FRIDAY EVENING MASS HOMILY – FATHER AUGUSTINE

God is so good. God is love.

The purifying fire of Purgatory is the fire of God's love. This fire of love is the same fire that burns souls in purgatory to purify them.

The souls who would understand the slightest sin must be purified in Purgatory. All in Heaven are immaculate. They are the model for us. Think of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Nothing impure will enter Heaven, but only that which is purified.

No happiness can be found to be worthy except the souls in Heaven.

Today we pray for all the benefactors and the orders of St. Francis. When a saint is canonized, it means that they went to Heaven as soon as they died. At the same time souls in Purgatory experience great joy, they also experience the greatest pain -- a hunger for the longing for God.

The Doctrine of Purgatory is not believed by Lutherans and others.

God will save us, but we have to cooperate with acts of faith, hope and love. We have to go to Confession. Our will has to want to choose God. God is so infinitely merciful if our hearts are open to His grace.

SATURDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY – FATHER JOSEPH

When we greet someone we name them to show our love for them. We are all persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are each persons. We are persons also. We are not a nameless crowd to God. We are each a unique person; we have a personhood.

There is a danger in comparing ourselves to others. This does not benefit us. We live in a competitive society. We do not need to compare ourselves to others. We have our own talents and we need to develop them.

A psychiatrist once said that we all suffer from affirmative deprivation. Reward a child for doing good not as a reward, but for himself. Children need to know they are loved and are good in and for themselves.

Mother Theresa found that in the West there is a greater starvation of love.

Self love - we should want for ourselves what is best for ourselves; God is best for us. How do we become better? Give glory to Him. God gives us the grace that transforms us in His grace. We need more transformation by His grace.

On October 31, 1999, the Catholic Church and the Lutherans agreed what we hold in common. Justification takes place solely by God's grace. We are saved by grace alone. Faith working through charity. Justifying faith - hope in God and love for Him - faith working through love. We cannot do anything without God's grace. We cannot earn our salvation, but we have the responsibility to cooperate with God's grace working in us. The effect of grace is forgiveness of sin. We have assurance in salvation - in trust in God's promise. God's mercy gives us an assurance in our salvation. We look at our weaknesses; we can fall away. Trust in God's mercy and merit. None of us would persevere without God's grace. God never abandons us. He is sustaining us. His grace is always there for us. 

SATURDAY MORNING INSTRUCTION – FATHER FRANCIS

Father spoke on Chapter 3 of the Letter of St. James concerning the "tongue".

We need to build people up. We must be active in doing this. We must do this particularly to those around us. Even though we build up, those we build up are not perfect. We must be careful with our tongues. We can murder with our tongues. The tongue is used as a curse as well as a blessing. Those who do not gossip stand out in the crowd. Sins of the tongue can be grave and mortal. However, when we encourage, when we build up, we do not lie, we do not make up things. Every human being we see, we should see some good in them. Mother Theresa said that when she would see a soul she saw our Lord in them. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CC2477) says that we should respect the reputation of persons in attitude and word. You become guilty of rash judgment, even tacitly, when you assume as true, without sufficient foundation, the mortal fault of a neighbor. You become guilty of detraction when without valid reason you disclose another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them. You become guilty of calumny when by remarks contrary to the truth you harm the reputation of others and give occasion for false judgments concerning them.

Silence counterattacks this. Find something good to say about that person.

The sin of the tongue can become habitual or like a disease. We need to purify this.

The improper reception of the Holy Eucharist is becoming more and more among Catholics. Anyone who is guilty of grave sin must be purified by going to Confession. If a person receives the Holy Eucharist with grave sin, it is then a sacrilege; they compound the grave sin. Be apostles of the Holy Eucharist when it comes to reverence to our Lord. If we are convinced in our heart that the Lord is truly in the Eucharist, then we should act accordingly.

A retreat includes:

1. Meditation on the Word of God - sit and ponder the Word of God.
2. Self-exam of conscience - look at yourself. Pray that you can see yourself as God sees you. Ask the Lord to reveal to you.
3. Resolution - have a particular resolution that the Lord gives you.

Father then referred to Pope John Paul II's letter to the elderly. To young people, religion is irrelevant. There is a sense that religion has no place in their lives. Who needs religion? What for? Why? The elderly look at religion differently.

The elderly have devotion to saints, etc. In the letter, our Holy Father refers to himself as an old priest. He has a wonderful naturalness in his old age. He is not ashamed of it, not ashamed of his frailties. The material world is passing by. Only the unseen world is everlasting.

If you are not productive in the world, somehow you are worthless in the eyes of the world.

Out of evil acts we do, God somehow draws good out of evil. Tribulations do not destroy hope, they are our salvation. The cross makes us who we are. 

HEALING SERVICE – FATHER RAY BOURQUE

We need to discover who is Jesus Christ. We need to discover the living Christ in America today. Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forever.

Jesus is a healer, he came to heal. Before he left this world, Jesus wanted His mission to continue ("Do this in memory of Me.")

Who is going to keep the healing going? One thing that continues is the forgiveness of sins through Confession. The teaching of Jesus Christ has to continue. Casting out of demons has to continue. We have to be people of the Good News. We are sitting on a treasure. God is in love with the people of the world. 

God would like us to make a difference. What do each of us have to build the kingdom of God? 

We can make Jesus come if two or three of us are gathered. We can pray over somebody when two or three are together. We can pray for the sick. Do this in faith. If you pray, the Lord listens to prayers even though you don't know what the Lord will do. He always does something.

Many times people will be healed because they believe. We need to trust. When visiting a sick person: 1) pray, 2) ask Jesus Christ to take away the sickness, and 3) ask the sick person to offer up their suffering for the sins of the world.

Pray for yourself if you don't feel good. Give it to Jesus.

When storms come us in your life, call on Jesus and he will calm the storm. We can take care of the devil when he is after us by prayer.

The Holy Father would like us to be free of sin for the Jubilee. We should have no attachment to sin. 

FATHER RAY BOURQUE'S BIBLE STUDY

Look at the Jubilee as a time of visitation.

Our smallest sin is an infinite offense against God. The Holy Father would like for us to come into the Jubilee without sin. A special gift of the Jubilee is the indulgence which can be gained more than once.

All sins leave scars. Unless we do penance, we would perish. For penance we can do corporal works of mercy. We can also 1) offer our duty of state in life for penance, 2) offer up difficulties and infirmities of life, and 3) what could add out of love.

When the priest absolves us from our sins, he washes us in the blood of Christ.

We should help one another to live sinless lives. Mortal sin is deadly. We have to go to Confession. It takes away the deadly sin, but pain is still there.

SUNDAY MORNING MASS HOMILY - FATHER RAY BOURQUE

You do not know the day or the hour. The readings of today tell us: Be Smart (first reading), Don't Worry (second reading), and Be Ready (Gospel).

What is Wisdom? We are made in the image of God. Adam and Eve lost it; Jesus Christ came to restore what had been lost.

Who is God? God is love. He has to give us love; that is what Adam and Eve lost.

In the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and the Son. God sends us the Holy Spirit which is His love. The Holy Spirit is love. The love of the Father has been poured into our hearts.

What does the Holy Spirit do for us? He gives us charity - the image of the Holy Spirit. Charity is the biggest gift we could ever have.

Wisdom is: (1) resplendent, (2) unfading (never wears out), (3) open to love, (4) can be found by those who seek, (5) can be known, (6) the person who watches for Wisdom will not be disappointed, (7) prudent (biggest virtue of our relationship to people), (8) the person who wants wisdom keeps vigil looking for it, (9) if you love God, you will get wisdom before asking, (10) helps us in everything we need, and (11) Wisdom makes her rounds looking for someone worthy.

In the second reading, "Don't Worry", be afraid to lose God and be afraid not to be charitable, but otherwise "Don't Worry".

Jesus Christ came to talk about Heaven, but people were not ready, so He talked in parables. The mass is the prime time of Catholic education, it is a teaching time. If you go to mass and learn nothing, this is not good. Start listening during mass. You are supposed to be learning something.