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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
name the father and son
you