they are arranged in a heavenly hierarchy. We mention the different ranks of angels in our Eucharistic prayers which reference the Angels, archangels, thrones, dominions and powers, cherubim, seraphim, principalities, and virtues. 

As servants of God, they assist God in the orchestration of heaven and the physical universe, including God’s care for us. At the time of our birth, each of us was assigned a particular angel who is always at our side—called our guardian angel. We celebrate the feast of the guardian angels on October 2 every year. Our Guardian Angels protect us from harm, both physical and spiritual, including warding off demons who wish us ill. They strengthen us against temptation. That little voice that encourages us to remain faithful to God is often our guardian angel. They embolden us to do what is right and to live out our faith boldly.

I bring up the angels today because today on the liturgical calendar, September 29, is the feast of three very important archangels. We do not know the names of our guardian angels, but we do know the names of Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael whose names are recorded in Sacred Scripture. 

All Angels are ministering servants of God, but these three Archangels were entrusted with very special missions—missions that were so important that God wanted us to know about them.

It was an unknown angel that announced the message of the birth of Samson, but it was the Archangel Gabriel who announced the incarnation of the Son of God. Everyone of our guardian angels work to drive back the darkness of evil in our lives, but it was the Archangel Michael who was placed by God as Prince of the Heavenly army who drove Lucifer and the rebellious angels out of heaven. Many angels bring healing, cheer, inspiration, and protection, but it was the Archangel Raphael who brought healing to the blind Tobit and accompanied Tobias on his special journey.

Praying for protection and the defeat of evil, strength, and healing are common prayers. Daily we should be praying for these things for ourselves and others.  And in the course of our prayers, it is very good to invoke the Holy Archangels. After all, God told us about them so that we can call upon them. We call upon St. Michael so that satan may be driven away from our midst. We call upon St. Gabriel in our mission of spreading the Gospel in word and deed. And we call upon St. Gabriel to bear God’s healing to those most in need of it.

Every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday morning, here at St. Ignatius after the final blessing at Mass, we offer the so-called Leonine prayers which include the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. The St. Michael prayer was composed by the Pope himself, Pope Leo XIII, after the holy Pope had a terrifying vision of the demonic forces gathering against the church at the beginning of last century. 

For, Pope Leo XIII lived in a time when Masonic, godless, anti-clerical, anti-church forces were congregating in Europe, spreading not only error, but physical violence toward Catholics. And so he composed the St. Michael prayer, which was to be invoked for the protection of the Church from the corrupt and the wicked. 

In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus speaks of those who are so corrupt and so wicked that they lead little ones astray. Instead of leading people to God like the angels, and protecting them from evil like the angels, the wicked leads souls away from God.  Our culture today, in many ways, is bent on the corruption of young people. For the last sixty years especially, we have seen countless Catholic youth being led astray, rejecting religion,  embracing the moral perversions of the world and living without Jesus as Lord. 

So, to turn the tide in our culture, but more importantly to win back souls, it is good for us to call the angels to our side, to invoke their help. God has involved them in salvation history, and he will continue to involve them in answer to our prayers. 

Call upon the angels to help parents, especially, protect their children from the corrupting influences in our society. If you have children our grandchildren, ask God to strengthen their guardian angels to help protect them, and assist them in leading holy lives. Invoke the angels of the little ones to help guard them against the evils that bombard them on the internet, in the media, and in many schools and universities. Pray that the angels may bring healing to those who have been scandalized or corrupted. 

And pray daily, that powerful prayer to St. Michael: St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil, may God rebuke him we humbly pray, and do thou, o prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all of the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. For the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

July 26 2024 - Sts. Joachim and Anne - Grace and responsibility of parenthood

 

At one time, July 26 was the feast of St. Anne only, and devotion to St. Anne goes back to the early centuries of the Church; in the year 550 the basilica in her honor was dedicated in Constantinople.  It is only recently, with the promulgation of the new calendar that St. Joachim was joined to his wife on the liturgical calendar.

The opening prayer for today’s feast references the singular grace bestowed upon Saints Joachim and Anne—that “of them should be born the Mother” of the incarnate Son.

Parenthood in general is a grace. It is a privilege to cooperate with the Creator in bringing new life into the world. Pope St. Paul VI in the opening lines of his encyclical on human life, Humanae Vitae, writes “The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.”

Parenthood is a grace and a responsibility that God gives to many couples. And through responsible parenthood, raising children in a loving and nurturing environment for the growth, development and sanctity of their children, parents work out their own salvation and grow in sanctity as they are faithful to the demands of parenthood. This was a grace and responsibility given to Joachim and Anne who for decades of married life experienced barrenness.

But Joachim and Anne were given the special grace and responsibility of raising the Blessed Virgin, the one conceived without sin—the immaculate conception. They would be part of God’s plan in preserving her from sin—they would protect her in a godly way from the snares of the enemy like no other parents in history. They had a role in forming the mind and heart and faith of the one who would offer the greatest “fiat” to God in history. 

And yet, we see that every parent and grandparent and spiritual parent has an analogous role—to help form the minds and hearts and faith of children to know God, trust God, obey God, and serve God. Parents do not just cooperate in the creator’s work of bringing forth biological life, they must choose to cooperate in God’s work of bringing forth spiritual and divine life in their children’s souls, by doing everything they can to help their children know, love, and serve God in this life, so they may be happy with Him in the next.

Through the intercession of St. Joachim, Anne, and the Blessed Virgin, may God bless all parents in their sacred duties for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that she may continue to honor the role of parents and grandparents in nurturing the faith of future generations, and that our parish community, we may support and encourage parents in their sacred duty of raising children in the faith. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all parents, that they may embrace their vocation with joy and responsibility, cooperating with God in bringing new life into the world, and for all grandparents, that they may be blessed in their efforts to pass on the faith to their grandchildren and support their adult children in parenting. Let us pray to the Lord.

For couples struggling with infertility, that they may find strength and hope in the example of Saints Joachim and Anne. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of human trafficking, natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for the unborn, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Hear Our Prayers, O Lord, and through the intercession of Sts Joachim and Anne, free us from all that keeps us from the love of Christ. Through the same Christ Our Lord.

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024 - Death, Life, and Interruptions

 Interruptions. Most of us hate to be interrupted. We’re in the middle of preparing a meal, and the phone rings; in the middle of our prayer time, and there’s a knock on the door; making good time in our commute to work or to a vacation locale, and there’s a traffic jam; we finally have time to relax after a long day or a long week, and there’s an emergency we need to attend to. Interruptions. They are so frequently inconvenient, it’s almost comical. 

Did you notice that our Lord was interrupted in our Gospel this weekend. The Lord is on his way to heal the sick daughter of Jairus when he is interrupted by the woman with a hemorrhage. This is a common feature in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is constantly being interrupted. But one might say that the intertwining of the two miracle stories, one story of Jesus being interrupted to perform a miracle, teaches us that even interruptions are part of God’s wise providential plan for our lives, even when we are interrupted by good and holy things like prayer or caregiving.

The interruption by the woman with the hemorrhage delayed the Lord’s trip to heal Jairus’ daughter. And because of the interruption it appears Jesus arrives too late. But there is never a “too late” for God. What was originally going to be a miracle of healing became something much more—a miracle of raising the dead. The interruption became an opportunity for God’s glory to shine even brighter. 

So too with the interruptions we face. In response to those forces that are beyond our control, we need to remind ourselves of the one that IS in control, and to seek God’s will in the present, without worrying so much about the future. Interruptions of our plans are part of God’s providential plan. So, we should teach ourselves to say the essential prayer, “thy will be done” to those many little interruptions we so naturally resent and even to the big ones.

For, God does not ask us to succeed in finishing and accomplishing our enterprises, only to do our duty of being faithful to him at each present moment. Our plans and God’s plan coincide only sometimes—perhaps, rarely. As one comedian put it, if you want to give God a good laugh, tell him your plans.

Our job is to give ourselves over more and more to God’s plan—to surrender in times when we face even tragedy and death. Death, we heard about death in our first reading today. Scripture often tackles the reality of death. 

But if the resurrection of Jesus teaches us anything, it’s that God is in control and can bring about a greater good even from something as terrible as death. 

And death is a reality that each of us grapples with. Our lives are measured by time, in the course of which we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, we die. Mindfulness of the limited time we have on earth lends urgency to our lives. Remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment. We are to make use of the time we have been given in this earthly life to work out our salvation and to seek the perfection for which we were made.

But where did death come from? Death is a consequence of sin. As we heard in our first reading today, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living…For God formed man to be imperishable” We would have been immune from death had Adam and Eve not sinned. God, in whose image we are made is the God and author of life. He is the Creator. He made us for living communion with Himself. Human death entered the world by our choosing death. God wanted life for us. God is pro-life. But we chose death, introducing death into creation. But, with the time we have on earth, we must choose life. For ourselves and others. 

You might say, “well if God didn’t make death” why do plants and animals die. Even nonliving things come to an end: rocks become sand after millennia of wind and waves. Even after eons stars and galaxies die. 

But human death is different than all other death. God did not make it. He made man to live forever. Death is a consequence of the fall of man, not a consequence of the creation of God. 

The first reading said, it was by the envy of the devil, that death entered the world. It was the plan of the devil to obscure the plans of God for us. And we bought into it. The sinful misuse of our God-given ability of choice brought death into the world to the delight of the devil. 

But again, God is greater than our plans and even the plans of the devil. For through Jesus Christ, death is transformed. Jesus, the Son of God, himself suffered the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he faced death, he accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to his Father's will. By his death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men.

Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers us so as to work out our eternal destiny. Will we pursue eternal life through Christ or eternal death by turning away from Him. But again, through Jesus death is transformed. For those who die in friendship with Christ, death is a simple closing of our physical eyes, that the eyes of our soul can come to behold the face of God in eternity. 

 When we have made our peace with God, and have faith that the love of Christ is greater than death, it becomes easier to remain peaceful and trusting in God in the face of those smaller interruptions. The traffic jams, the inconvenient social calls become opportunities to turn to God, to trust God in those circumstances which are beyond our control, to deepen our conviction to pursue God over our own selfish aims, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - "Evidence of things not seen"

 

You may have seen recently images from the new James Webb Space Telescope offering the deepest and sharpest infrared images of the distant universe to date. The James Webb Telescope is taking images not just of stars but of galaxies made up of billions of stars.

For those who believe in God, these images are certainly sparking a sense of wonder and awe at the greatness, power, and intelligence of God the Creator—Creator, not just of our planet or solar system, but of all those galaxies and stellar phenomena. “How numerous are your works, O Lord. You made them all in your wisdom,” says Psalm 104.

Now for those who do not believe in God, these images are surely fascinating, but without faith, stars are just stars, the result of undirected and ultimately meaningless cosmic forces. 

It reminds me of the story of Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut and the first human being in space. Orbiting Earth in his spaceship, Gagarin said he looked down and saw how beautiful the planet is. And he urged his fellow man to preserve the beauty of the earth and to increase it. A beautiful sentiment certainly congruent with our faith. The earth is beautiful and we have duty to preserve it’s beauty. 

Now, for many years it was claimed that Gagarin made another pronouncement not so much congruent with our faith. Supposedly, while Gagarin orbited the earth in outer space, the cosmonaut said, “I looked all around, and I did not see God.” 

This was reported by the Communist Government, and now come to find out it was actually the Atheist First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, who made the statement mocking the idea of God. The pronouncement was ascribed to Gagarin in order to further the party line: you can’t see God in outer space, therefore God doesn’t exist. Some, sadly draw the same conclusion from the new James Webb Telescope images.

But again, for those who believe, the complexity, and structure, and beauty of the cosmos—the beauty of the earth—are signs of God, they are “evidence of things not seen” as the letter to the Hebrews puts it—they are visible evidence of the unseen Creator.

For believers, the fingerprints of the Creator are all over creation—and science can help us discover them. Creation is beautiful, logical, and consistent because the Creator is beautiful, logical, and consistent. Creation is magnificent for the human mind to contemplate because the Creator is magnificent for the human mind to contemplate.

But theology and our Christian faith tell us something, that the physical sciences cannot reveal: while unknown galaxies spirate in silence millions of light years away according to the laws and will of the Creator, at the same time, God is still concerned with your toothache, your anxiety over tomorrow’s meeting, your physical and emotional needs, your soul: the nitty-gritty, day-to-day events of our lives.

And I’ve met some Catholics, who, sadly, do not really believe this. I’ve heard them say it: God is so great, so immense—"that he doesn’t really care about me…he doesn’t have time for me.” And that’s really an old heresy—Deism—which says, God set creation into motion but is now really not at all concerned with the innerworkings of Creation including us. Some of the U.S. founding fathers were Deists.

And some of the Catholics use their Deism to justify acting as if they can simply slide into heaven under the radar. God doesn’t notice me, so it really doesn’t matter how I act. It doesn’t matter if I pray, it doesn’t matter if I go to Church, it doesn’t matter if I follow ALL the commandments. 

But God knows and counts the number of stars and galaxies, the number of hydrogen atoms in the universe, and also the number of hairs on your head. He knows the inner workings of your heart, the motivation for your decisions, your secret fears, your hopes and dreams, your aches and pains, your virtues and sins. He has all the time in eternity just for you. He loves you with love beyond words and desires your well-being more than you do. He hears every one of your thoughts and prayers, and longs for a living, vibrant, authentic friendship with you—he is waiting for you to pray, waiting for you to utilize the grace he bestows upon you in abundance. 

He's waiting for you to open your heart to Him, to let Him more deeply into your life, to allow Him to shape you and form you into the person he made you to be.

In a way, the James Webb space images and other scientific marvels remind us, that God invites our curiosity, our seeking. He wants us to cultivate our minds in order to understand the logic and discover the beauty of the universe—how in the words of Psalm 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” He wants us to seek Him and discover Him—and His providential love for us, and His desire that we glorify Him by our lives.

But, in order to reflect the goodness and beauty of God, we need to make conscious efforts to do so. After all, His act of Creation was a conscious willed effort. So, make something beautiful this week: a poem, a drawing, a painting, a short story, a song, a craft, a carving, a sculpture that glorifies God. Spending time using your gifts to make something beautiful will fill you with more happiness than any amount of television, video games, social media debates, or shopping ever could. 

Secondly this week, spend  some prayerful time cultivating that sense of God’s love for you. Spend time with a crucifix in your hands pondering God’s love for you, or meditate upon a bible verse that speaks of God’s love for you, his plans for you, his desires for you, his mercy bestowed upon you in Christ. 

Lastly, exercise the gift of faith this week, the virtue of faith. Faith is a muscle, the more we use it, the stronger faith will become: When you see a beautiful sunset this week or the stars in the night sky say, "Thank you Lord; I believe in you." When you visit a loved one who is sick or dying, say, "Lord, I believe in you; don't abandon this person, give them strength." When you experience life's sorrows, say, "Lord, you suffered for me; teach me to suffer with faith for you." When you experience life's joys, to say, "Lord, this is just a small hint of your love for me; teach me to believe in you more deeply."

At this holy Mass, the Lord comes to us specifically in Holy Communion. Let us exercise our faith, to believe in his real presence, whose body and blood, soul and divinity becomes food for our souls, that we may grow in love and live by faith, becoming the people God made us to be, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Week of Advent 2019 - Wednesday - Faith in the One True God

Over the last week and a half, we’ve heard a number of promises from Isaiah the prophet. Promises that God would send a Messiah to usher in an endless age of peace; how the messiah’s peaceful rule will put an end to war, how God’s people will be protected from the forces of evil and chaos, how God will feed his people with rich foods and choice wines, how tears of sadness and suffering and guilt will be wiped away.

So, over the last week and a half, we’ve heard promises of what God will do. But today, Isaiah justifies those promises. Why should we believe them?

Because God has no equal. He is the Creator of the Cosmos and commander of the heavenly hosts. He does not grow faint nor weary, but lends his own strength and power and life to his faithful ones.

To the Jews captive in Babylon this was an important call to faith. For, they had seen their own holy city and temple destroyed. And while in Babylon, the Jews were exposed to this strange pantheon of Babylonian gods and their strange mystic cults. These false gods seemed to be pretty effective, no?

Yet, Isaiah calls the captive Jews to remember and put their hope in the one true God of strength and power and creation, the God of New Life, whose existence is evident from the life that flows through their veins. . The Messiah will come not come from Babylon, not from these false gods, not from the political powers and armies that destroyed Jerusalem, but from the One True God.

During Advent, we recall the same thing. Our Savior comes not from the world, not from the false gods of the world, not from any political party, not from any human army, not from amassing wealth and material goods, not from technology, medical or environmental. Salvation comes from the One True God and his Son Jesus Christ.

“Come to me, you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give rest.” This invitation is extended to all people, of every place. Come to ME, all you who are burdened.  Any real healing and comfort and strength and security and peace comes from Him. 

Our secular culture offers a million and one alternatives to Jesus.  But Jesus says, come to ME.  Don’t turn to sin, don’t turn to selfishness, don’t run away from the Church, don’t turn to those million OTHER things, come to ME, Jesus says, and you will find refreshment and rest.

May we place our faith in Him, and lead others to that same faith, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Holy Father, all bishops and priests, religious and laity may shine with the Light of Christ’s love for the lost and despairing.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated from God through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

That our young people will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Labor Day 2017 - Work and Cultivation

It is quite fitting to read from the book of Genesis on Labor Day. For the first two chapters of Genesis reveal much about the labors of God, and our call to labor.

In Genesis chapter 1, God the Creator is shown to be quite different from the gods of the pagans. Unlike the greek gods who lay in luxury on Mt. Olympus, aloof from the toils of man, the One True God is shown to be a worker, more like a farmer or a gardener than an apathetic aristocrat. The Creator is intimately involved in His creation, getting his hands dirty to bring about his salvific plan. By creating man and woman in His own divine image, men and women, too are to be workers—filling the earth, subduing it.

The vocation to work is repeated and developed in Genesis chapter 2, which we heard today. The man is told not simply to care for the earth but to cultivate it and to make it fruitful.

Work is often seen as a necessary evil: we must work if we wish to eat. But there is intrinsic value to work. Pope Francis wrote recently how “Work should be the setting for rich personal growth, where many aspects of life enter into play: creativity, planning for the future, developing our talents, living out our values, relating to others, giving glory to God.”

To live a fruitful life man must work at developing himself, his mind, his virtues. Scripture is quite severe about the sluggard, the idle person who neither helps himself or his fellow man, and also quite encouraging of hard work, the skillful application of one’s strengths. The Bible is full of admiration for artistic endeavors.

In the Gospel today, those who use the talents given to them by their master are praised by the Lord, and those who squander them and hide them, are condemned.

This Labor Day is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how you have used your talents for the glory of God and for betterment of your family and fellow man, to perhaps repent of those times when talent has gone squandered, and also to listen to the voice of inspiration. What new project might God be calling you to, in order to develop some dormant aspect of your personality. How might God be calling you to deepen your relationships with your coworkers, perhaps a bible study over lunch once a week.

As we prayed in our Psalm today, may the Lord grant success to the work of our hands, and in all things, in all pursuits, in all our labors help us to serve Him, for the cultivation of the earth, for the building up of His kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation.

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For Bishop Nelson Perez, as he begins to take up his new work as Bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, that his labors may bear fruit for the kingdom. We pray to the Lord.

That those in civil authority will dedicate themselves to justice, peace, and the generous defense of the poor, the elderly, and the unborn. We pray to the Lord.

For all those who labor and for those seeking employment, and that Christian workers may be signs of hope and give courageous testimony to the Gospel of Christ. We pray to the Lord.

For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of September: “That our parishes, animated by a missionary spirit, may be places where faith is communicated and charity is seen.” We pray to the Lord.

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster and inclement weather, especially the people of Houston Texas, those who suffer from war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for those who struggle to live the call of Christian chastity, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.
Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.