2nd Week of Lent 2026 - Wednesday (School Mass) - Worldly Greatness or Great Holiness

 

It has been two weeks since Ash Wednesday, two weeks since the beginning of these 40 days of Lent. One of the reasons Lent is 40 days, as many of you do, is because Jesus spent 40 days in the desert. He fasted and prayed in the desert for 40 days, and so we fast and pray for 40 days.

You probably know the story how while in the desert, the devil appeared to Jesus to tempt him—to tempt him to turn away from His Father and from his mission.

And Jesus really was tempted, he experienced temptation Jesus like we do. One of the ways that the devil tempted Jesus was with greatness. The devil took Jesus to a very high place and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil told Jesus, “all these things I will give you, if you worship me”. In other words, the devil told Jesus, I will make you king of the world, I will give you all the riches, and palaces, and power you could every possibly need and more, if you just turn away from the cross.

In the Gospel today, it seems like that same temptation has made its way into the heart of the mother of the apostles James and John. She wants her sons to be great. She asks Jesus if her sons can sit on thrones to his right and his left. She wants riches and power for her sons; she wants her sons to be great in the eyes of the world.

And Jesus responds, “you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t understand what is really important. I’ve not come to make people great in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God.

If you want to be truly great, seek God’s will, not just your own—and that means becoming as holy as we possibly can, by becoming like Jesus—faithful, self-giving, self-sacrificing because that is what God wants for us.

The season of Lent is a time for growing in greatness—greatness in the eyes of God—by practicing fasting, like Jesus did, prayer, like Jesus did, self-giving like Jesus did. So that when we are tempted by the promises of the world, we may remain faithful as Jesus did—seeking not worldly greatness, but great faithfulness--for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

 

 

As we journey through Lent with Christ, let us place our needs before the Father.

For the Church throughout the world: that she may be faithful in bearing witness to the Cross as the path to true life.

For all who face strong temptations—especially to pride, popularity, and the desire for power or riches: that, like Jesus, they may remain faithful to the Father and choose what is right even when it is hard.

For our parish school community—students, teachers, staff, and families: that our Lenten fasting and prayer may shape our hearts to become more like Jesus: faithful, self-giving, and self-sacrificing.

For those who are poor, hungry, or without security: that the Lord may provide for their needs, and that our Lenten sacrifices may become real acts of generosity and care for them.

For the faithful departed: that, they may come to share forever in the true greatness of Heaven.

For X, for whom this mass is offered, and for the petitions we voice now in the silence of our hearts.

Father, we thank you for your loving care for us. Hear our prayers and help us to remain always faithful to your Holy Will, through Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

1st Sunday of Lent 2026 - Three Temptations

 

Each year, on the 1^st Sunday of Lent, we hear the powerful Gospel passage of Our Blessed Lord facing temptation in the Judaean desert. The mere fact that we even know about this story is significant: none of the four evangelists were with Jesus in the desert. So, the details of this story must have come from the lips of Jesus himself. He wanted his disciples to know about this profound experience: “Yes, even I was tempted, just like you.”

The Letter to the Hebrews explains the Lord’s solidarity with us poor sinners, saying: “because he Himself suffered and had been tempted, he is able to help all those who are tempted.” “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.”

Why do we read from this Gospel of the Lord’s temptations each year, at the beginning of Lent? During Lent, as we are confronting our demons and temptations, it is good to hear the Lord’s faithfulness to His Father amidst his own temptations. This strengthens us as we face our own temptations: If he was faithful, and he dwells in us, then we can be faithful too.

Let’s consider each of the three temptations of the Lord, in hope that it will help us.

Firstly, Jesus is tempted, “if you are the son of God, turn these stones into bread.”  Our Lord was certainly hungry after forty days of fasting. He was likely in physical pain as his body, having used up fat reserves, was beginning to break down his muscle tissue to stay alive. Freshly baked bread would sound very good to a starving man. And so the devil tempted the Lord in his hunger, to use his divine powers to spare himself the suffering of the human condition.

Here, the devil is tempting Jesus to abandon the road of the cross. Spare yourself the suffering. This is a temptation each one of us faces. Spare yourself the suffering of your Lenten penances. Spare yourself the suffering that will come when you take the Gospel seriously. You had a hard day, you don’t have time for prayer. You had a hard day, you deserve that extra drink. You had a hard day, you deserve to indulge the lusts of the flesh.

In his faithfulness to this father, the Lord quotes the Psalm: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” helping us trust that by following the will of God, even when that entails suffering, we find life. When we follow the will of God—even when, and maybe especially when, that means turning away from the cravings and weaknesses of the flesh, we will know a peace and joy that nothing in the world can give.

Secondly, Jesus was tempted “throw yourself down from the temple and let the angels catch you.” Here the Lord is tempted to use his divine powers for fame. Using his divine power to have angels float him down from the temple would make his identity undeniable.

This temptation of fame permeates our society today doesn’t it. Society even seems to be structured around social media presence, followers, likes, and views, viral moments; influencer culture and celebrity worship. We are subtly trained to believe, “if it isn’t seen, it doesn’t matter. If it isn’t applauded, it isn’t real. If it doesn’t go viral, it isn’t valuable.” We literally have people throwing themselves off of buildings for internet celebrity.

This temptation of fame strongly effects those whose identity is insecure. If I am uncertain who I am, I will try to prove it—even in illogical, sinful ways. If I do not know I am loved by God, I will try to derive my worth by the applause of men. But, living for fame is a distortion of the way of Christ. For, Christians derive our worth, not from public recognition and adulation, but from our identity as beloved sons and daughters of God.

At the Lord’s baptism, the voice of the Father, declared “you are my beloved Son”. Because Jesus is secure in his identity, he overcomes this temptation. So, too, for us. When we have taken to heart our identity as beloved son, beloved daughter, we will overcome temptations to find our worth in sin.

Lastly, the devil tempts Jesus, showing him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, as if the good that Jesus as come to do could be accomplished with money and power.

And yet, don’t so many of us make this mistake: we allow money and power to dictate our decisions and our worth. How many Christians fear poverty more than they fear sin?

Christians need to remember that our aim isn’t to become rich and powerful in the eyes of the world, but to become rich in the things of heaven: wisdom, generosity, self-control.

Now we often play a game here: when I have accumulated enough wealth, then I’ll become generous. But we are called to generosity now. In whatever state of life, whatever the size of our bank account right now, we are called to be generous with our time, talent, and treasure in service of the mission of the Church.

Jesus goes to the cross and achieves our salvation in poverty, owning nothing, stripped even of his clothing. We do not need a certain amount of wealth to be effective of instruments of God. In fact, our poorest saints, francis, clare and so many others, show us the exact opposite.

The point of this Gospel story isn’t just to teach us that the devil is real. We see the effects of sin on the daily news and the divisions in our families.  This story shows us that the devil doesn’t get the last word.  Temptation can be overcome when we cling to the Word of God.  St. Peter says, resist the devil and he will take flight.  So often, we fall into sin because we put up no resistance and fail to trust in the Lord.

We do well to imitate Jesus in those moments of temptation, to look at the temptation right in the eyes, to look the serpent right in the eyes and so, “No, I will not sin because I am a Christian.” 

This Lent, we practice fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in order to strengthen our resolve for doing God’s will, of turning our hearts a way from earthly pleasure, power, and glory, and to recall that our true happiness is found in communion with Jesus Christ and humbly following God’s plan for our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Sunday of Lent 2024 - Noah's Ark and Desert Temptations

 Since the times of the Early Church Fathers, Noah’s ark has been seen as a prefigurement, a foreshadowing, of the Church. Just as the ark was the means by which Noah and his family were spared destruction, so also the Church is the instrument by which Christians are saved from eternal damnation.

The ark housed a male and female of every kind of animal, and the Church houses men and women from every nation, language, and background. God saved Noah and his family, not by a fleet of ships, but by one ark. Similarly, Christ founded not many Churches, but one Church. The ark of Noah sheltered his family from the storm, and it is in the Church that we take refuge from the storms and floods of life. 

The Ark prefigures the church and our salvation in Christ. The salvific wood of the ark foreshadows the salvific wood of the cross. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, promising never again to destroy the earth in the same way. This covenant is seen as a precursor to the new covenant established through Jesus Christ.

In our second reading, Scripture itself sees the eight persons of Noah’s family being saved through the waters of the flood as a prefigurement of baptism. And by the way, from the early Church to this day, it is common to construct baptismal fonts with eight sides, to symbolize the eight people on the ark: Noah and his wife, and his sons, Ham, Shem, and Japeth, and their wives.  

We begin the season of Lent with this image of the ark and the waters of the flood because right from the beginning of Lent we are meant to be thinking about salvation and baptism. From the early Church, Lent was a time of preparing for baptism. Those seeking Christ, seeking baptism, would prepare for baptism at easter throughout this Lenten season through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lenten prayer, fasting, and almsgiving aid the catechumens—those seeking baptism—to conform themselves to Christ, who fasted, and prayed, and gave his life for our salvation.

But it’s not just the catechumens who pray, fasting, and give to the poor…all of us are to pray, fast, and a give alms during Lent, as a way of offering spiritual support and good example for those to be baptized, as well as a way of spiritual preparation for the renewal of our own baptismal promises at Easter.

We pray, fast, and give alms to help us get back to the basics of baptism: prayer, to remind us of the spiritual intimacy we must constantly nurture with God, fasting to remind us of the self-sacrifice of Christ which is to be the model of our own constant self-discipline and self-sacrifice, and almsgiving, to remind us of the charity which should mark every day of our life as Christians. 

Here at St. Ignatius, we have two candidates for full initiation this year: David & Tyler who will be received into full communion with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. This morning, there will be a short ritual called the rite of sending, in which we will pray for these candidates, who will be sent this evening to the Cathedral, to gather with Bishop Malesic and all the other catechumens and candidates from throughout the diocese.

Now David and Tyler are already baptized, and are seeking full initiation, but we still pray and fast for them, and for the thousands of people this year who will be baptized and will receive Confirmation and First Eucharist at Easter—about 150,000 adults each year in the United States—who are getting on board the ark of Holy Mother Church.

So, on this first Sunday of the season of Lent, we have the image of the ark and baptism—we have a glimpse of the destination. But, sort of paradoxically, not only do we have this image of water, but this image of the desert. Christ going into the desert, where he is tempted by Satan. 

This story is a powerful reminder that Lent, and really the whole Christian life, constitute a spiritual battle. The powers of Satan are at work to seduce us away from God—to separate us from God through sin. Just as Satan tempted the Lord, the devil utilizes temptation against us. He makes sin sound like a good idea, he makes self-centeredness and disobedience to God seem reasonable, he emphasizes the pleasures of sin while minimizing the physical, emotional, and spiritual cost of sin. 

One reason that Mother Church gives us this reading of Christ’s temptations each year on the first Sunday of lent is because she wants us to be aware that in reaching our destination there is going to be some resistance. Whether that destination is baptism, or individual sanctification, or heaven—there is going to be some resistance, some spiritual resistance by a being who does not want us to reach that destination. He does not want us taking up those weapons of self-restraint, as the Ash Wednesday liturgy called them—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. He wants us weaponless. He wants to disarm us and create obstacles to faithfulness through temptation. Temptation is real. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about cheeseburgers on ash Wednesday. I swear I am hungrier on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday than I have any right to be. Temptation is real. And as we engage in the Lenten observances, the devil redoubles his efforts to discourage us. 

The devil loves to make evil seem reasonable, and goodness seem unreasonable. He introduces strange thoughts into our heads to convince us to give up on the spiritual disciplines. Fast? Why would you want to fast? You’ll be too weak for work. You’ll starve. You’ll be so weak you won’t be able to think and you’ll embarrass yourself. Pray? You’re too busy to pray. After all you pray just enough as it is. You have other things to do. You don’t want to get behind on your programs after all. God forbid, you miss an episode of Wheel of Fortune. Those TV characters make you feel good about yourself. And Almsgiving? You already give plenty. You’re too poor to give any more than you already do. What about your needs, your wants, your security. Give too much away and you’ll find yourself homeless if you give any more than you are giving.

See, he tells us lies that are just plausible enough to discourage us from what can truly help us to be sanctified. So be aware, you will be lied to this Lent, lied to by the devil who hates you, who hates God, and wants nothing more than to separate you from Him. 

How will we emerge victorious from the desert? By uniting ourselves to Christ, the faithful Son of the Father, and allowing Him to live in us—to be victorious over Satan within us. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, please try to attend daily mass throughout the week as much as possible throughout Lent. Here at Church, Christ feeds us with his body and blood which is the greatest protection against the seductions of the enemy. For when we receive Christ in the Eucharist, we receive the one whose truth pierces the lies of satan—we share in his victory. God allows the devil to tempt us, because those temptations are opportunities to allow Christ to punch the devil in the nose—transforming us weak selfish creatures into the image of the faithful Son of God.

So please avail yourselves of the Eucharist as often as possible, eat his flesh and drink his blood, that you may not fall for the lies and empty promises of the devil, and that you might make use of all the opportunities to grow in grace that God desires for you. 

Throughout Lent, together we make this journey of faith, that we may prepare ourselves well to experience, after the mystery of the cross, the joy of Easter, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

6th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Tuesday - Persevering in temptation

 Temptation is one of the universal human experiences. Children, the elderly, married people, single people, priests, popes, nuns. Young, old, rich, poor, learned, unschooled, everybody experiences temptation. Our first parents Adam and Eve experienced temptation. Our Blessed Lord, as we will hear in the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent in a few days experienced temptation.

The terrible attraction to act contrary to right reason and God’s commandments besets us all. Temptation is when we know something is wrong, but there is a part of us that wants to do it anyway. I know it’s wrong to talk back to my parents, but there’s a part of me that is tempted to talk back.

Sometimes we even begin to talk ourselves into following that temptation. It’s alright to treat people inconsiderately, after all, they’ve treated me without kindness, I might as well do it back to them. It’s alright if I indulge in this sin, after all, I can just ask for forgiveness from God later on. 

The Lord Jesus however, teaches us to pray to God asking to be delivered from evil in times of temptation. St. James echoes this teaching in the first reading today: “Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation.” 

You grow in holiness, you grow in likeness to Jesus, you allow the life of Jesus to flow in your heart and mind when you resist temptations to do wrong. We become the people God made us to be when we resist evil and persevere in goodness.

James goes on to explain that when you give into temptation, when we sin, something in us dies, something good dies. And if you choose sin enough, if you just give in to every temptation, something inside of you might die forever. And that is a great travesty—for God didn’t create us for sin, he created us for grace, for life, for holiness and joy.

Now again, every one of us has been tempted, and every one of us, at some point, has given in to temptation. But part of the goodness of being followers of Jesus is just because we’ve chosen sin in the past, doesn’t mean we have to continue to make bad choices. God forgives us when we humbly repent. 

Tomorrow begins the great season of repentance. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we show our gratitude to God for the forgiveness offered us through Jesus Christ. And those Lenten penances have a double effect of strengthening us against future temptations. For when we persevere in obedience to God when we are tempted, that produces endurance--endurance for doing the good and resisting evil. 

May our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving be fitting penances for those times we have succumbed to temptation and help habituate us to imitate our Lord’s own faithfulness in the face of temptation, that we may come to experience that blessedness God desires for each one of us, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

That the Holy Spirit may embolden us in the mission of the Church and help us to put our physical, intellectual, and spiritual gifts more fully in the Lord’s service. 

That legislators and government leaders may be guided by the Word of God to promote just laws and compassionate policies especially for the unborn, the elderly, and the most vulnerable.

That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

For those preparing for the Easter Sacraments: may God’s Word help them to experience the grace of daily conversion and the joy of the followers of Christ.

For those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind:  that God’s Spirit will rest upon them, relieve their suffering and lead them to wholeness and holiness. 

For the deceased members of our family and friends, for all the souls in purgatory and for…

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.

13th Week in Ordinary Time 2023 - Friday - Power in the Blood

 There is an old southern Baptist hymn that goes “would you be free from your burden of sin?  There’s power in the blood. Would you over evil a victory win?  There’s wonderful power in the blood.  Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s power in the blood.  Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide.  There’s power in the blood.”

The month of July is traditionally devoted to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. 

I like the lyrics of that old hymn because it expresses how the Blood of Jesus has powerful effects.

The blood of Jesus frees us from the burden of sin. It helps us win victory over evil. It frees us from our passions and pride. And it is an encounter with the Lord on calvary.

Our Faith tells us that the Lord loved us so much that he poured out his blood for us, for “the forgiveness of our sins”. The Blood of Jesus has relieved us of a burden, a terrible burden, the heaviest of burdens—the weight of sin--which keeps us from heaven. And now, freed from the weight of sin by the blood of Jesus Hebrews says Christians are able to “run with endurance the race that is set before us”. The burden of unforgiveness no longer weighs us down, and now we are able to persevere in the ways of God with a newborn lightness. 

I don’t know about you, but it’s a lightness I feel every time I go to confession, and often when I receive Holy Communion. A lightness to persevere in the faith.

Secondly, the hymn says the blood of Jesus helps us win victory over evil. This is consistent with the old Baltimore catechism, which taught that the eucharist—the sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus—was instituted To lessen our evil inclinations. The blood of Jesus in the Eucharist preserves us from future sins by lessening or loosening evils grips on us. 

The blood of Jesus frees us from our passions and pride. The power of our passions are often very strong, but the blood of Jesus is stronger, the power of God is stronger, and helps us not to be ruled by our passions. Many people believe that happiness is found by following every passion that arises in their hearts and bodies. But because of sin, our passions do not always point to happiness and holiness. And the blood of Jesus helps us to resist those sinful passions, in order to follow what is truly good for us.

Finally, the hymn tells us “come for a cleansing to calvary’s tide. When we receive the blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, we are cleansed of our venial sins, as if we are kneeling at the very cross of calvary. In fact, when we come to Mass, we are made spiritually present to Calvary, the source of our salvation, which is why we call the mass, the sacrifice of the mass, because the mass makes us present at the one saving sacrifice of Christ, in which blood is shed for our salvation.

May Christians truly open their hearts and souls to the true power of the blood during this Eucharistic revival for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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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 Church during this time of Eucharistic Revival: for a deeper love and reverence for the Bread of Life; that the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist will help us to live out our vocation to holiness with greater zeal, self-sacrifice, and trust in God.  

That during this month of July dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus: we may grow in gratitude for the gift of our salvation and more zealous for souls. 

For our nation, that we may be always grateful for our freedom, and that with God’s help we will work to preserve that freedom and to use that freedom to build up the city of God.

That our young people on summer vacation, for their protection from physical and spiritual evils, that faith may be practiced in their homes, that their parents may raise them rightly in the faith, teaching them to value the things of heaven over the things of earth.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ.  

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and for N. for whom this mass is offered.

Graciously grant our petitions, we beseech thee, O Lord; may your grace sustain us always in your service, through Christ Our Lord.

1st Sunday of Lent 2023 - Back to Basics: Resisting Temptation

 Time to get back to basics.  Baseball players are doing just that this time of year. As baseball players begin spring training, they’ll once again practice those bedrock basics of the game: how to throw the ball, how to swing the bat, how to hit the cutoff man. But not just athletes practices basics. Musicians, even very skilled and famous ones, practice their scales and the basic techniques of playing their instruments.  You can’t do something spectacular in sports, music, business, cooking or building, without the basics—until the basics are in place.  

And the spiritual life isn’t any different.  The Saints aren’t just those who got lucky and were gifted at birth with tremendous virtue. They practiced the basics of the faith—day in and out. 

And Mother Church gives us this wonderful season of Lent, to get back to the basics of the Christian life. As Pope St. Leo the Great said 1600 years ago: “What the Christian should be doing at all times should be done now [during the season of Lent] with greater care and devotion.”

The scripture readings throughout Lent, certainly emphasize these fundamentals. On Ash Wednesday, we heard our Lord’s teaching on his disciples are to pray, and fast, and give alms. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving aren’t just for the 40 days of Lent, of course. We are to pray daily, “pray always” as St. Paul teaches. We are to fast often, to discipline our minds, bodies, hearts and souls. And we are to give alms and engage in the works of charity all throughout the year. Christians are to be known by their good works, their acts of love. 

But we practice these basics now, intentionally, with greater care and devotion during Lent, so that the basics can become habitual and integrated into our normal lives. By shutting out the distractions of t.v., social media, video games, during Lent, going to our inner room and shutting the door, as the Lord teaches, we can come to realize the value of prayer, of encountering God in real, life-giving prayer. Through prayer, become become quiet enough to hear the Lord speaking to us in the quiet of that inner room, we come to prayerfully detect the Lord dwelling in the inner castle of our souls.

Similarly with works of charity. We engage in intentional, additional works of charity during Lent, and by doing so come to discover that selflessness is so much more fulfilling than only thinking about ourselves all the time. We do come to discover that helping others, serving others, is so powerful, fulfilling, and life-giving.

And fasting. We practice Lenten fasting because fasting is to be one of our standard, go-to weapons for combatting temptation, overcoming sinful tendencies, and growing in our reliance and trust in God. “Some demons are cast-out only by prayer and fasting,” the Lord teaches. 

And that leads me to another one of the Christian basics that we focus on during Lent. Resisting temptation.

That we experience temptation should not surprise us. Our first parents in the Garden were tempted prior to the fall. Our Lord, in the Gospel, immediately after his baptism in the Jordan was tempted by the devil. To be human is to be temptable. Every human is subject to temptation. 

And Lent begins with these stories of temptation because they remind us that we will be tempted during Lent, just as we are tempted throughout much of the Christian life. We are tempted, just like Adam and Eve to violate the commands of God. We are tempted in so many ways, are we not? We’re tempted in every dimension of our lives. We’re tempted in our family lives—to be rude, disobedient, condescending to loved ones, impatient, and over-reactive. We’re tempted in our professional lives—to cheat the company, to steal from the workplace, to use foul language in order to fit in with coworkers. We’re tempted in our private lives: to overindulge in food, to be selfish with our possessions, to consume sinful media, to misuse medication. We’re tempted in our religious life—to not pray, fast, and give alms as much as we should.

But all of these various temptations boil down to the same temptation faced by Adam and Eve—will you use your free-will to be faithful to God or not—will you trust God or not. The Catechism says, “Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.”

The Lord Jesus faced these very same temptations. Will he trust his Father or not? Will he trust that his Father will provide the food he needs, or will he misuse his divine power to turn stones into bread. Will he trust in his Father’s care for him, or will he live recklessly, by throwing himself off the top of the temple. Will he trust that his Father will ensure the success of the Gospel mission or will he turn to the devil to grant him power to pursue those ends.

Unlike Adam and Eve who allow the devil to erode their trust in God, the Lord trusts his Father, recalls the solid wisdom of the Scriptures, and the devil departs from him. 

St. Luke writes “When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Jesus for a time.” As long as we draw breath, we are temptable. We might remain faithful and strong one day, but the enemy also knows are weaknesses. He looks for opportunities to tempt us especially when we are hungry, lonely, sick, tired or frustrated: “just give-in to sin” he says, “it will make you feel better. You’re lonely, just give-in. You’ve had a hard day, just give in. In the end, God will forgive you, just give-in. Who’s the pope to dictate your life anyway, just give-in?”

But the Gospel passage of the Lord’s temptations, or rather, his faithfulness in the face of temptation, is so powerful for us. Because this passage reminds us that Christians possess the very strength of the Lord when facing temptation. His spirit, his strength, his faith, dwells within us. 

St.  Augustine wrote, “Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you; he suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you; therefore, he suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you… He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.”

It is one of the basics of the season of Lent, to learn how to triumph over temptation. And we triumph in temptation by not giving in to every bodily appetite or enticement we experience, but learning to recall the wisdom of God when the devil confounds us with this lies and empty promises. We triumph in temptation by recalling the indispensability of obedience to God’s commands when the devil tempts us to disobedience. We triumph in temptation by calling upon the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, when the devil wants us to trust in ourselves, by evoking the divine assistance given to us in the sacraments when the devil exploits our weaknesses. It’s all pretty basic, isn’t it?

Lead us not into temptation, dear heavenly father, help us to resist the devil, that he might take flight. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

18th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday - But for Wales?

 One of my favorite scenes from The Man for All Seasons, the movie version about St. Thomas More, is when St. Thomas has been brought before the high court and is being questioned by his former friend Richard Rich. From the beginning of the movie, it is clear that Richard is an ambitious man, he had high ambitions to become a powerful man in the English government. St. Thomas cares for Richard’s soul, and tries to convince Richard to consider a humbler profession, that of a school teacher, in which he may even become a great teacher.

St. Thomas had become chancellor of England, the stripped of his office and imprisoned when he would not sign a declaration that the King, rather than the Pope was head of the Church. Richard is brought forward as a witness in Thomas’ trial, and offers false testimony, accusing Thomas of treason, which carried the penalty of death.

Thomas then notices the new chain of office around Richard’s neck, he had been appointed the new Attorney General for Wales. And then Thomas delivers one of the great lines, echoing the Gospel today: “Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . But for Wales!”

You see, Richard had conspired with the government to offer false testimony against St. Thomas in exchange for political office. “But for Wales”. 

Yet, in any sin, we settle for so much less. We exchange the good of our souls, for a passing pleasure, a forbidden piece of knowledge, a petty act of revenge, a chance to climb the ladder of ambition. Sin, in the end profits us nothing, the Lord says in the Gospel today, not even if we were to gain the whole world. For the result of sin is the destruction of our soul, perhaps even its eternal loss. 

Rather, when we are being tempted to sin, we must deny ourselves, practicing self-control, temperance, and prudence—recognizing that we were made for so much more than sin. 

The Lord acknowledges that to fight against temptation sometimes feels like being nailed to a cross, but those who deny themselves, will find something—obtain something—more valuable and glorious than anything their sin could ever hope to acquire—divine life, divine grace, peace that the world cannot give, joy, that is made perfect in us by the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord keep us strong against temptation, helping us to value the things of heaven over the things of earth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - 

That the pope, bishops, and clergy may be filled with constancy in teaching and living out the Gospel, and that our parish may bear witness with great confidence to our life-giving faith in word and deed.

For newly consecrated Bishop Michael Woost, new auxiliary for the Diocese of Cleveland, may he know abundant blessings in his new ministry, and aid the Church in stirring up the flame of faith and witnessing to the Gospel.

That politicians and government officials may protect religious freedom, promote virtue, and look to the law of Christ to guide their work for the good of nations and the human race

For all those who experience persecution for the sake of the Gospel, that they may be sustained in their faith, and bear fruit for the salvation of souls.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection, especially N. 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 desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

1st Week of Lent 2022 - Tuesday - The Devil hates the Lord's Prayer

 Pope Benedict wrote, “In the trials of life and in every temptation, the secret of victory lies in listening to the word of truth and rejecting with determination falsehood and evil.”

When tempted by the Devil in the desert, as we heard this last Sunday, the Lord himself drew upon the scriptures to overcome the lies and falsehoods of evil. He even quotes God’s Word about the importance of God’s word: “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

In the Gospel today, from the mouth of God, Jesus gives his disciples a prayer, a very powerful prayer, the Lord’s own prayer—a prayer which encapsulates and is drawn from so many powerful, holy, and inspired sentiments throughout the Scriptures. It is a prayer that exposes and unravels so many of the devil’s falsehoods, making it a powerful remedy to our many temptations.

Let’s break it down. Calling upon “Our Father Who Art in Heaven” is hateful to the devil who is covetous of our worship and furious of being casting out of heaven. The humility of the words “Thy Will Be Done” is utterly insufferable to the enemy who refused to bend his will to God’s. 

“Give us this day our daily bread”, recognizes that we are not self-sufficient and independent of God as the enemy would like us to be, but trusts in God to provide for us, which the devil refused to do. The petition for forgiveness for our trespasses counters both the despair and the unrepentance the devil would like to sew in us—he wants us neither to ask for forgiveness or believe that we are capable of receiving it. And he hates that we would pray for the grace to extend forgiveness to others, for the devil is completely unmerciful, and wants to refashion us in his own cruel and merciless image. 

The last two petitions are when the battle for truth and goodness really get going. “Lead us not into temptation” humbly recognizes that we are capable of temptation. And this the devil also hates, for he wants to remain hidden, not wanting to be exposed for his corrupting influence. For if an unholy thought can be traced back to him, his defeat is near at hand. 

Nor does he want us to think of the consequences of following his temptations which lead to perdition.

Finally, “deliver us from evil” unravels the devil’s great lie that we are beyond salvation, that God is absent or unwilling to help us in times of trouble. The devil does not want us to cry to God for rescue and help, he wants us enslaved and puffed up with pride and independent from God as he is. His misery loves company. But this petition is the slap in the devil’s face and provides the path of freedom for God’s people. It is always heard and answered for those who pray it fervently.

The Devil hates the Lord’s prayer, for it unravels his designs, it exposes his hatred for God and mankind; it is painful to him, for it shines light upon the darkness of his lies. 

May it be found on the lips and hearts of God’s people today and all days, for by it we reject with determination the falsehood and evil of the devil, and we turn to the Word of Truth of our good and loving God and provident Father, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -  

For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

For mercy for the most vulnerable of our human family, the unborn; that their mothers may choose life and be supported by a culture of life. 

For the young people of our Church. May they be strengthened to be witnesses to the Gospel of mercy and work for a future that embodies a genuine culture of mercy.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  .

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ Our Lord.

1st Sunday of Lent 2022 - Desert Temptations and the Road to the Cross

 Each year on the 1st Sunday of Lent, we hear the powerful Gospel passage of Our Blessed Lord facing temptation in the Judaean desert. The mere fact that we even know about this story is significant. For remember, the four Gospels were based on eye witness accounts. Matthew and John were two of Lord’s twelve apostles: they heard him preach and teach, so we know where they got their material. Mark likely received most of his details from St. Peter, and Luke, as he tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, thoroughly investigated the events of the life of Jesus as accurately as possible. 

But, none of the four evangelists were with Jesus in the desert, so the details of this story must have come from the lips of Jesus himself. He wanted us to know about this profound experience. “Yes, even I was tempted, just like you.” 

The Letter to the Hebrews explains the Lord’s solidarity with us poor sinners, saying: “because he Himself suffered and had been tempted, he is able to help all those who are tempted.” “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.”

We hear this Gospel each year, at the beginning of Lent, firstly, because during Lent, we are to be confronting our demons, our temptations. Lent is a time of honesty, acknowledging sin and temptation, going to confession, seeking conversion, and learning to trust in the Lord in times of trial. 

We hear this account of our Lord remaining faithful to God in the midst of temptations, to help us finally come to the conviction that He is with us even in our temptations. The faithful high priest lives in the hearts of all of the baptized. His faithfulness can conquer the devil in our lives, so much so that we can say, “I do have the power to say no to temptation because He lives in me. I can remain faithful to God in my trials because Christ lives in me.”

But this reading plays such a central role each Lent because something else is going. While there are many important events in the life of Jesus prior to his desert temptations, this reading is pivotal for his mission. The events of his infancy and childhood, his activity in the Temple at the age of 12, even his Baptism in the Jordan, serve as a sort of prelude to this event. Those early stories point to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, God incarnate. But it’s this event, which in a sense, is the beginning of his way to the Cross. For his spiritual battle with the devil shows him rejecting the way of earthly power and glory and accepting the way of suffering and the cross. Let’s examine how.

Firstly, the Lord rejects the temptation to turn stones into bread. Why? After 40 days of fasting, “he was hungry” as St. Luke tells us. And since Jesus is God, he could surely transform the limestone rocks of the Judaean wilderness into food for himself. But, the deeper temptation: His divine power could be used to feed others. He could feed the starving of the world. That would benefit the Gospel mission. In a sense, the Devil here is tempting Jesus, not just to feed Himself, but to win people over with material things. “If you want people to follow you, use your wonderful powers to fill their bellies. They’ll follow you if you feed them.

But Jesus rightly says, I’ve not come just to feed their bodies, but to feed their souls with the truth, with the Word of God. And so the task of the Church is not to create some utopia on earth. The task of Christianity is to bring people to faith, that they may live in such a way as to live forever—to be reconciled with God through Christ, that they may live forever.

In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus: “I will give you everything you want, if you worship me.” Now again, Jesus knew his mission was the salvation of our souls. And the devil was saying, I can do that for you. I can release souls from hell without all that suffering, without the cross. I can do anything you want, just give me the praise, honor and glory due to your Father. I’ll give you everything you want, all you have to do is compromise the first and greatest of the commandments. And Jesus was tempted by this. 

This temptation isn’t unlike the first temptation of Adam and Eve…I’ll give you everything you want, you’ll be like gods; only don’t listen to God, listen to me. The devil is always offering us this empty promise, tempting us to compromise our faith to obtain some apparent good without paying the price, the cross. But it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world and lose his soul. So too, in our lives, in order to achieve some good, we must never compromise the commandments. 

The third temptation Jesus faced was to use his divine powers in such a way that no one could deny who he was: to jump off the roof of the temple like Superman and survive, that would prove to everyone once and for all that he was who he said he was. And the Lord could have done this if he wished; this and more. He could have continued his earthly life for two thousand years and healed everyone who ever entered a hospital without medicine or surgery. He could have performed a miracle a day, inviting the skeptical scientists to investigate them. He could have performed undeniable miracles, just as God could appear to everyone right now—everyone on earth at the same time—and give us undeniable proof of His existence. 

But the Lord resists this temptation. For, it is part of the mysterious plan of God, that God wants us to cultivate faith. He doesn’t want to force us to believe in Him by making his existence as undeniably as the sun undeniably shines in the sky. Rather, God desires that we have Faith, for Faith can move mountains. 

Rejecting these temptations, St. Luke tells us that the tempter departed from Jesus for a time. The Lord would be tempted again before facing the cross, just as each of us is tempted to turn away from our own crosses. 

During the desert of Lent, the devil will no doubt appear to each of us. Likely, he already has. Maybe you’ve already been tempted to reject the call to do penance, to skip out on prayer, to eat meat on Ash Wednesday and Friday, to just go ahead and do what you’ve always done. And what shame if you’ve given in. But, Lent is just beginning. And it’s not too late to recognize the game the devil is playing: trying to keep us complacent and satisfied with mediocrity, trying to get us to harden our hearts toward God little by little. 

But it’s not too late to recognize that we do not live by bread alone, that we owe God worship from the depths of hearts, that God invites us to trust in Him in times of trouble, to repent and believe in the Gospel, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

6th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Tuesday - Persevering in temptation

 
One of my favorite parts of the whole Bible is the book from which our first reading was taken today: the New Testament Letter of St. James, one of the twelve apostles. There are two apostles named James, actually. James, son of a man named Zebedee, who was a fisherman with his brother, the apostle John, and the other James, the son of a man named Alphaeus. And it’s this second James who wrote today’s first reading.

Whereas many of St. Paul’s letters are written to particular groups of Christians in particular towns or regions, like the Corinthians, the Thessalonians, and the Galatians and Ephesians. St. James writes his letter to all the Church. To all of us.

His letter contains a lot of wonderful, practical advice, so many helpful truth for us to keep in mind as we seek to be faithful to Jesus.

Today’s passage comes from the very beginning of his letter. And St. James again gives advice that is helpful for all of us. James today speaks about temptation and trial.

Everyone experiences temptation. Temptation is when we know something is wrong, but there is a part of us that wants to do it anyway. I know it’s wrong to talk back to my parents, but there’s a part of me that is tempted to talk back. There’s a part of me that is tempted to fight someone who insults me. 

Everyone experiences temptation. Teachers, principals, parents, children, the elderly. And that’s why James wants to address this issue. He knows that we are all tempted, from time to time.

Sometimes we even begin to talk ourselves into following that temptation. We tell ourselves: it’s alright if I steal from my friend, he won’t miss it. It’s alright if I ignore my guardian when they tell me to clean my room or put away the video games, I’m having fun after all. It’s alright to treat people inconsiderately, after all, they’ve treated me without kindness, I might as well do it back to them.

But what was the opening line of St. James today: “Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation.” In other words, you grow in holiness, you grow in likeness to Jesus, you allow the life of Jesus to flow in your heart and mind when you resist temptation to do wrong. We become the people God made us to be.

James goes on to explain that when you give into temptation, that’s called sin, and when you sin, when you give in to the temptation to sin, something very sad happens, something in us dies, something good dies. And if you choose sin enough, if you just give in to every temptation, something inside of you might die forever. And that is very sad, because God didn’t create us for sin, he created us for grace, for life, for holiness, for joy.

Now again, every one of us has been tempted, and everyone of us, at some point, has given in to temptation. But it didn’t have to be like, and it doesn’t have to be like that in the future. And that’s part of the goodness of being followers of Jesus: just because we’ve chosen sin and evil in the past, doesn’t mean we have to continue to make bad choices. God forgives us when we ask for forgiveness, he gives us another chance.

With God’s help, may we all come to persevere in temptation, so that we may come to receive the crown of life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

All Saints 2020 - Who we are, where we're going, how to get there

At the tail end of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI promulgated a document called Gaudium et Spes, the pastoral constitution on the Church in the Modern World. It’s purpose was to help the Church understand her position and role and mission in the changing modern world with all of its advancements and strengths and foolishness and errors. For it’s important for the Church to reflect upon the “signs of the times”—a phrase which came from this document—to understand better the concrete details in which we are to live out our Christian mission and identity.

While explaining the need for Christians to bring our faith and live our faith in the many different levels of society in which we find ourselves, Gaudium et Spes is also very realistic in speaking about monumental struggle against the powers of evil and darkness.  History is not just the story of human progress, right? We are opposed by satan, the father of lies, who seeks to corrupt souls and bring ruin to nations and families and the Church. 

Last week, when we celebrated Priesthood Sunday, I asked for and thanked you for your prayers for priests—because there is a real battle involved in working for the good of souls. And if the devil can bring ruin to priests, well, that’s going to have an impact on parishes and families, isn’t it? 

But it’s not just priests, Vatican II says, all Christians are involved in this struggle, this battle. Facing such hostility and wickedness and personal demons, we recognize we need God. We need the Sacraments. We need prayer. We need the guidance of good solid Catholic teaching from our Pope and Bishops. If we are going to survive the battle with our souls intact, we need to make sure that we are drawing as much strength and protection and light from our faith as possible. 

And, this weekend, on this solemn feast, we look to the holy souls, the saints, the men and women and children, from every age, and place, and profession, who “survived the time of great distress," as St John calls this life on earth in our First Reading. The survivors, the spiritual war heroes, those who are glorified by God in eternity because of their Christian faith, hope, and love.

Contemplating these brothers and sisters in Christ encourages us: for if they can do it, so can we. I propose three short lessons on how the saints can be our teachers and guides. 

The first lesson is that the saints live with the destination in mind—they know what is at stake—that there is more to life than this earthly life. In the first reading, we get a glimpse of those saintly victors standing, robed in white in the heavenly throne room. In the presence of God stand this great multitude—people of every nation, race, and tongue, who have put on the wedding garment of Christ, who have been baptized, and have kept their faith amidst all the temptations and persecutions in this life—again, knowing what was at stake: in the end they would stand victorious in the heavenly throne room, or be banished from it for all eternity.

Why do we resist those terrible onslaughts of temptation? Why do we pray to remain faithful in the midst of persecution? Because heaven is at stake. Not only does sin diminish us—weaking our will and clouding our mind—it puts our souls at risk of hell. 

This first lesson is so important—because if we aren’t living with the destination in mind, we are likely to veer off the path—perhaps even forget there is path. There are many souls living this way--as if this earthly life was all that is—eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die, and that’s it. And their souls are in danger. Because if you don’t live as if heaven exists in this life—why would anything be different in eternity?

So the saints remind us to live with the destination always on our minds. 

Secondly, it’s not enough to know the destination—you have to know where you are starting from—where you are, right now, spiritually, and who you are. If you can’t pinpoint yourself on the map—how do you know the direction in which you are to walk? 

And this is the second lesson: the saints understand who they are: they understand that they are human beings, with fallen natures due to sin in need of salvation. They know they need Christ. They know they need the Sacraments. They know they need prayer. 

And, they know that through baptism they have become Children of God. We read in our second reading: "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are." Children of God. Members of God's family. God’s love for us is so profound—we are gathered into his family through the blood of Christ. And the saints are animated by this profound self-knowledge. In whatever hostilities we face, whatever temptations: we do so as Children of God. 

The saints know that they were made for love, by the one who is love. Love animates us, love guides us, love fills us, love protects us. The saints recognize because they are loved they need to become love--loving God and neighbor in the concrete details of their life. 

And that’s the third Lesson. it is not enough just to know who we are and where we are supposed to be going, but we also need to know how to get there. In order to cross a lake, you need a boat. In order to cross a mountain, you need mountain gear. In order to get to heaven, the home of the saints, you need to practice saintliness, blessedness.

This is what today's Gospel passage reminds us of: the Beatitudes are the practices and attitudes that you and I must cultivate if we wish to join the saints. 

We must practice poverty of spirit—recognizing our fundamental need for God in all things. We must mourn for our sins—those lost opportunities to live for God. We must be meek—treating each other with gentleness. We must hunger and thirst for righteousness—seeking to justly give God what belongs to God and to treat our neighbor and the poor with the respect and fairness due to every living human person. We must not just be just but merciful—going beyond what is merely fair and just—but practicing true mercy to become a blessing for others. We must be clean of heart—turning away from anything impure, corrupt, perverted, vile, or selfish, in order to seek God through prayer and worship and divine contemplation. And we must keep the faith amidst persecution—in fact, if we are not living our faith in such away that the world hates us, we might not be really living the faith.

Live with the destination in mind, live with the humble knowledge that you are a sinner, reborn in baptism as a child of God, now called to strive to live the beatitudes in this life, that we may join the ranks of the blessed in eternity.

May the saints help us and preserve us for this our destiny, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

October 2020 - Holy Hour for Priests - The devil hates holy priests

 

While St. Paul was certainly urging all Christians to live in a manner worthy of their calling, those words are certainly on our mind today and this evening as we pray and fast for priests. We pray and fast that they may live in a manner worthy of their calling.

St. Paul makes this urgent plea, because living in a manner worthy of one’s calling is not necessarily easy. It requires real effort for every Christian to practice humility, gentleness, and patience. It requires real effort to resist the temptations to indulge the ego, to lash out in harshness, to make excuses to speak and act impatiently. 

And since this is true for every Christian, it is true for priests. I’m not going to say the Christian life is harder for priests, or that our temptations are more numerous or more intense. But I will say that the devil hates priests and conspires to ruin priests. The devil makes special effort to tempt priests away from their ministry which is so vital to the Church.

Which again, is why, it is so good and important for us to pray for priests, to set aside special times throughout the week and throughout the year, to pray for priests. 

For the devil knows how much damage he can do to the church, to a parish, when he corrupts a priest, or when he wears away at a priest’s fortitude or patience. The devil knows the damage that can be done when a priest becomes discouraged in his vocation. 

And the devil knows just how much damage a good priest can do to the kingdom of evil. The devil once admitted to St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, that if there were three more priests like him in the world, the kingdom of Satan would be finished. So the devil will do everything he can to discourage priests, to tempt priests into not praying as they should, or obey their bishop as they should.

When priests live in a manner worthy of their calling—they become powerful instruments of God—conduits of grace into the lives of the Christian faithful. When they fail to live up to their calling—they can bring devastation, division, and great scandal.

On behalf of the priests of the Church—both living and deceased—I thank all of you for your prayers and fasting. We are supported, encouraged, protected, and fortified by your prayers in ways you cannot imagine. 

For priests who have caused scandal, we pray for healing. For priests who have lost their faith, we pray for renewal. For priests who have preached heresy, we pray that they may be corrected. For priests who are in mortal sin, we pray for their repentance. And for good priests that have touched our lives, who have brought us the comfort and consolation of the Sacraments, inspiration in their preaching, who have been icons of the Lord Jesus for us, we give thanks. We pray for the sanctification of all priests, that they may be a blessing to the Church, that they may deepen in the gifts they need for ministry and become ever-more effective instruments, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

October 2 2020 - Guardian Angels - Ever this day be at my side...

It is part of the deposit of faith that God has assigned a Guardian Angel to each human person, who do everything in their power to protect us against evil and to help us grow in virtue and holiness.

Many of us learned in our youth the prayer to our Guardian Angels: “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here; ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.” Unfortunately many Catholics go throughout their day oblivious to the presence and assistance of their Guardian Angel.

So, today’s liturgical feast of the guardian angels remind us to honor our heavenly helpers, as we should—to develop our friendship with them and our devotion to them.

The more mindful we are of our guardian angels the more we will benefit from their assistance. Our guardian angels help us to be in the right place at the right time because they are always in the right place at the right time, right at our side, just as God has commanded them. We will discover in eternity just how many car accidents, terrible falls, or imminent dangers they have helped us avoid. 

But we aren’t supposed to be just be oblivious to them, taking their assistance for granted. The more we cultivated that friendship with our guardian angels, the more assistance they can grant us 

In times of temptation, when the enemy is attempting to cloud our minds and weaken our wills, our angels help us to remember the sinfulness of a particular action and embolden us to choose what is right. They can really help us break out of many of our sinful habits that we commit so mindlessly. 

They can also help us to be open to the inspirations of the holy spirit, because as we develop our friendship with them, our ears become open to the sound of their voice directing us to accomplish holy things for God, just like they do.

Whenever we have anything difficult to do, a difficult conversation with a fallen away sinner, a difficult duty in our Christian life, facing a grave temptation, we should call upon the assistance of our guardian angels, for God has committed them to assist us and committed us to their care.

Again, calling upon the assistance of the holy angels, should be a common occurrence in our daily lives…it is certainly to our advantage to do so.

May we know their protection, their enlightenment, and be open to the guidance of these great guardians of ours for the glory of God and 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.

1st Sunday of Lent 2020 - "We want God"

Just a few weeks after being elected Pope, Saint John Paul II, a proud son of Poland and former bishop of Krakow, returned to his native land, and stayed for 10 days, June 1 to June 10, 1979. There is a documentary on his visit called “10 Days which changed the World”. Henry Kissinger said that during those 10 days,  John Paul II did for the people of Poland what Winston Churchill did for the people of England during the darkness of the second world war.

World War II essentially began with Poland being conquered by Nazi Germany and the Communist Soviet Union. After the defeat of the Nazi’s, the Communists ruled Poland ruthlessly. Poles were shipped to Gulags, enemies of the Communist Party were arrested and killed. The Atheistic Communist Police State restricted many freedoms, the Church was forced underground, seminaries were closed, priests were killed.

So imagine, the new Polish Pope, who himself was ordained during this period of religious oppression, returns home and begins to speak about God, publicly, openly. Crowds for his masses grew and grew, for the first time in decades, the Poles began to raise their heads and look around. They began to recognize the great strength that comes from culture, tradition, national unity and their Catholic faith. Seeds of hope were planted on that trip, which eventually saw the fall of the Iron Curtain due to the great Polish Solidarity movement that formed after the Pope’s visit.

Well, on the last day of the Pope’s visit, two million Poles gathered in victory square in warsaw. And something happened that day which changed history. As the saintly Pope preached, a few people from one corner of the gathering began to chant three words. And those three words began to spread throughout the crowd, to the point where two million began were those three words in unison. What did they chant? “Russia go home”, “Down with Communism?” No. Nor did they even chant “Long live the Pope”. The people of Poland, two million strong, began to chant “We want God”, “We want God”. Two million people, it went on for 30 seconds, a minute, two minutes. An advisor approached the Pope and suggested that he calm down the crowd, and he said, no way, this is why I’m here. “We want God” for Seventeen minutes, two million people chanting “We want God”

When the iron curtain fell, and the archives of the KGB were opened, a telegram from the Commandant of Warsaw was discovered giving an account of that day. And it ended with the phrase “It’s all over”. The people of Poland had openly and publicly confessed they wanted God, not a totalitarian regime who acted as if they were.

“We want God”, “I want God” is the most ancient, embedded desire in the depths of our souls. We were made by God, we were made for God, we long for God. And yet, rivaling that most profound longing is a counterfeit proposal: “I don’t need God”.

This rivalry, this battle within our souls goes all the way back to the garden of eden, as we heard in our first reading, the ancient temptation which our first parents faced and caved to. Adam and Eve, will you obey God or turn your eyes and face from Him? Will you kneel before the divine will of heaven or put yourselves on the throne? Are you going to let God be God or are you going to play act and pretend that you are God? We know the result, and every human sin in history has been that same choice played over and over.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus, too, facing temptation, during his Lent, his 40 days in the desert. Jesus, will you follow and obey the will of your Heavenly Father or not? Will you, Son of God, be subject to the Father’s will or seek to supplant it?

One of the characteristics not just of communist Russia, but the growing secularism within our own current culture is the claim that we can build a society without God, we can get along just fine without God, we can create through purely human efforts a utopian state without reference or relationship to God.

But, this error, is the same lie told to Adam and Eve, “you don’t need God, you won’t die.” But godlessness, the failure to recognize the dignity of each human person created in the divine image, only leads to doom.

Now, most americans claim to believe in god or a higher power, still, about 80%... down from near unanimous belief in God not too many years ago. And yet, the first reading and the gospel highlight that believing in God is not the same as obeying Him. The perennial, ancient temptation is to refashion God in our own image, according to our own wants and desires. Yes 80% of Americans claim to believe in God, but for many, that’s a god of their fashioning, a god who doesn’t care if you go to church, doesn’t care if you cheat in business or on your spouse or who you sleep with, doesn’t care if you commit infanticide or kill the baby in the mother’s womb o kill your body and mind with excessive alcohol or illegal drugs. The voice that claims that Christian morality is a relic to be discarded is not the voice of God.

And that voice, the voice of the rebel, fallen angel, the voice of the serpent, speaks to all of us, tempts all of us, “you don’t need God” to be happy, “you don’t need to pray”, “you don’t need to obey”.
But, the Lord Jesus show us that we must and can stand firm against temptations, and shows us how. In each of the temptations, in the Gospel today, we see the Lord resisting the temptations of the devil by recalling the words of the Holy Scriptures.

The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” And so on. After 40 days of fasting bread looked good, just like the fruit of that forbidden tree. In the face of temptation, the Lord recalled the scriptures, and applied them to his situation.

In the second temptation, we see that the devil knows the scriptures, too. He’ll quote them out of context for his vile purposes. So, we need to know them better, always reading the scriptures with the mind of the church

This is why we should know our scriptures well, that when we are faced with temptations and moral dilemmas, we may recall the word of God, and allow that word, not the voice of temptation to guide us. To recognize we need God in order to live, and to live well, to live righteously. We need God, to guide us and give us strength.

During Lent we confront our sins and our temptations. We look at the sins into which we’ve fallen over the past year, we repent of them, and seek God’s word to strengthen us against future sin. We read and ponder the word of God. We do well to meditate upon the readings from daily Mass, and the passion narratives from the Gospels to come to appreciate the great victory Christ won for us through his suffering and death.

As we engage in the Lenten works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we are united with Catholics around the world, and Catholics of all ages, who in the face of the oppressive powers of darkness and the temptations of the flesh, cry out to heaven, “we want God” …for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

6th Week of OT 2020 - Tuesday - The remedy for every temptation

Yesterday, we heard from St. James that Christians must keep their faith throughout the inevitable trials of life. When we keep the faith when faced with hostility for the Gospel both from outside and within the Church, when we keep the faith in times of poverty, grief, and illness, God perfects us, James says.

Today James addresses a particular trial universal to all people of all places and times, a trial even faced by our Lord: the trial of temptation. Every trial tests our constancy, but temptation is a particular enticement to sin and to turn away from God, to choose evil rather than good.
“Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.”

James declares that the reward for persevering temptation is blessedness—holiness in this life and the experience of beatitude in eternity. And he also gives us the key to perseverance. Love of God. We resist temptation by loving God more than the object of temptation to the point of suffering for what is good in order to resist the evil.

In the moment of temptation, we must be quick to make an act of love: “God help me to remain faithful to you, whom I love and should love above all things. God, you are more to me than the pleasures of my body, more important than my reputation among men, more important than my bank account, more important than obtaining the position of authority, more important than offering that cutting remark about someone who hurt me.”

Failure to love God was at the heart of original sin. Adam and Eve failed to love God, they failed to heed his command and to trust that God could provide all that they needed to be perfectly happy. So, they grasped at happiness for themselves, allowing their love and trust in God to die in their hearts.

So too, failure to love God is at the heart of every sin. This is why Jesus’ greatest commandment is to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love, in this sense, is the remedy for every temptation.

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,”  saith the Lord, “and my Father will love him and we will come to him. ” Again, in the moment of Temptation, when we make that act of love and trust and surrender, the Lord comes to us with the strength we need to resist the strongest of temptations.

St. Alphonsus says “it is not necessary to acquire riches, nor to obtain dignities, nor to gain a great name. The only thing necessary is to love God.”

In every trial and temptation, may our minds, hearts, and wills turn to God in love, that we may obtain the crown of life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That in every temptation we may love God with our whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength..

For Bishop Perez, as he is installed as Archbishop of Philadelphia tomorrow, for blessings upon his ministry, and for the Holy Spirit’s guidance to direct the appointment of a new Bishop for the Church of Cleveland.

That young people may seek Christ amidst all the perversions and distractions of the world, and for the protection of innocent human life from evil.

For healing for all those suffering disease, especially diseases without known cures, for the people of China and all people afflicted by the Coronavirus, and all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief, and For the Holy Father’s prayer intentions for this month: that the needs of migrants and victims of human trafficking may be heard and acted upon.

For the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Holy mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith, we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

34th Week in OT 2019 - Monday - Daniel's Obedience in Exile

During this final week of the Church’s year, our First Readings are taken from the book of the Prophet Daniel. 

Some of the most famous and arresting stories in the Bible are found in this book, including the three young men in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, the “hand writing on the wall” written by a disembodied hand, and of course, Daniel in the lion’s den.

The book of Daniel is set in Babylon during the sixth century before Christ. The virtuous and pious sage Daniel and his companions find themselves in the court of a capricious foreign king.

We heard today how the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel and carried away some of the children of royal blood to be brought to the king’s palace to be raised as Babylonians.  And among these men of Judah were: Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishaal.  These young men had been brought to the table of the heathen king, but insisted on remaining true to the Lord. 

This reading should remind us of the story of old Eleazar and the mother with her seven sons last week from Maccabees, who when ordered by King Artaxerxes to eat pork, refused to break Jewish dietary law. 

Two and a half millennia later, the Church is in exile similar to that of Daniel.  She is tempted by the heathen food of secularism, many of our children have been captured by the glamour of the world.  Christian marriages and families are in disarray.  Four out of five registered American Catholics disobey the Lord weekly by not going to Sunday Mass.  The culture’s attitudes of forgiveness, prejudice, impurity, profanity, carnality, perversity bombard the Church.  Instead of being a great light to the nations, spiritual and religious mediocrity make the Church like so many secular institutions.

It is no coincidence that these readings at the end of the liturgical year have to do with being tempted to disobey.  They are a reminder that during these end times, we will be bombarded with temptations from the world. 

Knowing this, we, must imitate the faith of Daniel, becoming “intelligent and wise, prudent in judgment” in the ways of the Lord. We must turn ten times the more to seek God, to reject the food of disobedience and draw our strength from the food given to us from heaven, to nourish us, to protect us, to transform our lives. For our readings form Daniel will show us how the Lord works through his faithful ones. How even exile can be a place where God’s power becomes manifest to convert the hearts of the faithless for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Lord, sanctify your bishops and priests, and grant them courage to preach the Gospel in its fullness.

Lord, make the lives of parents examples of faith to inspire their children to seek first your heavenly kingdom.

Lord, bring all those who have fallen away back to the sacraments, help them to repent of their sins and desire the life that can only come from you.

Lord, bring comfort to the sick and suffering, charity and care to the destitute and down-trodden, be present through your church to the miserable.

Lord, welcome into your kingdom all the faithful departed, those whose names are written in our parish necrology, all clergy and religious, and 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.

24th Sunday in OT 2019 - God is at work to find the lost

In the three parables of Luke chapter 15, we hear of three lost objects: A lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son.

What do they have in common? Well, they are lost. The sheep becomes lost because he strays from the flock. The coin is lost in the darkness of a windowless home perhaps due to the negligence of its owner. “My son was lost” the father said, lost in selfishness, lost in his stubbornness, lost to his passions, lost to the consequences of his imprudent actions, lost in a ruptured relationship with his family, with his father.

Now, of course, the first two objects, you can’t really blame for becoming lost. The dumb sheep really doesn’t know any better than to wander off; inanimate coins can’t be blamed for becoming lost. But the son, he made some choices, didn’t he? His alienation from family, his separation from his father’s house, was due to his own free will; he chose to demand his inheritance before the proper time; he chose to squander his inheritance on a life of dissipation.

His prodigality, reminds us of Eve in the garden. No doubt he began to entertain some really bad ideas even before the demand of the inheritance, without thinking of their consequences. He allowed himself to become enraptured in temptation.

And like Adam and Eve, his sin involved a father. Adam and Eve ignored the commands of the Heavenly Father, to not eat from the forbidden tree. And the prodigal son treated his father, as if he was meaningless to him.

The prodigal son, squandering his inheritance in sin, is representative of humanity, become separated from God in sin. And much of humanity still, living their life as if God did not exist. We, like Him, can become so lost, we don’t even realize it.

It makes us think of those who seem lost to addiction. The addict often denies the damage being done in their lives. They see their bodies wasting away and continue to drink; they see the damage they are doing to their families and continue to gamble or overspend; they see the broken relationships and broken dreams and continue to head down the path of self-destruction. The addict minimizes the most important things, like family and health, and over values the high, the pleasure, the indulgence.
So too the prodigal son overvalues his independence, his pleasure, and undervalues the relationship with his father.

This parable is often read as analogy, where again, we are the prodigals. God the father, runs to embrace us with his mercy, an embrace of love and forgiveness and welcome when we have sinned. Yet before the father saw his son form a distance and ran to him, God was also at work mysteriously behind the scenes, in the son’s decision to return home.  It’s really a sort of miracle that he even recognized how lost he was, how close he was to death. For often, addicts push themselves to the brink of destruction. The sinful soul often denies its loss of grace, the danger of hell, and fails to repent.

When I celebrate the sacrament of confession, especially for a soul in mortal sin, it is a joy. We rejoice with the angels of God who rejoice when a sinner repents. And as a priest, it is a joy to be that instrument of mercy. But I also recognize that before that soul walks into the confessional, God was at work to wake them up, to help them to realize their sinful state, to bring about the repentance, which is so often the fruit of the prayers and sufferings of the Church, your prayers, and the sufferings offered up in union with the Lord.

It also makes me think of those with whom we work in the RCIA. Yes, RCIA prepares souls for the Sacraments of New Life, baptism, confirmation, and eucharist. But, God was already at work, behind the scenes, before these souls even show up to that first RCIA session. Again, the fruit of prayers and penances.

Everyone I’ve worked with in the RCIA has always shown up to that first session, because whatever has been going on in their life, perhaps they were protestant, perhaps they were raised with no religion, perhaps they lived a life of dissipation, like the prodigal son, and recognized the damage of their self-destructive behavior, perhaps, like St. Paul describes himself in the second reading, they were a persecutor of Catholics, arrogantly convinced of their own self-righteousness. In all these cases, they always show up to that first session because God has been working, and they have this holy desire for something more.

We are happy to announce that RCIA will be starting in just a few weeks. If you are unbaptized or a member of another faith tradition and are seeking something more, RCIA is for you. God has placed that desire for something more in your heart, and it’s time to make the journey home.

The parable of Son is an invitation for all of us to seek that something more. If you are not a fully initiated Catholic, seek that something more in the RCIA. If you are a Catholic who has fallen into mortal sin, seek that something more in the Sacrament of Confession, the merciful embrace of the Father. If your spiritual life has become arid, dry, seek something more through prayer and service. If you know of someone who has fallen into a life of dissipation, invite them to something more. Be the instrument of God in their life, that helps them home. Pray, pray, pray for those who are lost, that they may be found. They may appear lost to us, but they are not lost to God.

God is at work in each of our lives, urging us to seek that something more, that union with Him through faith, hope, and love, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.