12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Priceless Mt. 10:26-33

When was the last time you bent over to pick up a penny?

When I was young I used to collect soda bottles and turn them in for the money.

2 cents for a 12oz bottle and 3 cents for a 16 oz bottle.

That may not seem like much but candy was a nickel and bubble gum was a penny.

Not anymore.

People see a penny on the ground and they just keep going.

But not our Heavenly Father.

Every sparrow is priceless;

Every hair on our head is counted.

Nothing is too small or insignificant or Him.

In this world however

Who really cares for us?

We have become faceless consumers

Who are only known by our ID and Password.

Voters who are courted in November and forgotten in December.

Human beings who now have to talk to machines on the phone

And wait for the machine to respond to our needs.

And while every business claims to put the customer first

Do you really believe them?

We are merely names on a balance sheet that numbers in the billions.

So if one or two are lost

It is no big deal.

Jesus comes along however and teaches that each and every one of us is a big deal;

No one is too small or too insignificant to count and to matter to His Heavenly Father.

The world may look at us as just a penny on the ground,

Not worth much individually

But Jesus reminds us that Our Heavenly Father

Bends over and picks up every single penny.

Because each one is priceless in His eyes.

God Bless

On the life of Fr. Casimir Cypher OFM Conv by Mike Gable a lay missionary in Honduras at the time of Casimir.

“As Casimir was struggling to improve his Spanish, there was one special homily I witnessed several times that he loved to tell on his many journeys explaining how God loves not only people but all of creation and animals as well. Noah had a “grande boata” he would say while making gestures of a large boat. Then he said, “Here came the animals” while demonstrating how Noah called various pairs to come on board. Casimir would swing his arm out from his nose making elephant noises. Then he sang. “Tweet, Tweet,” while flapping his arms as a bird. With his booming noises of thunder you knew the rains were coming! All the while the villagers would laugh out loud with Casimir especially when he demonstrated how Noah had trouble trying to coax all the animals into the ark. What a hoot! He was a Franciscan through and through.”

Please read this individually or at community prayer on June 25 in memory of Fr. Casimir as we strive to spread his life and message for his canonization and keep his memory alive. 

God Bless

Fr. Patrick Greenough OFM Conv

Immaculate Heart of Mary

A Sword shall pierce your heart Lk. 2:35

It was prophesied by Simeon in the Temple

That a sword would pierce the heart of Mary,

So that the thoughts of others might be revealed.

Unless we are willing to Open our Hearts up like Mary,

and let the sword of suffering pierce our own hearts.

No one will trust us and open up to us their their hearts.

For It is through our suffering that others see we are sincere and authentic.

And then they will feel safe to reveal the secrets of their hearts to us.

And then our hearts will become one with them.

Like the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are one with each other.

God Bless

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Make Our hearts like unto Thine

Our opinions are not driven by what we think but by what we love.

No one has ever shed their blood or given up their life for an opinion.

Only for what they Love, Passionately.

This is Jesus,

He loved us passionately!

So He endured His Passion and died for us,

Because He loved us.

This is why we pray,

O Sacred Heart of Jesus,

Make our Hearts like unto Thine.

So that we might Love Jesus as passionately as He loves us!

God Bless

Thursday 11th Week of Ordinary Time Forgiveness

How do we win God’s Forgiveness?

Do we have to Fast?

Pray lots of Prayers?

Do Penance and mortification?

And if so,

How much do we have to Fast?

How many prayers do we have to say?

How much Penance and mortification do we have to do

In order for God to Forgive us.

Well we do not have to do any of those things for God to forgive us.

All we have to do is

Forgive others, and then God will forgive us? Mt. 6:15

God Bless

Wednesday 11th Week of Ordinary Time

God has X-ray eyes

People notice the car we drive, the house we live in, the clothes we wear and who we associate with.

But do they really know who we are?

God however has x-ray eyes.

God sees into our hearts.

Into every dark space and corner

God sees the things we keep hidden from everyone else

And even from ourselves.

Nothing is hidden from God. Mt. 6:18

We are only fooling ourselves if we think we are hiding anything from God.

Not even our most private thoughts or most personal sins are hidden from God.

So when we pray,

We should pray from the darkest and most secret places of our heart.

For it is then that our prayer is most real and honest.

God Bless

Tuesday 11th Week of Ordinary Time

Limitless Love

How far does your love extend?

Family?

Friends?

Neighbors?

How about enemies?

Or those who have hurt you?

Or just get on your nerves?

Jesus tells us that our Love must extend to everyone. Mt. 5:43-44

No matter who they are.

No matter what their race or creed is.

No matter whether we like them or get along with them or not.

Jesus reminds us,

That if our love has limits,

We are really no different than the pagans and tax collectors. Mt. 5:47-48

God Bless

Monday 11th Week of Ordinary Time

Ending violence

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

is what most people live by.

It seems to make sense.

But Not to the Christian.

Christians turn the other cheek. Mt. 5:39

They offer no resistance to evil.

To the non believer this makes no sense.

It will only get your other cheek slapped,

And evil will only grow unabated.

But for those who have Faith,

They know it is the only way to end the violence

And put a stop to evil.

Any other way has failed and will continue to fail

As it has for centuries.

God Bless

Feast of St. Anthony

A sermon by St Antony of Padua

Actions speak louder than words

The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practise what he preaches.” It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.

But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! For some men speak as their own character dictates, but steal the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit for them. The Lord refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah: So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal my words from each other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the Lord, who have only to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and lead my people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly never sent them or commissioned them, and they serve no good purpose for this people, says the Lord.

We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfilment, insofar as he infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the triune God.

God Bless

Friday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Body of Sin Mt. 5: 27-32

Sin begins in our hearts and extends out to our hands, our ears and our eyes.

We first desire a particular sin in our heart and then we strive to attain it with our hands, our eyes or our ears.

This is why Jesus warns us that it is better to pluck out our eye or cut off our hand rather than risk the fires of Gehenna.

He does not mean for us to literally pluck them out or cut them off,

But to beware of what we desire with our hearts

look at with our eyes;

or listen with our ears;

Or reach for with our hands.

For it is not worth the fires of Gehenna

Or anything else for that matter.

God Bless

Corpus Christi

How would you describe the times in which we live?

Confusing? Lonely? Painful? Difficult? Divisive?

It is at these times that Jesus says

“Come to Me....”

Come to Me all you who are weary and find life burdensome

And I will refresh you. Mt. 11:28

Come to Me, All you who are confused

and I will ease your mind.

Come to Me all you who are lonely,

And I will talk with you.

Come to Me all you who suffer,

And I will heal you.

Come to Me all you who are facing difficulties

And I will help you carry your load.

Come to Me all you who are experiencing division

And I will gather you together.

Come to Me all you who are angry,

And I will give you Peace.

Come to Me all you who sin,

And I will forgive you.

Come to Me all you who are lost,

and I will show you the way.

Come to Me, all you who are oppressed,

And I will lift you up.

Come to Me all you who are enslaved,

And I will set you free.

Come to Me, all you who are dying,

And I will give you Eternal Life.

Come to Jesus,

With whatever burdens the world has placed on you.

For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Come to Jesus,

For in His Gentle and Humble Heart.

You will find rest from all that wearies yours.

God Bless

Thursday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Letter of the Law Mt. 5:20-26

The commandments of God are not only written on stone,

But must be written in our hearts as well.

For if we are only concerned with the letter of the law and not with the spirit,

Then our hearts are a cold as the stone on which the commandments were written.

And then like the Pharisees,

We will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

God Bless

Wednesday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Excuses

When a person is pulled over by a policeman

Usually that person begins to think of an excuse

For breaking the speed limit.

It is no different with the laws of the Church.

We can often come up with excuses why we did not attend Mass

Or keep the commandments.

And Jesus reminds us that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Mt. 5:17.

If Jesus did not offer excuses but sought instead to fulfill the law,

Then maybe we should not either.

Instead we should strive to fulfill the law as He did.

And then we shall be called “Great” in the Kingdom of Heaven.

God Bless

Tuesday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Light of the World

We are the Light of the World. Mt. 5:14

That means we must live our Faith so that others can see it.

And by the Light our Faith

Help others find their way in the darkness of this world.

But like all light,

We must not shine it other people’s faces

For then it only blinds them.

Our Faith should be like a candle in the night

Whose gentle light and warm flame

Is a Kindly Light, Leading others on their way.

God Bless

Monday 10th Week of Ordinary Time

The Beatitudes Mt. 5:1-12

The Beatitudes are a ladder to Heaven.

And Each Beatitude is a rung on the Ladder to Heaven.

But like all ladders you can only take one rung at a time.

Have you ever tried skipping two or three rungs on a ladder?

It is impossible.

One must take one rung at a time beginning with the first one.

So the first rung on the ladder of the Beatitudes is

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit.

After one has taken that step,

Then one can take the next rung to

Blessed are those who Mourn.

And then the next rung

Blessed are those who are Meek.

And on and on.

But each one is a big step and one must make sure that one has

Attained that step and is steady on it before taking the next one.

Or one may slip down and have to start all over again.

God Bless

The Holy Trinity

St. Augustine, who is one of he greatest minds in Christianity and the world was having difficulty thinking bout how there could be Three Persons in One God,

And he could not quite get his head around it.

So he went for a walk.

While walking along the beach one day,

He saw a little boy with a bucket.

And he asked the little boy what he was doing.

And the little boy said,

I am going to empty the ocean into this bucket.

And St. Augustine laughed and said,

“You cannot empty the ocean into that little bucket!”

And the boy answered,

“And you cannot grasp the Holy Trinity in your little mind!”

And then the boy disappeared.

nonetheless our Faith is always seeking understanding.

And the way we often gain greater understanding is through experience.

But how do we gain experience of the Holy Trinity?

First of all through Creation.

Did you know There are 2 million insects for every person.

There are 250 billion stars give or take 150 billion in the Milky Way Galaxy.

There are two trillion Galaxies in the universe consisting of billions of stars each.

And then there is you and me!

So we can experience God the Father as a Creator everywhere we look.

Secondly through our humanity.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ.

became flesh and dwelt among us.

He was born of a woman.

And walked the earth

He ate bread and fish.

And Suffered and died.

So we can experience God the Son as someone just like us.

Thirdly through inspiration.

Every great Poet, Musician, Artist and Author

Speaks of inspiration.

A sudden idea or understanding

That came to them out of the blue.

When they least expected it.

This is what “inspiration” is,

Being “in-the-Spirit “

So we experience the Holy Spirit as inspiration.

How these Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are One God is beyond our understanding.

But how they relate to us and are part of our lives,

Every person great and small can experience

If only we open ourselves up to the God

Who lives, and moves and has His being in us and all around us!

God Bless