Homily #080519 ( 10min) Play – Wordly wisdom comes from experiencing the world but supernatural wisdom comes from experiencing God. Listen as Fr Angelo explains how through following the commandments of God, maintaining a prayer life and especially taking up our cross daily, we can experience God, and so gain wisdom and joy in this world and the next.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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September 8th: Nativity of Mary,

the CAUSE OF OUR JOY

Causa nostrae laetitiae, ora pro nobis

Cause of Our Joy, may my greatest happiness be to possess the love and grace of God; my greatest glory to be a disciple of Jesus and a child of yours. I rejoice in this happiness and exult in this glory. Let not human pride and worldly desires keep me from perfect devotion to you and your Son.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, grant in Your loving kindness that we who joyfully venerate on earth Mary, Your most pure Mother, as our comforter, may deserve to enjoy with her the unending happiness of heaven. Who live and reign forever. Amen.

Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

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Homily #081214 ( 17min) Play – On the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Fr. Angelo preaches on the Joy of this season of penance and so brings to light how joy is possible even with suffering. Listen as Father sheds light on the true joy of Christmas that lies behind the tinsel.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Lk. 2:14)

MEDITATION

At Bethlehem the angels announced two things: Glory to God and peace to men; the one corresponds to the other. No one glorifies God as much as that little Babe lying on the straw. He alone, being the eternal Word, can give God the perfect, infinite praise that is worthy of Him. And no one more than Jesus, our Savior, brings peace to men; making reparation for sin, He reconciles man with his Creator and establishes a new covenant between them: the Creator will become Father, and man, will become a son.

Something similar is verified in our daily life.  Those who obey God’s law enjoy peace; observing the divine law they also glorify God. The glory of God corresponds perfectly to the peace of men. But we are treating of that peace which comes only from Jesus, from His grace, peace which we will seek in vain elsewhere.

Peace is the tranquility of order. Order is established by the law and will of God. Those who respect this order fully possess the plenitude of interior peace; those who depart from it, even in a slight degree, lose their peace in proportion to their deviation from it. Peace is the refreshment and repose of the soul in the midst of the struggles and sorrows of life, but this is not the only reason for which we should try to obtain and possess it. We should desire it above all because it gives glory to God.

The angels promised peace “to men of good will”. Our will is “good” when it is upright, docile and resolute.  It is upright when it is sincerely and entirely oriented toward good; docile when it is always ready to follow every indication of God’s will; resolute when it is prompt to adhere to the will of God, even though difficulties and obstacles arise, and sacrifices are required. The Lord is continually urging us to generosity and abnegation in all the circumstances of life, even the smallest ones. We must give ourselves to God without hesitation, certain that if God asks anything of us, He will also give us the strength to carry out His wishes. Such was the conduct of the shepherds; as soon as they heard the message of the angel, they left all, their flocks and their rest, and “came with haste [to Bethlehem] where they found … the Infant lying in the manger” (Lk. 2:16). They were the first to find Jesus and to taste His peace.

Time passes and does not return. God has assigned to each of us a definite time in which to fulfill His divine plan for our soul; we have only this time and shall have no more. Time ill spent is lost forever. Our life is made up of this uninterrupted, continual flow of time, which never returns. In eternity, on the contrary, time will be no more; we shall be established forever in that degree of love and glory (that we have attained at life’s end). If we possess only a slight degree of love, that is all we shall have throughout eternity. No further progress will be possible when time has ended.

Therefore, while we have time, let us work good to all men. We must give every moment its full amount of love, and make each passing moment eternal, by giving it value for eternity, This is the best way to use the time given us by God. Charity allows us to adhere to God’s will with submission and love and thus at the close of life we shall have realized God’s plan for our soul; we shall have reached the degree of love which God expects from each one of us and with which we shall love and glorify Him for all eternity.

(Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.)

Look at Christ Jesus. All His life is consecrated to the glory of His Father Whose will He always accomplishes: “I seek not My own will but the will of Him that sent me”(Jn.5:30, 6:38).  He seeks only that. At the moment of achieving His life here below, He says to His Father that He has fulfilled His mission: “I have glorified Thee on the earth” (Jn 17:4).  The desire of His Divine Heart is that we too should seek the glory of His Father.

(Blessed Columba Marmion)

Gloria in altissimis Deo, et super terram pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Gloria in excelsis Deo
et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis
Laudamus te
Benedicimus te
Adoramus te
Glorificamus te
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam
Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens
Domine fili unigenite, Jesu Christe
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius patris
Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis
Qui tollis peccata mundi suscipe deprecationem nostram
Qui sedes ad dexteram patris miserere nobis
Quoniam tu solus sanctus
Tu solus Dominus
Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe
Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris.
Amen.

English:
Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to people of good will
We praise you
We bless you
We adore you
We glorify you
We give thanks to you for your great glory
Lord God, Heavenly King, God Almighty Father
Lord Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father
You who take away the sins of the world have mercy on us
You who take away the sins of the world hear our prayer
You who sit at the Father’s right hand, have mercy on us
For you alone are holy
You alone, Lord
You alone the Most High, Jesus Christ
With the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

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Homily #090426 ( 20min) Play – On this 3rd Sunday of Easter Fr. Angelo Geiger preaches on the hope of the Resurrection which gave so much joy to the Apostles when they saw Jesus resurrected, talking and eating among them. As we memorialize His sacrificial death in the Mass let us see with the eyes of faith His veiled, life-giving presence in the Eucharist.

Ave Maria! Mass readings

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This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)

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The Ascension of Jesus gives rise to manifold sentiments in the faithful soul that contemplates it. If Christ no longer merits, His Ascension has, however, the virtue of efficaciously producing the graces that it signifies or symbolizes.

It strengthens our faith in the Divinity of Jesus; it increases our hope by the vision of the glory of our Head by stirring us up to the observance of His commandments on which our merits rest, and that are themselves the principle of our future beatitude, it still further enkindles our love.  It engenders in us wonder at so marvelous a triumph, and gratitude for the share in it that Christ gives to us. Lifting up our souls towards heavenly realities, it quickens in us detachment from passing things: Seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, not the things upon the earth. (Col.3:.1-2) It gives us patience in adversity for, says St. Paul, if we suffer with Christ, we shall also share in His glory: so if we suffer with Him, we may be also be glorified with Him. (Rom.8:17)

There are two dispositions upon which I would dwell with you a few instants because, springing with special abundance from the contemplation of this mystery, they are singularly profitable for our souls: they are joy and confidence.

And first of all why should we rejoice?

Our Lord Himself said to His Apostles before leaving them: if you loved Me, you would indeed be glad because I go to the Father. (Jn.14:28) To us, too, Christ repeats those words. If we love Him, we shall rejoice in His glorification; we shall rejoice in that having finished His course, He ascends to His Father’s right hand, to be there exalted to the highest heaven; there to taste, after His labors, sufferings, and death, eternal repose in incommensurable glory. Bliss, such as is incomprehensible to us, envelops and penetrates Him forever in the bosom of the Divinity. Supreme power is given Him over every creature.

How can we fail to rejoice in that justice is rendered in all fullness to Jesus, by His Father. See how the Church invites us, in her liturgy, to celebrate with gladness this elevation of her Bridegroom, our God and our Redeemer.

With this deep joy we ought to combine unwavering confidence. This confidence especially rests on the almighty power of mediation that Christ has with His Father, not only as an invincible King entering into His triumph, but as a supreme High Priest interceding for us, after having offered to His Father an oblation of infinite worth. Now, it is on the day of His Ascension that Jesus, in a special manner, began this unique mediation. We have here a very interior aspect of the mystery on which it is highly useful to dwell for some instants. May the Holy Spirit grant us to understand how marvelous are the divine works.

Blessed Columba Marmion: Christ in His Mysteries

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Homily #091213 ( 14min) Play – Today is Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent. In the midst of the penitential season of Advent we have the Sunday of Joy. We are preparing for the coming of the Lord but rejoicing always even when waiting since Our Lord is always present in some manner at all times.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
1: Zeph 3:14-18
R: Isa 12:2-6
2: Phil 4:4-7
G: Lk 3:10-18

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Homily #091231s ( 04min) Play – According to the Extraordinary Form of the calendar the Feast on January 1st is the Circumcision of The Child Jesus which is what we will celebrate tonight. In the morning we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Mother of God according to the new rite. Tonight Father explains that the circumsision that Our Lord went through was to show us the importance of redemptive suffering even in this Season of Joy. [Note: The first minute of the homily was lost but we managed a smooth edit. ] Ave Maria! Octave Day of the Nativity – Mass: EF, Puer Natus Est – Readings: 1st: tit 2:11-15 – Gsp: luk 2:21-21

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“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven.” (Mt. 5:12)

Reflection of Fr. Alfred Delp while in prison in the Advent of 1944, after  months of torture, shackles, and confinement: he reflected on joy.  He would be martyred by the Nazis two months later, on February 2, 1945.

The Conditions for True Joy

Well now, what is joy, true joy? The philosophers say it is satisfaction and emotional uplift in response to the goods at one’s disposal. That may be true of some phenomena of joy, but it is not joy itself. Otherwise, how could I attain to true joy in these times and in this situation? Is there any point in bothering about joy? Is joy not among those luxury items of life that have no place in the meager private area tolerated in wartime conversations? Certainly it has no place in a prison cell where someone is pacing back and forth, his hands in irons, his heart swelled by all the winds of longing, his head filled with worries and questions.

Someone must experience such a situation, must have it happen time and again, that suddenly the heart no longer can grasp the abundance of inflowing life and happiness, that suddenly, and without knowing why or how, the flags are in place once again over existence, and promises are valid again. One time or another, it might be the self-defense mechanism of existence fighting against crushing abuse and violation ­but not every time. It was so often a presentiment of good news on the way-such things do happen in our Monastery of the Hard Life. And often, soon afterward, resourceful love found a way to us with a gift of kindness at a time when this was not customary.

However, that was not all. There have been, and continue to be, times where one is comforted and spiritually uplifted: times where one sees the facts of the case exactly as real and hopeless as ever and yet is not grieved by it, but truly manages to turn the whole thing over to the Lord.

Joy in human life has to do with God. Creatures can bring us joy in various forms and can provide an occasion for joy and rejoicing, but the actual success of this depends upon whether we are still capable of joy and familiar with it. And that, again, is conditional upon our personal relationship to the Lord God.   Only in God is man fully capable of life. Without Him, over time, we become sick. This sickness attacks our joy and our capability for joy. That is why man, when he still had time, made so much noise about joy. In the end, even that was no longer permitted. The prison (of the) world took him over so completely that even joy was valued and presented only as a means to employ for a new end.   In order to be capable of true life, man must live according to a specific order and relationship to God. The capability of true joy and of living joyfully is itself dependent upon spe­cific conditions of human life, upon particular attitudes regarding God. Where life does not perceive itself as taking place in community with God, it will be gray and gloomy and drab and calculating.

How should we live so that we are capable–or can be­come capable-of true joy? This question should occupy us more today than it has in the past. Man should take joy as seriously as he takes himself. And he should believe in him­self, believe in his heart and in his Lord God, even through darkness and distress-that he is created for joy. This really means that we are created for a fulfilled life that knows its meaning and is certain of its capabilities. Such a life knows it is on the right path to perfection and allied with the angels and powers of God. We are created for a life that knows itself to be blessed, sent, and touched at its deepest center by God Himself.

How should man live so that this happiness begins to grow in his heart, giving his eyes and face a brilliant shine and his hands a satisfying ability and success?

(There are) five conditions for true joy and the capability of joy named in (the) Gaudete Sunday liturgy. The meditative reflection upon these conditions for true joy is, at once, both a personal examination of conscience and a historical consid­eration of the development of joylessness in modern life. How could the substitute for joy spread itself so broadly that people now call “joy” what they never would have looked at or touched when they were healthy human beings? Perhaps we can regain a sense of what was within the saints, those great people who were capable of joy and whose eyes seemed made for the discovery of sources of joy everywhere. Saint Francis’ “Canticle to the Sun” is not mere lyrical rambling. It expresses the great inner freedom that enabled him to ob­serve the intrinsic value and discover the fulfilling assignment within all things.

The conditions for true joy have nothing to do with conditions of our exterior life, but consist of man’s interior frame of mind and competence, which make it possible now and again for him to sense, even in adverse external circum­stances, what life is basically about.

Holiness and happiness intrinsically belong together. To the intellectual and challenging perspective of one who seeks to understand the whole, both the question of religiousness, as well as the question of joyous fulfillment versus joyless emptiness and desert wilderness, present themselves in an inseparable manner-whether applied to an era, a culture, or a personal life.

Moreover, they present themselves in a double sense. The first sense is that of the First Commandment. Life is ruled by eternal lordship and eternal order. It has to do with eternal  values and attitudes. “Dominus prope est [The Lord is near]” must then mean that people have let this nearness sink into their consciousness, not merely into their memories, or into the repertoire of truths of which preachers regularly remind them. Then man can maintain the necessary tension, which is the only way a moral-eternal being can live. Then the abundance of reality is not a jumble of variables to which man attains, according to the various values he assigns to them; instead, it follows a hierarchically established order. Then man escapes the greedy imposition of a value that tries to own him, or at least he finds a fixed standpoint from which he can afford defense and resistance.

In order for men to attain to this destiny of life and ascend to this capability of deep breath and deep joy, a great conversion is needed, a great transformation of his being. This will be the result of individual exertion and the result of a great liberation that God will work in man… By  ourselves and with our own strength alone, we will not manage it.

“God does not need great pathos or great works. He needs greatness of hearts. He cannot calculate with zeroes.” (Fr. Delp)

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