As the Feast of St. Michael approached, St. Gertrude prepared herself for Holy Communion by meditating on the care which the angels had of her, by the Divine command, notwithstanding her unworthiness; and as she desired to render some return to them, she offered in their honor the life-giving Body and Blood of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament, saying: "I offer Thee this most august Sacrament, O most loving Lord, for Thy eternal glory, in honor of the princes of Thy kingdom, and for ...

Mass Readings: September 29

ANGELS NOW MORE THAN EVER

"Thousands upon thousands were ministering to Him." –Daniel 7:10

Today's feast day honors the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the only angels mentioned by name in the Bible. We thank God for these three archangels. We need them now more than ever.

The only way to understand nearly forty years of killing millions of babies through ...

The Spirit directed Christ throughout his life. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was a "beloved Son" in whom the Father was "well pleased." At Jesus' baptism, the Spirit anointed him, "ordained" him for his redemptive mission. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and release to prisoners." Christ, "full of the Spirit," reversed the work of Satan by his miracles–casting out devils, ...

Mass Readings: September 28

I SIMPLY LOVE TO REPAIR

"How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been eaten out by fire?" –Nehemiah 2:3

Nehemiah was noticeably sad because Jerusalem and its walls needed major repairs. Those promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus have repeatedly emphasized the need for reparation, that is, repairin...

You know that you had gone to the church at dawn to hear Mass, and that before that the devil had been tormenting you. You went to stand at the altar of the crucifix, though the priest had come out to Mary's altar. You stood there considering your sinfulness, fearing that you might have offended me while the devil had been troubling you. And you were considering also how great was my charity that I should have made you worthy to hear Mass at all, since you considered yourself unworth...

Mass Readings: September 27

LIGHTEN UP!

"In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' " –Zechariah 8:23

Jesus always attracted people to Himself. The rich, poor, pagans, religious, sinners, and other groups of people flocked to ...

... The Apostles proclaimed that they were giving the Body and Blood of the Savior at His express command... St. Paul wrote (eight years after St. Matthew wrote his Gospel) a letter to the Christian converts at Corinth: 1 Cor 10: 16, "The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?" 1 Cor 11: 23-29, "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered un...

Mass Readings: September 26

THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

"Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people, shall it in those days be impossible in My eyes also, says the Lord of hosts?" –Zechariah 8:6

The people of Jerusalem had been disobeying God for centuries. Zechariah prophesied the impossible: that the people of that city and maybe even our cities would...

The thought of the presence of God and the spirit of worship will in all my actions have as their immediate object Jesus, God and man, really present in the most holy Eucharist. The spirit of sacrifice, of humiliation, of scorn for self in the eyes of men, will be illuminated, supported and strengthened by the constant thought of Jesus, humiliated and despised in the Blessed Sacrament.

It will be sweet to abase myself and be ashamed, when I am one with the divine Heart, so ill-trea...

Mass Readings: September 25

"OBEDIENCE IS BETTER..." (1 Sm 15:22)

"Which of the two did what the father wanted?" –Matthew 21:31

We Christians have told God we will obey Him, but many of us haven't. We have persisted in mass disobedience for years. Unbelievers have told God they will not obey Him, but many of them have changed their minds and do what God wants. Jesus ...

Appearing to St. Margaret Mary Jesus solemnly declares the unspeakable love of his heart, and says, "My divine heart is so passionately in love with men, and with you in particular, that not being able to contain in itself any longer the flames of its ardent charity, it must pour them out through you... Behold this heart which has loved men so much, which has spared nothing, going so far as to exhaust itself and consume itself in order to show them its love... " Christ is thinking, ...

Mass Readings: September 24

THE CIRCLE OF FIRE

"I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows." –Jeremiah 31:13

The chosen people had sinned. Thereby, they had been defeated, debased, and exiled. Jerusalem, its Temple, and the people's lives were in ruins. After generations of degradation, the people could hardly conceive of anything but further...

In celebrating the Eucharist, we follow the command of Christ to "do this in memory" of him (Luke 22:19), and the way in which we memorialize this experience is by "proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes" (I Cor. 11:26).

It is precisely in this memorialization of Christ's death that we acknowledge that he has entered into the abode of the dead: "He descended into hell" (Hades–abode of the dead). By his own death he has a special access to the dead to draw them to himsel...

Mass Readings: September 23

THE COURAGE TO WORK

"Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes?" –Haggai 2:3

It's discouraging to see how bad things have become. It's discouraging to think that even our best efforts are very inadequate and possibly inferior to what we've done before (see Hg 2:3). It's discouraging to have your best work be overshadowed by the damage inflicted for years b...

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - Almost weekly there is another assault on marriage. The efforts of an activist wing of the homosexual community, what I call the "homosexual equivalency movement", have reframed the debate and are engaged in a Cultural Revolution. They have been joined by eager collaborators in the Judiciary and elected officials who believe they are some kind of new "liberators" when, in reality, they are injuring the common good.

The leaders of the homosexual equival...

The Lord's Supper, to which the Virgin leads us in order that we may partake of her joy, is renewed every morning. The table is always set, the Bread always offered. The Christian makes his way to eternity from Communion to Communion. At each stage in the journey, Christ is waiting for him in order that he may renew his strength and take heart again.

But let us take care not to allow too much time to elapse between these stages. Long before the grace of a Communion has grown weak in...

Mass Readings: September 22

THE PLEASURES OF GOD

"Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Consider your ways! Go up into the hill country; bring timber, and build the house that I may take pleasure in it.' " –Haggai 1:7-8

If you asked yourself: "Am I happy?", what would be an honest answer? Many people are more busy than blessed (see Hg 1:6), more stuffed than nourished, and more jaded than exhilarated (see H...

His physical life was a mystery. No man could have survived as long as he did, without eating, without taking care of himself, losing a lot of blood every day, and exhausting himself in hard work for many, many years.

It was the eucharistic Bread, on which he fed every day, which gave him health and vigor.

Holy communion was life for Padre Pio, a fusion of hearts, a source of joy and happiness.

The 21st of March, 1912, he wrote to Padre Agostino of San Marco in Lamis: "Only God k...

Mass Readings: September 21

I'D LOVE TO ...

"As He moved on, Jesus saw a man named Matthew at his post where taxes were collected. He said to him, 'Follow Me.' " –Matthew 9:9

We hear the Lord knocking on the door and calling us by name (Rv 3:20). We sense something inside drawing us to Jesus. He is still calling today's "Matthews" to follow Him. Nonetheless, we are afraid to say "Yes." We'...

On another occasion, when she was about to communicate and perceived that many were abstaining from it for different reasons, she rejoiced in spirit and being touched to the heart, said to God: "I give Thee thanks, my most loving Love and my God, that Thou hast placed me in this happy state, in which neither my relations nor any earthly consideration can prevent me from approaching Thy banquet of delights." To which the Lord replied, with His usual sweetness: "Since you have declare...

Mass Readings: September 20

CHURCH, SACRIFICE, AND PASSOVER

"They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel." –Ezra 6:14

For the work on the house of God to be completed, we must build the building, make the sacrifices, and celebrate the Passover (Ezr 6:14, 17, 19). We have usually been successful in physically building the building. We have met in homes, built parish...

It is to be noted that there is no such thing as Communion without a sacrifice. Just as we cannot have the natural communion of eating, unless vegetables have been torn up from their roots and subjected to fire, and animals have been subjected to the knife and slain, and then submitted to purgation, so neither can we have Communion with Christ unless there is first a death. That is why the Mass is not just a Communion service; it is a sacrifice which ends in communion. Communion is ...

Mass Readings: September 19

OUTSIDE THE BOX

"The Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation..." –Ezra 1:1

The greatest tragedy in the history of the Jewish people is the fall of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon in 587 B.C. For decades, Jews lived in Babylon with no temple and no hope of liberation. Then King Cyrus became the new king of Persia. Cyrus was a pagan who worshipped the fal...

The efficacy of his prayers is strikingly shown in the conversion to the Catholic faith of a Lutheran prince, John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick. While visiting the principal courts of Europe, in the year 1649, the prince, then twenty-five years of age, came from Rome to Assisi expressly to see Joseph, of whose fame he had heard in Germany. On his arrival at the monastery, he (along with two of his retainers) was given lodging... and was led next morning to the door of the chapel, w...

Mass Readings: September 18

LIFE MEANS...

"For, to me, 'life' means Christ." –Philippians 1:21

What does life mean to you? Some of us would answer: "Life" means family, friends, and work. Life means church on Sunday, Thanksgiving dinners, a new car, or a wedding in the family.

Paul doesn't talk like this. He bluntly asserts: "Life" means Christ. Paul had "c...

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - Almost weekly there is another assault on marriage. The efforts of an activist wing of the homosexual community, what I call the "homosexual equivalency movement", have reframed the debate and are engaged in a Cultural Revolution. They have been joined by eager collaborators in the Judiciary and elected officials who believe they are some kind of new "liberators" when, in reality, they are injuring the common good.

The leaders of the homosexual equival...

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - On the tenth anniversary of September 11 we paused to remember the heroes whose lives were taken by evil men who claimed their god had told them to kill. They crashed two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon and tried to crash the fourth in the U.S. Capitol. Approximately 3000 innocent people lost their lives on that day. The evil face of Jihadi militancy and its revolutionary agenda was unmasked...

When Ramirus, King of Spain, had been fighting a long time against the Saracens, he retired with his soldiers to a mountain to implore the assistance of Almighty God. While he was at prayer, St. James the Apostle appeared to him and commanded him to make all his soldiers go to Confession and Communion the day following and then to lead them out against their enemies. After all had been done that the Saint commanded, they again had an engagement with the Saracens and gained a complete...

Mass Readings: September 17

A STIFLING TRIO

"Their progress is stifled by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and they do not mature." –Luke 8:14

Jesus identifies three things that stifle the Word's progress in our lives if we don't surrender them to His lordship:

1. cares. We are to cast our cares upon Jesus, because He cares for us (1 Pt 5:7). He is more than "able" (Heb 7:25) to deal with o...

When Cyprian (c. 200-258), a pagan rhetorician, was converted to Christianity in 248, who would have thought that within the compass of a decade he would have left so significant a mark on the life not only of the church in Africa but also on that of all subsequent centuries of the Christian Church? For within this short span, which comprised his pastoral ministry as a priest and bishop and, indeed, almost the entire extent of Cyprian's Christian life, his teaching became recognized ...

Mass Readings: September 16

FLEE MARKET

"Man of God that you are, flee from all this." –1 Timothy 6:11

Paul commanded Timothy to do four things (1 Tm 6:11-12): 1) flee, 2) seek, 3) fight, and 4) hold. Christians encourage each other to "hold on," "hang in there," and persevere. Sometimes we realize that to hold our ground, we must obey Paul's third commandment to Timothy. We must fight the e...

Sometimes I think that those who have never been deprived of an opportunity to say or hear Mass do not really appreciate what a treasure the Mass is. I know, in any event, what it came to mean to me and the other priests I met in the Soviet Union; I know the sacrifices we made and the risks we ran in order just to have a chance to say or hear Mass. When we were constantly hungry in the camps, when the food we got each day was just barely enough to keep us going, I have seen priests p...

Mass Readings: September 15

THE SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY

"With sorrow my eye is consumed; my soul also, and my body. For my life is spent with grief." –Psa...

The great personal devotion of the Cure himself was his devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He knew that love for the Blessed Sacrament was the most powerful means of renewing the heart of a parish. He inspired his people, mostly by personal example, often to make visits. The school teacher, Mr. Pertinand, testified, "I cannot recollect a single occasion when, on entering the church, I did not find someone or other in adoration." Such was the devotion to the Blessed Sacramen...

Mass Readings: September 14

THE CROSS, THE FATHER, AND LOVE

"He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death." –Philippians 2:8

"God put Abraham to the test" (Gn 22:1). Abraham obediently brought his son Isaac to offer him up to the Lord (Gn 22:3). "Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders" (Gn 22:6). He placed Isaac upon t...

Born around 350 and dying in exile from his See, Constantinople, in 407, John Chrysostom, contemporary of Ambrose and Augustine, is the great figure of the Eastern Church in the fourth century. His doctrine on the Eucharist was marked by its very realistic references to the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and to his many references to the sacrificial nature of the Lord's Supper. His words on the theme are abundant. Typical of them are the following from his Homily 82 on the Gosp...

Mass Readings: September 13

DADS WITH DIGNITY

"He must be a good manager of his own household, keeping his children under control without sacrificing his dignity." –1 Timothy 3:4

A major qualification for a bishop or deacon in the early church was for a man to be a "good manager" of his children (1 Tm 3:4, 12). He had to keep "his children under control without sacrificing his dignity" (1 Tm...

Beloved sons, in these present times the darkness has alas obscured even the tabernacle; around it there is so much emptiness, so much indifference, so much negligence. Each day, doubts, denials and sacrileges increase. The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is wounded anew by his own, in his own house, in the very place where He has taken up his divine dwelling in your midst.

Become again perfect adorers and fervent ministers of Jesus in the Eucharist who, through you, makes himself again...

Mass Readings: September 11

THE STREAM OF MERCY

"Moved with pity, the master let the official go and wrote off the debt." –Matthew 18:27

Al...

"I will tell you My reasons for washing the feet of My apostles before the Last Supper. "In the first place I would teach souls how pure they must be to receive Me in Holy Communion. "I also wished to remind those who would have the misfortune to sin that they can always recover their innocence through the Sacrament of Penance. "And I washed the feet of My apostles with My own hands, so that those who have consecrated themselves to apostolic work may follow My example, and treat sinn...

Mass Readings: September 10

HEART-BURN

"Each man speaks from his heart's abundance." –Luke 6:45

The next time you encounter someone who is in love, pay close attention to what they say. What do they talk about? They talk incessantly about the person they love. He tells all his friends about how wonderful she is. She says that he's always on her heart. They are speaking from their heart's abunda...

All these thoughts on the Eucharist make it clear to us that in this Sacrament, in which He not only gives grace to us but also gives Himself, we are led to a supreme peak of spiritual fulfillment. This Sacrament is not given to us merely in order that we do something, but that we may be someone: that we may be Christ. That we may be perfectly identified with Him. Comparing the Eucharist with confirmation, St. Thomas says that confirmation brings us an increase of grace in order to ...

Mass Readings: September 9

EYE-BEAM

"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,' yet fail to see the plank lodged in your own?" –Luke 6:42

St. Paul is a living example of Jesus' parable of a person failing to see the beam in their own eye. Paul describes his pre-conversion years as follows: "I was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, a man filled w...

We cannot forget that the mystery of the Eucharist is inseparable from another reality: the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of Christ and in the life of the Church. In the Mass, Jesus entrusted to us his redeeming sacrifice. It is Mary who prepared the way for this sacrifice. Through her act of obedience, she allowed God to use her so that Christ the Redeemer might take on a human nature. Indeed the body and blood shed for us on the cross and offered on the altar were fa...

Mass Readings: September 8

IN HIS IMAGE

"…to share the image of His Son…" –Romans 8:29

Mary certainly was conformed to the image of the Son of God (see Rm 8:29, RNAB)....

I said before that the Blessed Sacrament was the triumph of the Church over the world, of spirit over matter, of grace over nature, of faith over sight... The Blessed Sacrament is everything to us. If we wish to be all for Jesus, there is our way, there is Himself. If we desire to see how Jesus is all for us, or which is another thing, how He is all in all to us, the Blessed Sacrament is at once that double revelation. All the doctrines of the Church, creation, incarnation, grace, s...

Mass Readings: September 7

LUKE TO MATTHEW TO JESUS

"Then, raising His eyes to His disciples, [Jesus] said: 'Blest are you poor.' " –Luke 6:20

In Matthew's Gospel, the Beatitudes are addressed to Jesus' disciples in the third person (Mt 5:3-10). In Luke's Gospel, they are in the second person. Therefore, in Luke, it's harder to assume that the Beatitudes are meant for someone else.

In Matth...

Please come before the Blessed Sacrament... I will speak to you there.

Here, I am present in My Tabernacle, waiting for My people so that I can fill them with My peace. Pay homage to Me, your Lord...I, Who am your source of life!

Do you know that it means to be in front of the Blessed Sacrament?

It is I, Who am here. It is I, Who stands before you! It is I, Who shall grant your heart's desire. It is I, Who awaits, My dear one.

I have been waiting for so long for all to come to M...

Mass Readings: September 6

SIN-SNATCHER

"He pardoned all our sins. He canceled the bond that stood against us with all its claims, snatching it up and nailing it to th...

In 1926 the terrible Masonic persecution of the Church in Mexico erupted. Fr. Maldonado continued his priestly work during the ups and downs of these tragic times, all through the intense persecution under the Mexican President Calles, and into the presidency of Cardenas.

Fr. Maldonado spent many hours prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament, praying with his arms extended in the form of a cross. Because of the persecution, there were times when he could not go out but had to stay h...

Mass Readings: September 5

LOVING TO SUFFER

"Even now I find my joy in the suffering I endure for you." –Colossians 1:24

Naturally we want to avoid suffering. Supernaturally we can and must embrace certain sufferings, which are a share in Christ's sufferings. Love is the only thing stronger than our natural aversion to suffering. Those who choose suffering in the pattern of Jesus' deat...

Is there any real difference between Jesus in heaven and Jesus in the Eucharist? No, it is the same Jesus. The only difference is in us. We now on earth cannot see or touch him with our senses. But that is not a limitation in him; it is a limitation in us.

We speak correctly of believing in the Real Presence. But we should grow in our understanding of what this implies.

The living, breathing Jesus Christ is in the Blessed Sacrament. This is the reality. When we speak of presence, h...

Mass Readings: September 4

BIG MOUTH

"If your brother should commit some wrong against you, go and point out his fault, but keep it between the two of you." –Matthew 18:15

If we have been wronged, it's absolutely essential to keep it to ourselves. Only after having talked to the other person are we free to bring someone else into the situation or refer it to the Church...

From the day he became Pope, Saint Gregory applied himself vigorously to the duties of the Church, appointing overseers to look after its secular affairs so he could devote himself to the celebration of Holy Mass where his homilies on the Gospel and the Eucharist became the talk of Rome.

He dealt with codifying rules for selecting deacons and priests to make these offices more spiritual. Until Saint Gregory's time, for example, deacons were elected not because of their spirituality...

Mass Readings: September 3

ERODING FAITH?

"You must hold fast to faith, be firmly grounded and steadfast in it, unshaken in the hope promised you by the gospel you have he...

I was celebrating Holy Mass in a private chapel in Europe. I don't know why, but a man who was scandalizing the people... was present. It was really shocking the way he acted... It was truly satanic. But the people were struck, you may be sure, when at the consecration this man fell on his knees, trembling and staring at the altar, wide-eyed, apparently seeing something astounding...

When the Mass was over, this person rushed into the sacristy... "Please, tell me, what have you be...

Mass Readings: September 2

COMING FAST

"When the days come that the Groom is removed from their midst, they will surely fast in those days." –Luke 5:35

Jesus taught that ...

The center of activity and attention in most parishes is not focused on our Eucharistic Lord, but rather on social activities. "Unless the Lord built the house, they labor in vain who built it." Spiritual priorities are replaced by financial concerns. "My house is meant for a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." In most tabernacles, Jesus is left unloved and unwanted as the world ignores the only One who can solve its problems."Take care of Me and My concerns and...

Mass Readings: September 1

PRAYING THE BIBLE

"Ever since we heard this we have been praying for you unceasingly." –Colossians 1:9

The Lord calls us not only to read the Bib...

FLORIDA (Catholic Online) - Good marriages are the product of genuine love for each other and the Creator.  The true joy of marriage is sharing one's life.  When two people agree to share their entire lives together, they expect better not worse, richer not poorer, and good health not sickness.  Yet all marriages experience a variety of these contrasts.  As problems overtake them, couples need to share their fears, frustrations and failures to establish the honesty that marriage requir...

During a prayer time the week before Easter, I was amazed by how much the monstrance seemed to symbolize the Catholic Church. Like many Protestants, I had been concerned that Mary, the saints and the sacraments were roadblocks between believers and God so that to get to God, one would have to go around them. They seemed to complicate life with God unnecessarily like accretions on the sides of sunken treasures; they had to be discarded to get to what was important.

But now I could s...

Mass Readings: August 31

HEALING THE MIND

Jesus "stood over her and addressed Himself to the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them." –Luke 4:39...