FRIDAY EVENING MASS HOMILY - FATHER ANTHONY

Today is All Saints Day.

You identify with a big day or event (graduation or marriage) in your life, but this is merely a transition point, and you move on.  You are the same person after the day or event as you were before. You get prepared, not for the day or event, but for the rest of your life. The Lord says "now live for what you prepared for." 

The soul lives forever from the minute we are conceived. "How we live determines how we live." From a Christian perspective it makes sense. We are children of God. We know that we will see God face to face. We are rejoicing not only in the canonized saints, but those relatives, etc., of ours who have gone through purgation and are now in Heaven. Pray for a happy death. You have to be ready when God calls. He will call. It does not matter how we die or how God calls us. How you live now determines how you will live in eternity. No matter how long we live, whether it be 70, 80, or 90, it is all preparation.

How are we going to live after judgment? Be a good student and prepare for reality - when you make that final move into reality. Reality is eternal; it will never, never end. Our soul goes on forever and that is a long time. We want to live our eternity in the fullness of Heaven. 

Are we ready for the day of judgment in our life? How are we living now? Could we be canonized? Look at the Scriptures and the Gospel of Beatitudes.

SATURDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY – FATHER  WADE

We celebrate the great communion of all souls. We honor the dead because death is a reality; it will come.  We do not know if we will die at the second coming. The Church is silent as to whether those who are here at the second coming will die some type of death.

Three states of the Church: 
1) Heaven - the Church Triumphant - Our prayers do nothing for the Saints. In Heaven they have obtained the crown.
2) The Church Militant - People on earth; politically correct.
3) The Church Suffering - These are the souls in Purgatory. 

Purgatory will cease to exist at the second coming.  In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 954, it states that at the second coming death will be no more and all will be made subject to Him and His power. In Paragraph 958 it speaks of the communion with the dead. It states the Church in its pilgrim members on earth have always honored with great respect the memory of the faithful departed. Our prayer (Church Militant) for the Church Suffering (those in Purgatory) is capable of not only helping them in their suffering, but also of making their intercession for us effective. 

If you are ready to meet your Maker, you do not care how you will die. Pray for your Purgatory on earth. It is not prideful to say that you want to go straight to Heaven.

Father also spoke on obtaining plenary indulgences for the Poor Souls in Purgatory if you visit a cemetery from November 1-8 and offer prayers, if only mentally, for them. If you visit a cemetery on other days of the year and offer mental or vocal prayer for the dead and spend at least 15 minutes there, you gain a partial indulgence. Their intercession for us is more effective when we pray for them.

SECOND SATURDAY MORNING MASS - FATHER ANTHONY

We celebrate a second mass today because it is only on All Souls Day and Christmas Day that a priest can offer three masses a day.  
         
Eternity is a time that never ends. Our souls will continue on after death. We are speaking of fellowship that exists in all souls that the Spirit dwells. We have to be holy because God dwells in us. We are celebrating not only canonized saints, but many other saints not canonized. I can achieve that sanctity in my life, for that desire to see the face of God. 

Our soul longs for God. Why don't we recognize that in this life? Spiritually, if our soul is free from our body, we could identify how strong is that longing for the Lord. That is the suffering of Purgatory. The soul totally longs for God. Our soul longs to see God and we keep running into our imperfections.

Our duty to one another is to think of ways to exercise charity and do them, especially in the family. What is charity? When you stand before God, can you be indifferent towards the people on earth or in Purgatory? No, a saint cannot do that. The saints hear every prayer and are interceding on our behalf. The souls are not jealous of each other in Heaven. The Church Suffering can pray for us and intercede for us. There is an effect of their prayers for us either in Purgatory or when they cross into Heaven with the Church Triumphant. 

Do everything that we can to relieve their suffering. We can do something to help souls in Purgatory.  
If you go to Confession every two weeks, you can dispose yourself to a Plenary Indulgence for yourself, for a soul in Purgatory or give to Our Lady to use where it is needed. Say to Her, "Dear Lady, take care of those souls of the Church Suffering." We are expanding our capacity for God - the intention of the Heart.

1) Visit a cemetery - between November 1 to November 8 - obtain a Plenary Indulgence for the Poor 
     Souls in Purgatory.   
     Pray mentally or vocally.
     Be in the state of grace - Confession 8 days before or 8 days after.
     Pray for intentions of our Holy Father.  
2)  Reading Sacred Scripture for 30 minutes each day.
     Pray for intentions of our Holy Father.
3)  A visit to the Blessed Sacrament - Adoration - Plenary Indulgence.
4)  Reciting the rosary in church, oratory, family, or pious association - Plenary Indulgence.
     Pray for intentions of our Holy Father.
You can receive a plenary indulgence only once a day; but you can receive many partial indulgences a day.

Hell exists and it is possible for you to go there. No suffering in this world will compare with the suffering in Purgatory. We have to set our goal high to go straight to Heaven. What is it going to be like for us to stand before God in the beatific vision? 

HEALING SERVICE - FATHER WADE
  
From the second century the Church prayed for souls in purgatory.  In the ninth century the Church recognized such. 

In 1915 priests were granted the privilege to celebrate three masses on All Souls Day:  one for a particular intention; one for all the faithful departed; and one for the Holy Father.

November is the traditional time to visit cemeteries to pray, at least, mentally for the departed or to pray on the anniversary of their death.  In Maccabees it states that we should pray for all who died.
Mass prayed daily throughout the world tells us the importance of praying for the dead. The Holy Spirit leads us definitely to pray for the dead. How often each day? As much as the Lord wills it, because they depend on our prayers. Our prayers for the Poor Souls make their prayers effective intercessory power for us providing we are first praying for them. They are helped by our prayers, Holy Mass, almsgiving, and supplications. Pray for the dead daily as the Church does each day.

Each time you pass a cemetery, pray the following prayer: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them."

SUNDAY MASS - FATHER  ANGELUS 

The degree of shame is the degree of our pride. The degree of pride will be the degree of our humiliation here or hereafter. The degree of sorrow is the degree of our love. The degree of love is the degree of our humility. No one is ever really humble enough because no one ever loves enough.
No one is humble enough to bend down enough to receive the revelation.  But we do have someone like this in Jesus Christ. It is very important that we cultivate the humble heart. The day of our success before God will be to that extent. 

There are two kinds of pride: good pride is rooted in the spirit of gratitude and bad pride is rooted in the spirit of self-complacency. Only the grateful are happy because the test of all happiness is gratitude. Can you say thanks to God and people and really mean it? Can we thank God for birth, life and health?

Only the grateful are happy; only the humble are grateful; and only the humble are happy. It cannot be refuted. The only way to happiness in this world is through humility. Accepted humiliation is spiritual maturity. If we are not humble yet, we will be sooner or later through sickness, stroke, vascular disease, dementia, etc., and death itself.  Pride always comes before the fall. Our God is in charge. Put on our knees we never fall too far. Never. 

Only the humble heart can pray. Pray in Adoration because He is God. You and I are not God. If God withdrew His help, we would all disappear. Only the humble heart can confess sin and make a good confession. Only the humble heart can be completely honest.

The 12 step programs are always successful if a person sticks with them. Honesty. Only the humble heart can rejoice at the success of other people. Christian humility - the definition is in 1st Corinthians 13. The humble heart is always peaceful, kind and patient, not hypocritical, not hypercritical. Where would we learn such behavior? Listen to Jesus Christ for He said "I am meek and humble of heart". Be humble in prostration before Him, because He is God and we are not God. We are believers.

The most common denominator of the angels and saints in Heaven is the spirit of the humble heart. If you are tempted to boast, say "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine." 

Cultivate the humble heart.