Apr 28 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: The Greatest Promise
Saturday, April 28th, 2012
Homily #120428 ( +++ |
Audio (MP3)St. John Vianney: Patron of ALL Priests
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009In this Year of the Priest it is a special pleasure to consider the Patron Saint of ALL Priests, St. John Vianney. He had been the Patron of Parish Priests but our Holy Father has extended that patronage to all Priests. Ave Maria Meditations
St. John Mary Vianney was born in France in 1786. His childhood coincided with the terrible French revolution. He was devout even as a boy and quietly taught other children their prayers. He would be ordained a priest in 1815 but struggled mightily through seminary and was a poor student. He had a very difficult time with Latin. There was even talk among his superiors if he should be ordained or, if ordained, be allowed to hear confessions. They decided to ordain him but gave him one of the least desirable of assignments: to the little town of Ars. The young priest was told that the faith was all but lost there and so he would have little to do. “Then I have everything to do!”, he exclaimed. Upon arriving in Ars the conditions were as foretold but this good priest knew that the holiness of the people would first need a holy priest and so he took upon himself not only his own seeking of personal holiness but also severe penances for his flock. He fasted continually and only slept a few hours a night, spending most of his time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. |
Pope John Paul writes to Priests
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Ave Maria Meditations
In his 1986 Holy Thursday Letter to Priests, Pope John Paul II wrote:
The Mass was for John Mary Vianney the great joy and comfort of his priestly life. He took great care, despite the crowds of penitents, to spend more than a quarter of an hour in silent preparation. He celebrated with recollection, clearly expressing his adoration at the consecration and communion. He accurately remarked: “The cause of priestly laxity is not paying attention to the Mass!”
The Curé of Ars was particularly mindful of the permanence of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. It was generally before the tabernacle that he spent long hours in adoration, before daybreak or in the evening; it was towards the tabernacle that he often turned during his homilies, saying with emotion: “He is there!”
It was also for this reason that he, so poor in his presbytery, did not hesitate to spend large sums on embellishing his church. The appreciable result was that his parishioners quickly took up the habit of coming to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, discovering, through the attitude of their pastor, the grandeur of the mystery of faith.
Dear brother priests, the example of the Curé of Ars invites us to a serious examination of conscience: what place do we give to the Mass in our daily lives? Is it, as on the day of our Ordination — it was our first act as priests! — the principle of our apostolic work and personal sanctification? What care do we take in preparing for it? And in celebrating it? In prayng before the Blessed Sacrament? In encouraging our faithful people to do the same? In making our churches the House of God to which the divine presence attracts the people of our time who too often have the impression of a a world empty of God.
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May 21 – Homily – Fr Bonaventure: Ascension of Our Lord
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
Homily #090521 ( +++ |
Mane Nobiscum Domine
Thursday, April 16th, 2009Ave Maria Meditations
With each passing year the unfolding of the Resurrection Gospel of Emmaus becomes more luminous, more transparent like the favorite page in an old book, the page that with each reading delights one anew. The repetition and ritual recurrence of the Word shapes and reshapes the Church, making her ever more perfectly Christ’s beloved Bride, the Companion of the New Adam, born from His pierced side. You recall that it was this very page of the Gospel that was given us by the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II as the heart of his message for the Year of the Eucharist. He presented the mystery of Emmaus as a kind of Eucharistic icon. |
From Advent and Christmas to Calvary and to the Blessed Sacrament
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Ave Maria MeditationsThe Real Presence: From Advent and Christmasto Calvary and to the Blessed Sacrament
Neither Advent nor the tomb is Christ’s final rest in the world. He rests in the midst of the world now, in the Host. He is as silent, as secret and hidden, in the Host as He was in Advent or in the tomb. He trusts Himself to His creatures in the Host as He trusted Himself to our Lady in Advent; only then He gave Himself into the keeping of the one human creature who was sinless and in whom He could have His will, and now He gives Himself into the keeping of sinners.
In the Host He is immobile, dependent. He rests in the priest’s hands, on the paten, in the tabernacle. He remains with us, resting in all the cities and all the lonely and unexpected places of the world. Wherever human creatures are, He rests in their midst. |
Video – No Apologies #69 – Miracles of Faverney and Augsburg
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
Ave Maria! Here are two more verified Eucharistic miracles. One from France in 1608, and one from Germany in 1194. Ave Maria! |
Video – No Apologies #67 – Eucharistic Miracles
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
Ave Maria! There are literally hundreds of verified Eucharistic Miracles testifying to Christ’s Real Presence! Today we’ll look at a miracle which took place in Bolsena, Italy. Ave Maria! |
My God, if You exist, make Your existance known to me!
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
A cry from the heart: My God, if You exist, make Your existance known to me! from Bl. Charles de Foucauld before his conversion
As soon as I believed there was a God, I understood I could do nothing else but live for him, my religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith: God is so great. There is such a difference between God and everything that is not. |
Christus Vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat
Monday, November 3rd, 2008Christ Conquers, He Reigns, He Commands!
THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST THROUGH THE EUCHARIST Christus vincit, regnat, ?imperat; ab omni malo plemem suam defendat. Christ conquers, He reigns, He commands. May He de?fend His people from all evil. Pope Sixtus V had these words (more…) |
Franciscan Saint of the Confessional: St. Leopoldo Mandic
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008AVE MARIA MEDITATIONS
July 30th: St. Leopoldo Mandic A Saint of the Confessional and a Saint for the Cause of Unity The august Mother of God is in truth co?redemptress of the human race and source of all grace. In fact on the one hand we have in her the most perfect obedience to God?s laws and, after her Son, the most perfect innocence: He impeccable by His nature, she impeccable by grace. On the other hand we see her as Our Lady of Sorrows, as He was the Man of Sorrows. If, therefore, by eternal decree of God, the Immaculate Virgin was the moral victim of sorrow as her Son was the physical victim, and if God?s avenging justice found no shadow of fault in them, it follows inevit?ably that they were paying the price of the sins of others, that is of mankind. (more…) |
Video – FiNews #13: Neil Babcox – Protestant Pastor becomes Catholic #2
Thursday, April 26th, 2007
Ave Maria! In this continuation to Neil Babcox’s previous video he describes how after being a Protestant Pastor for over 30 years, he leaves all to receive the pearl of great price, the Most Blessed Sacrament. Neil entered the Catholic Church and received his first Holy Communion with great joy on the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2006. Now he radiates faith in the Real Presence and love for His eucharistic Lord. For his first Easter in the Catholic Church, Neil made a retreat at Mount St. Francis Hermitage run by the Franciscans of the Immaculate and shared his love for the Blessed Sacrament with AirMaria.com. Don’t miss Neil’s upcoming appearance on EWTN, Marcus Grodi’s The Journey Home on May 21st at 8pm. Links: EWTN, Marcus Grodi, The Journey Home??upcoming guest Neil Babcox Conversion story of Neil Babcox Ave Maria! |
