Homily #140707n ( 08min) Play -Father Maximilian comments on the reading today and speaks of us of the attitude we should have towards the Spouse of the Lord, which is the Church.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Monday 14th Week of Ordinary Time – Wkdy – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: hos 2:16, 17-18, 21-22
Resp: psa 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: mat 9:18-26

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Jul 07 – Homily – Fr Maximilian W: The Bride of the Lord first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!  For the first time in history, today the Virgin Mary has been celebrated as Mother of the Church in an Obligatory Memorial throughout the Universal Church.  Pope Francis took the opportunity to reflect on the parallelism between the Church’s motherhood, Mary’s motherhood, and our souls’ femininity as spouses of Christ and spiritual mothers, citing the Church Fathers.  He reminded all Christians that the first duty of any mother is tenderness.

Interestingly, St. Francis of Assisi’s first biographers, Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure, both described St. Francis as a mother, and friars who knew him during his life also called him “mother.”  St. Francis said that a good friar should also be a mother, and in his extraordinary tenderness, Francis went blind because of shedding so many tears of love for Christ.  His tenderness also toward the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, his fellow friars (especially those who were most vulnerable or treated him badly), and even the animals and nature is also well documented by his first biographers.

The Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, was observed for the first time on Monday; the movable feast is set for the first day following Pentecost. In his homily during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis said the first virtue of a mom is tenderness.

“The Church is feminine,” Pope Francis said in his homily on Monday, “she is a mother.”

When this trait is lacking, the Pope continued, the Church resembles merely “a charitable organization, or a football team”; when it is “a masculine Church,” it sadly becomes “a church of old bachelors,” “incapable of love, incapable of fruitfulness.”

That was the reflection offered by Pope Francis during the Mass celebrated in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta for the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. The feast is being celebrated this year for the first time, after the publication in March of the decree Ecclesia Mater (“Mother Church”) by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Pope Francis himself decided the feast should be celebrated on the Monday immediately following Pentecost, in order “to encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”

Source: Pope Francis: The Church, like Mary, is woman and mother – Vatican News

The post Pope Francis: The Church, like Mary, is woman and mother – Vatican News first appeared on AirMaria.com.

In the homily for the memorial of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Oct 01, 2019), Father draws out the fundamental lesson of our Christian religion: love (aka charity) is supreme. The greatest love is the self-sacrificial love of the Son for the Father and for the Father’s children—all his human creatures, even the most fallen of sinners. St. Thérèse, motivated by love of God, gave herself to the Church to “be love” for all, as Jesus and Mary did at the beginning of the Church. Let us take to heart this lesson of love.

Ave Maria!

Mass: St. Therese of the Child Jesus – Mem

Readings: Tuesday 26th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: Zec 8:20-23
Resp: Ps 87:1-3, 4-5, 6-7
Gsp: Lk 9:51-56

More on the Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100119.cfm

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/90378558559/videos/496406260942962
and YouTube: https://youtu.be/t9czmvP4eRQ

To Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=franciscanfriars

The post St. Thérèse: Love is Everything – Oct 01 – Homily – Fr Andre first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The life of St. Agnes of Prague, Virgin, Second Order (1211-1282) for the Franciscan Saint of the Day for Mar 2. Was a Bohemian princess born in Prague, Bohemia in the current day Czech Republic, who gave up her royal status and choose a life of poverty and charity in the Poor Clares.

Reflection is on being a Spouse of Christ.

For more on St. Agnes of Prague
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Bohemia
– https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/st-agnes-of-prague.html
– https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01213b.htm

Also on Youtube: https://youtu.be/qvWuEKUmkuY

Read by Fr. Terrance Chartier, FI from Marion Habig’s ‘The Franciscan Book of Saints’ Revised Edition, Franciscan Herald Press, ISBN: 978-0819907516

Playlist of Franciscan Saints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TxcAETrU_k&list=PLejh_e0-LN4wErRczZGry4TXytCZFiLCm
Ave Maria!+++

The post Mar 2 – Bl. Agnes of Prague – Franciscan Saint of the Day first appeared on AirMaria.com.