00:01
father and son it's a couple weeks since our last class so um
i'll probably be saying several times like we said in
last week and like we said last week but just remember that means

00:02
like two weeks ago not just last week i made a mistake this past sunday
and i referred to the sunday before saying it had been christ the king
but it wasn't it was actually all saints
day but this thing happened these things happen when
everything sort of seems like one big feast going on all the time
and you start losing your perception of how much was one week ago and how much
was two weeks ago but uh to start with our saint our heroine uh saint
um philomena uh a couple things a few things that stand out in her first of all
or is her affinity or her friendship with priests and in particular priests
and that's because her life has a lot to do with the priestly life
and the prayer that's used for the the chord putting on the chord it says um

00:03
give us a great desire for the for purity
for love of which without its sacrifice the most attractive
pleasures of this world give us a great desire for the virtue of
purity for love of which thou has sacrificed the most
attractive pleasures of this world now this would not only be priests but it
would also it would also be religious you know sisters whether it is sisters
it is brothers monks and uh well priests they do
do some sacrifice in this regard and not just the purity you know
never let's say making a vow never to get married
but also there's kind of a separation that goes on for priests i can remember
in high school i heard all kinds of people talking
about i'm going to go to this university or that university and
we'll meet up again and then i'm going to get my my degree in this and my major

00:04
in that and i'll have this profession and so forth and as a priest
or someone that's going to be a priest you hear all that and you say well
that's what people in the world do that's the most normal thing
but i think you heard father summers just a few sundays ago saying to you that
uh i can't remember which saint it was now but one-tenth
of the population should be priests and uh
it's actually saint john the boss saying
john boswell said one out of every three boys has a vocation well
leaving saint john bosco aside will go to father summer's
um odds one out of ten boys should be a priest so that means we'd have
thousands and thousands of priests going around in this country and we certainly
don't so something's lacking there with people that are ready to give up all the
attractions that this world has to offer because they wish to be more intimately

00:05
connected with our lord jesus christ and when these saints uh make big
sacrifices and become martyrs and so forth uh the prayer for um
the chord with saint philomena begins with um oh uh most holy
virgin over almost fully virgin and glorious martyr saying philomena
um when these people make these big sacrifices like that
don't think that it's only a question of example
you know saying filamino's was a great example and so we're going to follow her
it is that but it's also much more and that would be that by their hard working
life by their self-sacrificing life they are gaining merit for the rest of us
so when you pray to a saint it can be any saint

00:06
you are gaining the merits or sharing in the merits which
which they gained while they lived on earth and that's what you're praying for
for from these saints so it was said to um or i should say st philomena said to
sister luisa de jesus the sister that recorded her life
based on a vision that she had of saint philomena which totally coincided with
a canon of the church and also a woodworker
saint philomena said to her that she has a particular
she has a particular affinity or friendship for the priests because they have
set the world to one side and they've decided or they've responded to the
calling to live in perfect purity in order to imitate my son
so excuse me to imitate in order to imitate our lord jesus christ

00:07
i was switching gears there as i said that uh
how is that the perfect purity of saint philomena
priests try to imitate it because they leave to one side the world
well it would be what i explained to you a couple weeks ago
something that the archbishop liked to quote a lot
is um priests and the mother of god have a lot of affinity also a lot of
likeness and how is that every time the priest
calls our blessed lord down upon the altar the incarnation is happening again
and again and again and what made that incarnation happen in the first place
with our blessed lady it happened because she was a person that constantly said

00:08
what can i do more to help bring about the redemption
and she didn't know that she was going to be the mother of the redeemer and the
mother of god she was just as a good saintly girl
our lady looking for ways that she could sacrifice herself
more renounce herself more so that the redemption would happen sooner
and because of her having such good intentions such
uh useful and efficacious intentions eventually
the holy ghost said well yes you're the one
i'm going to overshadow you and you'll be the mother of the son of the most high
when the priest is at the altar i know i know that it's not by the merits of
the priest that this happens our lord comes down on the altar
simply because of his dignity of order that's given to him by a bishop but

00:09
it makes most sense if the priest has a life which is very much like the
life of our blessed lady insofar as it is a constant renunciation of self
a constant separation from the world a constant separation from anything that
makes us feel kind of comfortable and consoled in this world
if a priest has a heart like that then he has a heart like the blessed virgin
mary so when he says come down upon the altar
which the words are this is my body it is fitting it's not only by the
dignity of order he says that and it will always work by the dignity of order
but it's also by this likeness to the mother of god
so saint philomena is especially a friend of priests because they like her
make this separation from the world and hers was very valiant

00:10
and also very violent you know we know about her martyrdom one step of the way
it's as if um god kept saving her from one martyrdom after another
so that he could make herself for another martyrdom
and if you remember the words of our blessed mother to saint philomena in prison
they were you will be released from this dungeon in three days
but be careful it's not to give you uh freedom and refreshment it is rather
to have you submitted to more tortures and she said these tortures are going to
give great honor to my son and right now you have fear
because of the humility of your material state the humility of your
physical state but don't worry i will be with you
so first point this evening was about how
saint philomena protects the priests and the second point is this

00:11
the blessed mother is saying don't worthy don't worry i will be with you
and i will send you my particular angel which is saying gabriel
to guide you protect you strengthen you etc now that's where we see [Music]
the likeness of saint philomena to the mother of god herself
in fact several of the prayers to saint philomena begin with
some kind of reference to our blessed lady um hey holy saint philomena uh whom i
acknowledge after mary as my advocate with thy divine spouse
uh intercede for me now and the hour of my death uh
so these prayers make reference right away to the mother of god
whom i acknowledge after mary is my advocate with the divine spouse
meaning that of course the blessed mother is
above them all the human race is a big pyramid

00:12
at the very top of it is the blessed mother she points to her son
and then her son leads us to his father if you take the
top out of that pyramid and sort of flatten it off leave out the blessed mother
there be no no connection between our prayers and our
uh merits they would not connect to our lord jesus christ everything has
to run through the mother of god because of her being the only creature
that always completely made herself disposed to fulfilling the will of god
just like our lord jesus christ did but if you take out
our lady there's no connection between humanity
and our lord jesus christ because of her exalted role his her position as the um
mediatrix of all graces there's no question that saint philimina
is higher than our lady but saint philomena is always working for our lady

00:13
and kind of a more a more closely connected advocate
with us now the our lady sends saint gabriel to be the special protector
of saint philomena saint gabriel's role his name means strength of god
and why is he particularly the strength of god
because he's going to be the messenger that makes known and also ushers in
the incarnation so strength of god uh is fulfilled by the incarnation
the incarnation is what god uses to unite himself to man
the incarnation is what god uses so that our lord jesus christ and built can
build up a temple out of humanity to give glory to god well obviously for

00:14
that to happen the strength of god needs to be involved in order to make
god into a man and for our lord jesus christ to be the one that inspires
everyone around him the strength of god is what makes all of that happen
so saint gabriel is sent as the strength of god
to make sure the incarnation happens and then saint gabriel is sent again
some 300 years later to make sure that this young saint
philomena is faithful to her vocation of suffering and martyrdom in order to
bring so much more merit to men especially in this in regards to this virtue of
purity and also renouncing the world so those two points for sure i wanted to
say which is saint philomena is the special
uh friend of priests because she wants to separate them from the world
and she wants them to live in a marian purity

00:15
and also saint philomena is working for our lady
she and our lady have the same angel we can't say the same guardian angel but
at least the same angel which is involved with their mission
he's the strength of god to make sure that the incarnation happens
he's the strength of god to make sure that all of this persecution against the
church and the holy virgins etc that all of this turns into
virtue for the next generations you know saint gabriel made the
incarnation possible through our lady and now he makes this uh translation or
this passing of all this virtue and grace through these
holy virgins that suffered so much before the year 300
and now that i'll pass it to all the christians afterwards
so that's why it's fitting that saint gabriel is the um
protector of uh saint philomena and then i'll go through a few more stories of

00:16
saint philomena talking about people that give testimony to her to her miracles
there was a saint john nipple machine newman or neumann in
pennsylvania he's not saying john nipple messine of
the middle ages that died a martyr for not telling the secret of the
confession of the queen but he's someone named after him i think
he lived from 1811 until 1860 he joined the priestly congregation
of the most holy redeemer the redemptorists
and he oversaw the completion of a new parish which he dedicated to saint
philomena in spite of a financial disaster saint francis cabrini who is a woman
saint francis xavier cabrini 1850 to 1917 she's from italy and she did
marvelous missionary work in the united states
in new york chicago and denver they have shrines to her in all three places

00:17
wherever she went she brought along a tiny statue of saint philomena in her
journeys and she was always propagating devotion
to saint philomena in the americas padre pio who is now a canonized saint
living from 1887 to 1968 he was born on the day
of the translation of the relics of saint philomena may 25th 1887
so the relics would have been translated from a smaller altar to a larger altar
but in the same place in munyano he was born on that very day
a sister of his was named philomena and um he had an art and devotion to the
saint as you know saying to padre pio receive the stigmata
and guides the faithful to the intercession of saint philomena
and one more saint or there's a blessed bartolo longo 1841-1926
he penned the life of saint philomena virgin and martyr

00:18
based on mystical experiences of sister maria luisa
and he blessed bartolo founded the seminar seminary of pompeii so we are very
holy and very you know active saints who swear by or give their total
confidence to this saint i'll continue with where we left off a
few weeks ago and the holy sacrifice of the mass
we're going to be switching soon from talking about principles and
what is adoration what is sacrifice what is propitiation
uh we're going to be switching soon from these big principles
to how this all looks in real life on the altar
talking about candlesticks and the missile stand and things like that
so that'll be a big switch for me i kind of prefer talking about the big stuff
principles uh but i suppose it's necessary to talk about the small

00:19
material things to see how those principles are lived out
in real life so as you know we all need adoration we need to practice adoration
it's uh it is an innate instinct of man to worship god because
we all know and we all feel that there's something greater than us that
got us here and there's some greater reason why we're here
when we're all finished with this life everyone knows that no matter how
atheistic or agnostic i think people say no matter
no matter how free thinking a person is everyone seems to know that we're here
for a purpose as i say there are no um atheists
on the battleground everyone's got a bible in his pocket or a missile or a
crucifix or a rosary and there's no one on the on the front
line who doesn't believe in god so adoration we need it we need to give

00:20
adoration and the highest form of adoration is sacrifice
that's where man admits his nothingness that's where man finds the most valuable
thing he has and said god and says god this is for you
because if i were to keep it for myself that would be a way of saying that i'm
more important than you so here take it and that was always expressed in the old
testament by offering up the most um precious animals they had because
there'd be a shedding of blood and blood is life
sacrifice is the highest form of adoration
sacrifice has four purposes one of them is propitiation
that's where we beg pardon for our sins or we simply offer up our lord jesus
christ on the altar begging pardon for our sins that's propitiation
and it's necessary and where we see less and less propitiation
or less and less sacrifice we see more and more

00:21
corruption on the part of man more selfishness uh more um wickedness less
inhibition over our own evil tendencies that's because there's no propitiation
so we all need that and then uh all the mysteries of the life of christ
are made present in the holy mass in the offering of himself to his father
the uniting of his sacrifices with ours the institution of the holy eucharist
the whole life of our lord is made present in the mass
and then we use the mass or any kind of commitment great celebration
in life so whenever there's religious orders and they go from
postulate to novice there's a mass novice to profess there's a mass

00:22
one year profession of three three lifetime there's a mass
why is that because the mass is the greatest form of adoration
it is sacrifice and all these these things that are happening
the steps i just told you about are sacrifice and um to return to that idea of
sacrifice and propitiation uh that has to be constantly preached
throughout the whole world so that men renounce themselves they renounce their
evil tendencies and then our lord jesus christ in the sacrifice of the mass
can live in their life as a sacrifice and that makes all of us give
more glory to god so those are some points we've been studying over and over
in the last classes and we'll move on from there so i was telling you that um

00:23
the holy sacrifice of the mass is where christ's sacrifice on the altar is made
present over and over again and that because of that sacrifice being
made present on the altar there's an overflow of merit and grace
which happens and the way we receive that overflow
is by going to confession going to holy communion
receiving the sacrament of matrimony and holy orders next three months and it's
function etc any kind of grace we receive is coming from the fact that our lord
is making a sacrifice present on the altar again if you take away that
sacrifice on the altar every day we suddenly have a disconnection from
the passion of our lord and there's no overflow of the graces
coming to us through the sacraments and the sacrament tolls t-a-l-s
holy water reading holy scripture praying the rosary kneeling down to say
prayers all those sacramentals will lose their
grace also for us if we don't have the holy sacrifice of the mass

00:24
the sacramentals and the sacraments are the way we or the way that the church
rids the world of the curse of sin it's the way the church rids the world
of the curse of sin but it needs the holy sacrifice of the mass
that's why it was always such a such a big deal when the missionaries would
come over and land in different parts of central
america and south america and eventually they were in what's now the united
states and canada uh it was always a big deal when they would
offer their first mass and those are usually historical places
it won't be the first church where they say that this is a place where the first
mass was offered and on the new continent or the new
world and why is that because those missionaries knew that the only

00:25
way we're going to evangelize sanctify uh convert these people is if the mass is
overflowing with its grace and then works through the sacraments
and sacramentals to get them so it is the overflow all these things
are the overflow of the sacrifice of the mass
we know that the substance of the mass is the unbloody sacrifice of our lord
there are many things about the mass which attract us
however like we just read in don davide's newsletter to us
we have a more prayerful atmosphere in this church that may be true
we have a liturgy which is more solemn incense and tall candles and and um
singing and servers and everything like that yes that's attractive

00:26
but be careful that's not the substance uh is what don don pogba irani tells us
he says the substance is the adoration that's offered to god
in the mass or any mass and the total gift of self
which is going on during that mass let's say let's say we are united
to our lord jesus christ sacrificing himself on the altar and we
are giving the oblation of ourself with him that's the substance of the mass
it is not everything that looks good around it
and then because we have the sacrifice of the mass every true christian life
must be a life of perpetual sacrifice a life of self-denial
and mortification there must be painstaking self-renunciation
all of this comes from the holy sacrifice
i was telling you a few weeks ago about archbishop lefebvre when he was a young

00:27
missionary 1929 1930 thereabouts when he went to gabon to be a missionary
they were sent in groups of five and he said about out of every five
two of them died uh so you know they have this spirit of
self-renunciation we must get the gospel out the soul
souls at all costs and the mass is what's going to teach us
this self-renunciation the kingdom of grace is established by
the spirit of sacrifice so you may know that one of the titles
of our blessed mother is our lady of the blessed sacrament
uh it's not a title that we run into even in the litany of our lady
our lady of the blessed sacrament but how would she have earned that title
you know and we know that at the crucifixion

00:28
our lord looked towards his mother and said woman behold thy son
he was passing our lady as his own mother to the mother of saint john
and through the son who's speaking about was saint john and then he said to
john behold a mother. as it to say now she belongs to you and you belong to her
and when he said that our divine lord he was speaking about
all of us we would all have her as our mother
all right so that was the crucifixion a few days later the resurrection
40 days later the ascension somewhere in there
saint john as the guardian the protector of our blessed mother
would have been offering the holy mass the holy sacrifice of the mass
and she would have been assisting at his holy mass
maybe with other people maybe sometimes just by herself
but what had been what would have been the sentiments of our blessed mother

00:29
when she received the holy eucharist what would have been her dispositions uh
we can only guess but they must have been something along the lines of
i know this sacrament is present here only because of your sacrifice
i know that when i receive this sacred host
i am receiving your sacrifice in my soul and in my body i do everything
everything everything everything that's possible
to have renunciation of my own will so that god can complete his will in me
and that's made possible by feeding on your sacrifice which is exactly that
those have been would have been the sentiments of our lady and probably much
more than that uh but it should be the same for us
when we receive the holy eucharist it's not just a gift to ourselves
it is that but it's much more it's commitment
it is this is made possible by your sacrifice

00:30
i receive from your sacrifice therefore my life will be
self-renunciation just like yours my divine lord is
so only the kingdom of grace is established by the spirit of sacrifice
these sufferings of the saints and these sufferings which
are part of the sacrifice of our lord they help to acquire virtue
all of us by suffering something renounce something of ourselves
renounce our pride for sure and that's what makes room for
divine life charity the holy ghost to work in our work and our soul these
sufferings prove the soldier of christ and they prepared for us a heavenly crown
when the novus ordo came around nova sort of mass novus ordo doctrine

00:31
nova sort of way of life which does not have sacrifice in it anymore
they decharged the catholic church what do i mean the church
is supposed to immolate herself immolate be crushed sacrifice the church
is supposed to immolate herself along with christ the mass teaches sacrifice and
sacramentally implants in us sacrifice but when the novus ordo came around and
they maybe didn't say as much but the message is certainly there it's the end of
sacrifice you can let down your guard now all the substance of the church was
empty emptied out the church lost her mission the church lost her

00:32
prestige the church lost her um her mission her prestige and the the respect
that people had for it because it just mixed with the world and it didn't stand
out anymore and that's because they let down their
guard and they didn't believe in sacrifice anymore
on the contrary all the virtues bloom in the atmosphere of the mass
it is where our lord mystically accomplishes in the presence of all the faithful
the entire work of redemption it is the most glorious crown
of the great work of salvation the atmosphere of the holy mass
uh speaking about blooms and blossoming etc all the virtues blossom in the mass
we know about saint teresa of the child jesus she spoke of

00:33
people called her the little flower because by renouncing herself by
saying i'll follow the little way i'll just do what god wants me to do
which is not that much not that exalted but i'll do it in the most perfect way
possible possible she considered herself as a flower in the garden of our lord
and what would the whole garden of our lord be it would be everyone
making these sacrifices to live in the atmosphere of the holy mass
we might we might get the idea sometimes that the mass
is just for contemplative people sisters brothers people that spend a lot
of time in the church all day long the masses was just for them
and the answer is no the mass is for practical life
to offer oneself to god together with his cross in union with christ

00:34
the way that we see the mass is should be this way it should be like our first
mass not just for priests but all faithful when we attend mass it should be like
our first mass it should be like the first time that
jesus is descending into the womb of our lady
or the first time that he's dying for the salvation of mankind
that's how we should be impressed by the mass
and we know after being present at mass many times in a row we can tell that
something is changing in our life because of absorbing the sacrifice of our lord
we have a greater readiness to pray we can be confronted by
adverse situations and still have the patience to say
i'm not going to get excited about this i'm not going to look for revenge
i'm not even going to look to be justified i'll take it as it's coming to

00:35
me you know the difficulties in life perhaps sometime later we can clear it
all up but for right now it looks like god wants me to practice some sacrifice
that kind of reaction that kind of reflex reaction that comes from people
who are um acquainted with familiar with assisting at the holy sacrifice
it also comes from people who are acquainted with just spending time in
front of the blessed sacrament because there you have the sacrifice of
our lord made present perhaps is being reserved it's not being presented anew
at that time but it is the same sacrifice and
that spirit of renunciation that our lord has becomes ours
our life here is a time of trial the holy sacrifice the mass

00:36
helps us persevere in the trial and then we can consider some of the victories
some of the milestones of the catholic church wherever there's been
great persecution of men or great suffering disaster or sickness you can always
find the holy catholic church in there trying to give relief
but that kind of physical relief or corporal work of mercy is just a sign
of what's already there on the inside the most important work of the church is
to relieve the spiritual misery of souls by awakening this
awakening the spiritually dead and withdrawing man from eternal woe

00:37
and perdition that's the holy sacrifice of the mass that does that
we have an interesting um kind of irony that happens
the church is ready to be a holocaust for the world
let's say the church is ready to be sacrificed
at any time in order to help souls the curious thing is that the whole time
the church is being offered up for souls it is the same people that are
persecuting it which was not uncommon for our divine lord he
cured many people which were the same people shouting for his crucifixion
on the day of good friday the catholic church goes through the same thing
we are giving the faith to souls and there's a i guess you call that

00:38
kickback nowadays there's a kickback where some of those
souls that either are profiting from that or rejecting it
eventually fight back at the church but our lord in the church still
suffers for souls you may know that uh when
saint paul was converted from judaism to christianity
he fell to the ground on his way to damascus
and our lord confronted him directly and he said saul saul why do you
persecute me it is impossible for thee to kick against the goad
these words why do you persecute me are exactly true
the church receives persecution but it really is just the playing out of the
world persecuting our divine lord so yes there's plenty of christians

00:39
plenty of saints that have been persecuted and even put to death but really they
are persecuting our lord in them and if they really are the
you know the ones being persecuted in the place of our lord
or let's say as a continuation of the life of our lord
then they're also going to be effective in obtaining the conversion of the very
people that persecute them at calvary there were three hours of
agony of our lord and then when the crucifixion was finished
many returned to jerusalem striking their breasts
for the evil that they had done our lord obtained their conversion by his
suffering on the cross for them even some of the people that were causing him
more suffering on the cross this martyrdom

00:40
that we all live whether it's bloody or unbloody
this is what distinguishes the catholic church from all the sects
all the different people who call themselves christians
who have left the catholic church you will find that
many protestants perhaps talk about jesus
they talk about his disciples they talk about miracles
and it's beautiful it seems like they still believe in our lord as the son of
god but there's something about talking about the crucifixion and the passion
and the sufferings of our lord sooner or later they will
tell you to be quiet or they'll tell you we don't think about that so much or
they'll tell you that you catholics are always just thinking
of the cross and you completely forget about the resurrection
they don't want to hear about it i don't know if that's because they

00:41
think that the crucifix for us is a rallying point and therefore they let us
talk about the crucifix they will be letting us win the argument
or if they're honestly afraid of the cross but there's some reason they do not
protestants do not want to hear catholics talking about the cross whereas a
catholic uh we'll talk about nothing else it's the passion it's the crucifixion
it's the reparation that our lord made for us
for original sin and for all of our actual sins on the cross
if it weren't for that all of us would be remaining in
sin and on our way to hell we can't but talk about the cross and how does
saint paul say i will glory in nothing but in the cross
in our lord in our lord and our lord jesus crucified crucified
that's how saint paul says it this bloody and unbloody martyrdom is
what distinguishes the catholic church from all the sects
not only do we really believe in it we know that it's the truth

00:42
we have to be identified with the sacrifice of our lord in order to bring
his redemption to the rest of the world the church the catholic church remains
the moral ruling power of the world you might think i'm speaking a little
bit abstractly the catholic church remains the moral ruling power of the world
well yeah maybe until about the year 1970 i was just a little baby uh
catholic church led down regard you know uh no more insisting on sacrifice and
more no more being different than the rest of the world
uh believe it or not even protestants depended on us
the catholics to stay faithful to the church so that they had someone behind
them to say no to this no to that because
you know no to this vice no to the other vice know the other sin because the

00:43
catholic church is behind us but um i don't know i don't hear the
catholic church on the level of hierarchy talking against evil things anymore
and that's because she is no more no longer the moral
ruling power of the world and why is she not the moral
ruling power of the world anymore it's because she's given up her mission of
sacrifice it's as if the people that are in the church
got tired of waiting for the next life to see our lord all glorious and
recognized it's a little bit the judas problem
you know judas um he was avaricious and he was
probably a man more of money than a man of work

00:44
and he really did think that our lord was going to become a big shot
just by his miracles and judas would be standing next to him and
they'd be very important in this world but time after time our lord tried to
give the message to judas and the other apostles that
you know you know not of what spirit you are or the son of man must be um
turn over the jews and crucified and he'll rise again the third day
time after time our lord was making known to the apostles that this is not
about becoming powerful in this world we have to be we have to renounce
ourselves in this world wait for the next kingdom or a moment of victory
it seems like the church got tired of waiting any longer
and just wanted that victory right here in this world that acceptance right here
in this world well now they have it but they've lost all their substance
no one's going to confession anymore i think people are still going to holy
communion but from what i hear in the churches

00:45
around us there's more of an emphasis on observing all the rules of hygiene and
distancing and all the rest of that that's more important than
just receiving holy communion so they may be receiving holy communion but
i don't think it's because they're uniting with the sacrifice of our lord
uh the images of our lord such as the sacred heart uh you might
have seen them crowned once in a while uh with the crown maybe
on the feast of christ the king or in processions and so forth
but in general it is from popeye's tenth he didn't he did not want the images of
our lord to wear a crown and why is that he said because
the crown the proper crown which our lord wears in this life
is a crown of thorns and the proper crown which we wear in this life is the
crown of thorns and one day that will be changed into a

00:46
crown of gold and the crown of glory etc but first it has to be the crown of
thorns in this life and that is what makes the church the moral
ruling power of the world is that kind of renunciation and
separation from the world a separation from reward in this world
in this type of persecution from the world against us
um in this type of persecution there is a uniting with christ that is not
otherwise possible there was also in the letter of our superior general
we look at the church of today and we see so very little hope we look in the
government's governments of today same thing
so very little hope this is not just to be a pessimist this is on the other hand
to understand that this is the way that christ is calling us now he wants

00:47
us to make he wants us to become conformed to his image in a way
now uh more powerful than ever and what is the image of christ it is
the image of suffering he unites us that image today now more than ever
you know that on the altar um there are necessarily relics
and we're fortunate to have this altar made of stone here
which is called a fixed altar i'm sure you all saw
a very impressive scene event by a bishop i don't know when it was
uh some years ago when this altar was consecrated
there are five uh crosses on that altar one in the middle and one at each of the
four corners they represent the five wounds of our lord jesus christ
in the very center cross there is what's called a sepulcher

00:48
it's probably a little box about oh five inches by five inches
a square and in that box are three relics and they're literally buried in
that sepulcher the relics are at least two of a martyr
and one of another saint and then there's certification of those
martyrs in there as well all sealed with the bishop's ring
wax seal and covered over why is that so important that relics
be on an auditory in an altar and the answer is they are
chiefly relics of martyrs but it can be other one
one one can be a different one a confessor or a virgin something like that
but they are all people who have lived the crucifixion of our lord
well you might say that it's sufficient of the crucifix of our lord above the

00:49
altar or on the altar and because it's a sacrifice of our lord
and yes you're right yes you're right it would be but
by the tradition of the church and from the very beginning
the christians saw that the more they united to the sacrifice of our lord and
the altar the more they were singled out to be persecuted
and then they were you know tortured and martyred etc
and finally they made the connection that the way to be a true christian
is to be martyred and usually at that time was to be martyred
by blood in their own blood so it became um there
came to be this identification between the sacrifice of our lord and the altar
and the sacrifice of their lives the quite often not always but i think
more often than not the mass was celebrated on the tombs of
christians and these christians were usually martyrs

00:50
so after three centuries of doing that it's a long time 300 years
after 300 years of doing that it finally just became the custom
there is unity between the sacrifice of our lord on the altar
and the sacrifice of our of a martyr there is unity between a martyr
and their tomb and the sacrifice of our lord let's keep this going
these relics of martyrs more than non-martyrs
are our connection to the sacrifice of christ
therefore they must be in the altar so before the year 1965
perhaps 67 by that time in 1960s before those years it was always
necessary that there be martyrs relics either in the altar or on the altar
they've let it go since then but we've lost this great connection

00:51
they have lost this great connection with the sacrifice of our lord
priests and religious break off and cast aside all worldly ties for this purpose
of being united to the mass active religious
and contemplative religious have their substance in the eucharistic sacrifice
where there is no blessed sacrament there is no inspiring power
of love that creates saints i have to repeat that
where there is no blessed sacrament there is no inspiring power of love
that creates saints you know we might think when we come
into the church if we ever get to do this again
we come to the church to visit the blessed sacrament for 5
10 or 20 minutes we might think that there's no prayer going on so it's not
really that important to be saying prayers right now by myself with

00:52
the blessed sacrament but you know it is really important it is really important
you know uh miraculous things happen as a result of time that people will spend
with our lord in the blessed sacrament i can think of more than one case huh
where uh it's been rough or difficult for a religious or a priest uh
because of a certain assignment because of a certain superior
because a certain um you know mission or uh what their
activity was in the religious life there have been difficulties and humanly
and justifiably so but that person can learn to spend time
before the blessed sacrament just identify with the life of our lord
just keep company with him just recall the mystery was
his life without even necessarily making all kinds of petitions

00:53
if the person could just sit there stay there
in front of our blessed lord with a certain amount of
comfort not in the sense of being lazy but comfort in that
he's my shepherd i'm a sheep he's my lord i'm his servant he's my brother i'm
his adopted brother my brother is the you know yeah survivors as a human nature
if we can somehow identify with our lord in that way
we can do miraculous things uh like i just said about priests and
religious but the same thing would be in the married life
or the life of being the mother of a family the father of a family or the
the in our careers just that time before the blessed sacrament
identifying with the sacrifice of our lord does miraculous things
so where there's no blessed sacrament if you take it away
there is no inspiring power of love oh gosh inspiring power of love that
would mean our lord shedding his blood for us and

00:54
we willing to shed our blood with him to create saints
the eucharistic sacrifice has made of millions um living holy sacrifices
pleasing unto god we should make of ourselves the same
young virgins young ladies have sacrificed their charms and youth to the
service of god rather than themselves you know i suppose it's especially
inviting for inviting for young ladies to think that they're
going to marry going to have a family going to have a house

00:55
and that's all virtuous to think that and it's hard to do that
but also a young girl who's between 15 and 20
who's saying that she wishes to give those things up in order to
live exclusively for lord jesus christ that person is really giving up a lot
and they're they want to give up their youth for the service of god
rather than themselves and it's the holy sacrifice of the mass which inspires
that and makes it possible they will not look
for anything in return for themselves only to sacrifice themselves with him
the weak and sorrow-stricken may look to the high priest our lord jesus christ

00:56
who has compassion on our frailty he is invisible
he is invisible to us yet he is visible to our eyes
in the results of the life of sacrifice with him the soul receives resolution
and strength to emulate her herself with him
mankind beholds its model in our lord jesus christ
and as a result he gives us joys and sorrows which will bring us to our crown in
heaven so there's a life of sacrifice that the holy mass gives us
that's what should especially inspire us about the holy mass is that
all the holiness of the life of our lord will become our holiness
if we only stay faithful to the mass and i would also advise and recommend

00:57
try to spend time before the blessed sacrament also
i remember the director of our seminary he once told me uh one on one we were
talking he said maybe it's difficult for catholics to meditate
maybe not all catholics can go on a retreat but if you can get them to love
to come to your hours of adoration or your
benediction to the blessed sacrament you know when the blessed sacrament
is exposed and just be in the presence of our lord
whom we know is only present because of his sacrifice he said
that will convert your perish just get them to love our lord and his sacrifice
and that's especially when we see him exposing the blessed sacrament but also
during the holy mass he said that will convert your perish
that's what we all need the converted parish the parish which is not living

00:58
in in a way to be conformed to the world but rather in a way to be conformed to
christ in his sacrifice so let the mass do that for us that's
the main reason for the mass to make all
of us live this renunciation the blessed virgin mary
this renunciation of our lord jesus christ and let our lord continue
his life of grace through us very good next time we get together i'll
start to talk with you about the liturgical um necessities of the mass
we'll say our prayer now name the father and the son of the devil
come in america will praise the lord and blessed is the tribe of god jesus

00:59
name the father and son you