As we move through Lent we should reflect on the purpose of being a Christian, here is a preview of the final exam.







"The school of Christ is the school of love. In the last day, when the general examination takes place ... Love will be the whole syllabus."
St. Robert Bellarmine

May God Be Praised!

Don’t let the gift of Lent slip away without growing closer to Jesus Christ who calls us home.

Sometimes Lent seems like a series of difficult tasks that we toil over to show our spiritual strength and endurance.

Julian of Norwich and the other mystics remind us that it’s not about what we do, it’s about what God does.

Our Lenten practices should make room in our lives to contemplate the great mystery of love.

If we lose sight of that, then the fasting and prayers become empty gestures.   

Diane Houdek, “The Hope of Lent: Daily reflections from Pope Francis”

May God Be Praised!

St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. Francis de Sales offer us profound advice to guide us during Lent and then throughout our lives.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, "Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet, especially your family. Be holy.”

St. Francis de Sales said, “Walk joyously through life and when you cannot walk with faith and courage.”

How can we reconcile this advice?  Our Lent will be enriched if we discover how to reconcile their advice.

May God Be Praised!

 



God made us for Himself and sent us to earth to learn to do His will, Let reminds us of our purpose.

"We've been taught that God did not make the world for no reason, but for the sake of the human race. As I said before, he takes pleasure in those who imitate his attributes, and is displeased with those who embrace what is worthless, whether in word or deed."

—  St. Justin Martyr

May God Be Praised!

Today reflect on your prayer life and how you might improve it.

Saint Francis de Sales said, “Always remember to retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others. 

This mental solitude cannot be violated by the many people who surround you, since they are not standing around your heart but only around your body.
Your heart remains alone in the presence of God.” 
(Introduction to the Devout Life)

May God Be Praised!

Today reflect on your prayer life and how you might improve it.

Saint Francis de Sales said, “Always remember to retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others.

This mental solitude cannot be violated by the many people who surround you, since they are not standing around your heart but only around your body.
Your heart remains alone in the presence of God.” 
(Introduction to the Devout Life)

May God Be Praised!

Today spend a few minutes thanking God for the gift of the Eucharist.

 
“Jesus really means what He said at the Last Supper: ‘Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where Thou art going, and how can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.’”  [Meditations Before Mass, Romano Guardini, p.147]

May God Be Praised!

The Third Sunday of Lent is a reminds us to double down on our Lenten practices to grow closer to the Divine Heart.

"The Divine Heart is an ocean full of all good things, wherein poor souls can cast all their needs; it is an ocean full of joy to drown all our sadness, an ocean of humility to drown our folly, an ocean of mercy to those in distress, an ocean of love in which to submerge our poverty."

St. Margaret Mary  

May God Be Praised!

Homily Cycle 1 03/22/19 – Our Lady of Perpetual Parish School

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032219.cfm                                   

I want you to think about two plays this morning: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Cinderella.

Cinderella comes for two Latin words that mean “the little girl who sits in ashes.” On Ash Wednesday we received ashes on our foreheads to mark the beginning of Lent, a time to think about how we live our lives - a time for us prepare for Easter.  

Think about what was said to you as you received your ashes, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Good News”, reminding us that life here is a preparation for heaven.

Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters treated her poorly, but she only showed kindness to all, her life reminds us that being good isn’t easy.  

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is based on the Book of Genesis.  His jealous brothers hate the young dreamer.  In the 1^st reading Joseph’s brothers plot to kill him.  Once again we learn being good isn’t easy.

In the Gospel the owner of the vineyard sent his workers and then his son, but the tenants beat and killed them, including his son, who represents Jesus, the Son of God.  Again we learn that being good isn’t easy.   

Learning that “being good isn’t easy” is an essential part of the story of Lent to Easter!  Before Cinderella puts on the glass slipper, and all the happiness that follows, before Joseph becomes an advisor to the Pharaoh – they endure jealously and hardships.  Before Jesus rises from the dead He suffers and dies.

In life we will have hardships and joys; failures and successes we can offer them to God and ask God to bless them.  Lent is our training program, for our spiritual year; we are training to become more fully, the people we were baptized to be - Christian.

I ask you for the rest of Lent to pray one Our Father and ask God to send His grace upon someone who has no one to pray for him or her.

May God Be Praised!  

Today take a 5 minute break and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you during the rest of Lent.

"When God breathed His Spirit into Adam, it was not only to make him a living creature. That same Holy Spirit also gave him insight into the things of God. We, as creatures, cannot hope to understand the mysteries of our faith on our own, but with the gift of the Spirit we have an insight into those mysteries from within our own hearts."

 St. Francis de Sales

May God Be Praised!

Lent reminds us of our need to REFORM, REFASHION & RESHAPE our lives to more closely follow the life of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

"No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ."  St. Leo the Great

Let us ask the Lord for the grace
to always see the Lazarus who knocks
at our heart and for the grace to go outside
of ourselves with generosity,
with an attitude of mercy,
so that God’s mercy can enter our heart. 

(The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis by Diane M. Houdek)

May God Be Praised!

Holy Mother Church reminds us during Lent to ready our hearts for God, the God Who made us and Who longs for us to be with Him in Heaven.

Today reflect on the Antiphon, “Awake, lyre and harp, with praise let us awake the dawn” and part of Psalm 57.

My heart is ready, O God, *
my heart is ready.
I will sing, I will sing your praise. *
Awake, my soul,
awake, lyre and harp, *
I will awake the dawn.

I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples, *
among the nations I will praise you
for your love reaches to the heavens *
and your truth to the skies.  [From Psalm 57]

May God Be Praised!

Psalm 119 from Morning Prayer urges us think about the wonderful gift God’s law is for us, it enables us to know God as Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Ant. 1 Dawn finds me ready to welcome you, my God.

Psalm 119:145-152 XIX (Koph) A meditation on God’s law

Loving God means keeping his commandments (1 John 5:3).

I call with all my heart; Lord, hear me, I will keep your commands.
I call upon you, save me and I will do your will.

I rise before dawn and cry for help, I hope in your word.
My eyes watch through the night to ponder your promise.

In your love hear my voice, O Lord; give me life by your decrees.
Those who harm me unjustly draw near: they are far from your law.

But you, O Lord, are close: your commands are truth.
Long have I known that your will is established for ever.

May God Be Praised!

Homily Cycle C 3-17-19

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031719.cfm

Well welcome to the 2^nd Sunday of Lent, [for the Irish among us, which today is everybody, Happy St. Patrick’s Day] our readings refer to God’s covenant; our citizenship in Heaven and the Lord is our light and salvation. 

In the Gospel God the Father tells us to “LISTEN TO JESUS”, to listen to My Son, a profound message on how we are to live.  The Biblical meaning of Covenant is - to come together, an agreement.  Three of the better-known Old Testament Covenants are: Noah, Abram and Moses.

The “New Covenant” is fulfilled in Jesus Christ; true God and true man, our light and our salvation.  Jesus’ Covenant promises forgiveness of to sins for those who believe in and follow Him.  Jesus sealed the New Covenant with His body and blood, the same body and blood that He gives us in the Eucharist.

God said to Abram, “I will be your God and you will be my people.  That promise is fulfilled with Jesus’ Transfiguration, when He reveals that He is true God and true man, both the promise and the fulfillment.

St. Paul reminds us that we are passing through this life - we are “citizens of heaven.”

If you want to experience a little bit of heaven this Lent follow Pope Francis’ “Do You Want To Fast This Lent?”

Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.

The last one is most important, “… be silent so you can listen.”  God wants to speak to us, but we must be quiet to hear what God has to say.

In today’s Gospel Peter, James and John are told to “This is my Son; listen to him.”  We are given the same instruction, the same command, the same invitation, the same Covenant.

As Peter, James and John contemplate the wonder and grandeur of the divine, they witness the unfathomable beauty and awesomeness of the divine.  Experiences of the divine can occur any time & any place, but they are rarely as spectacular as the Transfiguration.

This story is “A pretty good kid”

You’ll think [a pretty good kid] when you’re watching your son or daughter live like a follower of Jesus.  It could happen when they play a sport selflessly, or when they help someone in need, or when they bend down to help another kid up, or when they say just the right words to bring peace and healing to a difficult situation.  You will think, “You know, we raised a pretty good kid.”

Our lives are filled with such moments of transfiguration: when the love of God is visible in our lives … when the ordinary is transformed into the holy. [Adapted from Connections 3/17/19]

We are privileged to experience the divine, the holy each time we receive the Eucharist. 

On September 10, 1946, while on a train ride to make her annual retreat Mother Teresa received her "call within a call."  Teresa experienced Jesus taking over her heart and becoming the driving force of her life.  “We can hope for such a moment in our lives when we will be transfigured by our calling to enter the world of the poor.”  [Celebrations, 3/17/19]

Lent prepares our minds, hearts, and souls to experience the divine in our live, prepares us for the divine.  Don’t waste this Lent; use it to grow in the Lord.  For a few minutes, in silence, reflect how you can make this Lent this best one you have experienced.

May God Be Praised!

An Irish Blessing on Friendship

The test of Gold is Fire

The test of Truth is Time

The test of God’s love are the heavens above and everything sublime

Treasures in life are many, dreams realized but few

But I know the test of God’s goodness is when he gave me a friend like you.

May God be Praised!

Today as we pray the Our Father, let the insights of St. Cyprian guide our reflection on The Lord’s Prayer.

 From a treatise on the Lord’s Prayer by St. Cyprian, bishop & martyr “… the commands of the Gospel are nothing else than God’s lessons, the foundations on which to build up hope, the supports for strengthening faith, the food that nourishes the heart.

They are the rudder for keeping us on the right course, the protection that keeps our salvation secure. As they instruct the receptive minds of believers on earth, they lead safely to the kingdom of heaven….

What prayer could be more a prayer in the spirit than the one given us by Christ, by whom the Holy Spirit was sent upon us?

What prayer could be more a prayer in the truth than the one spoken by the lips of the Son, who is truth himself?”

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”

And so we pray, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

Reflect on what Mother Teresa said, "Prayer must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God."

Jesus gave us the Our Father to do just that, and if we get no further than “Our Father ... thy will be done ...." our heart will touch God’s heart.

May God Be Praised!