First Sunday of Lent

Sell your soul!

For What would you sell your soul ?

Most people would say that they would not sell their soul for anything. 

But is that true?

Would you sell your soul for a cure for cancer?

Would you sell your soul to end poverty?

Would you sell your soul to end all wars?

This is what the devil offered Jesus;

“Just sell me your soul, Jesus

And I will end world hunger;

I will make you King so that you can end all wars;

I will make you Lord of all so that you would not have to serve anyone but yourself.”

Jesus however knew that selling His soul for these things was not worth it. 

Because everything in this world is passing away and the soul is Eternal. 

The devil often does not ask us to sell our souls. 

He usually just wants pieces of it. 

So he offers us pleasure and power and money and other things. 

And slowly piece by piece he gains our souls. 

And so slowly we die, little by little so that we do not even notice it. 

Do not give in to the temptation as appealing as it may sound. 

It is fools gold,

And not worth our soul!

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Choose Deut. 30:15-20

Moses told the Israelites to Choose!

Choose either to follow the Lord or not. 

To keep His commandments or not. 

Ultimately it is a choice between life and death. 

Because when we choose to follow someone other than the Lord they always lead us down the wrong path. 

When we choose not to keep the commandments of the Lord

We become slaves to our choices 

The choice is ours. 

To follow the Lord and keep His commandments and live

Or not and eventually die. 

It is amazing how many people choose not to follow God and His commandments 

Who choose death anyway. 

And then they wonder why their lives have turned out the way they did. 

Ash Wednesday

The ashes of our sins

Sometimes we don't notice our sins

We do not notice our pride, our anger, our selfishness, or how we treat other people

And our ashes are a visible reminder of those sins

The ash of pride

The ash of anger

The ash of selfishness

When we receive the ashes on our forehead;

They are a visible reminder of our sins. 

The sins that we do not always notice. 

And while we sometimes like to see how long they last;

We need to remember why we are receiving them;

And get rid of them as fast as possible. 

Homily for Tuesday 6th week of Ordinary Time

 Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. 

It is a day in which we consume as much as we can before we start the season of Lent. 

At first it seems to make a lot of sense, because Lent is a time of prayer and fasting;

A time of self denial. 

The only problem is for many people in the United States and other countries, everyday is Mardi Gras. 

We have become a consumer society 24/7. 

People consume everything from food to fashion to gadgets. 

What we fail to realize is that the consumer is the one really being consumed. 

Our cravings  are consuming us!

Lent is a time of physical, emotional and spiritual freedom. 

Through Prayer, Fasting and Self Denial we take back control of our life and are no longer consumed by our cravings, addictions and desires. 

No longer consumed by our anger, our selfishness or our past. 

This Lent  we should try and consume as much Prayer, Fasting and Self Denial as we can and so that at Easter we will be free to  experience our own resurrection. 

Monday 6th Week of Ordinary Time

The Testing of Faith James 1:2

Every teacher tests the knowledge of their students. 

Every coach tests the skill of their athletes. 

And so God tests our Faith!

For by the testing of our Faith

Our Faith is revealed and strengthened. 

And God tests our Faith by various trials. 

Are we up to the challenge?

How do we prepare for these tests of our Faith?

Through daily prayer and following the example of the saints who passed these tests and trials of their Faith with flying colors and who won the crown of victory. 

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Last Penny Mt. 5:26

Would you bend over to pick up a penny?

Probably not. 

But a jar full of them is worth something. 

So why does Jesus think pennies are so important?

And that no one will be released until they have paid the last penny!

Because even the smallest sins add up. 

By themselves they may seem to be so small. 

Not something to get hung up about. 

But add them up and they amount to something more. 

Most people don’t commit the big sins

Like murder or embezzlement;

Adultery or idolatry. 

Most people in the world commit the smaller, everyday sins;

Some gossip here;

A jealous thought there;

Neglecting Mass or Prayer;

Ignoring a person in need;

Small acts of selfishness;

A critical or angry word;

A little lust here and a little lie over there. 

Now Take 8 billion people;

And add up all those smaller sins

And one begins to see;

How big they become. 

And why the world is the way it is.

And how even the smallest sins,

Can eventually add up to something bigger. 

And before one knows it we have a jar full.

As they say;

“It is the little things that matter.” 

With sins and pennies.

Friday 5th Week of Ordinary Time

Hearing and Speaking.  Mk. 7:31-37

Jesus opens the ears of a man who can’t hear

And the tongue of him who could not speak. 

Just imagine what it must be like to not to be able to hear or speak. 

God has given us the gift of hearing and speaking. 

But What do we listen too?

What do we talk about?

Sometimes it might be better to be deaf and mute 

Than listen to the things we do and talk about the things we talk about. 

Thursday 5th Week of ordinary time

The betrayal of Solomon 1 Kings. 11:4-13

Solomon is most famous for his Wisdom but what most people don’t know is he had 700 Wives.  

This was not uncommon back then. 

But his wives were all pagans and the led Solomon away from the Faith of David his father. 

And God took away his Kingdom from him. 

We have many things in our lives that threaten to take away our Faith.  

And if we lose our Faith we lose the Kingdom of God. 

Wednesday 5th week of Ordinary Time

Our Lady of Lourdes

When most people think of Lourdes they think of the Miraculous Waters. 

But that was not the message of Our Lady. 

The message that She gave to Bernadette was,

“Penance, Penance Penance !  Pray to God for sinners.”

So often we think that it is our words and our convictions and our wit and intelligence that others need to hear in order to change their minds. 

When Penance is what Our Lady asks of us 

and will go so much further to touch and change hearts. 

Tuesday 5th Week of ordinary time

 Where does God dwell?  1 Kings 8: 22-30

God’s hands stretch from one end of the universe to the other 

From the highest mountain to the depths of the ocean. 

And King Solomon built the most beautiful Temple of cedar and stone and gold for God to dwell in. 

And yet Solomon wondered How could that Temple contain the God of Heaven and earth. ?

That is nothing.  

We must wonder and be amazed how the God of Heaven and earth can be contained in a piece of bread. 

Yet not only does the God of Heaven and earth come to dwell in this Church and in this Bread but also in us. 

How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord refers to us and our souls. 

5th Monday of Ordinary Time

 Just touch His cloak Mk. 6:53-56

Jesus was surrounded by sick people

Who only wanted to touch His cloak

And be healed. 

We are not going to be touching the cloak of Jesus 

At Communion we are going to be touching His very Body. 

How much more healing can we obtain from touching His very Body in the Eucharist we will receive at Communion. 

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Giving Glory to God. Mt. 5:16

Giving glory means to give credit and praise where credit and praise is due. 

When the player makes the winning touchdown or shot;

The player gets all the glory;

When the General defeats the enemy,

The General gets the glory;

When a fireman saves a child from a burning building, 

That fireman gets the glory. 

We give glory to people;

And so should we not give glory to God. 

After all God made the stars and the planets;

God made the mountains and the oceans;

God created us in our mother’s womb and will raise us up to Eternal Life on the Last Day;

Shouldn’t God get some glory too,

For all that God has done?

But how does one give glory to God?

Friday 4th Week of ordinary time

Sts. Paul Miki and his companions

It is Japan 1597 and the persecution has begun. 

The crosses are set in place and one by one Paul and his companions are crucified. 

But from the pulpit of his cross,

Paul preaches to the people that he was dying for the Gospel and gave thanks to God for this moment as he pardoned his enemies. 

As we carry our crosses in life;

We have an opportunity to preach to others;

What is it that we say,

From the pulpit of our cross?

Thursday 4th Week of Ordinary Time

St. Agatha

St. Agatha was born around 231 in Sicily. 

At a young age she dedicated herself to a life of virginity and Jesus.

When she rejected a suitor she was sent first to a brothel and then to prison where she was tortured and mutilated. 

Yet she prayed,

“You have protected me from the cradle;

And taken me away from the world. 

Receive my soul O Lord.”

She is now the patron of Breast cancer and rape victims. 

And her intercession is more important now than ever before.  

Wednesday 4th Week of Ordinary Time

 

Familiarity breeds contempt Mk. 6:1-6

How well do we really know each other?

We may come from the same family or the same town and think we know the person. 

But do we really?

How long have we sat down with someone and told them our fears and our sorrows?

Our Hopes and our shattered dreams?

The truth is we don’t really know others like we think we do. 

It is the same with Jesus. 

His towns folk rejected Him because they thought they knew Him. 

How often do we sit and not only talk to Him but listen to Him. 

Maybe we don’t know Jesus as well as we think we do. 

The Presentation February 2

 

The Temple in Jerusalem was where the Holy of Holies dwelt.  

There was no holier place on earth!

The Most High who brought the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt. 

Who fed them with manna in the desert

And who led them to the Promised Land. 

Dwelt there. 

So that Israel would never forget all that God had done for them, He decreed that the first born whether man or beast should be consecrated to the Lord.  Ex. 13:1

Mary and Joseph therefore brought Jesus to the Temple to present Him to the Lord. 

The Temple however no longer exists. 

It was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. 

So what does the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple mean for us today?

Is it just an historical event in the life Jesus that we remember every year ?

Rather we are the Temple of the Lord who by the Holy Spirit dwells in us. 1 Cor. 3:16. 

And while the Temple in Jerusalem was made by human hands. 

We, The New Temple of the Lord are made by God Himself, in His own image and likeness. 

And at every Mass, Jesus presents Himself to us in the Eucharist. 

The priest is the New Simeon who holds Christ in his hands and presents Him to the Father in us who are living Temples of the Most High.

With every Eucharist we receive, 

the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple is renewed; 

Not symbolically, but Actually!

Not historically, but Now!

For we are the Temple of the Lord and

The Eucharist is Christ Himself in His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity being presented in the Temple which is us!

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 The Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi

800yrs ago Sister Death came for St. Francis. 

Death was not the grim reaper for Francis;

But his sister who came to carry him home. 

Francis so loved the world, 

More than anyone 

Except God !

Francis played under Brother Sun. 

And danced beneath Sister Moon. 

He bathed in sister Water

He breathed in Brother wind and air

And walked barefoot on Sister Earth. 

Everyone and everything was brother and sister and mother to Francis. 

Even Death;

And that is why Francis welcomed Death as his sister. 

Because as much as Francis loved this world

He knew he was only a Pilgrim passing through. 

And that Sister Death would carry him home. 

Sister Death therefore is not the end

But the beginning. 

Not a separation but a reunion;

And that as we play in this world

The evening will come

When sister Death calls out to us

That it is time to come home;

For dinner is ready;

And everyone has gathered;

Around the Supper of the Lamb. 

Plenary Indulgence for the Jubilee of the Transitus of St. Francis

Jan 10,2026-Jan 10 2027

Pope Leo is granting a Plenary Indulgence for the 800th anniversary of the Death of St. Francis of Assisi 

What is a Plenary Indulgence?

While sins are forgiven, restitution for the damage which sin has caused must in Justice be repaid. Mt. 5:26

The Church which has the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven given to Her by Jesus Mt. 16:19, offers to unlock the treasury of her graces and pay the restitution through the gift of a Plenary Indulgence If a person seeks an honest conversion and repentance of their life through Confession, Communion and prayer and make Pilgrimage to a Franciscan Church or shrine.

This Plenary Indulgence may be applied to one’s own life or be offered as a gift of restitution for someone who has died. 

One may receive more than one Plenary Indulgence if one fulfills each time the requirement of visiting a Franciscan Church, Confession, Communion and prayers for the Pope’s Intention with the desire of one’s own personal conversion and repentance. 

After the Jubilee Year of 2026 is over, one may receive a Plenary Indulgence every August 2 on the Franciscan Feast of Our Lady of the Angels, by visiting a Franciscan Church on that day, going to confession, receiving Communion and praying for the Pope’s Intentions within 8 days. 

Franciscan Churches of St. Bonaventure Province

Marytown : 1600 W. Park Av. Libertyville IL

St. Ita :  1220 W. Catalpa Av. Chicago, IL

St. Josaphat Basilica : 2333 S. Sixth St. Milwaukee, WI.

St. Patrick 420 E. 6th St. Minonk

St. Ann 311 W. Santa Fe Toluca

St. Mary 207 W 3rd S. St. Wenona

St. John the Baptist 301 S. Sheridan Lostant

Friday 3rd Week of Ordinary

A mixed bag. 2Sam. 11

David was a mixed bag. 

He is so in love with the Lord that he dances before Him in the Ark of the Covenant. 

And then He turns around and is so in love with a married woman that he has her husband killed. 

David knew this conflict within himself

And in Psalm 51 cried out to the Lord

To Have mercy on him. 

And the Lord in His goodness

Washed away his sins. 

How often do we come to the Lord with the best of intentions

Only to throw them all away in the face of temptation?

When we do, ask the Lord for Mercy

For His goodness which endures forever

Will wash away our sins as well.