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Jul 17 – Homily – Fr Angelo: My Burden is Light

apostolate — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:52:49 +0000

Homily #080717 ( 07min) Play – Fr. Angelo Geiger explains the meaning of the today’s Gospel where Our Lord will give us rest and yet will burden us at the same time. Through the grace of meekness and humility of heart what was once burdensome will become easy, even a cross.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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Aug 01 – Special Homily – Fr Ignatius: Meek and Humble of Heart

apostolate — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:24:24 +0000

Homily #080801s ( 12min) Play – Fr. Ignatius preaches on the Sacred Heart of Jesus on this first Friday of August and focuses on the Gospel from Matthew “for I am meek and humble of heart.” He explains what these my virtues of meekness and humility mean and how we are to practice them.
Ave Maria!
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Meditation on the Christmas Creche; Origin from St. Francis

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Several years ago a priest friend of mine wrote the following mediation while setting up his manger scene and I would like to share it with you:

I think you should consider the words: “For unto you ….. ” in Luke 2:11. As I was putting up my nativity set these three words sprung out at me “For unto you … ” Yes Lord how I need your holy nativity. The visitation of Elizabeth and Mother Mary confirms life is precious in God’s eyes. You and I take our assigned places in God’s providence; mine to stand and offer the sacrifice of Christ’s blood and body for the remission of our sins.

Yet look how low the Son of God stooped to make our salvation possible. A cave and a manger for the Lord of Glory to visit this sin cursed world! A cave that only allows me to bow before his presence to enter in. I held the twig twisted manger that was to be the Lord’s bed. Even poor me, divested of all this world holds dear, is welcome to kneel and adore Jesus!

The two little lambs pointed their faces at the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Our Jesus offers us the sacrifice of the Mass so we will never forget the high cost of our redemption.

The donkey in the corner of the manger gladly bore the weight of the blessed Mother to carry her to Bethlehem meaning the “house of bread”. Yes, Jesus is our living bread that came down from heaven to heal our sinful souls and prepare us to enter heaven.

There is Joseph who suffered much to see God’s holy will fulfilled in the birth of God’s Son. Our life, like Joseph’s, is mixed with buffeting and blessings. God gave Joseph great graces to carry lives challenges and that grace and mercy is renewed to us each day.

There is the blessed Mother dressed in blue; God graced her to be the door that will open God’s heaven to those that love her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I prayed the joyful mysteries before the manger and I felt my sorrows flyaway like little birds.

There is the little boy kneeling in awe before the baby Jesus and the wonder of the angel’s song still fills the air. The angel announces “Glory to God in the Highest” and indeed the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father shines brightly in the dark of night.

There is the cow providing much needed heat for the new born Christ Child. To the left are three camels and the three wise kings with their gifts, kneeling in worship before the Savior. To the right are the shepherds, the common working men who labor to provide for their family’s needs. They saw the heavens lit up with the angels from the throne room of God’s heaven and heard the Gospel proclaimed. God’s love was wrapped in the babe of Bethlehem for people of every kindred, tongue and nation of the world!

What place would we take in this manger scene? For me I am like the donkey bearing the many burdens of those in great need at Christmas. Yes the world may consider me an ass but that is only because they refuse to follow me to Bethlehem and see what has come to pass.

Yes, you must allow the light of the star to lead you to the Savior’s crib and adore and worship the King of Kings and Lord of lords.

Glory to God in the Highest!

Fr. JFB

Of all the Christmas decorations we so lovingly place around our homes, the one that is indispensable as it is central to the meaning of Christmas, is the Creche or Nativity Scene. The Christ Child in the manger and other pictures of the story of Bethlehem have been used in church services from the first centuries. But the crib in its present form and its use outside the church originated with St. Francis of Assisi. Through his famous celebration at Greccio, Italy, on Christmas Eve, 1223, with a Bethlehem scene including live animals, he made the crib popular. Since then it has been a familiar sight in Christian homes all over the world.

The Christmas Creche was the inspiration of St. Francis of Assisi. For the Saint, Christmas had always been the Feast of Feasts, yet he did not think it had been celebrated as it could have been, The poverty of Christ had become lost in the extravagance of the Christmas festivities An idea occurred to him and while on a visit to Rome, he received permission from the Pontiff to put his idea to work.

The story of how St. Francis of Assisi “invented” the crib is so delightful and inspiring that it might be told or read to the children every year. We give here the account in the very words of Brother Thomas de Celano, who was there when it happened and who wrote it down:

Blessed Francis called a friend about two weeks before Christmas and said to him: ‘If you desire that we should celebrate this year’s Christmas together at Greccio, go quickly and prepare what I tell you; for I want to enact the memory of the Infant Who was born at Bethlehem, and how He was deprived of all the comforts babies enjoy; how He was bedded in a manger on hay, between an ass and an ox. For once I want to see all this with my own eyes.’ When the good and faithful man had heard this, he departed quickly and prepared in the above-mentioned place everything that the Saint had told him.

The joyful day approached. The Franciscans were called from many communities. The men and women of the neighborhood, as best they could, prepared candles and torches to brighten the night. Finally the Saint of God arrived, found everything prepared, saw it and rejoiced. The crib was made ready, hay was brought, the ox and ass were led to the spot and Greccio became a new Bethlehem. The night was radiant with joy. The crowds drew near and rejoiced in the novelty of the celebration. Their voices resounded from the woods, and the rocky cliff echoed the jubilant outburst. As they sang in the praise of God, the whole night rang with exultation. The Saint of God stood before the crib, overcome with devotion and wondrous joy. A solemn Mass was sung at the crib.

The Saint was dressed in deacon’s vestments, for a deacon he was [out of humility, St. Francis never became a priest, remaining a deacon all his life]. He sang the Gospel. Then he preached a delightful sermon to the people who stood around him, speaking about the nativity of the poor King and the humble town of Bethlehem.

The parishioners and pilgrims who came to Greccio for Midnight Mass and witnessed the Christmas manger scene were much impressed with the simplicity of St. Francis’ creche and it was from there that the tradition took hold and spread around the Catholic world.

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Jan 30 – Homily – Fr Angelo: Mustard Seed and Kingdom of God

apostolate — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:57:30 +0000

Homily #090130 ( 07min) Play – Fr. Angelo Geiger explains that the mustard seed is the small act we do of humbly saying yes to God.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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Feb 26 – Homily – Fr Ignatius: Prayer of the Centurion

apostolate — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:45:36 +0000

Homily #090226 ( 07min) Play – Prayer is powerful because it is the key to becoming humble. It recognizes the truth of how great God is and how small and needy we are, especial for mercy for our sins.
Ave Maria!
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Prayer Knocks, Fasting Obtains, Mercy Receives

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:00:30 +0000

Ave Maria Mediations

Prayer, Fasting and Mercy by St. Peter Chrysologus

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practise mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defence, a threefold united prayer in our favour. Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give him yourself you are never without the means of giving. To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to earth.

However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit. When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.

St. Peter is an early Church Father and as one of the greatest preachers of the early church explains the key penitential practices of Lent-prayer, fasting, and almsgiving or mercy. Saint Peter Chrysologus declares that Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. He shows how prayer, mercy and fasting are one, and they give life to each other. This reading is used by the Roman Church for the Office of Readings for Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent. St. Peter Chrysologus was the bishop of Ravenna, Italy in the middle of the 5th century. His sermons were so inspiring that he was given the title “Chrysologus” (greek for “Golden-worded) and was eventually declared a “Doctor of the Church.”

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Learn of Me for I am Meek and Humble of Heart

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:00:19 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and humble in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Mt. 11: 28-30)

To become more humble, we have to be ready to accept the humiliation of finding victory elusive in our struggle to conquer our defects, and of being reminded of our weaknesses day by day. Often when we examine our conscience, especially on those occasions when we can do it more thoroughly, we can ask questions like these:

Have I managed to offer Our Lord in expiation the very sorrow I feel for having offended Him so many times? Have I offered Him the shame of all my inner embarrassment and humiliation at seeing how little progress I make along the path of virtue?

Then there are the humiliations inflicted on us by others – the ones we were not expecting or the ones that seem unfair or downright unjust. Do we bear these well I for Our Lord’s sake?

If we are very sincere with ourselves we shall ask Our Lord to stop us finding excuses to explain away our sins and failings, those things that humiliate us and for which we sometimes have to ask other people’s forgiveness. All of this is done with God’s help and with the help of spiritual direction, which is only another way of coming into contact with Him. Fixing our gaze on Christ, we can have enough humility to admit our mistakes and set about putting them right.

We learn all about this virtue by studying the life of Our Lady. God has done great things for her –because He has looked graciously upon the lowliness of His handmaid … I am more convinced every day that authentic humility is the supernatural basis for all virtues! Talk to Our Lady, so that she may train us to walk along that path.

Fr. Francis Fernandez

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Jan 11 – Homily – Fr Ignatius: St Thomas of Cori

apostolate — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:39:09 +0000

Homily #100111 ( 03min) Play – St Thomas of Cori was a Franciscan priest who lived in Italy in the 1700’s exemplifying the holy, humble life.
Ave Maria! St Thomas of Cori, Confessor – Mass: EF, Common of a Confessor not a Bishop I, Os Iusti – Readings: 1st: sir 31:8-11 – Gsp: luk 12:35-40

Audio (MP3)

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Jan 27 – Homily – Fr Ignatius: St. Bernard Facing Failure

apostolate — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:59:02 +0000

Homily #100127 ( 09min) Play – St Bernard of Clairvaux preached the second crusade. But, despite the fact that he was able to perform many miracles to confirm that this was the will of God, the crusade failed resulting in the loss of many Christian soldiers and a setback for Christian control of the Holy Land. Fr. Ignatius points out that it is sometimes God’s will that we be humbled in order to bring about greater virtue.
Ave Maria! St. John Chrysostom, Confessor and Doctor of the Church – Mass: EF, In Medio Ecclesiae – Readings: 1st: 2ti 4:1-8 – Gsp: mat 5:13-19

Audio (MP3)

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St. Mary Magdalen and Courtesy

apostolate — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:34:04 +0000

Mary Vitamin for July 22nd
Feast of St. Mary Magdalen

Topic: Gaining the affection of Mary by practicing courtesy

Quote:
St. Alphonsus di Liguori
Saint Gregory Nazianzen assures us that there is nothing by which we can with
greater certainty gain the affection of Mary then by charity towards our
neighbor.
St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books), 479.

Meditation:
The charity and courtesy of St. Mary Magdalen

Why was St. Mary Magdalene unable to recognize the risen Christ? Why did she not
recognize the Messiah after the Resurrection if she was one of the few that
recognized the Messiah when “there was no beauty”? Was the Lord testing St. Mary
Magdalene’s charity? Did He want to leave a testimony of her great love? She
treated someone to whom she thought stole the body of her Lord with great
respect. After she spoke, Jesus revealed His identity to her.

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into
the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at
the feet where the body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have
taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know
it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you
looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you
carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
John 20:11-17

Resolution:
Today, I will work to win the affection of the Blessed Virgin Mary by speaking
with courtesy.

Marian Vow:
St. Claude de la Colombiere
We have no reason to despise anyone. A humble man sees only his own faults. It
is a sign of little virtue to notice the imperfections of others. A person may
be imperfect today who in a little while, recognizing this, may rise to great
sanctity.
Mother M. Philip, I.B.V.M., arr. & ed. The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude
de la Colombiere,(

Ignatius Press), 79.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

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Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

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