FRIDAY EVENING MASS HOMILY – FATHER EDWARD SOMMERS

Father Edward Sommers of New Jersey offered the Friday evening Mass.

We are here together, you and I, with a heart full of love in the great act of Calvary. We look into the heart of Jesus Himself. Jesus had pity on the crowd. Jesus had agony for the widow and her son. Jesus is always in agony for all of us. Jesus gave Himself to us until the end of the world in the Blessed Sacrament. He does not abandon us. He gives us Himself.

Pope John Paul II has opened the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven leading us on that ship which follows the two columns in the dream of St. John Bosco.

SATURDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY – FATHER AUGUSTINE

Today's Mass is a memorial for St. Agatha, virgin and martyr. In the Roman Canon, Eucharistic Prayer I, she is listed with great honor. She is someone who preserved her chastity for Jesus Christ. She is pleading in Heaven for our forgiveness.

Our sins do not have to be dealt with on our own. Jesus died for us redeeming everyone. Redemption is freeing everyone from the debt against us. This gift of Jesus Christ gives us no benefit unless we cooperate with this redemption. He strengthens our "YES" for God. It makes our weak "YES" a strong "YES". As we pray for one another and as well as the saints pray for us, we can answer with the "FIAT".

St Paul says, "I beg you not to receive God's grace in vain."

Have you been saved? YES. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we hope to be saved. We can lose our salvation because we can say "no" at any time.

Our Lady loves the virtues of humility and chastity. We need the atmosphere and the beauty of this saint, Agatha.

We are affected by the people around us. But we choose and we are free to choose what kind of environment we want. St. Agatha is pleading for forgiveness of all kinds of sin.

Today there is a great lack of courage and fortitude to stand up to the Gospel. Christianity means we stand for the truth. We have to have conviction for the truth and to stand up for the truth as St. Agatha did. We can join people like the Hitlers in saying there is no truth, or join Jesus Christ and the St. Agathas in standing up for the absolute truth. Pray for courage to do just this.

SATURDAY MORNING INSTRUCTION – FATHER JOSEPH

In the Gospel Jesus wanted to go away for awhile to a quiet place. However, the crowd He left went ahead of Him and was there when He got there. Jesus had pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were never some nameless crowd. He knew each one and had concern for each one. Hitler was a very powerful speaker and could move a crowd. He had a terrible influence on people. To Hitler, it was but a nameless crowd. The Lord never considered a group of people a nameless crowd. The centurion (not a Jew) comes to the Lord and asks Him to help his servant. Jesus gets up to go, but the centurion says "no" to Jesus' going. Just a word from Jesus and the boy was healed. Or the story of the widow whose only son died, and Jesus had pity on her and raised the son.

The Lord has a concern for each individual and has a concern for us. We are aware of His holiness and His power. We feel that the Lord does not know what we are feeling, but nothing could be further from the truth. He knows the hardships and joys of our life, and they are all permitted for our welfare. We need to trust Him, not ourselves. We can give thanks and praise for everything. We owe God worship and praise and thanksgiving everyday.

Characteristics of demons are that they only curse and complain against their creator. Christians offer worship, praise and glory to God everyday. Praise is going outside of ourselves. Whenever we offer praise to God, we are going out of ourselves to God. When we complain, we are looking towards ourselves downward. Praise and thanksgiving are opposite from this. When we feel sorry for ourselves and are tempted, do the opposite - PRAISE GOD. Trials make us have greater patience, greater love, greater freedom, and have a heart like Jesus Christ.

We all need the sacraments. We cannot really live without the sacraments. We need Jesus Christ; we are not a nameless crowd. In Confession, we are absolved individually. The Lord gave us the sacrament of Reconciliation to begin again - a new assistance of God's grace. In the sacraments, we are touching the Lord. The healing power goes out from the Lord and heals us of our infirmities. 

The Holy Eucharist is the medicine of immortality, the food of strong souls, strength from Him. The greatest love story could not compare with the Holy Eucharist - to be united with Christ in the Holy Eucharist. This is the deepest and richest experience of love we can have here on earth.

We are not a nameless crowd; the Lord invites us to union with Him. The lost precious moments of our life are after Communion. One hour of adoration is more valuable than all the gifts on earth.

If a person receives Holy Communion with serious sin on their soul, they will receive a judgment on themselves. The Eucharist is a sacrament for the struggling, not for the perfect.

Holy Eucharist is the treasure of the priesthood - of all of us.

HEALING SERVICE – FATHER RAY BOURQUE

Think of what healing you need. This is our moment of healing. We all need some physical, mental, emotional or intellectual healing.

This is the Jubilee Year, the year of favor from the Lord.

The greatest pain is sin. The Holy Father would like for us to go to Confession frequently. We get rid of any and every sin. The Holy Father would like us to get rid of any deliberate sin, and would like for us to live with no attachment to sin. He would like for us to enter into the grace of the Jubilee so that all pain of sin would be washed away. We would become like on the day of Baptism - sinless. Our sanctification is the wish of God.

Most of us come to the end of our lives with only a fraction of what God wanted for us. We need to think the way God thinks. Is that where we are? Is that what we want? We should look more like God. The recipe for this: Jesus Christ. We have to be full of love and be free.

Father also spoke on indulgences. This is a year of visitation from the Lord. The gift of the Jubilee is indulgences. The Pope would like to make saints out of each of us.

The Holy Father has triple powers: to teach, to sanctify and to govern. The Pope's mission is to govern the blood of Jesus Christ.

Indulgences are the frosting on the cake of the Jubilee. Every sin leaves scar tissue, and every sin needs a make-up. This is the purpose of indulgences.

We are a finite people who, when we commit sin, commit infinite sin. The reparation is finite.

Purgatory is a punishment of mercy, less than we deserve.

FATHER RAY BOURQUE'S BIBLE STUDY

Father again spoke on the Jubilee Year of 277 days and the Indulgences that can be gained and the way in which they can be gained. See December 1999 Retreat Summaries.

He then spoke on the fruits and truths of the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. He reviewed the eight-page handout. The information in the handout was taken from the book: "The Sanctifier".

SUNDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY - FATHER AUGUSTINE

In today's Gospel, we hear of Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law. Sickness is a prelude to death, and death is a result of sin. Jesus is the new David - the victor over sin and death and Satan.

Jesus Christ enters into the web of darkness that is under the power of evil, and He conquers sin, death and Satan, and frees us of this power. Sin is a poison within our system. Jesus heals even concupiscence. St. Theresa never committed mortal sin in her life. The same is true of many other saints.

No one can glory in his or her power over sin. Only Jesus can glory in this power. Jesus saved His Blessed Mother before She was conceived. Jesus does that through the sacred priesthood. Jesus has power over death and sickness. Finally, Jesus delivers us from demons.