Ad Jesum per Mariam

The Story of the Disciples James’ and John’s Ambitious Petition to Jesus . . . and The Lesson for Our Spiritual Life In today’s readings we have a number of complex messages. In the first reading (not included within this audio) we hear from the prophet Jeremiah, who will be like the Lord and persecuted and made to suffer. Like Jesus, the opponents of Jeremiah are interested in writing down everyt...

Humble Yourself Before the Lord. Jesus Tells us the Key to Spiritual Life. Humble Yourself Before the Lord. . . . The words from the readings of the Prophet Isaiah (not included within this audio) are particularly strong. Listen you people from Sodom and Gomorrah . . . God is speaking to Israel, not to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord references two cities, recognized for their sinfulnes...

The Call of St. Matthew and The Call For All Sinners The Call of St. Matthew and . . . I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but the sinners. Jesus speaks these words in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees ask Jesus why He eats with tax collectors and sinners. And Jesus then says those words. To believe in the mercy of God, is to believe that the Lord will draw near to the sinner. To beli...

Understand the Connections Between the Message of Jonah and the Message of Jesus Understand How the Message of Jonah . . . In today’s reading we have an example of the miraculous character of grace. And we are also given an example of the human heart closing itself off to the same miraculous character. In the first reading (not included within this audio), we are told the story of Jonah, the reluc...

The Lord’s Prayer: Understand the Significance to Our Own Spiritual Prayer Life The Lord’s Prayer: . . . How many times in our life have we prayed the Lord’s Prayer? Can we even count them? Having said that, do we really understand it? If asked to give an explanation of the prayer, many Christians might feel awkward. Interesting! On the one hand the prayer is very familiar. Yet on the other hand i...

Understand How Adam and Jesus are both Tempted by Satan, and What It Means for Our Own Spiritual Life In today’s reading (not included within this audio) and the Gospel there are several contrasts. We hear about Adam and the new Adam, Jesus. The original Adam brought condemnation to the world, and the new Adam, brings salvation into the world. There is a deeper contrast in terms of the settings. H...

Jesus Readies His Disciples (And Us), by Private Instruction, For What Is to Happen During Holy Week Alleluia is a word that is not used during the Lenten Season. It is laid aside until Easter. Why? Hear more within the Homily and what its absent means during the Mass. The first reading (not included within this audio) tells us that anyone who would truly serve God, should prepare for a life of ha...

Understand What the Ashes Do For Us After Ash Wednesday . . . Understand the Importance of the Ashes The Gospel today, for some, is confusing. The Lord says do not pray and do not fast so others may see. Do so in private and your Heavenly Father will see. Yet on Ash Wednesday, what do we do? We place ashes on our forehead, so that everyone can see. We appear to be doing exactly the opposite to wha...

St. Joseph’s Altar – ITE AD JOSEPH The tradition of setting up an altar to St. Joseph in private homes and parish churches . . . . . . began in Sicily as an act of thanksgiving to St. Joseph for his intercession bringing to an end a severe drought that had caused a famine on the island. The altar would be set up and adorned with candles flowers and foods that would be enjoyed on the occasion of hi...

Understand What the Transfiguration Should Mean for Our Own Spiritual Life In the first reading (not included within this audio) we are told without faith it is impossible to please God. This is an important statement to understand. We must understand it. If you are a believer, it is not enough to believe things about the Lord. We must be in the Lord. Faith is not just knowing details about the Lo...

Be Perfect as Your Heavenly Father is Perfect . . . How Do We Do That? In today’s Mass we have an opening prayer. We turn to the Lord and ask for the Grace that through always contemplating heavenly things we might be pleasing to Him, in words and in deeds. Wow, that’s a prayer! As we enter the Lenten Season, hear why this is so important! Hear more within the Homily. The Scripture places before u...

Jesus Heals the Blind Man . . . Only After the Blind Man Surrenders Himself to Jesus Jesus Heals the Blind Man . . . In the first reading (not included within this audio) we hear about Noah and the flood waters are decreasing. We hear about the releasing of birds. First a Raven. A little while later, a Dove is released, and it returns when it can find no place to rest. A week later, the Dove is re...

The Lord Offers Us a Choice: Fire Or Water . . . But There Is an Implication The Lord offers us, each individual member of the human race, a choice: Fire or Water. Reach out and choose one. But your choice has an implication. Listen to this Meditation Media.

The Garden of Eden and the Garden of Our Heart: the Intention of God for Mankind . . . For Us! The Garden of Eden and the Garden of Our Heart: . . . Today’s readings have two gardens. The first reading (not included within this audio) tells us about the Garden of Eden. The Gospel tells us about the Garden of Our Heart. In the readings of the last several days we hear about the story of the Seven D...

Christmas – The Word Comes to Be With Us Has anyone ever experienced that no one does what you say? Linger with that image for a moment. Because it is important in understanding the greatness of the mystery we celebrate today. Two thousand years ago Caesar sat on his throne. He considered himself the ruler of the world. He styled himself not merely a man . . . but divine. At the same time, Herod i...

Christmas . . . a Day That Changes All Things and All Hearts Christmas, on one hand, comes every year. We celebrate with our customs and traditions. Christmas is so familiar within our mind that we risk it becoming ordinary . . . becoming common place of things that we do. Yet when we pause, we may see something about this mystery, that defeats our ability to reduce it to the familiar. The reason...

The Feast of the Epiphany . . . We Christians Are Like the Magi The Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord. Epiphany means shinning forth. It is a feast of the visibility and glorious presence of God. It is not the feast of the shinning forth of a star . . . though the star was involved. The brightness of the star is not the brightness of this mystery. This feast celebrates the brightness of the One th...

Mary and Jesus Were Invited . . . And The Disciples Began to Believe Today’s Gospel is the Wedding of Cana. This scripture is well known to most of us. As with many parts of scripture that is well known, we should bracket the story . . . the part of the story we know . . . with the beginning and the end of the story. The story begins with Mary being invited to a wedding. Jesus and His disciples we...

The Feast of the Mother of God. The Day The Child’s Name is Made Known to the World A week ago, we celebrated the birth of the Child on Christmas. This past week, we reflected on the meaning of His birth. Today we celebrate the naming of the Child. Curiously, our engagement of Christmas . . . our engagement of the Child . . . is an engagement without a name. We proclaim Christ the Lord. But, we na...

The Feast of the Holy Family: The Flea to Egypt: Necessary to Fulfill the Scriptures The Feast of the Holy Family: . . . The Feast of the Holy Family, and indeed Christmas, is often marked with sentimentality. This is not bad, but it is limiting. Everything is pleasant and safe. However, in doing so we may miss the full greatness and vigor of the joy and mystery of this holy season. Today we celeb...

The Parable of the Other Two Sons: Knowing and Doing the Father’s Will Today’s Gospel is the other parable of the two sons. Scripture poses the question, which one did the will of the father? The story tells of a son who says no to going out into the field and work. He says NO!, but he changes his mind, and goes to the field. The second son says yes sir but does not go. Which did his father’s will...

The Second Part of Advent: Take Advantage of This Time Spiritually Itis amazing how fast Advent goes by. Many people miss the preparation that Advent makes available to us. The Homily talks about the two parts of Advent. The first part ends two days before the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The second part begins on the day before the Fourth Sunday of Advent. So, what is the difference between the two p...

St. Joseph Welcomes The Lord into His Heart Through Mary The Homily initially focuses on the prophet Isaiah. On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we hear of the sign of the One to come (740+ years before His birth). We hear that Mary is THE VIRGIN who is to also be the sign from God. Again, we hear this from the prophet over 700 years before His birth. In today’s Gospel we hear about St. Joseph. He kno...

The Grace We Ask Heaven on the Third Sunday of Advent On the first Sunday of Advent, we request the grace to be Resolute. To be committed to run to Jesus upon His Coming with righteous deeds in hand. On the second Sunday of Advent we asked for the grace to remove those obstacles . . . those things . . . that would prevent us from moving forward toward Christ. Furthermore, on this third Sunday of A...

Our Lady and the History of Salvation: A Reflection During this Time of Advent and Christmas Seasons As we adorn our homes and offices with Nativity sets during this Advent and Christmas Seasons, . . . it is helpful to meditate at some point on Our Lady and the History of Salvation. Our Lady fits in the Almighty’s Plan for Salvation in a unique way. This reflection was given on the Feast of the Im...