30th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Thursday - Tactics of the Devil

 

We read today from the concluding chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which contains a rousing speech for Christians to arm ourselves for battle against spiritual evil. “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.”

Firstly, what does St. Paul mean by “the tactics of the Devil”. St. Paul no doubt refers here to the schemes and cunning strategies the Devil uses to draw us away from God. The devil tempts through deception, making evil appear desirable, harmless, or even necessary. His purpose is to weaken our faith, undermine our hope, and extinguish our charity. The devil can't make hell beautiful, so he makes enticing the roads that lead there. How so?

What are some common “tactics” the devil uses? One tactic is rationalization. “Everyone does it.” “Nobody will know.” “After what they did, I have a right to treat them this way.” We begin defending the very sins from which Christ wants to free us. Paul therefore tells us to gird ourselves with truth: to examine our choices honestly in the light of God’s word. 

Another tactic is distraction. In our age, constant entertainment, notifications, and scrolling can consume the attention we should give to prayer, our families, and our responsibilities.

Another tactic is division. Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Yet how easily we begin treating other people as enemies to despise. Online arguments can train us in contempt. The devil convinces us that relationships are too damaged to repair, people are too annoying to be around. He inflates our focus on peoples’ faults instead of our call to patience and gentleness.

Then there are the tactics of presumption and despair. Before we sin, he tries to convince us: “It doesn’t matter; God will forgive you.” Afterward, he keeps us contrition: “You have failed too often; God could never forgive you.” Both distort God’s mercy.

The devil tricks us to follow our feelings instead of faith. He wants us enslaved to following our feelings: feelings of anger, woundedness, resentment, pleasure, impatience. But just because we want something, doesn’t mean we should have it, especially when that thing is sinful. If our feelings are leading us away from God, we must resist them. “Resist the devil, and he will take flight” writes St. James.

To combat these tactics, Paul call us to draw our strength from the Lord. We overcome deception by always seeking the Truth. Jesus teaches, “The Truth will set you free”.

We are to arm ourselves with God’s grace in the Sacraments, knowledge and understanding through serious study of God’s Word. We are to examine our consciences, our motives and seek daily conversion from our vices.

St. Paul writes this instruction so that we might be equipped for the inevitable hostility we will face when we seek to do the work of God. Why does the devil oppose the Christian? Because the Christian belongs to Christ and is called to participate in his work of salvation. The devil opposes God, and therefore seeks to undermine what God loves: human beings created in his image and called to eternal communion with him. He cannot overthrow God, but he seeks to draw us away from God through sin. The enemy seeks to discourage our efforts, corrupt our motives, and persuade us to abandon the good we have begun.

So let us take up the weapons and armor God has given us, to remain faithful to him in all things, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Drawing our strength from the Lord and his mighty power, let us offer our prayers for the Church and for the whole world.

For the Church: that, clothed in the armor of God, we may proclaim the Gospel courageously and persevere in truth, holiness, and charity despite opposition. Let us pray to the Lord.

For leaders of nations: that they may resist deception, corruption, and the abuse of power, and faithfully pursue justice and peace. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those deceived by temptation or caught in sinful habits: that God’s word may enlighten their consciences and strengthen them to choose what is good. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our families and parish community: that we may resist distractions that draw us away from prayer and our responsibilities, and give our time generously to God and one another. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who are sick, grieving, persecuted, or discouraged in doing good: that the Lord may comfort and strengthen them in their trials. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory: that, their earthly struggles ended, they may share in Christ’s victory and the joy of eternal life. Let us pray to the Lord.

Almighty God, you are our strength and our salvation. Hear our prayers, protect us from the snares of the Evil One, and help us to persevere faithfully in every good work. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

October 28 2026 - Saints Simon and Jude - Courageous Faith of the Martyrs

 

Fr. Kondik shared with me that when he gave a tour of the church to your classes a few weeks ago, he brought you into the sacristy and showed you all of the different vestments the priest wears for the celebration of mass. He said that many of you were able to name the different colors of the vestments, and explain why we have the different colors, and when the priest wears them.

Last week, when you came to mass as a school, the priest was wearing the color green. The color green is worn during the ordinary days of ordinary time. That color green reminds us of growing things. The green leaves growing on the trees in the springtime, and flourishing in the summer, the green crops that grow in order to become our food and nourish our bodies. During ordinary time, we focus on how we are called to grow as followers of Jesus—how our faith is always supposed to be growing, how our hope for the things God promises is always to be growing, and how our love—becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, words, and actions, is always meant to be growing.

Today, the priest wears, not the color green, but the color red. Red is the color of fire and is the color of blood. Red vestments are worn to remind us of the fire of the Holy Spirit—we wants to stir up the flame of faith among us, and enflame us with enthusiasm and conviction for the work God has for us, especially the building up of the church and the spread of the Christian faith.

Red, being the color of blood, also reminds us of those great saints known as the martyrs, whose blood was shed for Jesus and the Church. The martyrs were killed by those who hate and misunderstand Jesus and his message. There have been martyrs up and down the centuries—Christians who have been killed in Europe and Asia and Africa and even in the Americas—in Canada, Mexico, and the United States—and not just from a long time ago, but in recent years—killed by those who want to see Christians wiped out.

Today, we honor two of the early martyrs, Saints Simon and Jude, who were among the twelve apostles of Jesus. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus into heaven, saints Simon and Jude took the Gospel to Iraq, Libya, Persia, and Turkey.

Legend has it that they had been very successful in sharing the Gospel with the people of Persia, who had a false religion of worshipping the sun and the moon as gods. All of this conversion angered the leaders of that false religion, and they had Simon and Jude arrested and killed.

Thanks to the courage of these apostles, the Christian faith took root in those places, and to this day, there are still Christians in these places, though they are often persecuted.

These dear Apostles and Martyrs remind us to have courage in doing the work of God, especially when we face misunderstanding and hatred from those who do not want to hear the message of Jesus. They remind us to turn away from our pagan idols--of anything we value more than God and Christ Jesus.

May the holy example and heavenly prayers of Saints Simon and Jude help us, to be filled with courage, faith, hope, and love, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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May the example of the holy martyrs whose blood was shed for Christ deepen our conviction for the work of God.

That the Christian faith and love for God and Jesus Christ may take deep root in the hearts of all people.

That our parish and parish school may be places where the Christian faith is shared, cherished and lived out with courage and love.

That the sick, suffering, overburdened, and destitute, may know the help of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

For all who long to see the face of the Father, for all our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

 

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Monday - Healing our crippled natures

The miraculous healing of the crippled woman in the synagogue is a story only found in Luke’s Gospel. While teaching in the synagogue, the Lord notices this woman, hunched over, unable to stand upright. St. Luke tells us that she was afflicted by an unclean spirit for 18 years. Her physical affliction is certainly symbolic of the moral and spiritual state of sinful humanity. We are crippled by sin. Sin cripples our minds, our bodies, and our souls.

Well, the Lord, notices the crippled woman, goes to her, and sets her free from her infirmity. Through this miracle she is immediately able to stand erect and immediately glorifies God.

This healing, like so all the stories of the healing miracles in the Gospels, is symbolic of the Lord’s entire mission. God has compassion for the waywardness that is ours, humanity’s fallen state. We are crippled by sin, unable to walk in the freedom for which we were created—our intellect is darkened, our wills are weakened. And through Christ we are liberated, healed, set free, able to walk upright again, and worship God in spirit and in truth.

St. Paul elaborates on this very point in our reading from his letter to the ephesians today, explaining how what God has done for us in Christ has changed everything. We have been set free, we have been liberated, and so we must strive to be imitators of God, as beloved children, living in love. Jesus did not die for us just so we can return to being crippled again by immorality. We are liberated from sin so that we can be imitators of God.

Upon receiving this great healing, the woman in the Gospel, “stood up straight and glorified God.” So too, our response to being healed by God is to make our lives a sacrificial offering to God; patterned after the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we are to become a fragrant aroma to God, offering to God all of our time, talent, and treasure in self-giving love.

We are to strive for holiness—uprightness—in our conduct, not simply out of fear that we will be punished for breaking divine commandments, but because we have been made to glorify God through the imitation of Christ. “Behave like God” we said in our responsory today. “Behave like God as his very dear children.”

This is our task and our calling in every conversation and interaction, with family, friends, strangers or enemies.  We are to behave like God in our speech, in our decisions, in our attentiveness to those in need.

May we, who were once in darkness, as St. Paul says, live in the light of the Lord, today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 - - - - -  

That the effects of sin may continue to be healed in us, that we may walk in the moral uprightness God desires for his children.

For spiritual healing and mercy upon all those who have fallen away from the Church, those who have fallen to mortal sin, for those who blaspheme, for the conversion of atheists and non-believers, we pray to the Lord.

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased clergy and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom, we pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers. May the grace of Christ Your Son, the Divine Physician, bring healing of our sinfulness, and make us worthy of the kingdom of heaven, through the same Christ our Lord.

 

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - Priesthood Sunday

 

Since 2003, in the United States, the last Sunday of October has been designated Priesthood Sunday, an opportunity for us to reflect upon the role of the ordained priesthood in the life of the Church. 

Pope St. John Paul II, when he was Pope, used to write a letter every year on Holy Thursday to all the priests of the Church.  In the very first of his letters, way back in 1979, he wrote of the thing that unites all priests—a love for Christ and a love for the Church.  Each priest can trace his vocation back to a love for Jesus Christ and the loving desire to serve the Church.

Since I entered seminary back in 2001, I’ve met hundreds and hundreds of priests. Seminary professors, hospital chaplains, prison chaplains, military chaplains, old grandfatherly pastors, serious and focused parish administrators, energetic young parochial vicars. Wise spiritual directors, gifted preachers, compassionate healers, courageous missionaries, priests with profound love for the poor. Priests who were gourmet cooks, world travelers, sports enthusiasts, brewers, bakers, gamers, writers, jokesters, weight lifters, joggers, swimmers, artists, risk takers, and philosophers. Sloppy priests, socially awkward priests, jolly priests, eccentric priests, exhausted priests, and priests counting the days until their retirement.

And I have to concur with Pope St. John Paul. Nearly every priest I’ve met possessed a deep love for Jesus Christ and a love for the Church. And when priests are together, there is an unspoken acknowledgement of that shared love, that is really quite beautiful.

I remember one Wednesday evening, playing cards with a group of priests, and one of them saying, “why don’t more men want this? Priesthood is such a gift.” And one of the brothers said, “they do, they just don’t know it.” A fraternity bound by love for Christ and his Church.

Love. All priests are to be animated by love because all Christians are to be animated by love. In the Gospel this weekend we hear that Love is the greatest commandment. Love for God and love for neighbor aren’t just ideals, but commandments.

The most joyful people I’ve ever met, priests, religious, married, and single people, have been those who have dedicated their lives to loving God and loving others with as much selflessness as they could muster. It’s no coincidence that our culture which glamorizes selfishness and self-absorption is also so joyless; because joylessness and selfishness go hand-in-hand. Tracing joylessness to the source, you always find some lack of love for the true and living God.

In the second reading St. Paul praises the Thessolonians for turning away from their pagan idols. Why because those idols do not bring joy, they do not give life. This is why it  should be a regular and routine spiritual practice for Christians to examine our lives for idols—to pray “Lord, show what I value more than you. And help me to be rid of it.” When we have the courage to utter that prayer, and follow where God leads in answer to that prayer, it can change everything, your whole life.

In that 1979 letter to priests, the holy Father told priests that every day priests must be converted anew.  Priests struggle with sin and selfishness too. And so the Holy Father’s reminder is a good reminder. Many a priest goes to bed each night reflecting on how he could have loved Christ more. Newly beatified Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “If I were asked if I had my life to live over again, would I live the priesthood as I have? The answer is: ‘No, I would try to love Christ more.” 

And again, this isn’t just a lesson for priests. True Love, the love that Jesus commands in the Gospel, seeks to love more deeply. And so love always demands conversion, constant conversion, to love more deeply than I did yesterday. But that daily conversion requires daily self-scrutiny. Not scrupulosity, but honesty scrutiny. “What are the ways, Lord, that you are calling me to love more deeply? What are those idols from which I must turn away?”

In that 1979 letter, Pope John Paul also addressed a growing concern about the number of priests, and how there are some communities of Catholics throughout the world that do not have access to Holy Communion regularly because they don’t have priests.  These communities meet to pray on Sundays, but they can’t celebrate the Eucharist and can’t receive Holy Communion because they don’t have a priest, they do not have regular access to the Sacrament of Confession, and so they have to carry the guilt of their sins. “Such places are not lacking in the world.”

Which is why the Church has a duty to pray for and to encourage young men to discern the call to the priesthood. Many of our seminarians say that it was a priest who first asked them if they ever thought about becoming a priest. That was the case in my life. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, never mentioned. Not once. Which is why they were pretty surprised when I told them I was entering seminary. But it’s not just the job of priests. Dear ones, please “have the talk” with your sons, grandsons, and nephews. Tell them that they should consider it, because the priesthood is a good life, a life of service to God.

After communion today, seminarian John Scantling will share the story of how he is answering God’s call to the priesthood. If you are a young man and his story inspires you to wonder if God is calling you to the priesthood, please let me know, we can begin a conversation.

But for the rest of us, consider how God is calling you to answer the call to serve the mission of the Church and to love more deeply, for love is our deepest calling and our deepest fulfillment for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

October 23 2026 - St. John of Capistrano - The Soldier Priest

 

After a thorough education in law, at the age of 26, John of Capistrano became governor of the Italian city of Perugia.  During his administration, war swept through his region of Italy, John went to his enemies to broker peace, but his enemies captured him and threw him into prison.  But there, something remarkable happened.  He experienced a deep conversion to Christ.

As a result of his conversion, around the year 1406, John entered religious life as a member of the Franciscan Order, itself already 200 years old. 

After his conversion, Friar John became one of the greatest preachers of the 15^th century.  When he was not preaching, John was writing tracts against heresy of every kind.

In 1453, Constantinople, the capital of Christian Byzantium, fell to the Ottoman Turks. They slaughtered thousands of Christians and desecrated the holy places.

That following year Pope Callixtus III sent John, who was already 70 years old, to rally the people to repel the Muslim Turkish invasion. St. John went through the towns and villages of Bavaria and Austria, then Hungary, raising a mostly peasant army of 30,000. These forces joined at Belgrade with those of János Hunyadi, the great Hungarian general known as the “Scourge of the Turks.” With an army of 60,000, they confronted a Turk army of over 100,000.

The Turks were overwhelmed by the charge and scattered.  So, not only did St. John successfully raise an army of troops to defend Europe, he led troops in battle. St. John became known as “The Soldier Priest”, and is now invoked as the patron saint of military chaplains.

As we honor St. John, we recognize that war brings terrible suffering, and we pray for those who must protect others amid its dangers. We pray especially for military chaplains, who bring the sacraments, spiritual counsel, and the consolation of Christ to those serving far from home. Their ministry reminds us that even amid conflict, we remain bound by God’s commandments and the duty to respect human dignity.

For our own spiritual lives, consider the courage John first needed in that prison cell: the courage to repent, to surrender his ambitions, and to let Christ give his life a new direction. Before he rallied others, he himself had to answer the Lord’s call.

That is a courage each of us needs. We live in an age where many have great boldness in defending their opinions on the internet, yet lack real courage to admit sin. We may be willing to defend our opinions vigorously, yet hesitate to admit our sins.

The Christian life requires each of us to seek personal conversion by resisting temptation, defending the mistreated, speaking the truth with charity, and giving of ourselves when it is costly.

John’s willingness to rally and lead an army at the age of 70 certainly challenges our excuses. Whatever our age or circumstances, God still gives us opportunities to serve him and our neighbor.

Through St. John’s intercession, may we have courage to repent, generosity to serve, and perseverance in doing good. May the Lord protect those in danger, strengthen those who minister to them, and guide all nations into the ways of justice and peace—for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

For unity in the Church, faithfulness to right teaching, detachment from worldly vices, generosity in the works of charity, and courage in the Church’s evangelizing mission.

Through the intercession of St. John Capistrano, that the imprisoned may come, like him, to conversion to Christ and seek a life of holiness.

For all victims of war, for peace in the Holy Land and all places threatened by violence. May God come to the assistance of the communities and families devastated by the horrors of terrorism and war; and may world leaders work together for peace.

For all military chaplains and for the safety of all those who serve and protect us.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s consolation, healing, and grace.

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.

 

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - Give to God what belongs to God

 

The Lord was born into a very contentious political situation 2000 years ago. Much like our own day Israel was not politically unified--there were several political factions in our Lord’s day with whom he interacted.  One of the groups was known as the Zealots.  Today, if someone called you a zealot it would mean that they possess a great passion for some subject or issue.  Well, the Zealots of the 1^st century were passionate about their national and religious identity. They wanted to overthrow the Roman occupying force; for the Zealots saw the Romans as idolatrous and immoral tyrants who needed to be run out of Israel, for God had given the holy land to the Jewish people, not to the Romans. There are a few modern Jewish political parties who feel the same—that non-Jews have no place in Israel.

Politically opposite the Zealots, were a group of Jews called the Herodians—the party of King Herod. Herod was part-jew and part-pagan. He wasn’t very religious, and in many ways, he was the puppet of the roman emperor.  Rome said jump and Herod asked, “how high?” The Herodians would do anything to stay in power, even to betray their religion and people.

A third group we hear a lot about in the Gospels were the Pharisees known for their strict, scrupulous observances. It was the Pharisees who were really running the religious show in 1^st century Judea. Politically, the Pharisees were willing to go along with whoever was in power as long as they retained the freedom to practice their religion as they saw it. For many of the Pharisees, religion was a façade. They wanted religious authority for the purpose of control and financial gain.

In the Gospel today, we heard of two of these groups teaming up against Jesus—how the Pharisees went off and plotted with the Herodians how they might entrap Jesus. Certainly, a strange alliance—the Pharisees, the religious purists, joining up with the morally and religious compromised Herodians. Why would they do such a thing?

Well, it is clear from the Gospels why. The Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat: he exposed their lies and undermined their power. Jesus demonstrated that the Pharisees were more concerned with appearances and power than actual holiness and righteous leadership. The Lord publicly accused the Pharisees of misleading God’s people and lording religious authority by imposing heavy religious burdens foreign, even antithetical, to God’s commands.

Today’s Gospel is one such instance of Jesus exposing their hypocrisy. Even, the first word out of their mouth is hypocritical. They call him Teacher. The intention of being taught. They didn’t come to him to learn, but to trap. And their trap involved what they thought was a trick question. “Tell us, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"

Now, there were a number of taxes Jews had to pay.  There was the temple tax for the support of the temple and the priests of the temple. There was the census tax: a tax most Jews resented paying, as it financed the roman occupying force. St. Matthew, remember, before he followed Christ, was a tax collector, a jew who collected the census tax on behalf of Rome.

So, you can see the consequences of Jesus’ answer.  If he said no, don’t pay the tax, the Herodians would report him to the Roman authorities for encouraging insurrection. If he said yes, pay the tax with the roman coin, the Zealots would condemn him for being an enemy of the nation of Israel, and the Pharisees would condemn him for a being an idolater, for Caesar claimed to be an incarnate deity. It appeared to be the perfect trap.

But, then Jesus the teacher gives his answer.  And the Lord’s answer is how we Christians understand our relationship to whatever civic authority is over us.

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God”.  It’s an amazing answer, demonstrating that religious truth runs deeper than political alliances. The Lord’s teaching here demands that each individual be honest about what we really owe to God and what we really owe to the state.

Do we owe religious worship and unquestioning obedience to civil authorities or to politicians or political parties? No. Christians are to be neither Zealots, Pharisees, or Herodians. We aren’t to overthrow the government and make the Pope king, as the Zealots might propose. We aren’t to compromise our faith for political expediency like the Herodians. Nor are we to withdraw totally from worldly affairs like the Pharisees, lest we wake up one day with our freedoms revoked by fascists and tyrants.

Give to the state what it deserves, and give to God what God deserves. Give to Uncle Sam his due, as my grandfather used to say, for providing for our domestic security, paving the roads and other authentic civil needs. If we are going to benefit from society, we need to contribute to society. Give to Caesar as long as Caesar does not demand we violate objective morality or right religion. We even have a duty to keep Uncle Sam accountable for the legitimate common good, and limiting government which has the tendency to overreach it’s legitimate purview.

Pope Francis said it well: “We need to participate (in civic life) for the common good…Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves."

In a few weeks, we will again be tasked with our civic duty to vote. In voting, as in all things, we are to be guided by our Catholic faith. Most of the time, no one politician embodies all of our Catholic values, and so we have to do our best to vote for candidates and issues most in line with supporting the moral teachings of our Catholic faith.  May God help us and bless our civic life.

Today’s Gospel is not just about politics though, or understanding the forces which conspired to put our Lord to death. The Gospel urges us in our individual duty to seek to give God the best that we possibly can in all dimensions of our life. We are to give God faithfulness in our civic life, yes, but also in cultivating our minds, our intellect, our creativity. We are to give God our best effort in growing in prayer and holiness, and in understanding our Catholic faith. We are to give God our best effort in welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, instructing the ignorant, bridling our bodily passions and fighting against temptation.

“Give to God what belongs to God” are challenging words leading us to ask ourselves, “Am I giving to God everything God deserves and asks for? Am I forgiving as God asks of me, am I patient as God asks of me, am I self-controlled, generous, gentle, disciplined, attentive to the needs of my family, the poor, my parish.”

God has asked that we love him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to humbly admit and confess when we fail to do so? How’s that going? The Lord certainly challenged the Pharisees, but he also challenges each of us. His words cut through our illusions and delusions. He desires hearts, not compromised with worldly interests and alliances, but hearts on fire with holiness and love for God and neighbor.

May the Holy Spirit help each of us to “to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to give to God what belongs to God” that our land and our families might flourish, that our souls might flourish unto eternity, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

October 16 2026 - St. Margaret Mary - Love of the Sacred Heart

 

Throughout the ages, some of the Saints have been gifted by God with visions or visitations from heaven. St. Paul is of course had a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. Legend has it the Lord also appeared to St. Peter before his own martyrdom. The book of Acts says that St. Stephen the Deacon had a vision of Jesus right before his martyrdom, and St. John the Evangelist of course, writes of his many visions in the Book of Revelation.

St. Francis famously had a vision of Jesus speaking to him from the cross in the chapel of San Damiano telling him to rebuild his Church. St. Clare, was given visions of the Holy Mass when she was bed-ridden due to infirmity.

In 1677, St. Margaret Mary, a Visitation nun in France, had a vision of the Lord revealing to her, His Sacred Heart. In her diary, she wrote “I could plainly see His heart, pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold His heart which so loved humanity. Then He seemed to take my very heart from me and place it there in His heart. In return He gave me back part of His flaming heart.”

Our Lord charged St. Margaret Mary with making known the powerful devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which today has spread throughout the world.

This parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has a special connection to St. Margaret Mary. This parish was formed from a merger of two former parishes, St. Gregory the Great, and the parish of St. Margaret Mary. Many, former St. Margaret Mary parishioners now have membership in Sacred Heart. Each Friday, we pray the Sacred Heart Devotion, calling to mind, the vision, the message, and also the promises made to St. Margaret Mary.

“Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love.”

The Sacred Heart is a symbol of God’s love for us and a model for how we are called to love God in return and to love our neighbor.

Consider the love revealed in his Heart: a love that gives generously, perseveres through rejection, and pours itself out even for those who offer nothing in return. This is how Jesus loves us, and this is how he teaches us to love.

We love God in return by giving him our time and attention, obeying his commandments, and seeking his will even when it requires sacrifice. We are to love our neighbor by allowing Christ’s love to shape our response to the people he places before us—with patience, mercy, and generosity.

For a parish bearing his name, this is our daily calling: to make the love of the Sacred Heart visible through our worship, our service, our evangelization, and our care for one another.

Through St. Margaret Mary’s intercession, may we receive his love gratefully, return it faithfully, and share it generously. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto thine for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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In reparation to the Sacred Heart for all sin and all blasphemy, let us pray to the Lord.

For an increase in faith, hope, and love for all Christians.

That our children and young people may be kept safe from the poisonous errors of our culture, and that their families may be places where the faith is practiced and cherished.

For all those whose love for God has grown cold, who have fallen into moral laxity or despair of the mercy of God, for all souls in danger of hell, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

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

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for all of the deceased parishioners of former St. Margaret Mary parish.

Gracious Father, hear our prayers, and through the infinite mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, grant us what we truly need, through the same Christ our Lord.