4th Week of Lent 2025 - Wednesday - Growing opposition to the Truth of Christ

 In yesterday’s Gospel, we heard how following Jesus’ healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Him.

There has been a change in focus of our Lenten readings. We’ve gone from readings where the Lord teaches us about the importance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to stories of the mounting hostility toward Jesus.

He came to the attention of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem by curing on the Sabbath. For this, they began to persecute him. This means that they likely spoke against him publicly, warned the people against his teachings, and publicly discredited him as a religious authority.

But in today’s Gospel, things escalate. St. John tells us, “For this reason, the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.”

According to the Jewish leaders, Jesus was now guilty of the greatest blasphemy imaginable: he claimed to be God. He wasn’t simply an irreverent rabbi who shirked the law about the Sabbath. Rather, from his own mouth, he claims to be one with God.

As we near Holy Week, our Lenten readings help us to understand what happened and why. They draw our attention to why he suffered and what he suffered. They shift our focus from the works that we do in our Lenten penances to the work that he has come to do: to save us from our sins. He is one with the Father who raises the dead and gives life. What to the hard-hearted Jewish leaders appeared as the greatest blasphemy is actually the most important truth because he’s telling the truth. He is the truth, and to prove it, he’s willing to suffer and die, so we can know the truth, and the truth can set us free—that we who hear his word and believe in Him might pass from death to life.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us reflect deeply on Christ’s willingness to suffer rejection, persecution, and death out of love for us. It will certainly help us stand firm in the opposition we face in the Christian life. If you can’t get to mass every day, please at least read through the daily Gospel, to grow in appreciation, understanding, and humble gratitude for what Jesus undergoes for us for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Trusting in Christ, who willingly embraced suffering and death out of love for us, we now offer our prayers and petitions.

For the Church, that during this Lenten season, Christians everywhere may reflect deeply on Christ’s sacrifice, growing in humility and gratitude for His redeeming love. Let us pray to the Lord.

For world leaders, that they may recognize the dignity and sanctity of human life, promoting peace, justice, and respect among all peoples. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing persecution and hostility for their faith, that they may draw strength and courage from Christ’s own perseverance in suffering and rejection. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those struggling to believe or who have hardened hearts, that they may be moved by the truth and love revealed in Christ’s willingness to suffer and die for humanity. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, suffering, and those experiencing difficulties, that Christ’s loving and compassionate presence may bring comfort, healing, and hope. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all who have died, especially our loved ones and members of our parish community, that they may experience the fullness of eternal life promised through Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. Let us pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, in your mercy hear these prayers and help us grow ever closer to Christ through our Lenten journey. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

January 3 2024 - Holy Name of Jesus

According to the Mosaic Law, on the 8th day, young baby boys were to undergo circumcision and given their name. Now in many cultures, a child is given a name at the time of birth, chosen by his parents. But for the Jews, the naming of the child was delayed until the child became a member of the Jewish people through circumcision. Only after he entered into that sacred bond with God, invested in the covenant between God and his people, would the child be named.

There is something so powerful and beautiful in that custom. Your name signifies your identity, your deepest self. You don’t really have an identity if you don’t have a name. And the Jews believed that you don’t have a name—you don’t have an identity—until you entered into relationship with God and into the human race as a member of the Jewish people through the shedding of your life blood. Unless you have shed your own blood for your people and for your God you don’t really have a name or an identity or a people.

Jesus: what a perfect name for the Christ Child. For in Hebrew, the name of Jesus—Yeshua—means Yahweh saves, or God saves. No name has better fit a child in all of history. He is God and Savior. He is God who saves. As the angel told Joseph, “you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

And that perfect name, that name given by heaven itself, is as St. Paul writes to the Philippians, “the name above every other name.” It is the name given to us by God, so that we may call upon him. 

The holy name of Jesus is uttered in prayer by holy devout souls, it is evoked for strength by martyrs at their time of death and all those asking God’s aid in carrying their own crosses. By the name of Jesus, demons are scattered, which is why the demons revel in the fact that the holy name of Jesus is blasphemed in so many corners of our culture—in movies and television, on the internet, as an expletive. 

When you hear his name blasphemed, it is praiseworthy to make the sign of the cross in reparation. If you are in the company of someone who blasphemes his name, it is certainly appropriate to request that they stop blaspheming his name in your presence. 

In one sermon on the Holy Name, St. Bernadine said, “Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary” 

When I am waiting in line at a doctor’s office or grocery store, I like to slowly and simply recite the name of Jesus, to quiet the mind down enough where only the name of Jesus fills it. It’s a beautiful, simple, yet powerful way of praying, encouraged by the saints.

May this Christmas feast of the Holy Name help us believe in Jesus’s name, treat the name of Jesus with reverence, give us conviction in to invoke Jesus’ name in our prayer, live in communion with the Holy Name of Jesus, proclaim Jesus’ name to the ends of the earth, and willingly suffer, like the apostles, for the sake of the name. For the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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We bring forth now our prayers of petitions.

For the conversion of all those who have turned their hearts from Christ, for those who have fallen into serious sin, for a strengthening of all of the faithful in virtue. And That God may bring the faithless to believe in His Son and increase the faith of those struggling to believe.

For Christians who are persecuted throughout the world, especially those who face martyrdom, that they may have a faith that is constant and pure.

For those oppressed by hunger, sickness or loneliness, that through the mystery of the Nativity of Christ, they may find relief in both mind and body. 

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

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

June 16 2023 - Sacred Heart of Jesus - Reparation for blasphemy and rest for the weary

 While honoring the Sacred Heart has roots stretching back to the early Church, special devotion to Christ’s burning love for mankind is closely associated with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th century Visitation nun at the convent of Paray-le-Monial. It was to this humble nun that our Blessed Lord revealed His desire that a special feast of reparation to His Sacred Heart be established on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi (or the third Friday after Pentecost). 

After Mass today, we will pray to together the Act of Reparation prescribed by Pope Pius XI along with the Litany of the Sacred Heart. A plenary indulgence is granted if it is publicly recited on the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as long as the ordinary requirements for the indulgence are met.

Particularly this year, we have reason to pray the Litany. A few days ago, it was announced Archbishop Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), along with his brother bishops have called on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart, and make this act of reparation with the intention of repairing the spiritual damage inflicted by sin.

Archbishop Broglio writes: “Catholic Christians traditionally recognize June as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this time, we call to mind Christ’s love for us, which is visible in a special way in the image of His pierced heart, and we pray that our own hearts might be conformed to His, calling us to love and respect all His people. This year, on June 16—the day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a professional baseball team has shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated. This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy. It has been heartening to see so many faithful Catholics and others of good will stand up to say that what this group does is wrong, and it is wrong to honor them. We call on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on June 16th, offering this prayer as an act of reparation for the blasphemies against our Lord we see in our culture today.”

In the Gospel today, the Lord say "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” There are a lot of people, Christians and non-Christians alike in our world who are getting very tired of the constant bombardment of evil in the media, in politics, in the education system being forced on our young ones. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the answer. We go with our burdens and our fatigue to the Sacred Heart, to refresh us, to strengthen us, to rekindle our fire for the good fight, and to make reparation for all of these evils. The good Lord knows our struggle, he has chosen us to be Christians now in 2023, and in His Heart are the graces and strength we need to be faithful. 

To anyone growing weary of all of the chaos and blasphemy and impurity and evil: go to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We bring our needs to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Please respond to each of these petitions, “Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on us”

That the Church may be continually cleansed and sanctified by the blood and water that gave us new birth.

For all who have fallen away from the Church, for those who lack faith, and in reparation to the Sacred Heart for all sin and all blasphemy.

On this World Day for the Sanctification of Priests, may the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the intercession of St. Margaret Mary and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, imbue all priests with his grace, strengthen their hearts, and renew them in their vocation, conforming them to Christ, head and shepherd, servant and spouse.

For all those who are sick or burdened in any way, may come to know and experience the refreshment of Christ’s love. 

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

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