Repost: The Greatest Work
All Souls Day and all of November is the month to pray for the dead, so I decided to run my first "re-post" on this very topic. (Don't worry. I have a new blog post coming out Friday called "Stephen Colbert vs. Mother Teresa," and also don't miss my recent commentary on New York Times' Ross Douthat.) Every Christian is called to do the "Works of Mercy," upon which our final judgment will be based, as seen in Matthew 25: The Final Judgment “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but [...]
How Long Is Eternity?
Welcome to Virginia Beach, home of America's friendliest people and worst drivers. (Well, that's my assessment, but it's a great place to be, all things considered.) This is a military area known as the "Redneck Riviera." The entire metropolitan area is a waterland of fresh and salty rivers containing about ten 100,000-person-cities collectively known as Tidewater or Hampton Roads. It's home to the Atlantic Fleet of the Navy, countless other military bases and real-life heroes they make movies about (literally.) But not every soldier comes back home to Hampton Roads... So, where do all the dead soldiers and normal civilians go? 100% of them ultimately go to heaven or hell. Do they all go to heaven? No. "Small is the gate and narrow the road" that leads to heaven, said Jesus. This isn't a scary post, but to show you how long heaven and hell last, I'm going to try to fit eternity into [...]
Marriage Prep and “Annulments”
The basics of annulments can teach us a lot about the beauty of marriage. The first thing to realize about an annulment is that it is not a Catholic divorce. The starting point for why divorce does not exist in the Catholic Church is simple: Jesus said: But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. ’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. ’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.—Mark 10:6-9. No man (not even a priest or bishop or the Pope) can break up what God has put together at a sacramental marriage since an unbreakable bond of love was formed at the words of the altar and at the consummation of the bed. [...]
Battle of Lepanto
Today is the 444th year after the battle of Lepanto, the most important naval battle in history. Without it, Muslim Turks would have taken over Italy in 1571. Because of the Mother of God's role in this naval battle, Pope St. Pius V asked that every first Sunday in October be thenceforth remembered and honored as the Feast of the Holy Rosary. The full story of the naval battle is at Catholic Answers, but this homily ties in the current battle in the Church, and the victory that will come through the Rosary:
Incarnation Meditation
“One will be sent in the flesh,” thundered the most beautiful Trinity to the angels and all the courts of heaven eons ago. In perfect harmony they rejoiced. But later, they wondered if anyone but a lowly archangel like Raphael (still more glorious than a burning star) could dare condescend again to take flesh as Raphael did for Tobit. Their best guess for the new assignment was Gabriel. God said “Gabriel will go…but in spirit as preparation. One much higher than he will become flesh.” “But how?” the angels wondered, “A cherubim's eyes would melt the trees and mountains. No human warrior's body could even instantaneously hold the power of a seraphim. Who will go in the flesh?” And they intuited through each other like laser beams, seared and alit by the thought of leaving the splendor of heaven [...]
Silent Before Me
Here's a song I wrote in seminary about the Passion of Jesus Christ. Lyrics here You’re in the garden, thinking of me. Blood falls like water, so I could be free. Taken in the night, for the sins of my flesh. Those were my chains, Lord, on your chest. Jesus….You love me more…than I could imagine I adore…Your Sacred Heart…silent before me. Stretched a the pole with blood in your eyes. Skin torn to pieces so that I might rise...Whips start smashing, what do you see? Your mother and me Lord, looking to thee... Jesus….You love me more…than I could imagine I adore…Your Sacred Heart…silent before me. ‘Forgive them Father,’ you say from the cross. Naked and helpless, since I was lost. I’ll live forever, cuz you bore it for me. Yet you thirst for my love, Lord, so [...]
Wedding Homily from the Mountains
This is today's homily, the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the TLM calendar, preached in Steamboat Springs for this new groom and bride, Keenan Fitzpatrick and Brianna Fitzpatrick (née Lawson.)
Anti-Slavery Theology on Tap
Today is the feast of the 7 Sorrows of Mary. I'm convinced that if she had an 8th and 9th sword pierce her heart, they would be abortion and child sex-slavery. Regarding all forms of slavery, in fact, there are more slaves today than there were during the days of the Trans-Atlantic slave-trade. Today, there are between 20,000,000 and 40,000,000 slaves in the world. The numbers include such a wide range because of the hiddenness of the modern industry. We know that close to 100,000 of these slaves are child-sex-slaves here in the United States, most of whom were born here in the USA. Below is a Theology on Tap (1 hour) that I did in Colorado last year with my good friend, Loren Fardulis, an evangelical protestant who has done much on this front. (If you don't have time to [...]
Men are the Problem. Men are the Solution.
In the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional Latin Mass Calendar) the Apostle Paul writes I bow my knees before the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.—Eph 3. In the homily I only quoted five of these, but included here 1) To all those who shall recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces. 2) Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace. 3) The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin, and dispel heresy. 4) The Rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it will substitute in hearts love of God for love of the world, and will lift them to the desire of [...]
9/11 Hope
Bear with the background story before a bit of a show-stopper. My good friend Msgr. Philip Reilly, founder of Helper of God's Precious Infants is my hero of diocesan life. This Irish priest from NYC fasts all day (until 5pm) in front of an abortion mill in Brooklyn. God has closed over 60 abortion clinics due to his work. He trained the Franciscan Friars in sidewalk counseling. They believe he'll be canonized (literally, not figuratively.) This man lives all three munera of the priesthood to the maximum! (See my last post to get that one.) In any case, he was in front of an abortion clinic in Brooklyn when he could see the towers in Manhattan go down 14 years ago today. Msgr. Reilly had a priest friend in lower Manhattan at the time, and this is a little known (but [...]