October 2 2024 - The Holy Guardian Angels - Gratitude for Angelic Protection

 Last week Trapper Jack had a podcast titled “Three Drowning Seminarians Saved by Real Angels”. And Trapper Jack shared three stories about three seminarians, who are now priests, who claim to have been saved from drowning by their guardian angels. One of those priests is one of our own Cleveland priests.

And as I listed to the podcast, I was reminded of my own ordination reception. I was giving a little speech before dinner thanking family and friends for their support through the years of my seminary studies, and all of a sudden i got this flash of moments from my life…and realized that i needed to thank my guardian angel, too! I got flashes of from my life of moments like near car accidents, and my own memory of being in the middle of lake erie on a raft during a storm. And I got the sense that on all of those occasions, I was preserved from harm by my guardian angel. And so without my guardian angel, I would likely not have been ordained, and standing there and thanking all of my family and friends.

Thank God for our guardian angels. We will only know in heaven how many times we have been spared and saved. How many illnesses were staved off, how many accidents were averted, how many temptations were defeated, how many inspiring thoughts and ideas were evoked, how many times are hearts were moved with pity, all because of the ministrations of our Guardian Angels.

We do not think of them enough, we do not thank them enough. But today, the church thanks and honors our Guardian Angels for their faithfulness to the task given to them by God Himself—the task of doing everything in their power to help us get to heaven and becomes the servants God desires each of us to be.

Thank your angel today. And commit to calling upon your angel more frequently, and asking God to help you to be more docile to his inspirations and open to his assistance, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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In gratitude to God for our Guardian Angels, may we be attentive to their inspirations, and through them be kept safe from sin, and faithful to the works of mercy.

May we, like the angels, practice purity in both mind and body, and be guarded from every temptation to sin.

For special angelic protection for our police and fire fighters, first responders, and military who keep us safe from threats to our lives and freedoms.

May the sick know the assistance of the angels in their illness and suffering.

May the angels who stand ever before the face of God, help us increase in that never-failing hope of coming at last into God’s presence.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish and all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our benefit, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.

Heavenly Father, may our prayers rise like a pleasant fragrance before you and be brought to your altar on high through the hands of your holy angels. Through Christ Our Lord.

Homily: December 19 2016 - Quiet and Faithful Waiting

We return to one of the important Advent themes today: the patient waiting of God’s faithful ones. In the first reading we heard of Samson’s mother and father waiting for a child. They remind us of the Jews enslaved in Egypt, or the Jews captive in Babylonian exile, who waited and waited for deliverance—the faithful remnant who trusted that God would be faithful to his promises of salvation.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, too, had waited and waited for a child, even to the point where Elizabeth had been disgraced for her barrenness. At that time, remember, that children were considered as great blessings from God, and to experience barrenness was considered a curse.

Yet, the times of barrenness, the times of waiting, are not so much curses, as opportunities for God to test and strengthen our faith. In times of waiting, God purifies us of superficial desires, and increases our desire for the one thing that really matters: salvation, union with God.

I think the purification that waiting brings is seen in the punishment Zechariah undergoes for his doubt. When the angel announced that he and his wife would conceive, Zechariah initially doubted. Because of his doubt, the angel prescribed a punishment or a penance. Zechariah doubted the Word of God, so he himself was struck mute. But his muteness was medicinal. During those nine months, as he saw his wife show signs of pregnancy, he would ponder again the word of God, to renew his trust in it.

Muteness, silence is one of the wonderful aids for growing in holiness. This 4^th Week of Advent which is characterized by peace should be a quiet week, a week of reflection, pondering the promises of God, treasuring God’s word, like Mary, in our hearts.

This is a good week to make an extra visit to the adoration chapel, to schedule extra quiet time with the Scriptures. To put away the superficial distractions in order to focus on the one thing that matters most. To nurture a peace and calm and quiet akin to the silent night on which Christ is born.

Such silence, quiet, and peace will help us treasure Him above all else, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.