Eucharistic Devotions 2025 - Opening Mass

 As we open our weekend of Eucharistic Devotions, we celebrate a votive mass for the Most Holy Eucharist to honor God for the gift of the Eucharist. The Scriptures of the mass also help us to enter into what God is doing in our midst.

The Book of Proverbs tells us that “Wisdom has built her house… she has spread her table.” 

As a parish, we have wisely been preparing for this weekend. The work of preparation—placing flowers, lighting candles, adorning the altar—echoes the words of Scripture: Wisdom has indeed set her table, and now she invites us to come, to eat, to drink, to receive the Lord’s gift of life. People of God wisely set the table of our hearts for the Lord to come and dine.

In the Psalm we find another image of food. The Lord is my shepherd…he leads me to restful waters… You spread the table before me…he refreshes my soul.

We recognize that it is the Lord who draws us to these hours of adoration. And for those who take part in them, they will be restful and refreshing. In the hours of silence, and in our recitation of the liturgy of the hours—we allow our souls to breathe, we lay down our burdens and concerns and longings of the heart, and allow the Lord, Our Shepherd, to refresh us. The hours of prayer we give to the Lord are not empty time; they are refreshment for the heart.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus reveals the heart of this weekend: “I am the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” What we honor and adore is not a mere symbol or memory—it is Jesus himself, living and present, giving us his Body and Blood. This devotion is meant to deepen our faith: faith that the Eucharist is truly Christ; faith that to receive him is to receive eternal life; faith that his flesh given for the world is our hope of salvation.

So let us enter this weekend with grateful hearts. Let us sit at the table Wisdom has prepared, let us rest beside the waters that refresh the soul, and let us believe ever more deeply in the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, present in the Eucharist for us for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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In union with Christ, who offers himself as living bread, we offer our prayers of petition:

For the Church, nourished by the Eucharist: that she may always proclaim with joy the presence of Christ in our midst. 

For peace in our world: that the Body of Christ may unite all peoples in justice, reconciliation, and harmony. 

For our parish community as we begin this weekend of Eucharistic Devotions: that our time of prayer may deepen our love for the Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. 

For all who hunger and thirst—in body or in spirit: that they may be satisfied by Christ, who is the Bread of Life. 

For the sick, the lonely, and those carrying heavy burdens: that their souls may be refreshed by the Shepherd who leads us beside restful waters. 

For our beloved dead, who were nourished at the Eucharistic table on earth: that they may now share in the banquet of eternal life.

For the prayers we offer in the silence of our hearts, and for…for whom this mass is offered.

Loving Father, you feed us with the Body and Blood of your Son, the living bread from heaven. Hear our prayers, and grant us the grace always to remain close to Him, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

September 5 2025 - St. Teresa of Calcutta - Transformed through prayer and charity

 

While a college seminarian, I spent a semester studying in Rome. Once a week, a few other students and I would walk down past the Coliseum. And right next to the Church of St. Gregory, the same patron saint as this church, there was and still is today a home for destitute and homeless men run by the Missionary Sisters of Charity the Religious Order founded by St. Mother Teresa

And at this house for the destitute, men would come off the streets, and the dear sisters would feed them, and offer them a bed for the night, a shower, medical care if need be.  

The sisters were breathtakingly patient, gentle, and kind as they treated these men as they would treat Jesus himself.  Mother Teresa took the words of today’s Gospel very seriously. “That which you did for the least, you did for me”.

I never met Mother Teresa , she died when I was still in high school, but I’ve met a number of her sisters, who had met her, who were inspired by her to give up their lives in service. And so many of those sisters possessed this charism of charity—that is certainly Mother’s lasting legacy to the Church.

It’s said that when anyone met Mother Teresa, they were often shocked at the fact that no matter how busy she was and no matter how many other people were around, when she talked to you, you felt like you were the only person in the world. She gave you her total attention, her total love, her total self every moment. She wasn’t looking past you to see if there was someone more important in the room. She wasn’t checking her social media.  She didn’t appear to be worrying about the other duties she had to attend to. She wasn’t trying to get back home so she could sit on her couch to veg-out or binge her favorite television show or get home to get dinner going. In her presence you experienced love.

One reason she was able to do this was because she gave Jesus her full-loving attention in her daily prayer. She would make holy hours of Eucharistic adoration daily. And because she gave Jesus her full, loving, attention in prayer, she was able to give you her full attention. And she didn’t just give Jesus her prayer, she gave him her service in everyone she met.

“That which you did for the least of my brethren, you did for me”. And you’d think that after day after day, week after week, year after year Mother and her sisters would be tired of helping people. But no. They are among the most fulfilled joyful people I have ever met. True joy. Not just bubbly, not just artificially cheerful, not putting on an act. When you allow love, charity to transform you, you receive the gift of joy.

May St. Teresa's holy example of loving service, charity for the poorest of the poor, care for the least, help us, inspire us, teach us, and challenge us, that, like her, we may be transformed through prayer and works of charity for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Let us bring our prayers to the Lord with humility and trust.

For the Church throughout the world, that she may be a clear sign of God’s love for the poor and forgotten, and that her members may serve others with the selfless charity.

For all religious sisters, especially the Missionaries of Charity, that their lives of prayer, simplicity, and loving service may be strengthened and bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God. And for an increase in vocations to the consecrated religious life.

For the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the dying, those who feel unloved, forgotten, or abandoned, that through the care of Christian hearts and hands, they may know their dignity and the love of Christ.

For those who have died, the deceased members of our families, friends and parish, and for the forgotten and the poor who died alone, and for all the souls in purgatory, that they may come to see God face to face

God of love and mercy, You inspired St. Teresa of Calcutta to be a light to the world through humble service. Hear our prayers and grant that, following her example, we may love You with undivided hearts and serve You in our neighbor.

First Friday Holy Hour - July 2024 - The invitation to follow Christ in mercy and sacrifice

 

Like St. Matthew in the Gospel today, the Lord has given us an invitation: “follow me”. And that invitation has led us here, to the Lord’s Eucharistic presence.

With those two simple words, “Follow me”, Jesus transformed Matthew’s life. And Matthew? He responded without hesitation, leaving behind his old life to follow Christ.

Leaving something behind in order to follow Christ always leads to the transformations God wants for us. 

In the Eucharist, we see the same Jesus who dined with tax collectors and sinners. He continues to invite us – sinners though we are – to His heavenly banquet. Just as He transformed bread and wine into His body and blood, He seeks to transform our lives through the Eucharist—in our adoration of the Eucharist and of course our reception of the Eucharist at mass.

The Pharisees questioned why Jesus ate with sinners. Yet here we are, sinners ourselves. As Jesus said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do." In the Eucharist, we find our divine physician, healing our souls and nourishing us for our journey of faith.

Christ's words, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice," take on profound meaning in light of the Eucharist in which Jesus offers Himself as both the mercy we receive and the sacrifice that saves us. He invites us not because of our worthiness, but because of His limitless love and mercy.

As we adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, let us reflect:

How is Christ calling us to follow Him more closely through our devotion to the Eucharist?

What must we leave behind to respond more fully to His invitation?

To whom are we being challenged to extend the same mercy to others that Christ extends to us?

How is God calling me to sacrifice more fully my time, talent, and treasure for the mission of the Church?

May this time of adoration deepen our love for the Eucharist and strengthen our resolve to follow Christ. Let us allow the transformative power of His presence to change us, just as it changed Matthew, so that we may become living witnesses of His love and mercy in the world for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

June 6 2023 - St. Norbert - Church Renewal through Scripture and Eucharistic Adoration

 Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of the Apostle to the Germans: St. Boniface, who around the year 750 is sent by the Pope to evangelize the wild frontier of Europe at the time: the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany—spreading the Gospel among the scattered Germanic tribes and delivering them from their pagan worship and witchcraft. The blood of the martyrs certainly water the fields of Christendom in Europe, for within two hundred years of Boniface’s martyrdom, the Holy Roman Empire was established. 

Today’s saint, was born into the German nobility in the high middle ages. Norbert was ordained a subdeacon and was given a role in the imperial court as chaplain to the emperor and was put in charge of dispensing alms to the poor. But soon, Norbert fell into the trap of worldliness and began to take on a lot of the vices and bad habits of the emperor’s court. The Holy Roman Empire was not always very Holy…or Roman for that matter. Anyway.

During a violent thunderstorm, Norbert had a close brush with death. That glimpse of mortality and the judgment that comes at the end of life, led Norbert to a deeper conversion to Christ. At his ordination to the priesthood in 1115, Norbert gave away all of his possessions and moved to the valley of Premontre in northern France, from which we get the name Premonstratensian, the contemplative religious order he would go on to found. Because Premonstratensians, is a bit of a mouthful, they are typically called, the Norbertines, these days.

As a contemplative, Norbert’s life revolved around Prayer, Scripture, and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. As a priest and later as an archbishop, Norbert spent many hours in contemplation of the divine mysteries.  Consequently, His preaching and teaching were infused with the fruit of his time in prayer.

He believed that devotion to the Scriptures and to the Blessed Sacrament were essential for the renewal of his diocese and for the religious life of his monks. He encouraged the members of his religious order to read the scriptures often, and to pattern their lives after the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  These days when we are talking more and more about evangelization, that means Catholics must become much more familiar and devoted to the Scriptures, so that we can draw people to Christ through them.

Norbert was also devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, and Norbert attributed the conversion of sinners, the reform of the clergy, and the spread of the Gospel throughout his diocese to time spent in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  Religious art often depicts him holding a monstrance or kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

As the Church begins this year of Eucharistic Renewal, St. Norbert certainly offers a program for all of us to follow: to turn away from worldly vices and to alternate between time with the scriptures in our laps and time on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

To God the Father Almighty, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for it is His will that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of all the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them, and deepen in them the virtues of justice and religion.

That the Norbertine Order and all those consecrated religious may inspire us to strive for greater holiness.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief, especially for the sick and victims of war and terror and natural disaster.

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

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

August 2 2021 - St. Peter Julian Eymard - Adoring the Real Presence of Christ

 St. Peter Julian Eymard was originally a diocesan priest. He was ordained for the same diocese and was a close friend of St. John Vianney. A few years after his ordination, Eymard joined the Marist order, and as a Marist he traveled throughout France promoting devotion to Mary and to the Eucharist, particularly the Forty Hours Devotion, which many of our parishes in Cleveland still maintain.  

As he preached the Forty Hours Devotion, he felt his love of the Eucharist grow. An extraordinary passion for the Blessed Sacrament took root in his heart. After about 16 years with the Marists, Eymard was encourage by Pope Pius IX to found a new religious order devoted especially to the spread of Eucharistic Devotion. So in 1856, he founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for men and a few years later co-founded the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, a contemplative congregation for women, and also an association of the lay faithful devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

Due to St. Peter Julian’s preaching and role model, devotion to Eucharistic Adoration is certainly one of the great devotions of our times. 

He wrote, “True, God is everywhere, but we have need for Him to draw near to us under sensible signs, and this is what He does in the Blessed Sacrament. Think, then, that He is there. That Presence is sweeter, is recalled more easily than the presence of the invisible, the impalpable Divinity. It is less easily forgotten. Recall it everywhere, whatever you may be doing; and know that it is His human glance, the eye of the glorified and risen Body that follows you through walls, and never loses sight of you.”

What a powerful insight. That we can recall, in whatever we are doing, the Eucharist in so many tabernacles and monstrances around the world, gazing upon us with love. And that we can return to him here in church, and speak to him, and listen to him, and glimpse him in our holy hours, is one of the great privileges of being Catholic. 

So many of our contemporaries have such a tepid belief in the Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist; so many Catholics who do not believe it is necessary to come to church to receive Holy Communion, so many non-Catholics who have not considered the meaning of Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist. So we, like St. Peter Julian do well to share with them our great love for the Eucharist, the transforming power of receiving him frequently, and making holy hours, and finding our strength in Him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That the Church may be constantly be enriched through worthy reception and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and strengthened to endure her many trials.

For all those who have fallen away from the Sacraments, for those who have grown lukewarm, for those who lack faith in the Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist. 

For blessings upon the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Community in our diocese and around the world. 

That the sick and suffering may find comfort in the promises of Christ and the consolation of the Spirit.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the souls in purgatory, deceased bishops, priests, and religious, those who fought and died for our freedom, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Hear Our Prayers, O Lord, and through the intercession of St. Peter Julian Eymard, enflame our love for the Bread of Life. Through the Christ Our Lord.

 

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Adore, Bow Down, and Kneel before the Lord

 Many of you know that our beautiful church of St. Ignatius of Antioch was not the first church building built on this property. In 1903 a brick structure was built which was a combination church and school. Within a decade it was evident that the church wasn’t going to be big enough for the quickly growing parish. The population of the neighborhood was growing due to urban flight from the city for a number of reasons. For one, your great grandparents generation came out here as the city began filling up due to new immigrants coming to Cleveland, some from Europe and some from the American South. Secondly, due to new factories, the big industrialized steel cities didn’t smell to good, and to move out to West Blvd. was a break from crowded smelly city life. Thirdly, a new church needed to be built because the family was growing, bigger families needed more pews. But also, the catholic family was growing because the Catholics were successful in sharing their faith with their non-Catholic neighbors.

So, ground was broken for the new church of St. Ignatius on April 4, 1925, with a lower church and upper church—big enough to house this booming Catholic population. Some of you may remember when mass was celebrated downstairs in the lower church and busses would pick up parishioners from around the neighborhood, as the parking lot never could quite accommodate all the Sunday worshippers in those days. 

I wish I could take you on a tour of the lower church, but’s it just not safe enough to be wandering around down there. Maybe one day, we’ll be able to afford a renovation to make the lower level usable at least for a gathering and meeting area. The lower level was accessed by the outside stairwells, and entering the church, you’d first be probably be struck at first by the pillars topped with these beautiful carved capitals depicting the four evangelists. 

And then kneeling down at your pew, you’d see, written in latin above the sanctuary, the words of our responsorial psalm today, the sixth verse of Psalm 95: Venite, adoremus et procidamus et genua flectamus ante Dominum. Come, let us adore and bow down and bend the knee before the Lord. 

Every time you’d come to church, you’d see this reminder, of what made this building different from the skyscrapers downtown and even the family home. It is here that God is worshiped. It is here that we show our faith and our love for God, by bending the knee, by kneeling before him and adoring him in the Blessed Sacrament.

Parish council shared with me that there was once an attempt to remove the kneelers from church, and and I’m so glad there was some resistance by the parishioners, because kneeling before God in God’s house, is a constitutive part of Catholic worship, a posture of humility we see already practiced by our Jewish ancestors. 

This is why kneeling at the Communion rail—kneeling for Communion—was custom for Roman Catholics, for well over a thousand years, closer to two thousand, than one. As an acknowledgement that you were kneeling down before the Lord himself present in the Sacrament.

As many of you know I’ve begun to offer on a weekly basis, on Monday evenings,  the Latin Mass, for the Mass which fed and nourished the souls of your grandparents is being rediscovered by new generations of Catholics. This Monday night, in particular, I will be celebrating the Solemn High Mass for the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, which is February 1st on the old calendar. If it’s been a few decades or you’ve never experienced Solemn High Mass, come check it out on Monday evening. You might not understand everything that’s going on…but that’s okay, do we ever? But you can come and adore and bow down and kneel and pray. 

Friday night, I assisted at a solemn high mass, at St. Paul’s Parish down in Akron, at the conclusion of their week of Eucharistic devotions. The pastor, Father Matt Pfeiffer, my good friend and classmate, shared a story during the homily, Friday night, a story from our seminary days. The seminarians make a winter retreat before the beginning of the spring semester every year, and we were at a retreat house down in Columbus. There’s a saying amongst seminarians that God doesn’t call the perfect, he perfects the called, and this little aphorism was on full display on this retreat. There was a pair of seminarians who just didn’t get along—huge personality differences—they just couldn’t see eye-to-eye. They argued, often. And on the last day of the retreat, in a moment of real vulnerability, one of these seminarians opened up, and shared with the group, he said, it’s no secret that this other seminarian and I don’t get along, but last night, I went to the chapel, to kneel down and pray before the blessed sacrament, and I was there for some time, and when I looked over across the chapel, there, kneeling in adoration, was, Michael. And I realized, that despite our differences, both of us loved the Lord, in faith and adoration we were united.

And that’s what being Catholic is all about, isn’t it? Despite our difference, we adore, we bow down, and we kneel in the unity of faith. Despite our differences, we set them aside when we walk through these doors. White, black, rich, poor, conservative or progressive. This place has always been that way, where the very diverse people from the neighborhood, could come and kneel and worship. 

There’s been a lot of talk about unity these days. But any unity that is not based on living under God, or rather, kneeling before him, is artificial, and will never last. Honestly, I don’t think it’s a coincidence, that the civil unrest that we are experiencing in this country at this moment in history comes at a time when mass attendance amongst Catholics, church attendance in general, is at an all time low. For how can we have unity, if we do not rightly acknowledge and come to kneel before the source of that unity. 

Any national revival of civility, neighborly trust, or honesty in business, will only come as a result of spiritual and moral revival. And that is not something the government can mandate or enforce or fabricate. For without God, man can only impose an unholy uniformity through force and coercion, a counterfeit imposter of the sacred and charitable bonds of unity through Christ. 

You want to trust your neighbor again, kneel beside him in the eucharist. You want civility to reign even among people you disagree with politically? Kneel beside them. You want peace in your families, ensure you are kneeling together, and adoring the Lord together. 

To kneel before the Eucharist is to submit your life to Him, to renounce everything that does not come from him, anything unclean, as we heard in the Gospel, is to exorcized and expelled from our lives, any belief contrary to His teaching and the teaching of His holy church.

Those words, “Come, let us adore, and bow down, and worship” are an invitation that the Word of God makes to us, that we may know his peace and unity in this life as a foretaste of heaven. And yet, it is also a command, to carry that invitation to those we meet out in the world, to the unbeliever, to those who kneel before the false gods of the world, or only worship their own ego. We are sent by the Word of God into their lives, that, with God, we may be one, and know his peace and rest in his presence for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

November 2020 - First Friday Holy Hour - Eucharistic Adoration and the Holy Souls in Purgatory

In the Gospel for today, the Lord tells a parable about how the so-called dishonest steward works to settle his accounts with his master. In a sense, this parable reminds of how we will all be required to make an accounting at the end of our life of how we used our time—did we squander it, did we use it to glorify God?

The parable challenges us to get our lives in order, to make sure our priorities are straight, that we are putting our time, talent, and treasure in the service to God, rather that pursuing our own selfish endeavors. 

During the month of November, we pray in a special way for the souls in purgatory who at the end of life, were found in need of further purification from the effects of sin in their life. Yes, they died in friendship with the Lord, but in that great accounting, there was found need of purgation. And during this month, we pray for them, knowing that our prayers truly help them.

Most efficacious is the celebration of Mass for a soul. Once during the celebration of mass, St. Bernard saw an unending stairway leading up to heaven. By means of it angels ascended and descended, carrying from Purgatory to Paradise the souls freed by the Sacrifice of Jesus—the sacrifice which is renewed at the altar during every celebration of Mass.

Eucharistic adoration too, is a powerful form of prayer, in assisting the holy souls. Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, St. Peter Damien proclaimed: “O HOLY HOST, YOU THAT BREAKS DOWN THE GATES OF PURGATORY AND OPENS THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN TO THE FAITHFUL!"

Kneeling before our Eucharist Lord, this evening, we do well to bring to him the souls of our loved ones, bring them to him by name. For from the Sacred host, streams of alleviating grace flow into Purgatory, bringing unspeakable relief and assistance to the Church suffering due to the effects of sin.

And, when it is time for the great accounting of our lives, when we appear before the judgment seat, we can be sure that speaking on our behalf will be all those souls who we prayed for, who were able to reach their heavenly destination thanks to our prayers and penances. 

Eternal rest, grant unto them, o Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. For the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Legion of Mary Eucharistic Procession 2020 - Worship, Imitation, Evangelization

The Legion of Mary Handbook states that “The Eucharist is the center and source of grace: therefore, it must be the very keystone of the legionary scheme. The most ardent activity will accomplish nothing of value if it forgets for a moment that its main object is to establish the reign of the Eucharist in all hearts."

Let us consider this. That the main objective of the Legion of Mary, says our founder Frank Duff, is to establish the reign of the Eucharist in all hearts. This is the reason we are here today. This is the reason for all those meetings, week after week, year after year, all that coordination of Legionary Activity, all the good works and the prayers: to establish the reign of the Eucharist in all hearts.

It’s why we process today, we take to the streets. Not to fulfill some political agenda. Not to signal our own virtue. Certainly not because there is some earthly reward for doing so. Not even to vent our frustrations with the failures of earthly leaders to bring about peace and justice in our time.

Rather, we process as a witness to the world and maybe even a reminder to our fellow Catholics, that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary, is true God, and that he wishes to establish his Eucharistic reign in the hearts of all peoples, in every place, in every time. His reign is established when we worship him rightly, reverently and devoutly, when we imitate him generously, and when we share our faith, hope, and love of Him with others. 

And these are certainly three dimensions of a Eucharistic Procession: worship, imitation, evangelization. A Eucharistic procession is an act of worship. By it, we seek to honor God and to extend the thanksgiving and glory we give to God at the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass out in the world. Our processing is a prayer, an act of worship.

Secondly, A procession is an act of imitation. As we walk through the streets of Cleveland today, we perhaps think of the Lord walking from town to town preaching the Gospel throughout Judaea and Galilee, walking the streets of Jerusalem, carrying his cross in the hot sun, parched and bleeding, on his way to offer the ultimate sacrifice on Calvary. We too imitate our Lady who presented Christ her Son to the world. Over and over we see in sacred statues and images, Our Lady holding the Christ Child aloft, presenting the Christ child, inviting souls to believe in him and love him. So, we imitate, too then, Our Lady, when we process the Eucharist, presenting him to the world to believe in him and to love him. Perhaps as we process, she will whisper to hearts, as she did at the wedding feast of Cana. “Do whatever he tells you”. 

And finally, a procession is in act of evangelization—a way of inviting others to Faith. How strange we will likely appear to unbelievers believers. Singing our hymns, carrying enshrined in gold, what looks to the world as a piece of bread. Why do they do this strange thing, they might ask. And that can be the beginning of God’s truth breaking into their lives.

In a time of political division and domestic chaos, we process to spread the Goodness, that there is a way to peace the world has not considered: a way not rooted in violence or political activism or the spreading around of wealth. The way to happiness the way to peace the way to eternal life is through union with God through Jesus Christ. 

Particularly through the Eucharistic reign of Christ. St. Mother Theresa, whose feast is today teaches that "The cure for all the ills in the Church and human society is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament." The peace that protesters crave is found in him. The truth craved by the philosophers is found in him. The justice desired by those who work for the oppressed is found in him. The wholeness the broken so long for is found in him.

So, like our Lady, let us lift him aloft for all the world to see today. For to be to be true servants and children of Mary, is to bring souls to the Eucharist and bring the Eucharist to souls, to establish the reign of the Eucharist in all hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

June 2020 - First Friday - Eucharistic Lessons from an axe-wielding Bishop

At morning Mass I told one of my favorite stories from the saints, about the bishop and martyr St. Boniface, known as the apostle to the Germans. Boniface was an English Benedictine monk who devoted his life to evangelizing the Germanic Tribes, who at the time worshiped the false Norse gods and goddesses like Thor, Freya, Loki, and Odin. The Pagans were proving quite resistant to conversion, abandoning their false gods and accepting the Christian Gospel. So the holy missionary went to the giant oak tree where the Pagans gathered to offer false worship to Thor.  And Boniface took an axe, and he begins chopping down this pagan idol. The pagans cursed Boniface and waited for him to be struck dead by their gods for his sacrilege.  The story says that when Boniface had chopped just a small notch into the tree, God finished the job, the tree was blast apart from above.  And the pagans who had before cursed Boniface now began to believe.  And moreover, Boniface took the wood of the tree and built an oratory in honor of Saint Peter. 

Boniface’s actions certainly would not be considered politically correct in our modern age, but neither is the Gospel really, not when it is preached in its entirety.

What does this holy missionary, who went on to become bishop and a martyr for the faith teach us about eucharistic adoration? Well, we come here for the same reason, don’t we, that Boniface went to the pagan germans: that the Christian Gospel, that the kingdom may be spread, in our nation, in our neighborhoods, in our families, and in our hearts. We come here to pray that the Gospel may be spread—more devoutly preached and lived.

We also come here, not to a pagan idol, but to the One True God, truly present, here and now, under the appearance of bread and wine. He has the power to save us, he has the power to bring about true peace. He has the power to strike down the pagan oak trees that seem to be springing up like weeds in our modern culture. We come here to be equipped by him with the grace we need to be his instruments in the world--to be his axes in the world--his scythes for harvest and his swords of truth. We come here also to pray that our bishops, especially our future bishop of Cleveland, may be well-equipped and have the competency and courage to utilize the spiritual weapons at their disposal. That their faith may be sturdier than any pagan oak, that they may wield the blade of the spirit, to convict us of the Gospel.

And we come here before our Eucharistic Lord, that any worldliness, any vice, any coldness toward God or neighbor, may be struck down within us. May the Lord help us to identify anything within us that is resistant to the Gospel, any pagan oaks or weeds of worldliness, anything that keeps us from experiencing the peace that comes from God, and anything that keeps us from the courage exhibited by saints and martyrs like Boniface, any fear or timidity that keeps us from witnessing to the transforming power of the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

September 2019 - First Friday Holy Hour - New Wineskins and Eucharistic Adoration

“New wine must be poured into fresh wineskins” .

At mass this morning, I reflected upon how these words remind us of the need for constant renewal in the Christian life. Baptism transforms our souls into new wineskins of grace, but without renewal, prayer, without faithfulness, and the Sacraments, our souls can become brittle again, resistant to the sanctification the Lord desires for us.

We know Catholics, even members of our families, who though baptized, have become resistant to grace. The mere mentioning of the Church at a family gathering, or even a gentle reminder of the need to return to the Sacraments can lead to a heated argument.

So we come before Our Eucharistic Lord tonight for them and for ourselves. We entrust the fallen-away to the Sacred Heart, pleading for miracles of conversion. And we come before Lord asking for conversion for our hearts as well, for the grace we need to be instruments of healing and evangelization.

At World Youth Day, in Cologne, in 2005, Pope Benedict spoke about the profound transformation which the Eucharist both signifies and brings about. He said, “This first fundamental transformation of violence into love, of death into life, brings other changes in its wake. Bread and wine become his Body and Blood. But it must not stop there; on the contrary, the process of transformation must now gather momentum. The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn…His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world.”

We kneel down in Adoration, there is a profound contact of our heart with His. The Latin word for adoration, after all is, is ad-oratio - an embrace of love. We embrace Him and He embraces us to make us like Himself.

So let us take some time now to become quiet, to adore the Lord who embraces us and transforms us, who longs to heal us of selfishness and fear, we seeks to set our hearts ablaze with the fire of His Sacred Heart.

After a period of silent adoration, we will offer prayers of reparation followed by benediction.
Rejoice, for the Bridegroom is with us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Monday - 24th Week of OT 2017 - Lord, I am not worthy

At every Mass, before receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, we echo the words of the Centurion, “Lord I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.” Even the priest who has been consecrated by the bishop to preside over these sacred mysteries says that he is unworthy to receive.

Jesus remarks that not in all of Israel had he found such faith. And you can be sure that there were many people who considered themselves to be very faithful, particularly the Pharisees.

In claiming our unworthiness to receive Holy Communion, is not a superficial act of self-degradation. We are able to come forward to receive the Lord not because we are so great and so good, but because God is so good.

When we express our unworthiness, when we kneel throughout Mass, when we genuflect when we come into the church, when we bow before receiving holy communion, we are expressing something very important for Christians, we are expressing our Reverence for God.

Reverence is having the respect we ought to have for God.  St. Theresa said, that if we really understood the greatness of the miracle that took place at Mass, we would fall flat on our face.  Because the God of the entire universe is here.  The same sacrifice that opened for us the way to heaven, takes place here in this church, on this altar, for us.

When we realize God's majestic glory, we conclude that He doesn't owe us anything. Thus, we see life as a gift and a privilege. Realizing our unworthiness we acknowledge the reality of our humanity. We see ourselves as unconditionally loved and superabundantly showered with God’s mercy. Our every breath is a grace.

There is a joy in unworthiness. There is a joy in kneeling, in submitting to not an arbitrary authority, but a true one.

Last week, I spoke of the moral therapeutic deism which has infected many Christians, who come to Church only to get something, to have their self-esteem boosted, to have their sins explained away. But reverence purifies us of such self-centeredness. Reverence brings us to our knees in the presence of God, and brings us joy in knowing that He is God and we are not.

May this Holy Eucharist today deepen our reverence and deepen our joy, that we may be faithful proclaiming Christ’s saving Truth to the ends of the earth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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May the Church deepen in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly in the reverence which helps us adore and proclaim the ineffable love of God.

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.”

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster and inclement weather, those who suffer from war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, the imprisoned, the unchaste, 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.

August 4, 2017 - St. John Vianney and the Eucharist

To say that St. John Vianney had a deep love for the Eucharist is an understatement.  John Vianney would often be found lying prostrate on the floor or kneeling with outstretched hands in front of the blessed Sacrament. “"I throw myself at the foot of the Tabernacle like a dog at the foot of his Master”, the saint would say.

 The Cure’ knew that love for the Blessed Sacrament was a powerful means of renewing the heart of a parish.  He would wake up early and go to the blessed Sacrament to beg conversion for his parishioners.  He would encourage his parishioners to attend daily Mass.  He said, “when you think of going to Mass on working days, it is an impulse of the grace that God wills to grant you.  Follow it.”

We are blessed, here at St. Clare with an adoration chapel, that many of our parishioners have never even considered visiting. Encourage them, bring them. If you know of some stay-at-home parents who could come to daily mass, invite them to mass and a cup of coffee afterwards!

Time spent with the blessed Sacrament deepens our love for God. John Vianney even gave this advice: "When you awake in the night, transport yourself quickly in spirit before the Tabernacle, saying: 'Behold, my God, I come to adore You, to praise, thank, and love you, and to keep you company with all the Angels,' "

For John Vianney, the Eucharist was an encounter with the burning love of God.  He wrote, “Every consecrated host is made to burn itself up with love in a human heart.”  Consider that. Jesus’ heart burns with love for us, and he wants that burning love to become part of our own heart. When we kneel in front of the monstrance, we open our hearts to receive that grace, and when we receive the Eucharist, if we are open to it, we receive that transforming grace, we are changed to become more like Christ.

May this great saint, Patron of Priests, lover of the Eucharist, help deepen and receive our love of God, transforming our lukewarmness into great fervor and zeal for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests, may increase the faith, hope, charity and pastoral zeal of the priests of the Church, particularly those priests experiencing vocational crisis.

For a deeper love for and devotion to the Eucharist, for those who do not believe in the Real Presence, for the spread of the Eucharistic Reign of Christ in society.

That our young people on summer vacation may remain close to Jesus through prayer, attendance at Holy Mass with their families, repentance through Sacramental Confession, and faithfulness to all the teachings of Christ. We pray to the Lord.

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster, war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families. We pray to the Lord.

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.