Homily #120329 ( 03min) Play – Our Lord  is the source of all life and gives us the grace to have eternal life. Let us turn to Him.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Thursday 5th Week of Lent – Wkdy – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: gen 17:3-9
Resp: psa 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: joh 8:51-59

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On Living for ‘something greater”: But if you wish to know how these things come about, ask for grace not instruction; desire not understanding; the groaning of prayer, not diligent reading; the Spouse not the teacher; God not man; darkness not clarity; not light but the fire that totally inflames and carries us into God by ecstatic unctions and burning affections.

This fire is God, and his furnace is in Jerusalem and Christ enkindles it in the heat of his burning passion, which only he truly perceives who says: My soul chooses hanging and my bones death. Whoever loves this death can see God because it is true beyond doubt that man will not see Him and live. 

Let us, then, die and enter into the darkness; let us impose silence upon our cares, our desires and our imaginings. With Christ crucified let us pass out of this world to the Father   so that when the Father is shown to us, we may say with Philip:     It is enough for us. Let us hear with Paul: My grace is sufficient for you. Let us rejoice with David saying: My flesh and my heart have grown faint; You are the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever.

Blessed be the Lord forever and all the people will say: Let it be; let it be... Amen.

+St. Bonaventure

Homily #120112 ( 04min) Play – Fr Bonaventure preaches on the healing of the leper and that by telling everyone about the cure he gave glory to God and showed his sincere gratitude.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Bernard of Corleone – Opt Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Thursday 1st Week of Ordinary Time
1st: 1sa 4:1-11
Resp: psa 44:10-11, 14-15, 25-26
Gsp: mar 1:40-45

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Homily #110812 ( 03min) Play – A short homily is a good homily!
Ave Maria!
Mass: Friday 19th Week of Ordinary Time – Wkdy – Ordinary Form
Readings:
1st: Joshua 24:1-13
Resp: Psalm 136:1-3, 16-18, 21-22, 24
Gsp: Matthew 19:3-12

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Homily #110630 ( 04min) Play – Today Fr. Dominic preaches on the life of St Paul and his many journey and labors that he undertook to spread the Gospel and build the early Church. Father emphasizes that he did all this through the grace of God. St Paul himself would only boast in his weakness.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Commemoration of St. Paul – 3rd Cl – Form: EF, Scio Cui
Readings:
1st: gal 1:11-20
Gsp: mat 10:16-22

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Day #25: The Eucharist

MARY: Jesus was not content merely to open to you the channels of grace with the Sacraments; he wished to give you himself so that you could live totally by him and in him. At the vigil of his sufferings he wished to leave you a perpetual reminder of love; he took some bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: ?Take this and eat it, this is my Body.? Likewise he took the chalice with wine, blessed it and gave it to his disciples saying: ?Take and drink, this is my Blood.? From that moment the world possessed the greatest marvel: bread transubstantiated into his Body and wine transubstantiated into his Blood! With the Body and with the Blood are also the soul and the divinity, in such a way that when you eat of this bread of life, you receive the whole Jesus as he is now, glorious in heaven.

Jesus did not give himself to you in vain: he comes to you in order to incorporate you into himself, to give you his very life, to supply for your weakness, to sustain your soul. You should not, then, complain uselessly of being destitute of every virtue, but you must go to the banquet of life to be healed of your spiritual sicknesses. Jesus is not upset to see you cold when he sees you humble and constant … He is there precisely to warm your coldness. Don?t put obstacles before him, but offer yourself to him totally and rest in his goodness. Certainly your Communion will not remain fruitless when you go to Jesus with at least a humiliated heart, but you cannot always be aware of the fruitfulness of your Communion.

Alas! Your miseries are so many and you do not know them, but Jesus patiently eliminates a few of them each time. You are not aware of this secret work and you would just like to be conscious of sensible fervor and thus to please yourself. Thus you believe that your Communion is without fruit and that is not true! If Jesus gave you the relish and the fervor without first rooting love in you, you would be a barren soul, a fantasy flame! …

Entrust yourself to him, never back away from him. The more you are in his company, the sooner you will be filled with his life. Don?t satisfy yourself merely with receiving him; go to visit him, prostrate yourself before his glorious throne, implore his blessing, direct your thought to him during the day, desire him spiritually in your heart, pray, pray that he may reign in you.

ASPIRATION: O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine!

LITTLE WORK: Make a Communion of reparation for one who is far from the Holy Eucharist.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ?Way of the Cross? ? But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

Day #24: A Canticle of Love

(According to the Spirituality of the Canticle of Canticles)

THE SOUL: O Jesus … the only desire of my soul, only good of my being, come!

With the sighs of my soul I call upon you because you are the only true beauty, come!

My beloved is snow-white as a lily, ruddy as a rose … his flowing disheveled hair attracts me … how beautiful you are, O beloved of my soul! … Come! …

Everything becomes a voice that calls me to you alone because where you pass you strew a thousand allurements of love! … You smiled upon creation and it became a delightful harmony that speaks of you … Come!

I am an exile and pilgrim in this vale of tears, but you have shown yourself to me as my all … come, O Jesus, yes, come!

My voice is weak, but I unite it to the concert of all creation; it becomes strong with your very merits … come, O my Spouse!

I went wandering the ways of the world, but couldn?t find you … I asked the sentries about you … but they only keep watch over little human miseries … I kept walking and walking and then in the solitude of the lilies I saw you!

What a vision of love! Your clothing was snow-white; around your head there was an aureole of glory and from your lips came a word of love! … How beautiful you are! …

My step is slight; I sigh for you with all of the impulse of my soul, come, O Jesus! My soul loves you, it loves you … it loves you, O infinite God because you are my only desire … Come! …

O don?t distract me from my Beloved, o little things of the earth; you are a fatuous light and I find in you only coldness and death! It is only my Jesus that I desire … Come, O Jesus! …

I want love in this poor soul of mine and you alone give it to me: come, O Jesus!

I desire sufferings because through the sufferings I will love you the more. The sufferings you send are only a path of charity; come, bring me the cross, come into my soul!

I love you, O my only true good! Please don?t gaze on me any more … the heart inflames me with love and then leaves me desolate and poor! I will then love you between the delightful beatings of my heart with a disinterested love … Come, O Jesus!

I love you, Jesus, and because I love you I desire only you!

Let the creatures torment me; they only drive me closer to you … Among the contradictions which they will cause me, you will hear all the better the voice of my love … Come! …

They despise me as inept and I really am because I am nothing but misery! But to my nothingness you are a support, you are peace, you are all because you are Jesus! … Come! …

Jesus, my Jesus, your little creature gets disturbed, but does little; you know me well … hence come to me and raise me up in your mercy … Come, O Jesus! …

Love, love, how delightful you are when you are born of that Heart of divine fire, of my Jesus! Look at me, O my Angels; Jesus has already bound me to him … My love, give me a kiss of mercy and of love! …

O Jesus, you have already come … O that I might die, then, in a cry of love … I love you! …

The bonds that bind us are sealed in your Blood … you will cast me away from you no more for you are too good! …

O Jesus, O Jesus, O my love … you alone! …

You are here in my heart! … you alone! …

You are king of my soul! … you alone! …

You are my peace! … you alone! …

You are all, O my love! … you alone! …

I no longer have the strength to speak … my Love! …

Praise God from the heavens; praise him, O Angels, praise him, all creatures; praise him, O Mary! … God alone! …

ASPIRATION: Long live Jesus! … Thank you, O Jesus, who live in my soul!

LITTLE WORK: Seek pardon of the person you have most offended or who has a grudge against you so that the aversion and upset do not block love.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ?Way of the Cross? ? But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

Day #23: The Aspirations of the Heart

MARY: A soldier who wants to keep himself really faithful to his duty should not be one who serves under constraint; he should have an ideal toward which he aspires. In moments of danger in which it seems as if life is slipping away, in which he feels the full impact of the adversary, the soldier takes up his arms and at the outcry of his ideal, he musters all of his energy and wins.

Look for a moment at your heart, my child, and study it with regard to its supreme aspirations …

You gaze on me, your eyes contemplate the immaculate candor of my soul and you sense all the beauty of purity.

You see me in profound recollection; in my countenance you read the life of infinite Love which attracts me and you want to fly, fly, like a little bird that flutters anxiously when it sees the magnificent flight of its mother! …

You see me with downcast countenance … desolate from the bitter grief of Calvary. Expand your heart and cry out: Mother, grant me to weep with you!

You, therefore, must aspire to innocence, to the infinite, to the sacrifice which will lead you to these two harbors of true happiness!

I saw you so many times involved in worldly affairs, but you were not happy with them and you remember now with regret. As you advance in years, you perceive in life something more elevated than what appears … you want God! Nothing satisfies you; nothing consoles you; all of your castles in the air begin to crumble and collapse; you desire God! Only his charity convinces you; only his love satisfies you; only his friendship gives you peace!

Lift yourself up, then, in great purity of heart: ?Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.? Jealously preserve the innocence which Jesus has given you back in the Baptism of his blood when he received the tears of your repentance and purified you. Flee the frivolous company of creatures because you will not find God in the hubbub of human affairs.

Recollect yourself in your nothingness because God only stoops down to holy humility, as he lowered himself even to me, because he looked upon me in my interior annihilation.

Don?t flee the cross, rather carry it willingly close to Jesus.

It is the key of heaven; it is the door that introduces you into the kingdom of the eternal aspirations of your soul …

The little human things will soon pass away; they will fall into oblivion … I will garner you like a lily of the valleys to adorn the heavenly garden.

ASPIRATION: O Jesus, may your kingdom come soon!

LITTLE WORK: Avoid saying useless words in order to maintain the holy recollection of the soul.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ?Way of the Cross? ? But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

Day #22: The Misery of Human Judgment

MARY: You are so afraid of human judgment and so many times you betray God in order not to contradict a poor creature, But what is man, what value has his scornful word or his threats? You fall with regard to human respect not only out of cowardice, but also because of self-interest and you dissemble or betray your faith for fear of being taken amiss by men.

But what is man? Is he perhaps the master or arbitrator of the world? Have you so little faith in the goodness and providence of God to believe that he abandons you when you endanger your own situation for love of him? How many times do you not try to win human benevolence by pretending to be without faith, impartial and free! …

Fool! in reality you do nothing then but entrust yourself to men of the earth who are deceitful, egotists and traitors! And are you not ashamed to put yourself in such a cowardly way under the most degraded and vile men of the earth? What is man in his judgments? The history of human knowledge tells you: man despises today what he applauded yesterday; he affirms and denies, he contradicts himself, lies or feels his way along in the darkness of doubt.

Who are they who discredit your faith? They are those who do not know it; weak and cowardly souls who are ironically called strong souls; impure people who don?t see the truth because their god is their belly, because they love pleasure and orgies of the passions. And you would fear the judgment of these poor unfortunates?

The wisdom of God on the contrary, like a brilliant star, rises ever alive and immortal in the midst of men and you must fear only the judgment of God.

Don?t worry about men, then; they can?t do you any harm because God alone is the master of all. Fear God and trust in him with firm confidence. Do all that you are supposed to.

Even if accomplishing it should cost you your life, before you there have been millions of glorious martyrs who give you the example of the most perfect and Christian self-denial. The form of this world soon passes, illusions fall, sham human power comes tumbling down … blessed are you if you can present yourself in the sight of God clothed in his glory, cloaked in his justice and in his charity!

ASPIRATION: O Jesus, make me appreciate your greatness and despise the world.

LITTLE WORK: Rather than fear human judgment, seek to bring back to the faith with great charity those who despise it.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ?Way of the Cross? ? But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

Day #21: Human Respect

MARY: Among the enemies you must fight against, my child, there is one which is small, wretched, foolish, but which can paralyze you. This enemy seems to be outside of you, but in reality is none other than yourself. Babies go near the mirror, look at themselves, get frightened at seeing a being that moves, become timid or want to play with it, but … that being which frightens them or fascinates them is none other than their own image.

You do the same when you allow yourself to be vanquished by human respect: it seems to you that the others assault you, that they are playing tricks on you, that they persecute you, but in reality it is you who are so weak in your faith that you believe that this can manage to cause you dishonor or damage. What a shame for you, who are so ennobled by the profession of your faith, to hide it or disparage such greatness for fear of stupid and vile raillery!

When you are seized by an idea, when you believe that something will glorify you, you don?t fear any jesting and, if they jeer at you, you not only don?t accept it, you disdain it.

Are you ashamed of elegant clothing because someone teases you? No, in fact you?re proud of it, you show it off because you are convinced that it is refined; if you were convinced of the contrary, you would be embarrassed to go out dressed like that and it would seem to you that you were the butt of everyone?s gossip. If, then, you are embarrassed to be seen as Christian, it is because in reality you are not, you don?t feel it, you don?t live it and your faith is like clothing that barely covers the miserable rags of the world that you haven?t yet thrown away!

But, tell me, isn?t Jesus your glory, your life, your strength? Are you not convinced that his wisdom vanquishes all human wisdom and that his principles are truth, justice and good? So why do you fear the evil eye of the world and fraternize with it?

In reality, my child, the world laughs at false piety and false faith; even while it fights against a Christian, the world admires him, and if it saw in you a real Christian, the world would not make fun of you. Children do not sneer at a lady who wears an elegant hat, they rather jeer at the lady who wears a hat while wearing a shabby, worn out dress. It?s the same for you.

But even if the world ridicules you, what?s that to you? Must the world judge you? What will you respond to the eternal Judge, if he protests that he will be ashamed of whoever is ashamed of him? So lift up your countenance from the abjection into which you have fallen. Remove from your life, from your thoughts, from your practices, from your words all that is not Christian and show before the world with deeds that you love and esteem God above all things.

ASPIRATION: O Jesus, O Jesus, you alone above all things.

LITTLE WORK: If in conversation God is offended by complaining or worse by speaking badly of the faith, of the Pope, of priests, of one?s neighbor, intervene energetically and protest or break off the conversation and move away.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ?Way of the Cross? ? But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!