Saturday 9th Week of Ordinary Time

 

Angels walk with us : Tobit 12:

In the book of Tobit the Archangel appears to Tobit

And heals his blindness,

Thus making Raphael the Angel of Healing.

When Tobit’s eyes were opened

Not only could he see,

But he saw Raphael the Archangel

Standing before him.

Angels walk with us but often unaware.

Because we are blinded by our desires for the things of this world rather than the things of Heaven.

Because the gaze of our eyes are always turned to the visible s things that we can see,

Rather than to the invisible things that we cannot see,

But are just as real.

As real as angels, walking beside us,

For those who have the eyes of Fatih to see.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Friday 9th week of Ordinary Time

 

The Sacred Heart

The human heart can be so fickle.

One minute filled with love,

The next with anger.

One minute generous,

The next greedy.

Almost always it is divided

Often desiring things it should not have.

Yet longing for something greater.

So we come to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

For in His Heart

All divisions cease.

And the only longing is love.

A love that sacrifices itself for another.

A love that is unconditional

A love that burns even in the coldest night.

This is why we pray,

Jesus, Meek and Humble of Heart.

Make my heart like Yours!

Today and everyday.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Thursday 9th Week of Ordinary Time

 

There is no greater Commandment than to Love God and your neighbor as yourself. Mk. 12:28-34

If the Greatest Commandment is to Love God and to love our Neighbor as Ourself,

Then should this be the most important thing we do everyday?

What good is it to go to church or to pray or to fast if we do not Love God and our Neighbor?

Love of God and Neighbor must be the reason and the motivation for all that we do,

Or we have failed to keep the Great Commandment.

And will be judged accordingly.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Wednesday 9th Week of Ordinary Time

 

St. Marcellinus and Peter d. 304

Very little is known of Marcellinus and Peter.

They were beheaded in the year 304 in Rome.

They lost their heads for Christ.

Nowadays people lose their heads over money or sports

Or politics.

Marcellinus and Peter lost their heads over Christ

And have been remembered for 1700 years.

How important are the things that we lose our heads over,

And will it be remembered even next week!

God bless

Fr. Patrick

9th Tuesday of Ordinary Time

 

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God Mk. 12:13-17

The Jews were oppressed by the Romans,

So the Pharisees asked Jesus,

What did they owe to their oppressors?

This is a difficult question.

Throughout history there have been times too when the Church and State have been at odds with each.

The colonists had to decide what belonged to themselves and what belonged to the King of England.

To a complicated question,

Jesus gave a simple answer.

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. Mk.12:17

So each person should reflect on what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God,

And then give to each accordingly.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

9th Monday of Ordinary Time

 

The Feast of the Visitation Lk. 1:39-56

When we visit people do we bring good news or bad news?

Do we make their day or ruin it?

Mary went to visit Elizabeth

And she brought Good News.

The Best News!

She was with child.

Not just any child,

The Savior of the world!

Because of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth

We too always have Good News to share when we visit others.

We always have Hope, Peace, Encouragement to share.

Because like Mary, we too have Jesus in our hearts

Through the Eucharist we receive at Mass.

So no matter who we visit;

There is no excuse not to be the bearer of Good Tidings and Joy.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Holy Trinity

Nicene Creed pt 6

I believe in One Baptism

Most people do not think about Baptism,

Until a baby is born,

And the whole family has a get together.

Baptism however is more than a ritual where some water is poured and some prayers are said, and then everyone has lunch.

Baptism changes EVERYTHING!

At Baptism ,

The Divine Life of God is poured into us.

We become Children of God

Who can now call God, Father.

When we are baptized we go down into the water and we die with Christ,

And when we come out of the water we live a new life with Christ.

Baptism therefore is a dying and a rising.

A dying to oneself and a living for Another.

A dying to sin and living a life of grace.

But Jesus was already Holy,

So Why did He have to be baptized?

Christ was baptized into us

so that we might be baptized into Him!

When Jesus was baptized,

He became immersed into our sins, our sufferings, and our pain.

He immersed Himself into our life

so that through Baptism

we might be immersed into His Life.

At Baptism,

It is no longer just I who live,

But now Christ Who lives in me.

That is why we believe in only One Baptism,

Because once you are Baptized there is no going back.

We belong to Christ forever.

We believe in the Forgiveness of Sins

that we receive through Baptism and Confession and Communion.

Live long enough and you have made some mistakes,

Hurt some people and have some regrets.

But with Christ,

This can all be forgiven and wiped away.

We are not trapped by the past.

For Christ can right all our wrongs,

Heal all our hurts

And forgive all our sins,

So that we can begin again.

And we look forward to the Resurrection of the Dead

When our bodies will rise from their graves,

And be reunited to our souls,

Just as the Body of Jesus was reunited with His soul

And rose from the grave on Easter.

And we look forward to the life of the world to come.

A world where there will be

no more war or hatred or division.

Or greed, or jealousy or pride.

Because there is no room for those things in Heaven.

The Gates of Paradise are too narrow for those things to enter.

There is only enough room for Love.

Everything else will have to be left behind.

And what a wonderful world it will be.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Saturday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

 

By what authority are you doing these things?” Mk. 11:28

The Pharisees thought that they were the teachers of the Faith,

So when Jesus came along and began teaching,

They questioned by what authority He spoke.

Was it of human or heavenly authority?

When we speak about the many topics that we do throughout the day,

By what authority do we speak?

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Friday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

 

“My House shall be called a House of Prayer.” Mk. 11:17

When Jesus entered the Temple He threw out all of the money changers and those who were buying and selling things,

Because His Father’s House was a House of Prayer.

When we go to church

We must “throw out”

All the distractions,

All the things we are planning to do after Mass,

All thoughts and desires that keep us from devoting ourselves to prayer in our Heavenly Father’s House.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Thursday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

 

“Master I want to see!” Mk. 10:51

The blind man told Jesus that he wanted to see.

And Jesus opened his eyes.

There is nothing more blind however than those who will not see.

The Pharisees were blind guides,

Unable to lead others because they could not see their own

Sins.

Do we dare ask Jesus to open our eyes so that we might see our own sinfulness?

To see our own stubbornness or faults and failings?

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Wednesday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

 

“Can you drink the chalice that I drink?” Mk. 10:38

Drink the Cup.

Many people want the A in school but do not want to do the studies.

Others want to lose weight but do not want to diet.

Others want money but do not want to work for it.

It is the same with Heaven.

The Disciples wanted to sit at the right and left had of Jesus in Heaven,

But they first had to drink the cup of rejection and suffering of which Jesus was going to drink.

If we want the glory, then we must drink of the same cup as Jesus did.

For there is no glory without the cross.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Tuesday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

“Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house of brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, who will not receive a hundred times more.” Mk. 1028-9

Leave it all Behind :

When Jesus called the disciples to follow Him,

They had to leave their nets behind.

In truth though their nets were empty.

It was when they followed the Lord and did as He said,

That their nets became filled to overflowing.

It is the same for us.

What are we willing to leave behind,

So that Christ might fill us

With more than we could ever dream of imagine?

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Monday

 

Pope institutes new celebration of Mary, Mother of Church

By Devin Watkins of Vatican news

Pope Francis has decreed that the ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar.

The liturgical celebration,

B. Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris

, will be celebrated annually as a Memorial on the day after Pentecost.

the Holy Father wishes to promote this devotion in order to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety”.

‘Mother of the Church’ in tradition

The decree reflects on the history of Marian theology in the Church’s liturgical tradition and the writings of the Church Fathers.

It says Saint Augustine and Pope Saint Leo the Great both reflected on the Virgin Mary’s importance in the mystery of Christ.

“In fact the former [St. Augustine] says that Mary is the mother of the members of Christ, because with charity she cooperated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church, while the latter [St. Leo the Great] says that the birth of the Head is also the birth of the body, thus indicating that Mary is at once Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and mother of the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church.”

The decree says these reflections are a result of the “divine motherhood of Mary and from her intimate union in the work of the Redeemer”.

Scripture, the decree says, depicts Mary at the foot of the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25). There she became the Mother of the Church when she “accepted her Son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal.”

In 1964, the decree says, Pope Paul VI “declared the Blessed Virgin Mary as ‘Mother of the Church, that is to say of all Christian people, the faithful as well as the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother’ and established that ‘the Mother of God should be further honoured and invoked by the entire Christian people by this tenderest of titles’”.

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Pentecost

 

The Nicene Creed part 5

There is a spirit in everything that lives.

Every person, every cat, every dog,

Every living creature on this earth has a unique spirit and personality.

That comes from the Holy Spirit.

For when God formed Adam and Eve out of the dust of the earth,

He “breathed” into them His Life Giving Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Giver of Life,

Not just to Adam and Eve however but to each one of us.

To EVERYTHING!

And this Life,

Proceeds Eternally from the Father and the Son,

For ALL life comes from God.

And the Holy Spirit has spoken through the Prophets.

There are all kinds of Prophets.

Such as Isaiah and Jeremiah and John the Baptist,

Who were inspired by the Holy Spirit with messages of Salvation and Hope and Conversion for all people.

But there are also other prophets that the Holy Spirit inspires as well.

Ask any Poet, or Song Writer.

And they will tell you of an Inspiration that fills their minds and hearts

With words and melodies that are not from them.

That transcends time and space

And touches every human heart and mind

that reads it or hears it.

Think of how your favorite Song or Poem

Takes you to a different time and place;

How it lifts you up and moves you.

This is the Holy Spirit at work,

Inspiring Prophets,

To lift the human race up from its dregs

To the greatness for which it was created.

To fill it with joy and happiness and love.

And all those who are united with the Holy Spirit

Experience this transcendent and transforming life.

The Holy Spirit

Is in the air that we breathe

And the rain that falls,

The wind that blows

And heart that sings.

And this is why we call the Holy Spirit,

The Lord and Giver of Life!

God bless

Fr. Patrick

Saturday 7th Week of Easter

 

St. Rita

Rita lived a life of mortification and penance.

She used to pray,

“Let me my dear Jesus share in your sufferings,

At least one of your thorns.”

And then one day she received a wound in her head;

A thorn like Jesus had when He was crowned with thorns.

What do we ask of Jesus?

God Bless

Friday 7th Week of Easter

 Do You Love Me? Friday 7th Week of Easter

Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and three times Peter answered and said, yes he did.

Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him three times,

for the three times that Peter denied Him.

How many times have we denied Jesus?

How many times through our actions, our words and our attitudes have we turned our backs on Jesus?

Our pride, anger, selfishness, jealousy, sloth, gluttony, lust and gossip, are all acts of denying Jesus, be they great or small.

For every time we have denied Jesus, like Peter we must tell Jesus that we love Him.

We could spend every second of our lives telling Jesus we loved Him for each time we denied Him.

But it is sufficient that throughout the day we take a moment just to tell Jesus that we love Him.

And with every whisper of Love from our lips

it will leave our sins and denials further and further behind and draw our hearts closer to His.

God Bless

Thursday 7th Week of Easter

 St. Paul’s Final Journey

After Paul arrived in Jerusalem

He was arrested and put on trial

Before the Sanhedrin just like Jesus.

But unlike Jesus,

His final journey does not end in Jerusalem

But in Rome.

Where He will eventually be imprisoned and beheaded.

We may not always know where our final journey may end,

But as Jesus said to Paul, So He says to us,

“Take courage, I am with you always,

Wherever you go.”

God Bless

Wednesday 7th Week of Easter

 More blessed to Give than to Receive Acts. 20:35

Paul reminded his disciples what Jesus said,

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

If that is true then we must reflect on what we are giving.

It does not always have to be money or a material gift.

Sometimes a kind word, a smile or a helping hand

Is the best gift we can give to another person.

What gift will we give to another this day?

God Bless

Tuesday 7th week of Easter

 Saying Goodby. Acts 20:17-27

We say good by everyday.

Knowing that we will see each other tomorrow

But the day will come for the Last Good bye.

Paul was sharing his Last Good by with his friends in Ephesus.

He had run his race and finished the course.

And now it was time to go,

And face imprisonment and hardship.

Good byes are not always easy

But when we have lived a good life

And kept the Faith.

There is a Peace that goes with us

And a Peace that we leave behind

For those we love.

God Bless

Monday 7th week of Easter

 

How strong is our Faith? Jn. 16:29-33

The disciples told Jesus that they believed in Him.

And Jesus responded by questioning their Faith.

For He knew that when His hour came,

They would desert Him and scatter.

We come to Church every Sunday and profess our Faith,

Just like the disciples.

But when we are tempted or our Faith is challenged

Do we hold firm?

God Bless

7th Sunday of Easter

 

The Creed Pt. 4

What is the Church??

Is it a building?

Is it an Institution?

Is it a community of believers?

A herald of the Gospel?

At the Council of Nicea in 325 the bishops tried to explain what Church is.

First They said it was One.

While we are many parts,

We are all One Body in Christ.

Sometimes however in the body,

the heart desires one thing,

And the mind something else.

And so the body is sometimes divided in itself.

The Church also has many parts,

That don’t always agree.

Are we a source of unity or division in the Church?

In the Parish?

In spite of those differences

We are One Body, One Body in Christ!

The Church is also Holy.

At times the Church appears “all too human.”

But We should not be discouraged when we or others in the Church fall short.

For no matter what, the gates of hell will not prevail.

It is not however enough just to be good.

Each one of us is called to be Holy as God is Holy. 1Pt. 1-5

The key to holiness is to hunger for it.

For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Holiness,

For they will be satisfied. Mt. 5:6

The Church is Catholic!

The word Catholic means Universal.

The Church includes every race, language and culture.

Rich and poor;

Democrat and Republican.

Jesus ate with tax collectors and prostitutes.

He loved His enemies;

And associated with the poor and lowly.

With Jew and Gentile.

If we are truly Catholic then we too should eat with sinners.

Love our enemies;

And associate with the poor and lowly.

With those “outside of our group.”

Love and Forgiveness is Catholic;

A Universal gift given to everyone.

The Church is Apostolic!

We all have a family tree whereby we can trace our roots and where we came from.

So does the Church.

She can trace her family tree all the way back to Apostles.

This is most evident in that the remains of all 12 Apostles

are found in Roman Catholic Churches throughout the world.

But it is not enough to be part of the tree.

To be truly Apostolic one must continue

To be Faithful to what has gone before,

And to bear fruit so that the tree can continue.

Each one of us is part of that tree whose roots go back to the Apostles.

But how Faithful are and do we bear fruit?

When we say that we believe in

One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,

We are not just talking about the Church in Rome

But also the one right here in which we are sitting.

God Bless

6th Saturday of Easter

Saint Isidore the Farmer’s Story : May 15

Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities. In particular, he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference.

When he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself who also became a saint—Maria de la Cabeza. They had one son, who died as a child.

Isidore had deep religious instincts. He rose early in the morning to go to church and spent many a holiday devoutly visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. All day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. His devotion, one might say, became a problem, for his fellow workers sometimes complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church too long.

He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. He had a great concern for the proper treatment of animals.

God Bless

6th Friday of Easter

 

Jesus chooses us! Acts 1:15-26

We make many decisions in life.

What time to get up;

What to eat;

Who to talk to.

Little do we realize therefore how much and even more,

God influences our life

And leads us.

St Matthias didn’t choose to be an Apostle,

God chose him when Judas left the 12 and betrayed Jesus.

He did this by drawing lots.

Not by some dramatic vision.

We may not see visions,

But God is choosing us and leading us throughout our lives.

To do His Will and His Work.

In even the smallest of things.

God Bless