Ad Jesum per Mariam

What Are You Doing With the Time You are Given? Jesus Gives A Lesson for Our Spiritual Journey! The opening of the Homily talks about a gesture that is performed each time the Gospel is proclaimed at Mass. It is important to understand this for our own Spiritual Journey because the Word of God is given to us in love. Regardless of whether the Gospel proclaims a stern message, or a tender message,...

Jesus Does Not Immediately Respond to a Prayer for a Reason. He Wants Us to Pray in Confidence! As we move through the last several weeks of ordinary time, there will be a shift in the overall tone of scripture. There will be a note of ultimacy. We hear that in today’s readings of scripture. In today’s Gospel we hear of a blind man on the side of the rode. In the first reading we hear about a retu...

St. Luke: A Friend in Faith Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Luke, evangelist. Luke wrote his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Together, they represent approximately twenty-five percent of the New Testament’s scripture. Interesting, Luke begins his Gospel. Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewi...

Eucharistic Revival Conference #3: The Importance of the Eucharistic Prayer Last week we began looking at the Mass and the prayers of the Mass through the centuries. Ultimately the journey will take us through examining the Mass in the Past, the Present and Potentially the Future. We started the journey by examining the prayer of the consecration or the Eucharistic prayer. It may also be called th...

History Remembers His Greatness: Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr The Saint we honor today, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, is one of the most remarkable men that history has ever produced. Tradition holds that when the disciples were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest, Jesus sat down and placed a child on His lap. Unless you become one such as this little one, you cannot e...

St. Paul Prays for All to have the Spirit that Allows You to Appreciate the Glorious Goodness of What God has Done . . . For You! There is a beautiful wisdom that underlines the words Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. Today’s Gospel tells us about acknowledging Him. Jesus also says that one is not to be worried or troubled if dragged before hostile people. Difficult? Yes! Hear more within the Homi...

Eucharistic Revival Conference #2: The History and Potential Future of the Mass: A Journey Through Eucharistic Worship In Eucharistic Revival Conference #1, we explored the reasons behind the need for this revival and clarified its purpose. We focused on reintroducing the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ and examined the inspiration for the National Eucharistic Renewal. A key concern disc...

The Essence of Christian Life is the Continual Receiving of the Gift From God In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a parable about a friend knocking on the door in the middle of the night asking for bread. The owner of the house was already in bed. He tells the visitor to go away. Jesus tells us that if the man does not get up and give the visitor what he asks for because of their friendship, he’ll d...

Remembering Saint Pope John 23rd: The Good Pope on His Feast Day Saint Pope John 23rd was born in the Northern Italy town of Sotto il Monte in 1881. Upon becoming a priest in 1904, he was made the secretary to a bishop. A few years later he was appointed to go to Rome. He was appointed to be a Cardinal in 1953, and was elected Pope in 1958 at the age 76. His birth name was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli...

St. Paul, and Jesus, Tell Us We All Have A Common Life That We Are All Called to Live. What Does That Really Mean? As St. Paul writes to the Church, he answers a question that is normally asked of Church leaders. The question? Are you saved? St. Paul gives an answer to the Church in his writing. He doesn’t answer, Yes, I am! He answers, Yes, WE are! Salvation in Jesus Christ is never merely person...

Jesus Tells the Man that Earthly Life Can Prevent You From Obtaining Eternal Life In the second reading, we hear there is a cutting sharpness of the Word of God. The Word can uncover what is in a person’s heart all along. It is in sharp contrast to the gentler words within the first reading. To fully understand today’s Gospel, it is important to understand the sharpness of the second reading! Hear...

Eucharistic Revival Conference #1: What Is and Why Do We Need a Eucharistic Revival? So, why is there a need for the Eucharistic Revival? The Eucharist is where Worship begins and ends as a Catholic. So, why is there a need for a revival? A recent survey taken on April 12th of this year shows that people who come to weekly and / or daily Mass represents 28% of all baptized Christians. Only 20% of...

Conference on Angels: Conf. #2: How We Are United With The Angels in Heaven! When we speak of the angels, it is important to attend to one of the most important ways where the church is most sensitive to the presence of the angels. And that is during the act of our collective divine worship, which we call the liturgy. Um, And again, this is something that the church has taught from the very beginn...

Conference on Angels: Conf. #1: The Role Of Our Guardian Angels is More Than A Protector When we hear that expression, Guardian Angels, we imagine those angels who individually have been assigned to watch over us. And that’s a half truth. Rather, when the church celebrates the guardian angels, it celebrates that, but it also celebrates the way that angels are the guardians of the people of God in...

Receive What Jesus Gives You! Be Dependent upon the Lord! Intoday’s first reading from Proverbs we hear about something that all humans have struggled with since Adam and Eve. We hear about the Word of the Lord. We need to be content with what we have. Hmmm! Hear more within the Homily! We hear from scripture of the danger of abundance. In our wealth and abundance, I will deny the Lord! We won’t f...

You Are Invited to Participate In the Plan of God! St. Augustine was asked what is time? Time of planting, a time for harvesting, a time for dying, a time for birth and more. When asked what time is, St. Augustine has a thought. When someone doesn’t ask him about time, he says, he knows what time is. He continues, however, when ultimately asked what time is, his reply is I do not know. Two Types o...

The Book of Ecclesiastes Offers Us the Meaning of Life The most important thing to know about time, is that it ends! It runs out for everyone and everything. It’s not infinite. It is measured. Time comes to an end. This is a fact of our faith. Time indeed comes to an end. Our first reading makes this point to us! When we are young, the possibilities seem endless. The reading tells us about the you...

St. Paul Asks the Church of Corinth: Are You Conscious of Living in Such a Way that You Know You Are Moving Toward Another World . . . the Kingdom of God in Heaven? St. Paul wrote the letter to the Church in Corinth 2000 years ago. He wrote to the people, and he may have written it to us in today’s world. While Christians do not deny Jesus’ Resurrection, we often act in a way of indifference. Many...

By Saint Matthew’s Example: How Much Do I Follow Jesus? Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Matthew (September 21st). We all know the Gospel story. Jesus walks over to Matthew’s table, saying nothing but Follow Me! One has to understand the profession of Matthew. He was a tax collector. How the tax collector worked in collecting money is described within the Homily. However, the Jewish p...

Jesus Tells Us …. Go In Peace, Your Sins are Forgiven Among the contribution of Pope Benedict 16th ‘s papacy was a rekindling in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Pope wrote several series / books on Jesus Christ. In one of the Pope’s writings, he speaks of the Gospel. He explains when many read the Gospel, they look at it as ordinary words … as the Good News of Jesus Christ. In the Roman times,...

Jesus Tells His Disciples and Us: If You Want to Be Great . . . Often in our discussions, we talk about the greatest. The greatest athlete in a specific sport, like soccer, basketball or football. There is even a greatest hot dog eater as per the July 4th competition! If we are honest with ourselves, we all want to be great! It is the reason we work hard. It is the reason we endure many sleepless...

Pray So That You May Do the Will of God! What This Means for Us Spiritually! We are known not only by what we say . . . but what we do. In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with several things. Jesus is coming from the synagogue. He goes to Simon Peter’s house where He lays his healing hands on Peter’s mother-in-law. Later, many of the sick come to Jesus, and He heals them all. We are told in scri...

Hail, Full of Grace! The Lord Is With You! Today the Church celebrates The Most Holy Name of Mary (September 12th). Have you ever imagined what the world would be like if we did not have names? Silly, perhaps, but an interesting image. Names brings order. Names gives us an identity. And names also carry for us a history. In another country, people are given two names when they are born. There is a...

Christians Walk With One Step on Earth and the Other Touched by Heaven There is a marvelous oddness in the way God speaks to us today through the readings! On one hand God speaks to us in a way that stirs our heart with expectations. Even as that happens, the Lord will defeat those expectations that rise within us! It is not to disappoint us. It’s to bring us beyond our expectations! We see this d...

Conference #2: The Beauty Jesus and Christianity Sees in Suffering When We Embrace the Mystery and Exaltation of the Cross After reciting a hymn that is at least 1400 years old about The Cross, the Homily tells us of the fate of The Cross. The Persians in conquering Rome, also conquered Jerusalem. In doing so, they carried away numerous icons. They also carried away Jesus’ Holy Cross. We also hear...