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Ave Maria Meditations

To You, O God, Fountain of Mercy, I come, a sinner. May You wash away my impurity.

O Sun of Justice, give sight to the blind. O Eternal Healer, cure the wounded. O King of Kings, restore the despoiled. O Mediator of God and man, reconcile the sinful. O Good Shepherd, lead back the straying. O God, have pity on the wretched, show leniency to the guilty, bestow life on the dead, reform the impious, and give the balm of grace to the hard of heart.

O most merciful God, call back the one who flees, draw back the one who resists, lift up the one who falls, support the one who stands, and accompany the one who walks.

Do not forget those who forget You. Do not desert those who desert You. Do not despise those who sin against You. For in sinning, I have offended You, my God.

I have harmed my neighbor; I have not even spared myself injury. I have sinned, 0 my God, against You, almighty Father, because of my weakness; against You, all-knowing Son, because of my ignorance; against You, merciful Holy Spirit, because of my malice. Thus have I offended You, most high Trinity.

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Homily #120219 (16min) Play - Our Lord’s ultimate reason for coming into this world was to free us from our sins. He uses the miracle of the healing of paralytic’s bodily infirmity to show that He has the power to forgive sins. Let us think about the opportunity God gives us to obtain mercy in this coming great and pre-eminnent pennitential season of Lent – let us resolve to go to frequent confession not only during Lent, but hereafter.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Ordinary Form – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings:
1st Reading: Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25
Responsorial Psalm: 41:2-3, 4-5, 13-14
2nd Reading: 2Corinthians 1:18-22
Gospel: Mark 2:1-12

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Ave Maria Meditations

Confession and the holy fear of God 

When we go to the Sacrament of Penance it will help us very much if we foster the holy fear of God in our souls. To receive the sacrament, attrition (a supernatural but imperfect sorrow, arising from fear of punishment, or ­revulsion from the ugliness of the sin … ) is sufficient. But we will receive much more grace if we impel our soul to a sense of filial fear for having offended an Almighty God who is also Our Father. It will be much easier to pass from this filial attitude to one of genuine contrition, a repentance springing from love, to an attitude of sorrow based on love. Then confession becomes an immense source of grace, a place where love grows constantly stronger. 

Interior life grows in sensitivity and depth if we keep continually before us those truths that reveal to us the foundations of this gift of the Holy Spirit: God’s holiness and our wretchedness, our daily failures, the absolute dependence of the creature on his Creator, the enormity of a single venial sin in the sight of the divine holiness, the ingratitude implied by our lack of generosity in living up to the demands of our vocation . We shall understand better the mystery of sin if above all we develop the habit of considering frequently the Passion of Our Lord. We shall learn to love, and thereby dread committing a single venial sin. When we contemplate the suffering that Christ endured for our sins, the countless sins of all the world, our hope will be strengthened and our contrition intensified, and we shall have a firmer resolve to avoid every deliberate fault.  

The holy fear of God joined to love gives a special strength to the Christian’s life. With it, nothing can make him tremble, for nothing can then separate him from the love of God.The soul is consolidated in the virtue of hope and set free from a false and careless security by maintaining a watchful love against the treacherous lures of temptation.  

Let us ask our Mother Mary, the Refuge of Sinners, to make us understand just how much we lose every time we step aside from the path that leads to her son Jesus, even if our faults are only slight ones.  

Fr. Francis Fernandez

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Homily #110729 ( 06min) Play – On this memorial of St. Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus, Fr. Bonaventure preaches on her deep and profound faith, especially when proclaiming the same confession of St. Peter.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Martha – Mem – Form: OF
Readings:

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Homily #110504 ( 09min) Play – In today’s Gospel Our Lord tells Nicodemus that God loved the world so much that he gave it His only begotten Son. Fr. Bonaventure explores the depths of mercy revealed in this passage in that we have recourse to confession. But we must truly seek this mercy through frequent confession and by avoiding getting caught up in the sinful entertainments of our day.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Wednesday 2nd Week of Easter – – Form:
Readings:
1st: act 5:17-26
Resp: psa 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: joh 3:16-21

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Ave Maria Mediations

The Communion of Saints and the Sacrament of Penance:

In the Sacrament of Penance man is reconciled with God and with the Church. It is one of the most intimate and personal of human acts, and brings about many fun­damental changes in the sanctuary of each man’s consci­ence. Yet at the same time this Sacrament also possesses a deep and inseparable social dimension and also brings about many changes in the family circle, the studies, the work, the friendly relationships etc., of the person who goes to Confession.

The greatest tragedy in any man’s life is sin, because the result of sin is a far-reaching disorder which starts in the very centre of his being and spreads outward to affect all those around him. In the Sacrament of Penance Our Lord sorts out all those misplaced elements; in addition to pardoning the sins, he restores to the soul its lost order and harmony.

A well-made confession brings much good to all those who live and work with us. What is more, it is of benefit to very many other people with whom we come into contact in the course of the day. The grace that we receive in this sacrament means that we say and do everything in a very different way.

Not only that, but when a Christian goes to Confession, the whole Church receives an incalculable benefit. Every time a priest pronounces the words of absolution, she rejoices and is mysteriously enriched, because every Confession, through the Communion of Saints, sends blessings which resound through the whole Mystical Body of Christ. (more…)

Homily #100912 ( 23min) Play – In today’s Gospel we have the parables of mercy, the lost coin, the lost sheep, and to top it off, the parable of the prodigal son. Fr Dominic, during his first homily as the guardian of the friary here in Griswold, emphasizes the greatness of this mercy that is almost too good to be true if it weren’t spoken by Truth Himself. We need mercy and, fortunately, God wants to give it if we humble ourselves with true contrition for our sins and a firm resolve to reform our lives and persevere in this. This firmness of our resolve is the necessary and only worthy response to this great mercy that our great God is offering.  He also exhorts us to show mercy to others and pray for each other and to make use of the sacrament of mercy, that is, Confession, and the intercession of the saints. All of which is consistent with a firm resolve to amend our lives.
Ave Maria! 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Mass: OF, – Readings:
1st: exo 32:7-11, 13-14
Resp: psa 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
2nd: 1ti 1:12-17
Gsp: luk 15:1-32

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Ave Maria Meditations

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, Lord.”

“Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again!”

(Chapter 8 of St. John’s Gospel)

In the Sacrament of Penance it is Christ who forgives.

They placed her in the midst, says the Gospel. They have humiliated her and shamed her in the extreme, without the slightest concern for her. They remind Our Lord that the Law imposed the severe penalty of death by stoning for this sin. “What do you say?”, they ask him, disguising their ulterior motives so that they might have some charge to bring against him. But Jesus surprises them all. He does not say anything; He bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

The woman is terrified by them all. The Scribes and Pharisees go on asking questions. Then, Jesus stood up and said to them, “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone”. And once more He bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. (more…)

Mother of the Redeemer Events #14 – Fr. Bill Casey ( 48min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

In June, 2010, Fr. Bill Casey of the Fathers of Mercy preached a retreat at the Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center on “Confidence in God”. This is the fourth conference in this retreat.  In this talk, Fr. Casey discusses the family.

Ave Maria!

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Mother of the Redeemer Events #13 – Fr. Bill Casey ( 46min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

In June, 2010, Fr. Bill Casey of the Fathers of Mercy preached a retreat at the Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center on “Confidence in God”. This is the fourth conference in this retreat.  In this talk, Fr. Casey discusses the shortness of life here on earth, death, judgment, heaven, hell and confession.

Ave Maria!

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Homily #100630 ( 04min) Play – Fr. Ignatius preaches on the need to make a full confession in order to have a valid absolution and to avoid getting into the situation where we neglect to mention a serious sin for many years, risking our eternal salvation.
Ave Maria! Commemoration of St. Paul – Mass: EF, Scio Cui – Readings: 1st: gal 1:11-20 – Gsp: mat 10:16-22

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Homily #100625 ( 06min) Play – He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it.  Be made clean.”   In confession the Lord wills that we be cured, not only from mortal sin but from venial sin and from imperfection.
Ave Maria! Mass readings


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Homily #091223 ( 05min) Play – Continuing his Advent theme on Confession, Fr. Ignatius stresses the need for frequent confession throughout the year not just in the seasons of penance. Such a habit has 8 benefits that Pius XII outlined:

1. Self Knowledge
2. Christian Humility Grows
3. Bad Habits corrected
4. Spiritual neglect and tepidity is resisted
5. Conscience is purified
6. Will is strengthened
7. Salutary self-control is attained
8. Grace is gained in virtue of the sacrament itself

Ave Maria! Fourth Sunday in Advent – Mass: EF, Rorate Coeli – Readings: 1st: 1co 4:1-5 – Gsp: luk 3:1-6

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Homily #091222 ( 04min) Play – There is one penance that is above all other penances; the sacrament of confession. Make a good through confession in preparation for Christmas. Remember, though a person may hide a serious sin from the priest out of shame, it is not hidden from God. Although the person receive absolution from the priest, the sin remains and is not forgiven.
Ave Maria! Fourth Sunday in Advent – Mass: EF, Rorate Coeli – Readings: 1st: 1co 4:1-5 – Gsp: luk 3:1-6

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