Beggar

Longing for  a Joy  That Is Complete “Although I have much to write to you, I do not intend to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and to speak face to face so that our joy may be complete.” (2 John 12) T he church has faced pandemics throughout the centuries.  But we’ve never had the ability to move certain aspects of corporate worship online.  Mater Dei is streaming Masses on TV, Facebook, YouTube, and its own website. W hen I watch, it’s always bittersweet. I THANK YOU, LORD W e can be grateful for the church's opportunity to use today’s technology.  After all, why should the Enemy’s voice be the only one on TV or online?  Pope St. John Paul II explained that technology can help us reach more people.  It is being used by the Lord in ways that we are still only beginning to understand.  Lives are being changed forever as a result of Christian blog posts.  Many sheep are being delivered from the deceitfuln...

Hope Because of God's Mercy! When we Christians talk about the hope inspired by God's mercy, we're not talking about something we have to create or invent.  We're talking about something that's a sure thing. The Apostle John tells us something important:       See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called the children of        God.  Yet so we are.  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.        Beloved, we are God's children now.  What we will be has not yet been revealed.  We       know that when it is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.  Everyone       who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.  (1John 3:1-3) "See what love the Father has bestowed on us"!  God's love, the love that led him to send his Son for us, is so great ...

The Savior of the World: from an Ancient Discourse  by St. Anastasius Christ has shown by his words and actions that he was truly God and Lord of the universe.  He said to his disciples, as he was about to go up to Jerusalem,            We are going up to Jerusalem now, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the              Gentiles and the chief priests and scribes, to be scourged and mocked and crucified. These words bore out the predictions of the prophets.  They had foretold the death he was to die in Jerusalem.  From the beginning, holy Scripture had foretold Christ's death, the sufferings that would precede it, and what would happen to his body afterward.  Scripture also affirmed that these things were going to happen to one who was immortal and incapable of suffering, because he was God. Only by reflecting on the meaning of the incarnation can we see how it is po...

By Hook and by Crook An Easter Homily by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Sunday morning came, and it was one of calm, like the sleep of innocents, and the clear, benign air seemed almost as if it had been stirred by angels’ wings.   Mary walked in the garden and someone near her spoke a word, and pronounced it longingly, wistfully, in that touching and unforgettable voice which had called her so many times: “Mary.”   And to this one and only word, she made an answer, a word and only one: “Rabboni.”   And as she fell at His knees in the dewy grass and clasped in her hands those bare feet, she saw two scars, two red-lined marks of nails—for Christ was now walking in the glory of His new Easter morn. That was the first Easter Day.   Centuries have whirled away since, and on this new Easter Day as I turn from that garden to the altar, I behold placed over the tabernacle, on this Resurrection Day, the image, not of a Risen Savior, but the image of a dying one, to te...

Have a Blessed Easter! Matthew 28:1-10      After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.  His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow.  The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.        Then the angel said to the women in reply, "Do not be afraid!  I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.  He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.'  Behold, I have told you."        Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet o...

    The King Sleeps     From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday +          +          +       Something strange is happening.  There is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness.  The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.  The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh, and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh, and hell trembles with fear.      He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep.  Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve.      The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory.  At the sight of him Ad...

Our King’s Triumphant Entry           There was excitement in Jerusalem!   The people sensed that the Messiah was about to come.   They expected him to be a military conqueror, a leader who would free Judah from oppressive Roman domination.   He would restore the nation’s independence and freedom.      The people knew of the mighty things that Jesus had done, his miracles, his teachings, his compassion for even the poor.   They hoped that here—finally—was the Messiah.        They placed cloaks and palm branches before him and cried “Hosanna to the Son of David”.   But not all expected Jesus to be the kind of king he really was.   When they found out that he didn’t intend to fulfill their expectations, they hated him as much as they had loved him.   From “Hosanna” to “Crucify him” their cry changed.          Jesus could see that it was coming to a c...