Saint Patrick The Apostle of Christ Like The Apostle Paul In Every Way

 Saint Patrick was victorious over every obstacle that he faced in his ministry in the Irish Isles. 

Saint Patrick preached Jesus Christ The Son of the Living God to the Pagan Natives of the Irish Isles. 

Saint Patrick started a "Holy Spirit Fire'' among the Irish People inspiring many of them to become Christian Missionaries to countries in the heart of Africa and Asia thereby firmly planting the Gospel of Jesus Christ in countries that had never heard the Salvation Message. 

The Abbreviated Version of Saint Patrick's Breast Plate : 

"Christ is the Head of everyone who thinks of me''. 

"Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me''. 

"Christ in every eye that sees me''. 

"Christ in every ear that hears me''. 

March -- The Month of Saint Joseph

 March is the Month of Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph holds a revered and pivotal role recognized as one of the most important Saints in the Holy Catholic Church. 

As, The Earthly Father of Jesus Christ and the Husband of the Blessed Mother Saint Joseph played a "Crucial Role '' in the Holy Family. 

His significance lies not only in his Familial Role but also in his Unwavering Faith, Righteousness, and Humble Obedience to God's Divine Plan for him. 

Many turn to Saint Joseph, in times of need, seeking his intercession for employment, family matters, and spiritual guidance. 

Lent is the time to shape our hearts in Saint Joseph's Virtues, shaping the future without fanfare for Christ. 

Saint Joseph, Patriarch of the Universal Catholic Church -- Pray For Us. 

Eugene Kazimierowski -- The Painter of the Divine Mercy Image

 Eugene Kazimierowski was the artist who painted the First Image of Divine Mercy which currently hangs in the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

He was born on the 11th of November 1873. He was a Polish Realistic Painter and he loved to paint Landscapes and Life Size Portraits. 

 But, it was his Painting the first Divine Mercy Image in 1934 for which he is best known. 

He was commissioned to paint this Holy Image by Saint Faustina's Spiritual Director and Confessor Blessed Father Michael Sopocko. 

The Painting of Divine Mercy was first displayed in public during the Easter Ceremonies between April 25-28 1934. 

The First Mass with a Divine Mercy Image was celebrated by Blessed Father Michael Sopocko at the Gate of Dawn Church in Vilnius, on April 28, 1935 which has now become known as the Feast of Divine Mercy. 

Saint Faustina records in her Diary, Divine Mercy In My Soul -- that many people present on that day were very curious as to where this new image of Jesus Christ had come from but Saint Faustina could not tell them. 

Shortly, after this time the Mother Superior and Saint Faustina had Holy Cards with the Image printed on one side and distributed them in Vilnius. 

In 1936, Mr Eugene Kazimierowski moved from Vilnius to Bialystok where he worked with Tourists visiting Poland. 

He died in 1939, and although most of his paintings were destroyed by the Nazis during World War Two, His Painting of the Divine Mercy Image was never destroyed. 

This shows that Jesus Christ himself protected that painting. 

From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday --- A Spiritual Journey

 For Many, Lent conjures up Images of giving up Favourite Foods like Tasty Icecreams and Delicious Chocolates. 

It's Spiritual Significance is far more profound. 

As, We prepare Our Hearts for the joyous celebration of Christ's Ressurection on Easter Sunday - This is specially poignant for Catholic Christians who commence this Journey on Ash Wednesday. 

Lent is not only a period of self - denial but an opportunity for self-discovery and spiritual growth. 

During the Holy Season of Lent, We have a fabulous opportunity to study God's Word and grow as Mature Catholic Christians. 

Lent gives us an opportunity to strengthen Our Spirit Man and give vigour to Our Earthly Souls. 

As, We Enter Holy Week we are constantly reminded of Christ's Supreme Sacrifice on that solemn Good Friday. 

Easter helps us to rise with Christ in all possible ways and be one with him in Body, Mind, and Spirit. 

A Homily For Divine Mercy Sunday 2021

The fullness of Easter joy is captured by a vivid description of Easter as the eighth day of creation.  In the book of Genesis, we read that God created the entire splendor that surrounds us in six days, and on the seventh day, He rested. The eighth day of creation refers to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the rising of Jesus from the dead, the world experiences the first day of a new creation.

In 2000, Saint John Paul II designated the second Sunday of Easter, which is the eighth and final day of the Easter Octave, as Divine Mercy Sunday. When he did so, he used an expression filled with great significance. He called Divine Mercy “the hermeneutical crown of the final day of creation.”

Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation. If you want to understand the richness and background in studying sacred scripture, the science of hermeneutics will allow you to delve deeply.  Thus, when John Paul II called Divine Mercy the hermeneutical crown of the final day of creation, he was telling us that the Divine Mercy of God is the key to understanding the joy of Easter.

Let us consider the very life of God himself. When the love of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reaches frail and sinful humanity, that love takes the form of mercy. Like a drop of water from the heavens that reaches the ground and becomes dew in the morning mist, so God‘s love for His creation touches our frail, sinful hearts and His love takes the form of mercy – the mercy for which our hearts yearn.

Today’s gospel scene provides insight into this great mystery of the Divine Love.  On the first Easter Sunday evening, Jesus comes in the midst of His disciples, whom he finds frightened and ashamed behind a lock door.  A riddle from Chinese lore asks: if you want to reach someone, do you teach, tell a story, or offer a greeting? The answer: you first offer a greeting. Without your greeting being received, no story or teaching will bear fruit. So Jesus gives His greeting in one word: peace. Shalom. That one word is so rich with meaning. It means to be made whole and be one with your God, with one another, and within yourself.  Be at peace.

There was a time in Eastern Europe in which there was no peace. Travel back with me to the 1930s, and you will find a world full of fear. With the cruelty of Nazi Germany growing and atheistic communism in the Soviet Union on the rise, fear and suspicion abounded.

With two forces of godlessness on the rise, it is not surprising that a lone voice from an unsuspecting place would be given by God as a counter sign to that fear, shame, and mistrust. It would be a sign of God‘s mercy.

The voice was that of a contemplative woman religious, and her diary remains to tell her story so simply and so powerfully. On October 5, 1938, a young religious by the name of Sister Maria Faustina, baptized Helen Kowalska, died in a convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Kraków, Poland. She came from a very poor family that had struggled on their little farm during the terrible years of World War I. Sister Maria Faustina had only three years of  a very simple education.

Hers were the humblest of tasks in the convent, usually in the kitchen, tending the vegetable garden or answering the door.

On February 22, 1931, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to this simple nun, bringing with Him a wonderful message of mercy for all mankind. Saint Faustina tells us in her diary under this date:  

“In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast here came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently on the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, ‘paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the following inscription: Jesus, I trust in you.’”

She was firm in her determination to follow the instructions. Even after her failure to put paint to canvas successfully, she was able to direct an artist and even in her simple faith, to correct the artist when he did not get it right.

The painting is that magnetic image of our Lord Jesus from Whose Sacred Heart flows blessings depicted in rays of light. It is that image that countless millions of believers view as they pray at three o’clock in the afternoon each day to His Father: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”

Notice that in this prayer we do not simply ask for atonement for my sins or for your sins but rather for our sins. Together we come to the Father in our frailty and ask for mercy. Someone told me recently, “I want to go to heaven but I do not want to go alone! I want you to come with me!” What a beautiful way to describe our destiny in heaven as we travel united in Christ Jesus and under the mantle of His Divine Mercy. This prayer is then completed by countless people who pray in litany fashion with their eyes on the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

This beautiful devotion to Divine Mercy and the chaplet prayers continue to draw countless thousands of people to the mercy of God each day.  Let me tell you a story that happened to me just two months ago.

A wonderful friend and coworker by the name of Bruce Crawford died at the age of 48. Bruce was a loving man. Each day I witnessed his generous personality, but I did not ever know the source of his strength. It was only after his dear mother died that he gave witness to his faith at her funeral.  He spoke of his habit of praying the Divine Mercy chaplet with his mother each day at three o’clock, often over the telephone.

She had led him to that beautiful devotion that drew him close to Jesus, his merciful Savior and close to his dear mother. He told us that the night before the Mass of Christian Burial, he had publicly led the Divine Mercy chaplet at the funeral home. Little did Bruce suspect that just two weeks after his mother’s death, the Lord would call him home to Himself. God‘s mercy surrounded Bruce in this life and, I feel sure in faith, ushered him into eternal glory on what was for him the eighth day of creation.

As we witness to this eighth day of creation in the resurrection of Jesus, walk with Saint Thomas who appears so prominently in today’s gospel.  Over the centuries Saint Thomas has been given that terrible nickname “doubting Thomas.”  Yet the gospel passage shows us that after he touched the very wounds in Jesus’ hands and touched the wounded side of Jesus, Saint Thomas uttered  in just five words what perhaps is the deepest expression of faith known in history: “ My Lord and my God!”

It is with Saint Thomas that you and I today approach the throne of God’s mercy. There are two major sins in every age. They are the sins of presumption and of despair. We might say that the person in despair says,” I am so bad that I don’t think even God could possibly forgive me for my sins.” Contrast that to the person who sins by presumption and says, “I am so good that I cannot believe that God would not want me to be with him in heaven!”

In many ways, on the surface, we might say that we live in an age of presumption in which people very quickly presume their own goodness and overlook any sin or frailty. However when we begin to go beneath the surface and touch the hearts of people who suffer from their sins and feelings, we understand that this age also may well be an age of deep despair. It is an age that thirsts for and yearns for the mercy of God. It is this deep desire that leads us to the throne of God‘s mercy.

Saint John in his first letter speaks of blood and water, the rays of red and pale radiating from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We know that in baptism by water we are claimed by God’s mercy once and forever and in the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus at every Holy Eucharist, we are fed by our Merciful Savior.

The word mercy in Latin is misericordia or literally “the suffering of the heart.” In the Old Testament, the word hesed, which means tender mercy, captures this grace.  How wonderful that Pope Francis rightly leads us to contemplate this mystery of mercy.  Our beautiful choir sang for us in litany fashion the familiar words of Psalm 118: “His mercy endures forever.”   Wherever we look in God‘s great creation, His mercy endures forever.   The prophet Isaiah in chapter 49 verse 15 evokes the tender image of the love of a mother for her child, saying that even should your own mother forget you, God will never forget you. His mercy endures forever.

Now some mistakenly would like to separate mercy and truth. They would like to say one can have love without justice or show mercy without truth. In the second reading, however, Saint John says it very clearly: “In this way we know we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commands.”

The tender mercy of God will always lead us to a conversion of heart. Jesus in the Gospels always first called the frail sinner to Himself and comforted and forgave him.  In the end, He also sent him forth with the gentle but firm reminder: “Now go and sin no more.”  It is not an accident that the Devotion of Divine Mercy is intimately connected with the great Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Indeed, it is in confession that you and I experience most clearly and most significantly the great mercy of God. It is also no accident that the world is attracted to the example of Pope Francis, who often takes time to hear confessions.  Even more popular is the photo taken of him kneeling humbly to receive the mercy of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God‘s mercy endures forever!

So, my dear friends, our hearts shout to the heavens on this Solemnity of Divine Mercy, on this eighth day of the Easter Octave, on the hermeneutical crown of the final day of creation.

Our hearts shout: “Thanks be to God!  Thanks be to God!  Alleluia! Jesus, I trust in you.”

Credits : The Catholic Archbishop Of Louisville 

A Homily For Corpus Christi Sunday 2021

Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Sacred Body and Blood of Jesus which is given to us in the Most Holy Eucharist, is a profound, prophetic and powerful Feast in the liturgical year of the Catholic Church.  Though this Feast has been transferred to Sunday in the United States, the Church in much of the world celebrated it on Thursday. Whenever it is celebrated, it is meant to be a richly significant day in Catholic Christian life.

On this day, through our readings at Holy Mass, the homily which is to be focused on the meaning of the Feast, and our active preparation and participation, we are reminded that Jesus Christ still gives Himself to us, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. He comes to live within us, and we live in Him through our Baptism into His Body, the Church.

The celebration of this Solemnity goes back to the thirteenth century. Pope Urban IV instituted it in 1264 for the entire Church. He wanted it to be filled with joy and accompanied by hymns and a festive procession.

He asked the great Western Church father, St. Thomas Aquinas, to compose two Offices of prayer. St Thomas did so- along with five hymns - and they have nourished the piety of Christians for centuries.

In one of them St. Thomas noted:

Material food first of all turns itself into the person who eats it, and as a consequence, restores his losses and increases his vital energies. Spiritual food, on the other hand, turns the person who eats it into Itself.Thus, the proper effect of this sacrament is the conversion of man into Christ, so that he may no longer live for himself, but that Christ may live in Him. And as a consequence it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual losses caused by sins and defects and of increasing the power of the virtues. 

On this Feast we proclaim our belief in the Real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We also proclaim that same Jesus lives within each one of us who are baptized into His Body, the Church, of which we are members. That is also a Real presence. The Lord Himself teaches us that the entire Trinity takes up residence within us. (See, e.g., John 14:23) Then, through our life in the Church, which is His Body, and our participation in the Sacraments, which communicate Divine Life, we can begin to live in the Trinity, right now.

This is the theological mystery we call communion. It is a huge word, with multiple implications. It is one reason why we call the reception of the Eucharist, Holy Communion. 

The Christian faith and life is about relationship, with the Father, in and through His Son Jesus through the Holy Spirit. And, in Jesus Christ, with one another, for the sake of the world. The world into which we process is the world that God still loves so much that He continues to send His Son - to save, recreate and transform it from within.  

The Corpus Christi procession symbolizes the ongoing redemptive mission of Jesus Christ - and our participation in it.

He comes to dwell within us - and we live our lives now in Him. We are invited to become a living monstrance, carrying the Lord within us; living manifestations, of the Lord, showing Him forth to the world, in word and deed. We are invited to enthrone the Lord in our hearts, which is, in biblical language, the moral center of the person. In the Holy Eucharist we receive the Divine Host, Jesus the Christ.

Through our Baptism, Jesus Christ has taken up residence within each one of us. We carry Him into the real world just as we carry the monstrance into its streets today.  When we process - we proclaim by symbolic action that the Lord continues to come into the world, through the Church.

Jesus told his disciples, Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 

We who have been given the bread of angels truly do have His Life within us; the very life of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit - a communion of Divine Persons in the Perfect unity of Perfect love. The Feast of Corpus Christi follows the great Feast of the Holy Trinity in the Western Catholic Church calendar in order to show us this profound connection every year. Through our continual reception of the Eucharist we are invited to live more fully in the Trinitarian communion- and we are given the grace to do so!

Then we are sent into the world to carry Jesus to others. The Lord wants all men and women to live within the Church. She is the home of the whole human race and a seed of the kingdom. The implications of that invitation are meant to unfold into a life of continual conversion in every believer. This conversion happens in and through the very real stuff, the struggles and travail of our daily lives; through even the mistakes, the wrong choices, the failures, and the pain, when they are joined to His Passion in our lives of joyful penitence.

Through it all, the love of God purifies and refines us like the refiners' fire purified the gold that was used to make the many Monstrances we carry into the Streets of the world on this great and glorious Feast of Corpus Christi. Like Mary, the Mother of the Lord - and the mother of all who follow her Son - we are invited to give our own Fiat, our Yes to the God of love. We enthrone Him in our hearts.  She carried him in her womb.

This Feast reminds all of us of the call to continuing conversion, the universal call to holiness. Each of us who bear the name Christian is to become more like the One whom we love and in whom we live. As we march the Monstrance into the cities of the whole world we participate in a profoundly prophetic act. The early Eastern Church Fathers referred to the Church as the "world transfigured" and the "world reconciled." 

 That reconciliation and transfiguration continues through the Church. Jesus has been raised from the dead and he walks into the world, through His Body, of which we are members. (1 Cor. 12,13)

St. Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Philippi, reminds us our true citizenship is in heaven. While we live in this current age we participate in bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven. Christians live in the Church and go into the world. Our mission is to bring this world back to God in and through Jesus Christ.

We have received the Bread of Heaven. Let us choose to become what we consume. These Feasts are not just rituals on a Church calendar. They are invitations to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ, and then offer Him to a world waiting to be born anew. On this Feast of Corpus Christi, let us ask the Lord to come and take up residence within us anew. Let us receive, adore and become Eucharist for others.

Homily For The Solemnity Of Our Lady Of The Holy Rosary

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the seventh day in the month of October we annually celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which began with the devotion to Our Lady of Victory, in commemoration of the great victory of the forces of the Christian faithful in the great battle of Lepanto against the forces of the infidels and those who persecuted the faithful and threatened Christendom at that time.

At that time, Christendom was threatened from all sides, from external forces and enemy as mentioned, as well as from internal disputes and divisions, heresies and lack of faith. But there were those who strived to put the effort to bring the Church back on its feet, as part of the Counter Reformation movement, renewing the zeal of many of the faithful and many heeded God’s call to serve Him in purifying His Church.

And when faced with the great external threat in the form of the mighty Ottoman Empire, which then was the superpower of the known world, and threatened much of Christendom, it was several brave leaders who took up the Cross and endeavoured to fight back against those who sought the destruction of the faithful. And thus, under the leadership of Pope St. Pius V and other leaders like Don Juan of Austria and many others, the Christian forces rallied itself and sought for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin for victory against their enemies through the devotion of the Rosary.

In the end, despite the great odds and supremacy of the enemy, the Christian forces prevailed in the end, and the faithful dealt a major blow on their enemies. It was also told that a great miracle occurred during the battle, as it appeared that the Blessed Mother of God was there guiding the faithful as they struggled against their enemies and helped through her intercession to bring them to a great victory.

In thanksgiving for the great victory, the day of the triumphant Battle has ever since been declared by Pope St. Pius V as a day of great celebration, initially attributed to Our Lady of Victory, but eventually developed into the celebration of Our Lady of the Rosary as how it happens today.

Nonetheless, the key message of the celebration remains, in how the faithful managed to overcome their great oppressor and enemy through the help and intercession of Mary, by the devotion of the Rosary.

Now, let us all look at the Rosary itself. The rosary is a form of prayer in which a series of prayers of Ave Maria or ‘Hail Mary’ as we all know it, are prayed together in a chain, forming a chain of prayers which we use the rosary chain as a guide as we pray. The word rosary itself came from the root word ‘rosa’ meaning rose in Latin, that is a symbolic representation of how we actually offer a bouquet of lovely roses to our loving mother Mary as we pray the rosary.

The rosary is shown to us by Mary herself as she appeared to St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, many centuries ago, and centuries before the fateful battle in Lepanto. She asked St. Dominic to propagate the use of the rosary as a devotion to help in the salvation of souls. For through the prayers of the rosary, the faithful can become closer to their loving mother through their prayers, and in turn, Mary will intercede for their sake before her Son in heaven.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Mary loves us just as much as she loves her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is because she had been entrusted to us by the Lord Himself from His Cross to be our mother, as He entrusted her to St. John, His disciple, representing the whole body of the Church. And vice versa therefore, we have also been made to be her adopted sons and daughters. Which mother then does not love her own children?

She does not want us to fall into sin that eventually lead us into damnation and separation from her Son, Our Lord and God. That is why through the Rosary, our blessed mother wants to help us to reconnect spiritually to God through her. She wants us to deepen our relationship with God through prayer and through contemplation. Through better relationship with God we can develop stronger faith and be more resistant to the temptations of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Lord’s call through His blessed mother calling us to a greater devotion and closer relationship with Him through His mother. On this day we are called to remember how through our close interaction and relationship with God through Mary we can be brought into a new existence in God and also receive His grace and blessings as those who won at Lepanto by the grace of God has shown us all. And we ourselves are in constant spiritual struggle and warfare, against the devil and the fallen angels who are trying to drag us into sin and hell with them.

Therefore in this month of October, the Marian month of the Rosary, let us all spend the time to pray more fervently especially that of the devotion of the rosary, so that we may grow to love God more and attune ourselves to Him more, and be more capable of resisting the temptations to sin in our daily living. And let us all trust in God more deeply for everything, knowing that He has loved us all these while and will not let us all to fall into eternal damnation through sin.

May the Lord, through His blessed mother Mary, who is also our loving mother, continue to love us all dearly and guide us to Himself in our journey of faith throughout life. Let us all deepen our spirituality and connection to God through His mother Mary by our devotion of the holy rosary daily that we may be triumphant in this constant struggle for our souls in the constant and daily spiritual warfare. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.