July 1 2026 - St. Junipero Serra - Siempre Adelante

 

Today we honor the Franciscan saint, St. Junipero Serra. Over the past 800 years, countless men and women have lived out the Gospel by following the patterns of life left by St. Francis and St. Clare, that radical, practical, and deeply evangelical school of holiness.

Hundreds from among the three orders, that is the friars minor, the poor clares, and the secular Franciscans have been canonized or beatified—probably saints and blessed than than any other of the consecrated religious orders. Eleven Friars Minor were canonized by Pope Francis, including the saint we honor today, St. Junipero Serra.

The Franciscan way of life is evangelical in the strict sense: it is ordered toward living the Evangelium, the Gospel, as directly and visibly as possible. It is evangelical in the missionary sense as well. The Franciscan way of life is missionary because it is not content simply to cultivate personal holiness in a vacuum or even community life; it presses outward. St. Francis understood the Gospel as something to be lived, preached, embodied, and carried to others.

The Saint we honor today is one of the great Franciscan missionaries, who exemplifies the Franciscan ideals of poverty, perseverance, evangelical zeal, and sacrificial love.

Serra lived out that classic Franciscan impulse: to go out with the Gospel. He left the security of an academic career in Mallorca, traveled to across the Atlantic, and eventually labored in California as an aging friar with chronic physical ailments.

Serra’s motto, highlighted by Pope Francis at his canonization, was siempre adelante—“always forward.” For the Franciscan ideal is not comfort, status, or self-preservation, but availability for Christ’s mission. Serra’s missionary life was marked by travel, hardship, limited resources, and physical suffering. But he missioned, “siempre Adelante”—always forward, fueled by the zeal for souls and love of Christ.

He went to the margins, as Pope Francis would say, from familiar society into difficult, dangerous, and culturally unfamiliar territory—to the very margins of this continent, to its western shores, and his missionary life was not lived among the rich and powerful, or even the reasonably comfortable, but among frontier communities, soldiers, settlers, and Native peoples.

“Siempre Adelante”—“always forward” a good model for us to consider and interiorize. How is God seeking to lead us forward in living out in the Gospel in the world, bringing the Gospel to souls, bringing the Gospel to the margins, to leave behind the comfortable and embrace the sacrificial for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that like St. Junipero Serra, we may be willing to leave our comfort zones to spread the Gospel and serve those in need.  

For vocations to the priesthood and religious life, that through the intercession of St. Junipero Serra, more men and women may answer God's call to serve. And for those discerning their vocation, that they may have the courage to follow God's will, even when it leads them to unexpected places.

For educators and catechists, that they may follow St. Junipero Serra's example in dedicating their lives to teaching and forming others in the faith,  and for our parish community, that we may cultivate the virtues of humility and perseverance demonstrated by this great saint in our own spiritual journeys. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the impoverished, the lonely, those suffering from mental illness, those most in need, and those near death: may God, through the loving mercy of the Precious Blood of Jesus, be close to them in their trials.

And during this month of July, we pray that the Precious Blood of Jesus may be the salvation of all those who have died, for the deceased members of our families friends, and parish and all of the souls in purgatory. For the dear Franciscans who have labored and inspired us in the diocese of Cleveland.

Loving Father, inspired by the life and example of St. Junipero Serra, grant us the courage to follow your Son wherever He may lead us, the humility to serve others selflessly, and the perseverance to continue your work even in the face of challenges. May we, like St. Junipero, be instruments of your love and mercy in the world through Christ our Lord.

 

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Die to Sin and Living for God

 

For a few Sundays now, following Corpus Christi Sunday, the priest has been wearing the liturgical color, green. We’ve really had the whole spectrum of liturgical colors these past few months; we’ve had the purple of Lent, rose on Laetare Sunday, the white of Easter, the Red of Pentecost. I wore gold for Corpus Christi, black for funerals. And now we’re back to liturgical green.

I’ve always been partial to green. For one, it was the color of my first car, a hunter green 1992 firebird. Green is also a color of my childhood: I spent a lot of time as a kid in the woods, building forts and climbing trees.. Also, in high school and college, during the summers I would work in the nurseries, taking plant clippings. For two whole summers, for 8 hours a day, I simply watered plants and trees—if I didn’t see the color green, I wasn’t doing my job. Green is the color of new life. And liturgically, too, green is the color not simply of plants and trees, but the new life and growth which is to occur in our souls during Ordinary time (this season after Pentecost.)

In fact, though we Roman Catholics wear red on Pentecost, the Eastern Catholics wear green on Pentecost—to symbolize the new life of the Holy Spirit—the new life the Spirit brings to the Church and to the Christian soul.

Spiritual growth is one of our goals for Ordinary Time. In the spiritual life we are either growing or rotting, there is no in between. We are either growing toward God or falling away. We are either growing in our prayer life or diminishing, growing in self-sacrifice or tending toward selfishness, becoming more patient or less patient, increasing in virtue or becoming hardened in vice.

The Green of Ordinary Time is a reminder that God wants growth for his children, constant growth. He wants us always learning, always developing, always increasing in grace, always producing spiritual fruit, maturing spiritually, improving in the use of the many gifts he gives us.

In our Second Reading this weekend St Paul provides us with two important laws of spiritual growth.

The first law of spiritual growth sounds paradoxical. In order to grow, we must die, to sin, that is. “You too must think of yourselves as dead to sin,” St. Paul says.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ as each of us profess to be means turning away from sin. For sin, is poison to the soul. The Lord died to save us from sin and death. So the Christian is constantly seeking to eradicate sin, from our life-- rooting out the tendrils of selfishness which choke out the life of God in us.

When we making little compromises with the commandments, when we give-in to sinful inclinations and habits, these choices suffocate the life of Christ in us—in our souls, families, and parish. We will never have the peace and joy that God wants for us when we accommodate sin.

Rather, as St. Paul tells us, we are to “die to sin”. Now, dying to sin is hard - because temptation is tempting. Because we are fallen, we have this magnetic attraction, at times, to what is bad for us—for our relationship with God. But, the heart of Jesus burns with ardent desire to purify us from our sins. When we make the effort to resist sin, when we pray for his help in the moment of temptation, God comes to our aid.

There is a story of from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The great saint was being overwhelmed with temptations to break his vow of chastity. He would pray, but the temptations just got worse. He knew something had to be done to wake himself out of this cycle of temptation. So on a particularly cold winter’s day, he stripped down naked and threw himself into a ditch full of snow. It was a shock to his system, and it was a way of showing the devil that he is willing to suffer in order to remain faithful to God.

Popular culture depicts St. Francis as having a special love of God’s creation, and he did. But that creation includes the human soul, the most important part of creation. And so the man was serious about uprooting sin in himself and preaching against sin so that God’s life might flourish.

If there is a particular sin which keeps lingering in your life, like St. Francis and each of the saints, get serious about it. Make frequent use of the sacrament of confession, undertake some fasting, pray daily for God’s help. Effort in overcoming sin will be rewarded by God and will result in Spiritual growth and its fruits.

So St. Paul tells us, firstly, we must die to sin. The second law of Spiritual Growth, he says, is that we must live for God. Paul writes, “you too must think of yourselves… as living for God in Christ Jesus.”

Dying to sin, bridling our self-centered tendencies, is necessary for spiritual growth, but spiritual growth also involves become like God in charity. We are to engage in works of Charity, such as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The saints give us countless examples of what living for God—the life of charity—looks like. July 1 this week is the feast of St. Junipero Serra. Listen to his heroic charity.

During the time when our founding Fathers were fighting for our nation’s independence, the Franciscan Priest Father Junipero Serra was traveling up the coast of present-day California, establishing missions—outposts to evangelize the indigenous peoples.

Junipero Serra wasn’t born a Franciscan of course, he was originally a university professor in Spain and a very learned man. But he detected the Holy Spirit urging him to grow. So he gave up his university career to travel to California to teach the Native Americans about the Lord Jesus. And mind you, this was a time in our history when the civil authorities were not friendly to the humanity and rights of the indigenous people. St. Junipero, the good priest stood up for these people, helped them to improve their spiritual and material well-being, while boldly fighting against their mistreatment.

Those journeys up and down the coast of California must have been grueling for him. For, when his body was exhumed for the purpose of the canonization, it was shown that St. Junipero Serra had cancer of the legs. Yet, he traveled, he labored, out of love for God’s people, fueled by zeal for souls—he lived for God, as St. Paul urges us to do, and was transformed into love.

How is God calling you to live more fully for him—bringing the Gospel to those ignorant of it, providing material assistance to those genuinely in need of it, or emotional support for the lonely?

We might not be called to travel halfway across the globe to engage in missionary work, but each of us are called to help others know Christ, likely at the cost of some suffering on our part, to die to sin and to live, not just for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us. This week, perhaps every day, take time, intentionally each day: ask the Lord what is the growth you want for me at this point me in my life? What is the work you have for me? What are the sins you are calling me to die to today, who am I to share your goodness with today, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

June 24 2026 - Nativity of St. John the Baptist - God raises up heralds

St. John the Baptist has always held a place of very high esteem in the Church—this feast of his birth dates all the way back to the 4^th century. We praise John because the Lord himself praised John when he said, “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John”. 

John is rightly honored for the great role he played in salvation history. In faithfulness to his calling by God, John took the role of the precursor, the herald. His was the lone voice in the wilderness pointing others to Christ at the Lord’s first coming.

John is also honored because of his personal holiness. In a sense, he was a saint already in the womb of his mother. Still in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, John was able to detect in some mysterious way the presence of Jesus in the womb of the Blessed Mother. John leaped for joy in the presence of God made flesh, dancing like David before the ark.

John’s holiness was evident in his wisdom. The Gospels record an utterance of John giving us the very key to holiness itself: “I must decrease so that Christ may increase”. To become holy is to decrease our egos, our selfishness, and allow Christ to grow in us, in our choices, actions, behaviors, attitudes, words and thoughts.

John’s holiness of course is also evident in his martyrdom, in his willingness to die for the Truth when he spoke out about the adulterous affair of King Herod and his brother’s wife. Blessed are those persecuted for the sake of righteousness.

Today, as we celebrate John’s birth, we do well to recall that as God chose and formed John to herald Christ and witness to Truth, he calls and forms us for this purpose as well. The Collect prayer today said, God raised up Saint John the Baptist to make ready a nation fit for Christ.” We, too, are called to help souls become ready for Christ—through our words, our example, our prayers.

If there is a soul of a family member or neighbor who seems particularly resistant to Christ, we should certainly be praying and fasting for them. But their resistance is also a reminder to us, that we must decrease, so that Christ may increase, in the hope that they may meet Christ in us—in our words, in our acts of charity, in our Christian disposition.

May our celebration of St. John’s birth help us to become the heralds of Christ God made use to be, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That Pope Leo and all the clergy may witness to the truth of the Gospel faithfully, courageously, and compassionately.

For the protection of the unborn, and that people of goodwill will work together to enshrine the protection of the unborn in law and in the hearts of all.

For the conversion of those who do not believe in God, for Catholics who have left the Church, those guilty of heresy or schism, and for a return to the sacraments of those who have fallen into serious sin.

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster,  those who suffer from war, violence, and terrorism, all victims of abuse, especially children, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for those who struggle to live the call of Christian chastity, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom, for the repose of the soul of St. Joseph Father Larry Tosco, 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.

 

12th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Tuesday - Instruments of Glory and salvation

 

During the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah, 8 centuries before Christ, the Assyrian Empire, under King Sennacherib, was expanding aggressively. After laying siege to numerous cities and conquering a host of nations, Sennacherib turned his attention to Judah, and to the city of God, Jerusalem itself.

We read today how the Assyrian King wrote a letter to the Jewish King, Hezekiah, a letter whose aim was to intimidate and to undermine his trust in God.  And the Assyrian King’s letter was aimed at creating fear and distrust: ”Do not trust your God, who says he will save you…You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved?”…

This is how the enemy of God often works. The enemy seeks to undermine our trust in God, by creating fear, panic, despair, and discouragement.

But Hezekiah gives us a beautiful example of what people of faith are meant to do. Hezekiah takes this letter, and he goes up to the temple of the Lord, and he spreads the letter out before God. Hezekiah brings the actual problem into the presence of God and seeks, not just deliverance, but God’s glory.

Lord, look at this. “The kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations” and now they threaten your people. “You, Lord, have the power to save. Save us…that the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are God.”

What a beautiful model of prayer for us. Lord, here are the facts, here are the threats to my family, here are the challenges we face as a parish in our evangelizing mission. Lord, you have the power to save us. Save us, that unbelievers may know that you are God.

Notice, Hezekiah does not simply pray, “Lord, make this problem go away,” but “Lord, save us in such a way that your glory is made known.”

Of course, when we are afraid, when we are burdened, when we are overwhelmed, we should ask God for help. The Lord wants us to bring our fears and challenges to him. But Christian prayer does not stop at self-preservation. Christian prayer asks: Lord, how can even this become an occasion for your glory? How can this trial become a witness? How can this burden be instrumental in the salvation of souls?

When our challenges are surrendered to God in this way, they become a participation in the saving cross of Christ.  In this way, our crosses become ordered to the highest good, to the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Trusting in the Lord who hears the prayers of his people, let us bring before him the needs of the Church and the world.

For the Church: that in times of trial, opposition, and discouragement, she may place her trust in the Lord and bear faithful witness to his saving power, and for our parish: that the challenges we face may become occasions for deeper prayer, renewed mission, and greater witness to the glory of God.

For the leaders of nations: that they may work for justice, peace, and the protection of the vulnerable.

That our young people on summer vacation 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 those who do not yet know the Lord, or who have lost trust in him: that through the faith, perseverance, and charity of Christians, they may come to know that the Lord alone is God.

For all who are burdened by fear, anxiety, illness, family conflict, or financial hardship: that they may bring their trials before the Lord and receive his strength and peace.

For the faithful departed: that those who carried the cross with Christ in this life may share forever in the glory of his resurrection.

O Lord, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. Hear the prayers we place before you today. Save us from fear and discouragement, strengthen us in faith, and make even our trials serve your glory and the salvation of souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

June 22 2026 - St. Thomas More - A Man for All Seasons

 

One of my favorite films of all times is “A Man for All Seasons” the historical drama about St. Thomas More who is honored today along with the English martyr, bishop John Fisher. The film does an amazing job presenting the political and religious tension in England when King Henry VIII declared himself head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and amazingly captures the wit, intelligence, courage, and holiness of St. Thomas More, played by Paul Scolfield, who also portrayed the saint in the original stage version by Robert Bolt.

If you have a few free hours, check out “A Man for All Seasons”. And the title of the film and play raises an interesting question? Why does the author refer to St. Thomas More as “a man for all seasons”? Thomas More despite tremendous pressure from his friends, from his family, probably from a number of clergy, from the king of england, not to mention the threat of torture and martyrdom, remained true to his principals and Catholic religious convictions throughout all the seasons of his life.

Whenever I watch the film adaptation, I am so deeply impressed by Thomas More’s spiritual leadership in his family and community. He is a loving husband, a provident father, a fair employer, a lawyer who does not bend to corruption and bribes, a sound counselor, a learned man who saw through the empty philosophies of his day, whose convictions informed his decisions. He is depicted as “man fully alive” as Irenaeus would say, a man whose mind has been shaped and fortified by reason and the Gospel, a man whose moral compass is firmly set on Christ, a man who stands for Truth even when bishops and priests cower in fear. Every time I watch this movie, I think, that’s the sort of man I want to be.

The title “man for all seasons” also, no doubt, is a reference to the King James Bible translation of 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 2. St. Paul urges, the bishop Timothy “to proclaim the Word of God in season and out of season”…” convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.”

The Christian is to preach and teach the truth in every season, when the world is farily tolerant of us, and when the world hates us, when you are being pressured by the king, and when you are teaching your children, our your flock. The Christian is not to alter or water down, or ignore the Truth of Christ, and we are to witness to it, and live it out publicly, in every season.

That’s what makes St. Thomas more a man,  not just for 16th century England, but a man for all seasons of history. His virtues are for every age. His stance for Truth is needed in every age. We need Thomas More’s in every season. We need Thomas More’s now. We need Catholics who will remain true to their faith despite the pressures of the world, their families, their peers. Catholics of rightly formed conscience.

May St. Thomas More inspire us by his life and assist us with his prayers, especially when it is our time to stand for Truth, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

That our bishops and clergy may be zealous in preaching and teaching the truth of the Gospel.

That through the intercession of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, people of faith may remain vigilant in defending religious liberty and preaching the Gospel courageously.

That our young people on summer vacation 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 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, and for X 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.

 

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - St. John Fisher, St. Thomas More & Public Witness

 

Tomorrow, June 22, on the liturgical calendar is the feast day of two of my favorite saints, two English saints, the martyrs St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More.

You may be familiar with the story which brought these two holy men to their martyrdom. King Henry VIII desired to divorce his wife because she was not bearing him a son.  At the time Henry was a Catholic; in fact, Catholicism had flourished in England for over a thousand years. Henry had himself written theological texts defending Catholicism against the Protestant Errors of Martin Luther.

But, the desire for an heir, a male son, became an all-encompassing pursuit for the King. Wanting to marry another woman who might bear a son, the King asked the Pope for an annulment. But, after a thorough examination, the Pope decreed that marriage was valid, there were no grounds for an annulment.

The King didn’t like being told what he could and couldn’t do, so King Henry made a bold claim. He claimed that it was not the Pope, but himself who was the head of the Church in England, and then granted himself the annulment.

In order to substantiate his authority, the King then forced all of the bishops and all of the government to swear publicly that the King was the head of the Church in England.

Now, you’d think that this heretical, schismatic claim would be met with clear denunciation on the part of England’s bishops; but no. And even though, it is clear from Scripture and the uninterrupted teaching of the Church, that our Blessed Lord while he still walked the earth made St. Peter and his successors the head of the Church, all save one of the Bishops folded to political pressure, and spoke the words the king wished to hear. One lone bishop witnessed to the true faith with his life, that bishop was St. John Fisher, a truly courageous man.

Thomas More had been chancellor of the kingdom, the highest office in the land next to the throne. Thomas, in fact, was a very good friend of the King and a close confidant. As a high ranking official, he too was being pressured to acknowledge the king’s claim to have this authority to redefine Christianity. But Thomas was a man of true faith. He resigned his office and stood up to the king. For this, like the bishop John Fisher, Thomas More was imprisoned and eventually beheaded.

Bishop John Fisher and the statesman Thomas More were faithful even when numerous bishops, priests, and government officials pressured them to contradict their faith. In fact, Thomas had been pressured by members of his own family. They were Catholic, they knew the faith, they tried to convince Thomas just take the oath publicly, while keeping the true faith in your heart. But he said, no, what is an oath but words of the heart spoken publicly, words spoken to God.

These two holy martyrs exemplify the teaching of Our Lord in the Gospel today, “The words that I’ve spoken in private, speak in the light, those words that you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”

Our faith, what we have been taught in our catechetical formation, is to be lived out publicly in the world. The martyrs, St. John Fisher, St. Thomas More, and so many martyrs and saints show us this. Christianity is not just about believing a set of principles in here—in the private recesses of our minds and hearts. The teachings of Christ are to be lived out, proclaimed, and shared in the world.

 We live in a very strange age. In some parts of the world, Christians courageously die for the faith, and in many parts of our own diocese, many would rather die than practice it!

Now, many of us will not likely be in a position where we face public martyrdom, but for all of us, what we do publicly, how we act, how we treat people in public, these things matter. Someone once said, you can tell a lot about what is in a person’s heart by how they treat a waitress, a cashier, a salesperson. We are to reflect the goodness of God, and the love of God, in public, to strangers, to our spouses, to our parents, to our children.  How we act at a restaurant, at the supermarket, in the parking lot, these things matter.

Also, though, we must be faithful in those opportunities the Lord gives us to share our Catholic faith. A St. Clare parishioner once shared how a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses once came to his door. He told them that he didn’t have time to talk with them, and that they aren’t going to convert him anyway, since he was solid in his Catholic Faith. I told him, of course they aren’t going to convert you, but your job is to convert them! That was an opportunity God was giving you to share your faith. He said, well, they gave me some reading material. And I said, that’s fine, but what did you give them? A Catechism, a holy card, a pamphlet on our Faith, anything? No, Father, I don’t have that, I didn’t have anything to give them, I just wanted to get back to my yardwork.

I know people who will not attend bible study or adult faith formation, they won’t volunteer at parish events or even pray the rosary on an airplane, because they don’t want to give off the impression that they are ”too religious”…” “one of those Catholics”.

Saints like John Fisher and Thomas More believed that there is nothing more valuable, nothing more important than our Catholic faith, and that’s our call as well. Why? Because without Catholic faith, our world falls into error, souls will live at a distance from God, without the divine assistance of sacramental grace, the knowledge of the love of God and closeness of God in their trials. We share the faith because we love, we would want the truth shared with us, if we were in error.

Now, some, when presented with the truth of the Christian faith might close their hearts, like Henry VIII, who died having beheaded God’s holy ones, not to mention a number of women who he counted as his wives.

But some, some will respond with faith, and they will be grateful because we helped them to know God. Each one of us here have benefited from someone loving us enough to share the Christian faith with us. May we do the same.

“What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

11th Week in Ordinary Time 2026 - Wednesday - The prayer, fasting, and almsgiving of God's priestly people

 

At Sunday Mass, this last weekend, we read from the book of Exodus how God has formed his people into a kingdom of priests—a royal priesthood. Being the people God made us to be involves a priestly dimension. All of us, all of the baptized have priestly duties.

In his recent catechesis on the documents of Vatican II, Pope Leo talks about this priestly dimension of our lives—he says, “we exercise our royal priesthood through prayer, asceticism and active charity, and by doing so, we bear witness to a life renewed by God’s grace.” Those three priestly activities should sound familiar, they are the three Lenten practices—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—which we all strive to engage in more perfectly during the Lent season.

In our Gospel reading today, we read of Jesus teaching about these three priestly duties—a Gospel which we read on the first day of Lent every year—on Ash Wednesday. He says, “when you pray”, “when you fast”, “when you give alms”. His disciples are expected to engage in these activities not just during the season of Lent, but always. They are part of the ordinary priestly duties of the baptized.

The Lord doesn’t just tell explain THAT we are to engage in these duties, but HOW we are to engage in them: “when you pray, when you fast, when you give alms” don’t do so that others may see you, or to win the praise of others. Our intention for our priestly duties mustn’t be for worldly attention, rather, as Pope Leo explained, echoing the sentiments of Our Blessed Lord, “we exercise our royal priesthood through prayer, asceticism and active charity, and by doing so, we bear witness to a life renewed by God’s grace.”

Our intention must be to bear witness to God, to show others that the relationship with God transforms human life, renews us. Prayer directed to God, renews us, it is a sipping of the fountain of eternal life. Fasting renews us, for it is restraining the bodily appetites in order to focus on what truly matters—for man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And almsgiving, charitable work, renews us, because it is a participation in the life of God who is love—and that participation transforms us like gold in a furnace.

The priestly dimension of our Christian life is not simply a sacrifice to detracts from us—giving of our time and effort in order to pray, in order to fast, in order to give alms enables us to share in the very life of God.

May we engage in them more fervently, more seriously, but also in great joy, bearing witness to God for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

As God’s royal priesthood, we intercede for the needs of the world and the needs of the Church.

For Pope Leo, our bishops, priests, and deacons: that their ministry may strengthen the faithful to live their baptismal dignity with renewed fervor and joy.

For all Christians: that we may pray not for human praise, but from a sincere desire for communion with God.

That through fasting and asceticism, we may discover the freedom of living by the word of God.

For the poor, the lonely, the sick, and all who depend upon the charity of others: that the almsgiving and active love of Christians may reveal to them the tenderness of God. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our young people on summer vacation and those attending our Vacation Bible School this week: that they may be blessed with faith-filled homes, and protected from all physical and spiritual harm.

For the faithful departed: that, purified of every sin, they may share forever in the life and love of God.

Heavenly Father, you have made us your holy people through Baptism and called us to bear witness to your grace in the world. Hear the prayers we offer today, and strengthen us to live our priestly calling with sincerity, humility, and joy. Through Christ our Lord.