FRIDAY EVENING MASS HOMILY - FR. RAY BOURQUE

Today is the Feast of St. Theresa, the Little Flower.

The readings today are ones we do not want to hear - about fallen man. We are all fallen people.

Today we celebrate 1^st Friday - remember the Sacred Heart. It is also the Feast of St. Theresa. She only lived 24 years, but it was enough time to become a saint.

God said let us make man in our image. In John 1:4-7, it reminds us we should love one another. We are made in the image of love. But, we are damaged goods. Man that does not know love does not know God. Am I the kind of person God always wanted? Am I a person of love?

St. Theresa wanted to be a martyr and die for Jesus. A person does not die for someone they do not love. Do we love enough to die for Jesus? You must love each other the way God loves us.

With Baptism we receive many gifts. Charity gives us the power to love. Piety - I love everything that God loves. With the gift of wisdom, you love even the Cross.

Theresa was in love.

Our life is supposed to be loving God with all our hearts.

SATURDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY - FR. AUGUSTINE

God loves us infinitely, and His love pierces to the depths of our souls. Jesus wants us to cooperate in the salvation of souls - an army of persons (divine, angelic and human) for the sake of spreading His love.

We were given the gift of the Angel Guardian. We need to love our angels. They are personal, and we need to speak to them. We can name our angels. Calling an angel by name is an act of love and devotion. We want to recognize their intervention when we can.

The angels are given the role to communicate with us, to inspire us. Guardian angels are present always with us by an act of will. They surround us with their presence, but they have no bodies. They know all about us. They have an intellect and a will much stronger than ours. They constantly behold our Heavenly Father. Angelic intellect is so much greater and powerful than ours.

How do the angels help us? Inspiring within us all good thoughts and our will. There are angels who desire our total destruction in our wills and give us the temptation in our thoughts. They are called demons. It is a battle.

We should pray the Guardian Angel prayer at the time of temptation as well as daily. Ask your Angel Guardian to keep us in our hour of death. Develop a great love for your Guardian Angels.

SATURDAY MORNING INSTRUCTION - FATHER RAY BOURQUE

There are 83 days left until the Millennium. Every family must prepare for the Jubilee. If Christians are docile to the Holy Spirit, there will be a new Springtime.

We are a Trinitarian people. We should learn to say that.

We have to make up for our sins. The Church can help you to make up for your sins. In Confession, the priest applies the blood of Christ on your soul when he gives you absolution. The Church is able to forgive pain due to sin. The pain is less than the sin.

Father told about the opening of the Holy door on December 24, 1999, at St. Peter's in Rome first, then in Jerusalem, and then in the other Basilicas in Rome. The Jubilee is for everyone - Catholic or not.

During the Jubilee a person can receive a Plenary Indulgence which takes care of all pain due to sin. A Partial Indulgence takes care of part of the pain due to sin.

If one cannot go to Rome to walk through the Holy door that has been opened, that person can receive the indulgences in the cathedral of his diocese. Certain other churches in the diocese may be designated as a church in which the indulgences may be received. For shut-ins, they can receive the indulgences at home.

The closing of the Jubilee will be on the Feast of the Epiphany which is January 6, 2001. 

HEALING SERVICE - FATHER AUGUSTINE

Father read from the Gospel of Luke which recounted the enrollment of Joseph and Mary, who was with child. It recounted the nativity of Our Lord. Jesus was a gift of the Father to mankind. There is a depth of the human heart that only God can go into. The Father's heart opened and He gave us His Son, Jesus. He gave us His Son in an incredible humble way.

Another gift was the Blessed Virgin Mary. She willingly consented to her son's death. 

God is unconditional love. The purpose of our existence is to love.

The Blessed Mother's death was an imitation of her son's death. In the Blessed Mother, we see the richness and depth of a perfect relationship of her with God and mother with son. Her spousal relationship with Joseph was of a profound intimate love. Her heart as spouse, mother and daughter is filled with love.

The most important thing is that we should have love in our souls. We need healing to be free from grudges and wounds of concupiscence; we should have hearts of charity.

FATHER RAY'S BIBLE STUDY

God sent His Son to patch up Adam and Eve. He made it better than what it was. Adam and Eve, who was the first team, flunked. The second team was Joseph and Mary. Mary had no sin; she was preserved from sin. Mary was saved by Jesus. We fell into sin - we were pulled out of sin. This was the beginning of the new man. We do not say Mary died; we say she was in dormition.

The Christian man begins with the Incarnation and redemption. There is no salvation except in Our Lord Jesus Christ. The turning point was the coming of Jesus Christ. With Baptism, we become adopted children of God. Baptism is what opens the door. Every Christian should be an apostle, or evangelist.

How do you baptize? "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". Who can baptize? In case of an emergency, anyone can baptize. You have to have water to baptize. Everyone born is a fallen creature of God. Those who are not baptized are being cheated. There is no other means that ensures our going to Heaven than Baptism. If you believe and accept Baptism, you will be saved. If you do not believe, you will be condemned.

There is baptism of water, baptism of desire and baptism of blood.

A most beautiful gift, an awesome gift is sanctifying grace - receiving God's life. We can love the way Jesus loves. We receive divine charity at Baptism. Faith, love and hope come with Baptism. Jesus is the only one who could redeem us. If there is sin, it has got to go!

We always have the Holy Spirit, but He does not always have us. Baptism makes us sacred in the eyes of God. We cannot go to Heaven unless we are stainless.

SUNDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY - FATHER JOSEPH

In Matthew's Gospel today, it spoke of the vineyard being given to those who will produce fruit. The Kingdom of God will be taken from you and will be given to a people who will produce good fruit. Do not live a lukewarm life. God's special protection was always over His people. The vines in the soil that are tended yield good grapes. If the soil is not tended and tilled, the grapes produced are sour. The people lost God's presence.

Abraham Lincoln said that we, as a people, needed to repent and confess our sins. We have forgotten God. We have become too proud to pray to the God who made us. We have become too self-sufficient.

We do have some good fruits being grown, but a lot of wild grapes are being grown in our nation.

Offer God praise and thanksgiving. Fill your minds with everything that is true and everything that is noble. The God of peace will be with us. We become what we fill our hearts with - the things of God.

Fill your minds with what is good. He will protect you. Build a vineyard. He will nurture the vineyard.