Oct 02 - Homily: Guardian Angels

Blessed Feast of Triumph / Exaltation of the Holy Cross

This day we are celebrating the Triumph , exaltation or raising up of the Holy Cross .
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a triumphant day. We are exalting it. The definition of exalt is to praise, or extol. So, on this day, we are praising the wood of the cross, the exact wood that our Savior hung on Good Friday. So yes, it brings sad thoughts , but we are not in a day of mourning , but a day of gladness, a day of praise, and day of gloriously recognizing the Cross.
We are celebrating the feast of the Cross which drove away darkness and brought in the Light. As we keep this feast, we are lifted up with the crucified Christ, leaving behind us earth and sin so that we may gain the things above. So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure.
The Cross is praiseworthy because it is both the sign God’s suffering and the trophy of His Victory. It stands for His suffering because on it He freely suffered unto death. But it is also His trophy because it was the means by which the evil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gated of hell were smashed, and the Cross became the one common salvation of the whole world , became our daily weapon against evil and darkness .
It is our duty and salvation to accept our own crosses, and do it gloriously. Whatever God gives us is our cross. They may be light day, but heavy the next.
Let us pray that we may accept these, lovingly, and do as Jesus did. So, to help us in this endeavor to accept our own crosses, and glorify them, as the True Holy Cross is glorified on this day, we pray:

God our Father,
in obedience to You
Your only Son accepted death on the Cross
for the salvation of mankind.
We acknowledge the mystery of the Cross on earth.
May we receive the gift of Redemption in Heaven.

We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. Because by Your Holy Cross You have
redeemed the world.Amen

Our daily bread , the Holy Word of God

"Well done! You are an industrious and reliable servant. Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs. Come, share your master's joy!" —Matthew 25:21


The Lord does not expect everyone to make ten thousand dollars. He does not necessarily expect us to do better than others. He also does not expect us to start from scratch; He gives us something to start with. We do not have to be prosperous, competitive, or creative by worldly standards. The Lord simply expects our best. If our best is very little, that's all right (see Lk 21:2ff). He doesn't expect us to do anything beyond our ability.

We may not be able to meet other people's standards or even our own, but we can always meet God's standards. We always have a "best," and we can always "do our best." We can always be pleasing to the Lord. We can always be everything God wants us to be. We don't have to wait on anyone else or on circumstances. We can choose always to be "an industrious and reliable servant" and to do a job "well done" (Mt 25:21).

Prayer: Father, may I put in a good day's work for You, today and every day.
Promise: "He has made Him our Wisdom and also our Justice, our Sanctification, and our Redemption." —1 Cor 1:30
Praise: St. Augustine, a sinful intellectual, opened a Bible at random to Romans 13:13-14. Pierced by God's word, he repented, was baptized Catholic, and spent his life defending and spreading the faith.
( bible meditation taken from Our Catholic Faith )

Blessed Corpus Christi Feast

Let us pray
to the Lord who gives Himself in the Eucharist
that this sacrament may bring us Salvation and Peace .
Lord Jesus Christ,
You gave us the Eucharist
as the memorial of Your suffering and death.
May our worship of this sacrament of Your Body and Blood
help us to experience the salvation You won for us
and the peace of the kingdom
where You live with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
( prayer taken from New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal )

Each year, Holy Church celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. This feast recognizes that the Body and Blood of Jesus are divine Food given for our salvation.
Each of the four Gospels in the New Testament share how Jesus shared a final meal with his apostles prior to his betrayal and death. At this meal, referred to as The Last Supper, Jesus broke bread saying that it was his Body. He also blessed wine and shared it as his Blood and a sign of the New Covenant God was entering into with his people.
Today, our Catholic priests repeat the words Jesus spoke at The Last Supper as they consecrate bread and wine. Catholic Christians believe that these sacred words, spoken by ordained men, transform the bread and wine into divine food, the Body and Blood of Jesus. In this way, the command issued by Jesus in the Gospel of John is fulfilled: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
The origins of Corpus Christi can be traced to St. Juliana of Mount Cornillon. Born in 1193 in Belgium, St. Juliana developed a deep devotion to the Eucharist, the term for the consecrated bread and wine turned Body and Blood of Jesus. After reportedly receiving a vision from God, St. Juliana advocated for a solemnity devoted to the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Let us faithfully pray : Pange Lingua (written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this hymn is considered the most beautiful of Aquinas' hymns and one of the great seven hymns of the Church. )

Sing my tongue, the Savior's glory,
of His flesh the mystery sing;
of the Blood, all price exceeding,
shed by our immortal King,
destined, for the world's redemption,
from a noble womb to spring.
Of a pure and spotless Virgin
born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
then He closed in solemn order
wondrously His life of woe.
On the night of that Last Supper,
seated with His chosen band,
He the Pascal victim eating,
first fulfills the Law's command;
then as Food to His Apostles
gives Himself with His own hand
Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature
by His word to Flesh He turns;
wine into His Blood He changes;-
what though sense no change discerns?
Only be the heart in earnest,
faith her lesson quickly learns.
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble sense fail.
To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from Each eternally,
be salvation, honor, blessing,
might and endless majesty.
Amen. Alleluia.

Catholic bishop reportedly stabbed in Turkey - Examiner.com

Anothey matryr for the Faith killed brutally by an turk islamist , Lord have Mercy !
May eternal Light shine upon him , may he rest in peace !

Catholic bishop reportedly stabbed in Turkey - Examiner.com

Today, we are celebrating Pentecost Sunday , may it be a truly blessed feast for everyone !
The feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, and takes its name from the fact that it comes nearly fifty days after Easter. Seven weeks have already passed since Easter . Also , nearly two thousand years ago, the Holy Catholic Church was made known to the world by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains :
"The Church was made manifest to the world on the day of Pentecost by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era in the 'dispensation of the mystery' - the age of the Church, during which Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates his work of salvation through the liturgy of his Church, 'until he comes.' [1 Cor. 11:26] In this age of the Church Christ now lives and acts in and with his Church, in a new way appropriate to this new age. He acts through the sacraments in what the common Tradition of the East and the West calls 'the sacramental economy'; this is the communication (or 'dispensation') of the fruits of Christ's Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church's 'sacramental' liturgy." (C.C.C. # 1076)
"On that day (of Pentecost), the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the "last days," the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated." (C.C.C. # 732)
The Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. 'Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.' In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him 'the fullness of the means of salvation' which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. The Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of Parousia." (C.C.C. # 830)
Happy Birthday Catholic Church and many blessed returns of the day for every Catholic faithful !

Waiting for Whitsunday , blessed Pentecost Feast

Happy Birthday Holy Catholic Church !


When the Holy Spirit came to the Upper Room where the disciples and the Blessed Mother were praying on Pentecost, ten days after our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven, it was with great power, in the form of a driving wind and "tongues as of fire" (Acts 2:3) descending on each of them .
The Holy Spirit immediately transformed the timid disciples on Pentecost and enabled them to proclaim Christ’s Word with apostolic zeal! In addition, about 3000 people were baptized that day after hearing St. Peter’s Holy Spirit filled and inspired message calling for repentance and conversion(Acts 2:14-41).
Pentecost prayers can help us be Christ-like as we listen to the teachings and promptings of His Spirit in our hearts . So let us faithfully pray and prepare for the great Feast of Pentecost , may the Holy Spirit be with us always , even to the end of time

We beseech you, O Lord, let the power of the Holy Spirit be always with us; let it mercifully purify our hearts, and safeguard us from all harm. Grant this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
May the Comforter, Who proceeds from You, enlighten our minds, we beseech you, O Lord, and guide us, as Your Son has promised, into all truth. We ask this through Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Holy Spirit, Sweet guest of My Soul, Abide In Meand Grant That I May Ever abide in Thee. Amen

Homily for the Feast of Birth of Mary , Holy Mother of God

Homily 1 for the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God; PG 97, 805 (trans. Breviary)

Today is the dawn of our salvation

We are no longer to be enslaved by the elemental spirits of the world, as the apostle Paul says, or held in the yoke of slavery to the letter of the law (Col 2,8 ; Rom 7,6). This is the summary of the benefits of Christ for us; this is the unveiling of the mystery; this is nature made new: God is made man, and human nature assumed by God is deified. But so radiant, so glorious a visitation of God to us needed some prelude of joy to introduce to us the great gift of salvation. The present feast is such: the prelude is the birth of the Mother of God, and the concluding act is the union which is destined between the Word and human nature.

A virgin is now born..., and is made ready to be mother of God, the king of all for ever... A double gain will be ours: we shall be led towards the truth, and we shall be led away from a life of slavery to the letter of the law. How will this be? Clearly, inasmuch as the shadow yields to the presence of the light, and grace introduces freedom in place of the letter. The present feast stands on the border between these: it joins us to the truth instead of signs and figures, and it brings in the new in place of the old.

Let the whole creation therefore sing praise and dance and unite to celebrate the glories of this day. Today let there be one common feast of those in heaven and those on earth. Let everything that is, in the world and above the world, join together in rejoicing. For today a shrine is built for the Creator of the universe. The creature is newly made ready as a divine dwelling for the Creator.

September 8, Nativity of the Virgin Mary

With delight I rejoice in the Lord.--Isaiah 61:10
Mass readings: Micah 5:1-4 or Romans 8:28-30 / Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 or 1:18-23

Pondering God's Ways
Today's feast, the birth of Mary, has been celebrated by her Son's followers since the eighth century. Mary and St. John the Baptist are the only two saints whose births are celebrated in the Church's calendar. For many centuries, as Church Fathers studied and prayed over Mary's role, the Holy Spirit guided the unfolding of Marian teaching so that it puts the proper emphasis on Jesus.
One of the best ways to honor Mary today is to remember how she ''pondered all these things in her heart,'' as St. Luke puts it. To ponder God's will and ways, noted the late Cistercian Father Basil Pennington, doesn't mean to simply think about them. It means to let them sit and find a home in our hearts, even if we don't understand them.
Prayer: Mary, help us to imitate you, pondering in our hearts whatever God asks of us.