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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- - - - 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Friday Holy Hour - February 2025 - Christ is the same yesterday, today, forever

Since the conclusion of the Christmas season, the ordinary first readings from weekday Mass have been taken from the letter to the Hebrews. The letter was written to Christian converts from Judaism. For embracing Christ, they had been expelled from their synagogues, shunned by their families, and now also experienced persecution for being Christian in the Roman Empire. 

The letter seeks to embolden those who were wavering in their faith or tempted to return to their old way of life. 

Much of Hebrews focuses on deep theological truths that serve to embolden the Jewish Christians—how Jesus is our eternal High Priest, the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, and the one true mediator between God and man. 

Today’s passage comes from the final chapter of the letter, and pivots from theological excursus to practical morality, showing that true faith is not just a matter of theological understanding but must be lived out through brotherly love, hospitality, compassion, sexual purity, detachment from material goods, and trust in God’s providence.

The passage concludes with the powerful affirmation: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” This declaration ties back to the earlier chapters of Hebrews, which emphasize: Christ’s eternal priesthood and the unchanging nature of God’s promise.

And in doing so, this passage bridges the doctrinal and practical. After spending so much time explaining who Christ is and what He has accomplished, but this passage reminds us that knowing Christ should change how we live.

Similarly, as we gather for Eucharistic adoration, adoring Christ for his sacrificial self-giving for us, we recall that we are called to go forth and live out that love—showing hospitality, caring for the suffering, embracing purity, and trusting in His providence.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." He is our foundation, our strength, our constant companion. In the stillness of this Holy Hour, let us ask Him to transform us, that we, like Him, may love more deeply, to serve more generously, to live more faithfully. May this time set our hearts afire with the desire to make His presence known in the world, so that through us, others may come to know the One who never forsakes or abandons His people, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - January 2025 - The Most Holy Name of Jesus

 As we gather in the stillness of this evening, we come to adore in the Eucharist, the same Jesus whose Holy Name we have honored throughout this day—He who was named on the eighth day, in fulfillment of the law and in anticipation of our salvation.

In the Eucharist, we encounter Him personally, intimately. Christ is truly here, body, blood, soul, and divinity, just as He was in the manger, just as He was on the Cross, just as He will be in glory at the end of time. And before Him, we echo the words of St. Paul: “At the Name of Jesus every knee should bend… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This morning I shared how liturgically, the Holy Name of Jesus is reverenced by the priest, every time the name of Jesus is mentioned, the priest is instructed to give a slight bow of the head. Well, now in his presence, we do not simply bow, we kneel, for he is truly here.

Throughout the centuries, the name of Jesus has been used for prayer. Both in our public prayer, liturgically, and also in our private prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always”

This insight highlights that prayer does not always require long or elaborate formulas. At its heart, prayer is a loving communion with God, and sometimes the simplest forms of prayer are the most powerful.

Simply to recite the name of Jesus, gently and slowly can be a powerful mode of prayer. Repeating the Holy Name in our hearts fosters an interior silence and calm that opens us to God’s presence. And that is a prayer that can be prayed in the car, in line at the grocery or doctor’s office, or when we have to spend time with someone who really gets under our skin. Jesus. Jesus.

 In the midst of anxiety, stress, or temptation, simply reciting Jesus’ name recollects us and reminds us of His mercy, power, and abiding love.

This evening, before the Blessed Sacrament, I invite you to spend some time simply gazing at the Eucharist and reciting the name of Jesus.

To quote again St. Bernardine of Siena, that great preacher of the Holy Name—St. Bernadine said, “Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power! Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe, you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain the weary” for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - August 2024 - First of all devotions, most pleasing to God, most useful to ourselves

 Yesterday, we celebrated the feast day of St. Alphonus Ligouri patron saint of Moral Theology. In addition to his contributions to Moral Theology and founding the Most Holy Congregation of the Redeemer (the Redemptorists) St. Alphonus Ligouri was a prolific writer about the Eucharist. It is said that he discovered his vocation during one of his many hours adoring Our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.

He wrote, “Certainly amongst all devotions, after that of receiving the sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament holds the first place, is the most pleasing to God, and the most useful to ourselves.” 

“Oh, how sweet a joy it is to remain with faith and tender devotion before the Eucharist, and converse familiarly with Jesus Christ, who is there for the express purpose of listening to and graciously hearing those who pray to him.”

“There it was (in Eucharistic Adoration) that St. Francis Xavier found refreshment in the midst of his many labours in India; for he employed his days in toiling for souls, and his nights in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  St. John Francis Regis did the same thing; and sometimes finding the church closed, he endeavoured to satisfy his longings by remaining on his knees, outside the door exposed to the rain and cold so that at least at a distance he might attend upon his Comforter concealed under the sacramental species.  St. Francis of Assisi used to go to communicate all his labors and undertakings to Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament.”

I could go on and on. But let’s go back to that first quote. “Certainly, amongst all devotions, after that of receiving the sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament holds the first place, is the most pleasing to God, and the most useful to ourselves.”

He makes three claims there. Let’s briefly unpack each. First, he claims that Eucharistic adoration is the first among all other devotions. This is because this devotion directly focuses on Jesus Christ, who is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. We aren’t merely recollecting something Jesus said or did. Our senses, physical, emotional, and spiritual are directly focuses on Him. He is here. 

Alphonsus then claims that this devotion is most pleasing to God. This act of faith, love, and devotion is highly pleasing to God because it demonstrates a willingness to draw close to Him and to honor His presence in a special way. God desires intimate communion with His people and here we draw close to Him, fulfilling God’s desire for us to be with Him and He with us.

Lastly, St. Alphonsus considers this devotion most useful to the faithful because of the graces that flow from our time with Jesus—the master and teacher. It’s here that we learn to listen to the quiet voice of Jesus who pierces through the noise of our lives. It allows us to enter into that silence which is astoundingly rich, utterly alive, and enormously instructive.

Alphonus writes, “You may be sure that of all the moments of your life the time you spend before the divine Sacrament will be that which will give you more strength during life and more consolation at the hour of your death and during eternity."

May our time this evening bear fruit for eternity, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Friday Holy Hour - February 2024 - O Luminous Eucharist

 Forty days have passed since we celebrated the joyful Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. The Liturgy itself tells us that today, the Feast of the Presentation, we celebrate that blessed day when Jesus was presented in the Temple by Mary and Joseph. Outwardly he was fulfilling the law, but in reality he was coming to meet his believing people. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Simeon and Anna came to the temple. Enlightened by the same Spirit, they recognized the Lord and confessed him with exultation. 

Light. This feast has many references to light. The Gospel reading speaks of light. Jesus is the light of revelation—revealing to the nations of the world—that God has come to save all of us.

Candles are blessed and lit at the beginning of mass for the presentation, they are signal flares to the world, that all those who are looking for salvation can find it, in Christ. 

What a fitting day for us to kneel in the light of the Eucharist. Devotees of the rosary know that the institution of the Eucharist—the eucharist which we kneel before this evening—is the fifth and final mystery of light. When Pope St. John Paul II gave us the luminous mysteries of the rosary—he wrote how the Eucharist is a light—it reveals, it testifies, it sheds light that Christ is with us till the end. He is with his Church. And he loves his church. 

The Eucharist reveals the heart of Christ which is given in love to us, to save us, to separate us from sin and unite us to God. We kneel before the Eucharist to bask in the glow of the light of Christ’s love. And we do so, that when we present ourselves to receive the Eucharist, we may be filled with that same light, that his light may be detected in us, and radiate from us.

St. Peter Julian Eymard, that great saint of the Eucharist writes: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love par excellence. Certainly the other sacraments are proofs of God’s love for us; they are gifts of God. But in the Eucharist, we receive the Author of every gift, God Himself. So it is in Communion especially that we learn to know the law of love that our Lord came to reveal. There we receive the special grace of love. There, finally, more than anywhere else, we acquire the practice, the virtue, of love.”

“O lumunious Euharist, may this time with you truly enlighten us, in the way of God’s love, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.”

First Friday Holy Hour - January 2024 - Discerning our purpose

This morning, I shared a quote from Bishop John Nepomocene Neumann, the one and only American bishop canonized by the church, whose liturgical feast is today. 

In a sermon on the work God has for us, bishop Neumann said, “Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, . . . for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.”  

Each one of us is created by God with a purpose. What an important reminder! And yet, where do we discover that purpose? How do we discern it among the many confusing choices we have in life?

Here. Right here. Kneeling in front of God incarnate, made present in the Holy Eucharist. This is the place the saints have gone for clarity, guidance, and strength. To the Eucharistic presence of Christ.

Here is the silence we need in order to hear him speaking. Here we assume the posture of kneeling—which is at both a posture of humility, and readiness for service. Here we separate ourselves from all the things we could be doing, in order to focus on the one thing, the unum necessarium, the one thing necessary, the will of God.

Lord show us your will for us—your will for us to serve you by cultivating our interior life, which is your presence in our souls, through prayerful adoration. Help us to rejoice in the work you have for us—to not seek selfish gain, but that which profits the mission of the Gospel. What are the gifts, what are the talents you are urging us to cultivate? What are the comfort zones you are urging us to leave? Who are the strangers you are urging us to speak to? What vices are you urging me to give up? What unknown roads are your urging me to walk? What modes of service are you urging me to take up? Give us strength in our trials, and a sincere hope of attaining eternal reward through obedience to your Holy Will, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

July 2023 - First Friday Holy Hour - Adoring the Precious Blood of Jesus

 

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

And as we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance, let us remember that we adore both the Lord’s Body and His Blood, for the Blessed Sacrament contains the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is devotion to the Blood of Christ.

One of the oldest Christian documents, outside of sacred scripture, from the first century of the Christian era, by Pope St. Clement I, dated about 96 A.D. says: “Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.”

The blood of Christ is truly worthy of our adoration, for St. Peter says, “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.”

In 1960, Pope St. John XXIII wrote an apostolic letter on devotion to the Precious blood. He writes: “Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God- Man’s Blood - just as unlimited as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us, first at his circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in his agony in the garden, in his scourging and crowning with thorns, in his climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out of that great wide wound in his side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church’s sacraments. Such surpassing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love… God wants all men to be saved, for he has willed that they should all be ransomed by the Blood of his only-begotten Son; he calls them all to be members of the one Mystical Body whose head is Christ. If only men would be more responsive to these promptings of his grace, how much the bonds of brotherly love among individuals and peoples and nations would be strengthened.”

We gather here this evening, prompted by God’s grace to adore the Lord’s Body and Blood. May what we do here this evening strengthen those bonds of love among Christians and work toward the conversion of many to belief in Christ whose blood was poured out for sinners, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - June 2023 - Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

 

The month of June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The reason June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart is primarily because during this month we celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after Corpus Christi. This year that will be June 16. Is it a coincidence that June is also the middle of the calendar year, or the heart of the calendar year.

But during this month with seek to deepen our devotion to the Sacred Heart—the heart of intense love for us.

During this month we seek to understand and be grateful for and encounter more deeply and spread for easily the human and divine love of Jesus for the world. And so this devotion gets to the heart of our Faith, the heart of Christianity. God loves us, and commands that we love each other. Love is the Lord’s first and greatest commandment. God asks for our love because He wishes to be the God and Master of our hearts through love. Our Lord has loved us with an infinite love, even unto death, and still loves us without limit. He wants to be loved by us. He appeals to our hearts and bids us love Him in return.

St. Margaret Mary to whom the Lord revealed the devotion to his Heart writes, “He made me see that it was the great desire He had of being loved by men, and of withdrawing them from the road of perdition, that induced Him to conceive this plan of making His Heart known to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification, and of salvation, in order that those who wish to render and procure Him all the honor, glory, and love of which they are capable, might be abundantly and profusely enriched with the treasures of the Heart of God.”

Some amazing things in that one statement. First, Jesus revealed to St. Margaret Mary that he desires to be loved by us. God wants our love. God wants signs of our love. God wants us to spend time with him. He wants to hear our words of adoration and receive the silent gaze of adoration.

In the Eucharist, he has certainly given us this opportunity. For when we kneel in Eucharistic Adoration we are able to express our love for God through words and in silence, in simple loving attention. In fixing our hearts on his, present in the Eucharist, our hearts can be set ablaze like his.

And that’s the other thing from that passage from St. Margaret Mary: we are abundantly and profusely enriched with treasure from the heart of God when seek to love God as we can. This gets to the very heart of who God is. God is love. And he enriches us as we seek to love Him. We become better and richer when we love, because by doing so we become like Him.

To know and love Jesus Christ is our highest gain both for time and eternity. No sacrifice could be too great to attain it. And yet, we have this simple blessed hour, which is more like a gift than a sacrifice, to know His love and to seek to love Him more. May this time be blessed, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - October 2022 - Eucharistic Adoration and the Holy Rosary

 This morning, on the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, the priests of the diocese concluded our week long convocation with Bishop Malesic, and at Mass this morning, His Excellency, the bishop, evoked a beautiful image that I’d like to share with you.

The bishop spoke of a statue that he encountered in a parish Church in Kentucky, of Our Lady, kneeling in front of the blessed Sacrament with a lighted lamp in her hands. He said, that often, when he kneels in front of the Blessed Sacrament, he recalls that statue, of Our Lady, in adoration of her Son, holding that lighted lamp, like the Wise Virgins in the Gospel parable.

Our Lady models for the Church the posture we are to take, and the attitude we are to have for the Blessed Sacrament; we kneel in adoration, for He is God with us. Falling to our knees in adoration is the appropriate response to His Presence. And He is the lamb worthy of Our Love. “Worthy is the Lamb to receive honor, glory, and blessing” We bend the knee to Him, Our King, Our Savior—the Victor over Sin and Death.

The feature of the statue, of Our Lady holding a lighted lamp, is also a poignant one, and recalls the parable of the wise virgins, who keep their lamps filled with oil, as they await the return of the bridegroom. We are to keep faith, hope, and love for Him burning, like the lighted lamp, until his return. In fact, by our devotion to Him, we pray that faith, hope, and love might be kindled elsewhere, in the dark places of the world, where faith has grown dim.

Our Lady models for us why Eucharistic Adoration is so important. Catholics need to fervently express our belief that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist here in Church, so that we can bring that faith out in the world, to draw souls back to Him. And don’t we see our Lady modeling for us that task of deepening belief so that we may draw others to Him. “Do whatever he tells you” she says, at the Wedding Feast of Cana. She teaches us to lead others to submit their lives to Him, a submission that is renewed everytime we celebrate the Eucharist, and every time we receive the Eucharist, we are to do whatever the one whom we encounter and receive tells us. 

On the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, it is also good for us to consider the connection between the Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration.

The U.S. Bishops write that the Rosary, 'a prayer inspired by the Gospel and centered on the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption,' 'should be considered a prayer of deep Christological orientation,' and may rightly be counted among the prayers designed to 'direct the attention of the faithful to the worship of Christ the Lord.' ... [T]he recitation of the Rosary before the exposed Sacrament should help lead the faithful back 'to a knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him, finding great encouragement and support in liturgical prayer before the Eucharist.'"

Every time we come and kneel before the blessed Sacrament it is good to spend time in silent adoration, listening to Our Lord in the Silence, and allowing our Hearts to offer worship that is too deep for words. But also, it is praiseworthy to pray Our Lady’s Rosary—which directs us to union with the one whom we adore.

May this time with the Lord allow us to stir into flame our faith, hope, and Love of Him whom we adore, and may Our Lady, and her rosary, draw us deeper into union with Him, that we may in turn draw others to Him out in the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - February 2022 - The truth that conquers lust

 This morning at mass I reflected upon how today’s Gospel helps us to understand that as disciples of the Lord, we, like John the Baptist will experience hostility when we stand for Truth.

John the Baptist was hated by Herodias for speaking the Truth about her adulterous conduct with King Herod. “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” he told the King. 

For speaking the truth, the Baptist’s life, like Our Lord’s culminated, in a violent death: for speaking the Truth of God, John was beheaded.

Herodias did not want to hear the truth, so she did everything in her power to silence it. John was silenced for challenging Herodias’ lust for flesh, foreshadowing how Jesus would by silenced by the scribes, chief priests, and pharisees, for challenging their lust for power. 

Nothing incurs some people’s wrath like speaking the truth about their lusts. They do not want to even acknowledge the possibility that their life has become bent on something disordered, something harmful to their souls, to their families, to society. But the Truth of the Gospel helps us to unravel the lies of our life, in order to live more fully for God.

Here in the Lord’s Eucharistic presence, in the silence, we ask him to speak to our hearts. Our lives are so frenetic, but this time of silence with the Lord, will help us to quiet down in order to hear him. Anything True that the Lord wants to tell us, any truth that he wants to communicate to us, we need to open our hearts and our minds to. For the Lord desires our greatest good, he desires what will make us eternally happy in heaven. 

We can be sure that he will tell us nothing that will contradict God’s laws, but what he has to say will help us to follow them more faithfully. Speak O Lord your servants are listening, you have the words of everlasting life. 

May our time with the Lord open our hearts and minds to his truth, and help us to communicate that truth with patience, boldness, conviction, courage, and clarity. May we hear the words he longs to speak to us, the words we long to hear, that we need to hear, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - January 2022 - Impelled by the Sacrament of Love

 At mass this morning for the feast of St. Raymond of Penyafort, I reflected upon how the love of Christ filled St. Raymond’s life. The “The love of Christ impelled” him, as St. Paul says in the epistle for today’s feast. 

The saints are animated by the love of Christ. The love we are to have for Christ impels us out into the world to share the Gospel, to work tirelessly for the spread of the kingdom, to make us ambarssadors fo Christ as Paul says, to seek reconciliation with God and conversion from our vices, to bear our crosses for the salvation of souls. But not just the love we have for Christ, but the love Christ has for us impels us.

When we recognize how deeply we are loved by Christ, that changes everything. Christ loved us so much that he died for our sake. But moreso, God wants you to know how much you are loved.

The Christmas season, which we conclude in a few days, is certainly a reflection of how deeply we are loved. the Son of God was born of a most pure Virgin at a stable at midnight in Bethlehem in the piercing cold for you and for me.

But also, the Eucharist, which we gaze upon and adore upon the altar during this holy hour is the Sacramentum Caritatis, the sacrament of love, the gift that Jesus makes of himself revealing his love for us. 

By the Eucharist, Jesus wants to show his love for us in the concrete situations of our present life. He wants you to know his love for you, on this cold January evening, with the challenges and sorrows of your life. He wants you to know his love for you with all the challenges the church is facing, all the challenges our country is facing, all the challenges are families are facing—his love is revealed in the Eucharist.

Here is Emmanuel—God-with-us, right here, in this 100 year old church, in this impoverished neighborhood, in a culture that is growing increasingly numb and ignorant to his presence. 

When we recognize his love for us, we are better equipped to share his love with us, to draw others to this font of love. May the time we spend in adoration, and the prayers we offer in holy devotion, impel us to great works of charity, and help us to know Christ’s love for us always, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - November - Eucharistic Lessons from the Dishonest Steward

 As you know, for our first Friday Holy Hours, I like to draw some sort of Eucharist Lesson or insight from the readings or saint of the day. As, I mentioned this morning at Mass, today’s Gospel is very strange.

The Lord tells this parable about a dishonest steward who had been embezzling from his master’s business. The steward goes to the master’s debtors, who had been delinquent in paying their rent to the master, because the master, was an absentee landlord. The steward then falsifies entries in the books of accounts so that the debtors would be grateful to him, but also complicit in his fraud. Perhaps he would blackmail them later. And when the master discovers all this underhanded business, he’s actually impressed and praises the criminal mastermind for his shrewdness.

What Eucharistic lesson could we possible derive from this?

On one hand the lesson of the parables seems to be that Jesus wants his followers, like the steward in the parable, to employ cleverness, creativity, gumption, cunning, and ingenuity in and fulfilling our Gospel mandate.

On the other hand, Christians are not likely to be as cunning and shrewd as the “children of the world” as the Lord calls them, in dealing with worldly matters. We will not likely be as proficient with computers as criminal computer hackers or as sly and cutthroat as a corrupt politician. And that’s okay. We have other matters to do attend to: heavenly matters, spiritual matters. 

And that’s why we are hear tonight. We give up a Friday tonight, to pray, to kneel before the Lord, recognizing the priority of faith, strengthening and exercising faith, over all other earthly matters. We come to the Lord to be strengthened in what matters most, so that we can make inroads into the world, so that we can reach the minds and the hearts of the children of the world in bringing them to Christ.

We come here so that we can go out into the world in order to reach the criminal computer hacker, the corrupt politician, the drug addict, the pimp, and lead them to Christ. These people are not our enemy, they are our mission. 

And we kneel in front of the Lord recognizing our weakness, our lack of cleverness and capability, and facility with speaking, and timidity, and ask him to bless us, strengthen us, and embolden us to do the work he has for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - October 2021 - St. Therese & the Eucharist

 On this Feast of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Liseaux, as we kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament tonight, I would like to reflect a bit upon Therese’s profound Eucharistic Devotion, 

St. Therese was born into a family with a fervent Eucharistic spirituality.  Her parents attended Mass every day, and, as soon as the children were old enough, they would attend mass as well. 

Therese and her father went for a walk almost every afternoon, and they never came home without visiting one of the town’s churches or chapels to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. This is how she first encountered the Carmelite Order, during those daily visits to the Eucharist with her Father. 

During the school day, Therese would sacrifice her 15 minutes of recreation time e to pray before the tabernacle in the chapel, this occurred even before she made her First Holy Communion.

After she entered Carmel, she was saddened to discover that the Sisters did not receive Communion daily. But daily, she would kneel before the tabernacle and express her desire to receive the Lord. 

Once, her cousin wrote to the saint about the great temptations she was experiencing in Paris, and Therese, who was just 16 wrote back:  “Oh, my darling, think, then, that Jesus is there in the Tabernacle expressly for you, for you alone, He is burning with the de­sire to enter your heart ... so don't listen to the devil, mock him, and go without any fear to receive Jesus in peace and love… receive Communion often, very often. . . . That is the only remedy if you want to be healed.”

During the pandemic of the 1890s, her community’s policy regarding frequent communion changed, and Therese writes of “the unspeakable consolation of receiving Holy Communion every day”. After receiving Communion, she would ardently plead with the Lord: “Remain within me, as You do in the Tabernacle. Do not ever withdraw Your presence from Your little host.”

Near the end of her short life, when she had become quite ill, she dragged herself with great effort to receive Communion. One morning after Holy Communion, she was in her cell exhausted. One of the sisters remarked that she should not exert herself so much. The Saint replied, “Oh, what are these sufferings to me in comparison with one daily Holy Communion?” 

As we kneel before our Eucharistic Lord tonight, let us ask the intercession of the Little Flower to love him with an ever-purer child like love, to value more deeply the gift of being able to receive Him frequently, to seek the transformation of mind and heart that he wants for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - February 2021 - Courage in uncertain times comes from the Eucharist

 This morning we celebrated the feast of the virgin martyr St. Agatha of Sicily, so widely venerated by the early Church. For resisting the advances of a degenerate civil official, she was arrested, and when she refused to offer pagan sacrifice to save her life, she was tortured and martyred. 

In 2005, Pope Benedict made a pastoral visit to St. Agatha’s native Sicily and celebrated mass for the people in Palermo. He acknowledged that in Palermo, as in the whole of Sicily, problems and worries and difficulties, he said, “are not lacking” in particular unemployment which gives rise to uncertainty and worry about the future, and also the physical and moral suffering caused by organized crime. Today I am among you, the Holy Father said, “to witness to my closeness and my remembrance in prayer. I am here to give you strong encouragement not to be afraid to witness clearly to the human and Christian values that are so deeply rooted in the faith and history of this territory and of its people.”

In a way, it sounds a lot like our own country, now in 2021. Unemployment, the breakdown of the family, organized crime in the form of vast corruption in government. We come here tonight, uncertain about the future. 

The Holy Father recalled how in past centuries the Church in Sicily was enriched and enlivened by such fervent faith, seen particularly in the lives of Sicily’s saints, like St. Rosalia, St. Lucy, and of course, St. Agatha. And how has inspired and guided family life, fostering values such as the capacity of giving of themselves, and the respect for life that constitutes a precious heritage to be jealously guarded. 

Again this makes us think of our own country, how the Christian faith so shaped and guided the early history of this country and family life. And now, religion is banished from public life, banished from schools, faith is replaced with materialism in many families, Catholic tradition is not kept or upheld or passed on. 

And I think that reading from mass this morning from the letter to the Hebrews is just so pertinent. Let brotherly love continue. Let marriage be honored among all. Let your life be free from love of money. Remember with confidence that the Lord is your helper. And where does true brotherly love come from, but the Eucharist. Where does honor for God's holy institutions like marriage come from, but from the Eucharist. Where does freedom from the love of money and all that keeps us from holiness, but from the Eucharist.

Do not do not fear, Pope Benedict said to the lay faithful of Palermo,  to live and to witness to the faith in the various contexts of society, in the many situations of human existence, especially in those that are difficult! May faith give you the power of God in order to be ever confident and courageous, to go ahead with new determination, to take the necessary initiatives to give an ever more beautiful face to your land. And when you come up against the opposition of the world, may you hear the Apostle’s words: “Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord” (v. 8).

In difficult and confusing times, it is always best to return here, to the Blessed Sacrament, to receive the courage and guidance and inspiration we need to live with the courage we need to testify to the truth, and to remain faithful when faced, like St. Agatha, and the martyrs, with the opposition of the world. May our time with the Lord tonight bear fruit in this life and the life to come, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

First Friday Holy Hour - January 2021 - Mary Mother of the Eucharist

 

This morning at Mass for the Solemnity of the Motherhood of Mary, I reflected upon the beautiful image of the Madonna and Child. Already in the first centuries of the Church, the early Christians revered images of Our Lady holding the Christ Child. It is certainly a fitting image for us to contemplate, especially today on the octave day of Christmas, for this holy season aims at deepening our love and devotion for the Lord. And there has been no greater love for him, no greater devotion to him, than that of his mother. We contemplate the mother’s love for her son, that we might come to love him as she loves him.

Kneeling before the monstrance this evening, we are not limited to an artist’s representation, painted on canvas or on the wall of catacomb. The very word made flesh is present in our midst—the flesh held in the arms of the mother—cradled, nursed, and protected. She invites us to gaze upon him this evening, she invites us to tenderly enter into the stable of Bethlehem, like the shepherds, like the magi, like St. Joseph, like her very self, to quietly enter into Bethlehem to gaze lovingly upon his flesh.

She is the Mother of the Lord and therefore she the Mother of the Eucharist. St. Augustine writes that in the Eucharist "Mary extends and perpetuates Her Divine Maternity"  Wherever the Eucharist is, she is there, lovingly adoring him, inviting us to adore and worship him along with her. It was from her that the Lord took flesh and blood, the very flesh and blood we kneel before this evening. Her love for this Sacrament and her love for Jesus are the very same.

She is both the eternal Eucharistic Monstrance and also the eternal Eucharistic Adorer.

We can be sure that in those places where the Eucharist is profaned and abandoned and treated with little respect, there is also little love for the mother. But in those places where love and devotion to the mother increase, so too will love and devotion to the Eucharist.

We can be sure, too, that Our Lady wants nothing more than the life of her son to become more and more present in us, and so we will pray the rosary this evening, asking her to intercede for us, and for the world, that 2021 may be a year in which many souls return with great devotion and zeal to the eucharist, that the world may know through our Lady’s aid, blessing through Him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 2020 - First Friday Holy Hour - Bread of Angels

 

After witnessing the Eucharistic Miracle in Bolsena Italy, the Pope tasked one of the well-known theologians of his day, the saintly domnican friar Thomas Aquinas, with composing the orations for a new feast in honor of the Body and Blood of Christ—the feast of Corpus Christi.

In addition to composing the beautiful hymn, the pange lingua, whose last verses we sing at benediction, "Tantum Ergo Sacramentum", St. Thomas composed for Corpus Christi a second hymn titled “Sacris solemniis” --on this sacred solemnity. Thanks to Mozart a few centuries later, we are particularly familiar with the last two stanzas of the sacris solemniis, which begins “panis angelicus fit panis hominum” the bread of angels is made into bread for men.

As we gather for eucharistic adoration on this feast of the holy angels, this evening, I thought I would reflect on that beautiful phrase “panis angelicus” so that perhaps we could love and appreciate the Eucharist as the angels do. Why does the great angelic doctor, Thomas Aquinas, refer to the Eucharist as the bread of angels?

Well the phrase “bread of angels” is first found in scripture in the 78^th Psalm: “God rained manna upon them for food; grain from heaven he gave them. Man ate the bread of the angels; food he sent in abundance.” While making their way to the promised land, God fed the Israelites with manna. The manna would appear daily, as a gift from heaven. It was believed that God used angels to place the manna every day, so it was rightly called the bread of angels.

The Lord takes up similar language in the bread of life discourse, teaching how he would feed the Church with the true bread from heaven in the Sacrament of his flesh and blood. “I Am the true bread that came down from heaven.” That daily manna in the desert was therefore a foreshadowing of the true bread of angels, Christ himself, who feeds the Church daily with his body and blood as we make our way to heaven.

Christ feeds us with his body and blood, so that our earthly journey may end in his presence in heaven. In the 4^th century, St. Augustine writes, so that man could come to behold  the vision of God the Lord of the angels became man, that we may partake of the bread of angels in heaven.

Thomas Aquinas expounded upon this idea in his Summa Theologica. The Eucharist can be called the bread of angels, for in a sense the angels feed on Christ. They do not physically consume Christ, as they do not have physical bodies. Rather they consume him spiritually, by beholding him, adoring him and worshiping him. 

We humans, on the other hand, partake of Christ, the Bread of Angels, according to our human nature, by receiving him under the sacramental species.

And yet, when we kneel in adoration of Christ in the Eucharist we are able to share in an angelic experience of Christ. We are really and truly side by side with the angels this evening. We worship him, we adore him along with the angels. 

We do so, imperfectly. So, it is quite fitting for us, on this feast of the holy angels, to ask your own guardian angel this evening to enflame in your heart the same love that burns in his angelic heart. Ask your guardian angel to help him to contemplate Christ on earth, that you may come to behold him face to face in heaven, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

July 2020 - First Friday Holy Hour - "My Lord and My God"

Prior to the second Vatican Council, it was quite common during the celebration of Mass, when the priest elevated the consecrated host, for the laity to whisper the words of St. Thomas in the Gospel today: “My Lord and My God” and perhaps too, to strike their breast penitentially. Though his heart was initially full of doubt, the Apostle Thomas’ doubt was transformed into faith—faith that the Lord Jesus was Risen from the dead and was truly present. So how fitting that the faithful developed this pious custom of echoing Thomas’ words of faith in the real presence of Christ: “My Lord and My God.”

This practice was so praiseworthy, that Pope St. Pius X, in 1907 issued a decree granting a partial indulgence if a person looked at the Body and Blood of Christ and said “My Lord and My God.” Perhaps, this custom ought to be rediscovered in this 21st century when faith in the real presence seems to be lacking, even among many mass going Catholics.

Another St. Thomas, 1200 years later wrote that while our physical senses of sight, taste, touch and smell, fail to detect the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, our faith surely enables us to recognize his presence. Præstet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui…Let faith provide a supplement For the failure of the senses.

The beautiful prayer after Communion for mass on this Feast of Thomas the Apostle, too, gives such a beautiful summary of Eucharistic faith. Listen closely to this prayer: “O God, as we truly receive in this Sacrament the Body of your Only Begotten Son, grant, we pray, that we may recognize him with the Apostle Thomas by faith as our Lord and our God and proclaim him by our deeds and by our life.”

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. The Lord pronounces his blessing upon those who come before the Eucharist and believe that he is truly present. The promise of blessedness in this life and the next is offered to those who believe in the presence of Christ and allow that belief to shape their life.

This evening we come before our Eucharistic Lord to acknowledge that He is the source of all blessing. On this eve of our nation’s independence we beseech the Lord for all the graces we need in order to be a righteous nation, praying for conversion for all those who do not believe, praying for the grace to proclaim him by our deeds and by our life. Following our normal prayers of reparation, we will offer together the prayers of petition composed for the inauguration of President George Washington by Archbishop John Carroll, First Roman Catholic bishop in our country whose brother Charles Carroll was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

May the Lord bless all who believe and bring about the conversion of all who do not, may he bless us with ever deeper Eucharistic faith and the grace to proclaim that faith in our deeds and by our life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.