Sermon of Fr. Gerard for The Last Sunday After Pentecost

During the month of November we think about the holy souls in purgatory, as this month is dedicated especially to their memory, and special indulgences are granted to the faithful that they may gain on behalf of the holy souls. I’d like to tell you a story that I read about the life of St. Vincent Frayer, who lived about the year 1400. He relates the fact that there was a person who was a great sinner who repented at the end of his life but he did not have very much time to do penance because he was dying shortly after his conversion and this man’s guardian angel appeared to him and said: “I will give you a choice: you can suffer purgatory for three days or suffer on earth for three years.” This man had been very sick and he was so desperate, because he was suffering, that he asked and prayed for death to come and relieve him of his pains and sufferings. So thinking that three days would be much better than three years of suffering the man took the three days. After a short time, the guardian angel appeared to the man in purgatory and the man called out to his guardian angel saying: “You traitor! You promised to leave me here only three days. I’ve been here three thousand years!” And the angel said: “Remember what time you died?” And the man said: “Yes, at one O’clock.” The angel responded: “Well, the priest was just then starting an hour of the office with the invocation: ‘Oh God, come to my assistance, oh Lord, make haste to help me.” And he had not even reached the Gloria Patri, which follows that before the guardian angel went back to see his charge.” And so the man realized how wrong he had been in choosing the time in purgatory. The guardian angel then said to him: “If you wish, I will take you back.” And so the man went back, came back to life and suffered for three years with great patience and in a very edifying manner, paying the debt that he owed to God’s justice and at the same time meriting a higher degree of glory because of suffering in this life. The next life is just a time of justice when the soul is purified but cannot merit. St. Teresa of Ávila said that very few souls go straight from their deathbed to heaven. Most all have to pass through a shorter or longer purgatory.

The Church allows for prayers to be offered for the dead, even centuries after their death, some religious orders have a commemoration of the deceased superiors of their order and some of them have been dead for hundreds of years. We don’t know God’s justice which exact punishment for the least fault. So let us, during the last few days of this month, remember to pray for the souls in purgatory. The holy sacrifice of the Mass is one of the best ways to assist them. If you don’t have the chance to offer a Mass for them, you can at least attend Mass for the relief of the souls in purgatory and this is very efficacious.

Coming to the Gospel of today, we find Our Lord predicting two things at the same time: The destruction of Jerusalem and the last judgment and the end of the world. These two are so intertwined in Our Lord’s speech that he gave on this occasion that it is difficult to determine which parts apply to the destruction of Jerusalem and which to the end of the world and the final judgment. But remember that our judgment, our particular judgment, comes the day and the hour that we die and that can come tomorrow, it can come after a number of years, most likely long before the general judgment.

St. Agustine, speaking of the day of death and of the general judgment, which will come at the end of the world, tells us that we are not told the day or the hour so that we may live in perpetual vigilance. And this was what Our Lord said in some of his parables that we do not know the day or the hour. We can live like men or we can live like sons of God. The damned prefer to live like men, not thinking of their eternity when they were called to live like sons of God. Therefore they receive the sentence of Psalm 81 verse 7: You shall die like men but if you live like sons of God, you will reign with God in heaven. Death is certain and so use it for your advantage since it is a lesson in humility and a gate to heaven. Only death is certain, all other evils are uncertain. A child is conceived but he may not be born alive. That fact is uncertain. If he is born, perhaps he will grow, perhaps not, he may die as a child. If he grows to be an adult, he may become rich or he may be poor, but is it possible to say he will die or perhaps not? Of course, this is not at all the same because death is a certainty. When doctors examine a sick person and find him incurable they say he will not be saved from death. From the moment a man is born, we must say the same thing. He will not be free from death. As a soon as he is born he begins to grow sick, to grow week. When he dies his illness is ended although he may not know if he is going to exchange it, the illness that brought about his death, for a worst one, purgatory or eternal punishment.

The rich man from the parable of the Gospel ended what we might call a delicious illness, in which he lived in delights. But he exchanged that for an eternity of torments. The poor beggar, Lazarus, in the parable ended his life of suffering and attained eternal salvation. He afterwards had what he had chosen here, by a life of patient suffering. He chose God’s friendship by patient resignation. Christ overcame the world by making himself man and by dying for us, let us then unite ourselves to our victor so that we may win the victory with him. His coming at the end of the world will be preceded by the appearance of the Cross in the heavens. Let us unite ourselves to the Cross by patience and suffering so that on the last day, his appearance will inspire us with joy and hope instead of fear.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Announcements for the week: The Last Sunday After Pentecost

Friday, December 7, 2007, Fr. Gerard will be offering the First Friday Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel at 7:00 P.M.

Saturday, December 8, 2007 is the Feast of The Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered by Fr. Gerard at Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel at 10:00 A.M.

Bishop Pivarunas will be coming here to Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel on January 13, 2008 to celebrate Mass and perform Confirmations afterwards. Anyone who needs to be confirmed or conditionally re-confirmed, please see Fr. Gerard or call him at (509) 868-5893 for more information. ONLY BAPTIZED MEMBERS can recieve the sacrament of Confirmation. Regardless of Confirmation or conditional re-Confirmation, Fr. Gerard requests that those who wish to recieve the sacrament present to him copies of baptismal certificates for purposes of Church records. If you cannot meet this requirement, please see Fr. Gerard.

Traditional Catholic 2008 Calendars are now available at Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel. They are priced at $8.00 each. If you wish to buy one you may pick one up here at the Church or call Pat Balderama at (909) 829-0997.

Audio CD's are now available from the 2007 Fatima Conference "All Generations Call me Blessed", which took place in Spokane, Washington at Mount St. Michael. They are $60.00 for a complete set of the talks, and $5.00 for the individual topics. For more information call (509) 467-1077

The Last Sunday After Pentecost

From the Collect:
Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful to seek more earnestly this fruit of the divine work, that they will recieve more abundantly healing gifts from Thy tender mercy.

Epistle from the letter of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Colossians (1: 9-14):
Brethren: We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience and long suffering with joy; giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated u into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins.

Gospel according to St. Matthew (24: 13-25)
At that time, Jesus said to His diciples: When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place; (he that readeth, let him understand:) then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains; and he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house; and he that is in the field let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child and that give suck, in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath: for there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been found from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be: and unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ, or there; do not believe him; for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I have told it to you beforehand. If therefore they shall say to you: Behold He is in the desert, go ye not out; Behold He is in the closets, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west, so shall also the coming of Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. And He shall send His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. And from the fig-tree learn a parable: when the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also when you shall see all these things, you know ye that it is nigh even at the doors. Amen I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

"I'm very grateful for you" The Sermon of Fr. Dominic Radecki for Thanksgiving

(Website Editor's note: This sermon was recorded and posted with the permission of Fr. Dominic Radecki, CMRI)

I don’t usually give a sermon on Thanksgiving because it’s almost like preaching to the choir. You’re here to give thanks to God and be grateful. I just have some thoughts about St. Therese of the Little Flower and many of you who have heard of her autobiography have probably read it. There are very few saints that have written autobiographies, which tell you how holy they are and it’s kind of a powerful thing. In St. Therese’s case, her superior asked her to write it. I just have a few thoughts about it that I’d like to share with you.

She starts out saying: “Dearest Reverend Mother, it’s to you whom are my mother twice over, whom I am going to tell about the history of my soul. When you first asked me to do it I was frightened. It looked as if it meant wasting my spiritual energies on introspection but since then, it made it clear to me that all you wanted of me was plain obedience and in any case, what I shall be doing is only what will be my task for all eternity: telling over and over again the story of God’s mercies to me.”

I think today on Thanksgiving Day that should be our formal story, “God’s mercies to me.” “Our Lord’s love for me.”

“Before continuing I knelt down before Our Lady’s statue, which has so often assured us that the Queen of Heaven looks on our community with special favor, my prayer was that she would guide my hand and never let my hand write a single line that wasn’t as she wanted it to be. And after that, I opened the Gospels at random and the words my eyes fell on were these: ‘Then He went up on the mountainside, and called to Him those, whom had pleased him to call, so these came to him.’ There it all was, the history of my whole life, of my whole vocation, above all, the special claims Jesus makes on my soul. He doesn’t call people who are not worthy of it, no, just the people it pleases him to call. As St. Paul says: ‘God shows pity on those he pities, shows mercy for he is merciful, the effect comes from God’s mercy, not from man’s will. In the same way, God has chosen each one of us, he has given us unique graces.’ I have wondered why God has his preferences, instead of giving each soul an equal degree of grace. Why does he shower extraordinary graces on the saints, who had at one point been his enemies? People like St. Paul or St. Agustine, compelling them you might say, to accept the graces he sends them. Why when you read the lives of the saints, that there is some of them that Our Lord sees fit to holding his arms from the cradle to the grave? Never an obstacle in their path as they make their way up to him, grace still heading them on so that they never manage to soil the robe of their baptismal innocence.
Then again, I used to wonder about the poor savages and people like that who die, essential numbers of them, without ever so much as hearing the name of God mentioned. But Jesus has been gracious enough to teach me a lesson about this mystery simply by holding up to my eyes the book of nature. I realize then that all the flowers he made are beautiful, the rose in its glory, the lily in its whiteness, don’t rob the tiny violet of its sweet smell or the daisy of its charming simplicity. I saw that if all of these lesser blooms wanted to be roses instead, nature would lose the gaiety of her springtime threes. There would be no little flowers to make a pattern over the countryside. And so it is with the world of souls, which is His garden, He wanted to have great saints to be his lilies and roses but he made lesser saints as well and these lesser ones must be content to rank his daisies and violets, running through his feet and giving pleasure to his eye right then.”

And then she says something really sublime:

“Perfection of our holiness consists simply in doing His will and being just what he wants us to be.”

And it could not be put any better: “Holiness consists in doing in doing God’s will and being just what he wants us to be.” A father, a mother, a priest, religious, single person, husband, wife, whatever our vocation and doing it well. That’s all God wants of us.

“This too is made clear to me, that Our Lord’s love makes it seem quite as much in the simplest of souls as in the most highly gifted. As long as there is no resistance offered to his grace.”

God works in every soul and it’s our fault if we offer resistance but as long as there is no resistance to his grace his love is able to do the impossible. The whole point of love is making yourselves small. If you were all like the great Doctors of the Church, who have shed love around the Church by their brilliant teaching, people like St. Gregory the Great or St. Thomas Aquinas and all the other saints, there wouldn’t be much condescension on God’s part, would there?

“He has created little children who have no idea what’s going on and can only express himself by helpless crying. He has made the poor savages with nothing better than a natural outlaw to live by. These condemned to forgive his dignity, it will come into their hearts too, these are the wild flowers that delight him of their simplicity. This is where God shows his infinite greatness. The sun’s light that plays on the cedar trees…” (or redwood trees in California) “…plays on each tiny flower as if it were the only one in existence. And in the same way, Our Lord takes special interest in each soul as if there were no other like it.”

“Everything conspires for the good of each individual soul…” this is something else she says that’s sublime. Everything: The difficult times, the good times, the blessings, the sicknesses, the loss of our loved ones, whatever everything conspires for the good of each individual soul. “…just as a march of the seasons is designed to make the most insignificant daisy unfold its peddles on the day it’s born.”

I just wanted to share that with you. In closing, I’m just so grateful to God for my Catholic Faith and my religious vocation, my priesthood, my family, especially it’s unique having a twin brother and such a wonderful mother. Of course, as St. Therese said, for God’s love and mercy, which we are all so grateful for. For the most part, I’m very grateful to God for each one of you individually and for all members of Queen of Angles Parish. For your perseverance in the faith in spite of obstacles, your self-sacrifice and deep love for God. I know many people who have visited from all over the country and from Australia are just edified by your living your faith. It is just something special your loving God, knowing God and serving God and I’m extremely grateful for all of your assistance and prayers. The work I do is overwhelming, we’ve got a huge geographical area and really serious responsibilities and a mountain of work that all of you help in so many different ways, I’m very grateful for your assistance and your prayers. I’m truly blessed and fortunate, one of the most blessed and fortunate priests in the world.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Feast of St. Cecilia

From the Collect:
O God who dost gladden us with the yearly festival of blessed Cecily, Thy Virgin and Martyr, grant that we who honour her by this solemn rite, may follow the example of her godly life.

Epistle from the book of Ecclesiasticus (51: 13-17)

O Lord my God, Thou hast exalted my dwelling place upon the earth, and I have prayed for death to pass away. I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that He would not leave me in the day of my trouble, and in the time of the proud without help. I will praise Thy Name continually, and will praise it with thanksgiving, and my prayer was heard. And Thou hast saved me from destruction, and hast delivered me from the evil time. Therefore I will give thanks and praise to Thee, O Lord our God.

Gospel according to St. Matthew (25: 1-13)

At that time, Jesus spoke to His diciples this parable: The kingdom of heaven shall be like ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise; but the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. The wise answerd, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Now, whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last came also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answering, said: Amen, I say to you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.

The feast of St. Cecilia, Virgin, Martyr/ and Thanksgiving

Today in the United States, the holiday known as Thankgsgiving is recognized nationally and many of us take part in it by having turkey, watching the Detroit Lions football team get beat up by a far more superior team on television, and eat pumpkin pie afterwards while talking with family members about anything just about. Although there is nothing wrong with a little bit of entertainment, one thing that must be fundamentally remembered is: why are we doing this? We prepare great meals for the family to enjoy but more importantly, these great meals come from God, for without God none of this is possible. That is why before every Thanksgiving meal, you should say a grace that is not ordinarily said everyday. Although this holiday comes from a protestant meeting with indians in the days of the English settlements, we can still adapt the meaning behind it to our own traditions by taking advantage of this day off from work to be thankful to God for all that we have and even go as far as to go to Mass (those of us who are able to do so).
Today, my dear brothers and sisters, let us be thankful to God for all that he has given us, although there are some amongst us who have little to be happy about can still be happy with the blessings that God has offered and is offering to us, if we only have the grace to see. Let us also remember St. Cecilia who converted her husband and her brother in law to the true faith before she was martyred.
God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving

The Website Editor of Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel.

General thoughts on Confirmation.

Ten years ago, I (the Website Editor) was confirmed in the Novus Ordo. At the time, I remember attending the "confirmation" classes at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Norwich, Connecticut and I don't remember much about it. Why? Because they weren't really teaching true Catholic doctrine. The day of my "confirmation" wasn't very special either, I have even seen friends of mine being "confirmed" and most of the time, not understanding completely why they are being "confirmed".

The purpose of us being confirmed in our faith is very significant because it is a sacrament of the Church that is the most important event in our lives since our baptisms (those of us who were fortunate enough to be baptized in the Catholic Church), our first confessions and our first Holy communions. This sacrament strengthens us in our faith, and prepares us for our real discernments in life, whether to be a priest or to be married, or neither one (depending on what becomes of you). The sacrament is like a medicine that strengthens us and the preparation for it educates us of what it really means to be Catholic.

The Novus Ordo sacrament doesn't really do anything for the average young person. The classes themselves are so out of touch with the true teachings of the Church that the students don't learn what it truly means to be Catholic, I know I didn't, and in many cases the teachers themselves don't know anything about the Catechism of the Catholic Church (even the revised one). Even if the ones being "confirmed" do recieve the sacrament, they walk away as if nothing happened, they just go back to their careless sinful lives with no thought of what it means to their soul (although not true in all cases, this is what mostly happens). As for the "bishops" who carry out the "confirmations" they invalidly carry out the matter and form, due to the substantial changes in the sacrament brought about by Vatican II. Here's a good example, when the one being "confirmed" comes before the "bishop" he gives his "confirmation name (Jude for example)" and the "bishop" annoints the forehead with the invalid oil saying: "Jude, be sealed with the Holy Spirit" and then the boy walks away. It's sort of like saying: "Here you go son, now get out of here, you're bothering me."

The Traditional Sacrament is far more meaningful for it is valid in matter and form and the classes themselves (where available) teach true Catholic doctrine. If you still believe that the confirmations of the Novus Ordo are valid then you are out of touch with what the Church has and everywhere taught and therefore adhere to the Vatican II errors in the changes to the sacraments. If you happen to be a victim of the doubfully valid Novus Ordo sacrament, feel free to call Fr. Gerard or Fr. Dominic Radecki, they can help you.

The Website Editor of Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel.