The Gifts of God by Fr Perez

If you remember the last time I was here, I started a series of sermons on the Gifts of God. Now we’re all very used to hearing about the gifts of God that are the Supernatural Gifts. We always pray for the Supernatural Virtues, we thank God for them and things like that. But I found a nice little reprint of an old book — I didn’t plagiarize the sermon, but it gave me an inspiration to talk about the gifts that God gives us for which we may not have enough appreciation to Him. And these are the more natural gifts proper to our nature or just things that He gives us, and I wanted to mention a few words about those today. Also, my whole thrust is to have us appreciate the things God gives us, so one thing at a time. Sometimes we try to take the shot gun effect and blast everything at once and it doesn’t really work for us that way. We’ve got to take one thing at a time and exercise that until it becomes a habit and then move on to the next thing.

Today I’m talking about the gift of hearing. Once again, like sight that I talked about last time, hearing is a gift that we don’t fully appreciate or don’t even start to appreciate until we begin to lose our hearing or we see someone who is maybe born deaf and we have a sympathetic prayer for them and it starts us thinking about it, but otherwise we wouldn’t. Scientists now say we hear before birth so you can hear things while you’re still inside your mother, like Mozart that she’s playing for you. According to the modern recommendations, Mozart’s good anytime, so why not before you’re born, to start out on a good foot there. So today I want to talk about this gift of hearing.

I want to remind you as I reminded you with the gift of sight, that there’s not just one window of the soul. There are many windows of the soul. For those of you who didn’t hear what I said about sight, people often say, oh, yes, the eyes are the window of the soul. But they don’t understand what they’re saying. Like so many of the modern sayings, it has become removed from its’ true meaning and they make it to mean something else. A lot of people think, well you have such pretty eyes, I can look into your eyes and I can see your soul. Isn’t that wonderful? No, it’s not that kind of window. It’s called the window but it’s actually only a window of the soul because it is through sight (and through hearing now) that the soul sees out to the world. It’s the soul’s window out on the world.

Remember, the soul is the seat of our intellect. In fact, the soul is where everything that makes us us, is. That’s in the soul. Our personalities, our memories, everything – our intellect, our will are all in our souls. And so the soul then collects information about its’ environment through its’ various windows, sight being the first one, as I spoke about, hearing being the one I’m talking about today.

One thing I want to mention is the many uses of hearing, some of them very basic. We use hearing to learn about life and the world in general, to warn us of danger of course. That’s what our car horn is supposed to be for. In California we’re pretty good about that, if somebody’s about to step out in front of your car or change lanes without knowing you’re there we beep the horn. In New York they just get in the car, put their hand on the horn and just keep going until they get to their destination. It’s a slightly different philosophy, but it’s the same idea. Hearing can warn us of danger in that way. Hearing a rattlesnake for example tells us not to go over there.

Learning – learning about anything, learning in school, we use our hearing. But the highest use of hearing to learn would be mostly hearing things about God. Now things have a hierarchy of uses. Hearing things about God is a highly exalted use of hearing but there are so many others. You know, one thing that your soul enjoys is that it exalts with the holy things about God, but it enjoys many, many, other things that come to us through hearing. Let’s just take the sounds of nature. We are quite blessed to be where we are. Every day I go out and it’s like being in the aviary of the zoo. Just this morning there was a mocking bird pleading its’ song. There were the mourning doves cooing, there were the little tweety birds singing and sparrows and bird-like conversations. Beautiful, beautiful songs and the soul appreciates those. Why? Because of the beauty of them and then it makes us say thank you to God for that particular thing, for the gift of the songs of the birds.
 
Other things too; for example, good music. Now I have to emphasize good music because everybody will say it’s subjective. Well it is and it isn’t. The ancient Greeks came up, well before the time of Christ, with a philosophy of what constitutes beauty. What are the elements of beauty? Do you apply it to music as well as to things you can see with your eyes? Remember, this is input to your soul. There are kinds of music that are good for your soul, as other sounds that are good for your soul. And I would start with, of course, you know religious kind of singing is good, but it’s not something that is really always pleasing to listen to. I know I sound like a heretic when I say it, but Gregorian Chant for example. Gregorian Chant is a beautiful kind of music, one of the most for singing, because what are you doing? You are singing a beautiful prayer when you sing Gregorian Chant, right? And some of the Gregorian Chants are nice to listen to. You can be forgiven if you don’t go home, put up your feet and put on a disc of Gregorian Chant because most of it is more to be prayed by those singing it than to be listened to. To listen can kind of go on and on and on for a while and you go okay, let’s have some Mozart please. Now Mozart and Bach and others like that, they fit very well the conditions for beauty and their beautiful works of music enter your soul and they please your soul. Later on, Western music [not Cowboy, y’all] started to fall apart and it reached its’ height in the 16th, 17th Century and then began really to disintegrate. So I can’t say that the introduction of other forms of music were its’ destruction, because when you get as far as the modernist composers (not Modernists the same way that Francis is but in the composer sense) you get to Prokofiev and Scriabin, it’s junk. It’s like the sound track for a nervous breakdown. These things do not please your soul, but the symmetry and harmony of the classical music, the older classical music really touches your soul.

I was looking at one of the restaurant places, where they had a TV on and they had somebody who was talking about (it was Black History Month) the contribution of the continental African music to Western music. Well, as I said, Western music was only ailing because of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff and such people but the African tones were its death knell. The introduction of the jungle rhythms into Western music were the poison that finished it off and is continuing to kill the rest of us. We’re talking about the rhythms they came up with like rap and rock and that type of music. These are positively disturbing for your souls. Now take note: Protestants got this wrong too – that’s a subheading of “Protestants got it all wrong anyway”. But one dictum goes like this: Well we listen to Christian rock so we can listen to our Christian rock because it’s Christian, it’s rejoice in the Lord and and and.  Okay, my friends, it’s not the words that necessarily make a song bad, it’s the rhythm, you see. And a lot of these come from the interior of Africa where many cultures are still very primitive. When my ancestors were playing on Stradivari violins and writing symphonies, their ancestors were beating on animal skulls with sticks. But it hasn’t changed is the problem. It hasn’t risen above what it was. In Africa it’s still that and an end in itself. It’s all about tribal sensualism which is the rhythm of rap and things. These are sensualized rhythms that enter into your soul by hearing. So you should not say, well this is good rock, this is soft rock. I mean, soft rock?  Or as a geologist would say, no soft rock, but not that one. I would think more like tufa or something like that which is a soft rock. But it’s still these rhythms insinuating themselves into your soul.

One further thing though that I would say on the positive side of hearing that you should all do. These things that please your soul by way of language – take opera for example. Of course, that’s an acquired taste too, but you notice there are not many English operas. Why? Because English is a lousy language for opera. I mean it’s good for a musical but it’s not good for an opera. So which language do they write them in? Mostly Italian, sometimes German because the sounds of Italian are just very pleasing sounds.

You know, you don’t have Chinese opera either. I’m not just bashing my own language you see. I think probably an Asian opera – you can’t have Rigoletto or something in Chinese. It would not please the soul. Every language has its’ own sounds. To that end, whatever language you speak I’m sure you have poetry. Ours is English, right? And it does your soul good to read poetry to yourself out loud, to memorize poetry, even if it’s secular poetry because even a pleasing bit of secular poetry makes you appreciate the gifts of God more. A lot of times when you read to yourself it’s not the same, right? I mean to read in your head, not out loud. When I was writing this, I was thinking, so somebody who is born deaf, never hearing anything, what do they do when they read? When I read anything, a book or something, it’s like the words echo in my head. Maybe I’m nuts. I never asked anybody about this – Father, you’re weird, that doesn’t happen with us!! But I hear the words in my head when I’m reading. But somebody who has never heard a word I wonder how that works.

In any case, for those of us who can hear, we should occasionally take a well-written bit of poetry and just read it for the very pleasure that it gives to our souls. I have an example here of one of my favorites and it’s an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Now you say, oh my goodness! An epic poem, he’s going to read us an epic poem. Epic means, goes on forever – I’m not going to read you the whole epic poem, just the first two stanzas because just good poetry does a lot for your soul. So this is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Evangeline. I don’t know who has read Evangeline before but if you haven’t I’m sure it’s online, you can go to Amazon Prime and get it tomorrow or download it right now instantly right here in church on your i-Phone and start reading along with me – is more like the modern trend. But here are the opening lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Just listen to the sounds. A good poet is like an artist with the sounds and he just makes a combination of images:

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

You see, that’s just beautiful to speak and to listen to.

So my dear faithful, by way of appreciating this gift of hearing, I want you to notice when you are here, you are hearing the words of the Mass – nothing more beautiful on God’s green earth. When you go out you will hear many things today. I want you to be conscious and to consciously not just thank God for the source of these things – O God, thank you for this bird, thank you for Father, thank you – whatever, but thank God for the gift of the hearing itself. Thank God for giving us that great overlooked gift that we have and that we need, to be much more thankful for.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Great Exile by Cardinal Bacci

1. God is the great exile. The majority of mankind have banished Him from public and private life. They do not want Him anymore; they do not even think of Him. There is even a minority which hates and curses Him. It is true that there are still faithful and generous communities, like oases in a vast and arid desert, which love God and even dedicate themselves to His service. But the great majority ignore Him. If they remember Him sometimes on important occasions, they do so vaguely and as a matter of form. They think of God as if He were a distant Being Who is not interested in their activities. Obviously, therefore, men no longer live the life of God. They live mechanically and obtusely, devoid of spiritual enlightenment or thought of Heaven. Their lives are like those of blind moles which reside in darkness beneath the ground without any desire to see the light of day. Bound to the earth as they are, they are afraid of the great concepts of eternity, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, Heaven and Hell. "Since men's natural inclinations are towards worldly things," wrote Pope Pius XII, "his inability to understand the things of the Spirit of God is unfortunately aggravated in our times by the entire nature of his surroundings. Very often God is neither denied nor cursed, it is rather as if He were not there at all. There is constant and open propaganda in favour of a worldly life without God. Men live and die as if there were no such realities as God, redemption, or the Church." (Discourses XI, 14) This is, unfortunately, a true picture. The image of God is no longer seen in created things, in the arrangement of the universe, in the structure of the family and of society. All that men see is a great machine, but they do not wish to consider by whom it is set in motion. There is no longer any appreciation of God nor of His law; even the sense of sin has gone. Once the idea of God as the supreme lawgiver and judge has been taken away, men sin without shame and without restraint. Sin becomes an industry, a dishonourable business carried on by means of the press, cinema, television; and all the media of so-called modern civilisation.
Are you a victim of this unhealthy trend? What place does God hold in your mind and in the course of your life? We are heading for inevitable ruin if we allow ourselves to be swept away by the corruption of the world. Remember the frightening words of Jesus in the company of His disciples. “Not for the world do I pray,” He said, “but for those whom thou hast given me, because they are thine.” (John 17:9) Without Jesus, the world is racing towards utter destruction. It is terrifying, but that is the way it is.

2. Let us turn away from this spectacle of a corrupt and corrupting world and raise our fearful gaze towards Mary. What a contrast! She was wholly pure and beautiful. Her mind was always in contact with God. Her heart was full of the love of God and of her neighbour, whose redemption from the slavery of sin she ardently desired to achieve by co-operating with her divine Son. All her desires and actions were in harmony with the will of God, so that she lived completely in God. Let us think about ourselves. What place has Jesus in our approach to life? Let us try and think of Him more often. Let us meditate on the eternal truths, on the commandments of God and on the precepts of the Church which He has founded. Let us endeavour to make all our actions conform with these commandments. Above all, let us seek to love God more and more, and let us pray constantly for those countless souls who ignore and reject Him. Then we shall be content in the midst of the trials of this world, for we shall have God in our hearts.

3. Holy Mary, my Mother, grant that God may rule my mind and that you may be always in my thoughts. Help me to live always in the presence of God and to dedicate all my thoughts, desires and affections to Him. Grant that all the actions of my poor life may be in accordance with His Will. Amen

Loving Father

Fr. Martin Fuchs´s sermon on 3^rd March 2019, Prague, Czechia

***

Peter Rosegger, a famous Austrian writer, spoke about his childhood:

His father was very strict. He knew well how to handle with punishment in upbringing. The children were therefore often afraid of him.

One day Peter had committed a prank for which he rightly had to expect a proper beating. In his fear he was looking for a hiding place where he could hide himself from the wrath of his father. There was the spacious clock box in the old grandfather‘s clock in the living room! – He quickly fled inside, before his father could catch him. He felt guilty but safe here! Now he could wait in silence what happened next. Through the keyhole he saw his father was very angry.

Then he heard wenches being sent away to search for the little culprit because he could not be found anywhere. But they all came back unsuccessfully. There was no trace of little Peter. They were wondering about his disappearance but it remained mystery. Could poor Peter fall into one of the deep gorges? Didn´t he harm himself in the agonizing fear of the punishment?

His father was left alone in the living-room with worry and depression. Peter could watch him well from the clock box through the keyhole! Then he saw something he never thought of before! He saw how his father, who was otherwise so hard and strict, put his hands over his face and wept for his little Peter.

The tears of his father touched him so much that he could stay no longer in his hiding place. He could feel his heart beating wildly.

He quickly opened the door. The tears ran over his face and suddenly he was in his father’s arms. Fear and punishment, everything was forgotten over the blissful knowledge: “I have a father who loves me!“

Dear faithful!

Is it not the same with us? For our sins we have to expect punishment. But then we see our Savior’s sufferings. Looking at these sufferings, it makes us forget about God’s wrath and punishment.

The poor souls in purgatory suffer in pure love. We should try to bear all sufferings to do penance and to save souls for God’s glory.

Let us use the time of Lent to offer all sufferings for these goals! Let us think of the fact that we have the Father in Heaven who loves us!

May the history of the Chosen people help us to closer come to perfect love.

The time of Lent lasts 40 days. It is a time of graces.

But also the historical events in the Old Testament with the number of 40 were connected with a lot of graces. Let’s have a look at these historical events:

1) The first time we read about this number it was in the story of the Deluge. Only Noe, his sons, and their women were saved.

Many were the sins people had accumulated. They were unteachable and hardened. Even Noe’s sermon could not change them. So God purified the earth by a palpable punishment, by the Deluge.

In the same way God cleans the earth today: by floods, famine, and war. If His love can no longer achieve anything by words, it can sometimes change things only by a palpable punishment. All disasters (tsunami, earthquakes, forest fires, plagues) are such signs of love of Our Lord. “God does not want the death of the sinner, but his conversion.“

Even in our lives tangible punishments are not missing like illnesses, unemployment, mental sufferings and other crosses. The motive is always God’s love.

2) Israel was lamenting for the death of its father Jacob for 40 days. Let us use the coming Lent for lamenting for the death of Our Savior: “Lord, may Your blood and Your pain not be in vain!“ Let us pray the Way of the Cross, let us meditate the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary and the seven last words of Jesus on the Cross!

3) Moses fasted for 40 days before he went up onto the mountain Sinai to get the Ten Commandments.

So we must break with all earthly things to penetrate deeper into the law of Our Lord. The famous holy penitents and souls of atonement received extraordinary enlightenments from God by fasting and abstinence.

4) Elias was walking for 40 days until he reached Mount Horeb, by virtue of the food and drink which the angel gave him.

The heavenly bread, the Holy Communion, must strengthen us again and again during Lent and during our life journey.

5) The journey of the Israelite people lasted 40 years until they were finally liberated from the bondage of Egypt. The journey led through the Red Sea – a picture of Christ’s blood – further through the desert – a picture for the Christian life, which is a life of repentance and of the cross – to the Promised Land – a picture of our journey to Heaven.

6) The scouts engaged in exploration were there for 40 days before the Chosen people could enter the Holy Land.

And likewise, this Lent we should study the Holy Scripture and other spiritual books to explore Heaven, our final goal.

7) The Chosen people had to endure the yoke of the Philistines until it was liberated by the fight between David and Goliath. Again, it is a picture of our life, of our fight with the devil. Just when we might not suspect it, the devil is near to us with his temptations.

“The devil“, says saint Peter, “goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.“ (I Peter 5:8).  But we can defeat the devil by repentance.

8) Forty days is about the tithe for all gifts and benefits, God gives us over the year.

The tithe is a kind of donation to God, to thank God! Let us use the coming Lent in this sense!

Let us summarize these thoughts briefly:

Let us accept the palpable sufferings, let us lament for the Lord’s death and let us meditate upon His love; let us get rid of everything that binds us to this earth!

Let us make a firm resolution to go to the Holy Communion as often as we can. Let us be aware that we can achieve liberation from the bondage of Satan particularly by penance! Let us study Heaven with its joys; let us remember that we have to fight against the devil for our whole life! And let us make our tithing by imposed and voluntary penances!

Amen.

source 

 

 

 

Hobson: A Pastoral Portrait

The doctors and nurses congregated around the operating table. No matter how hard they tried, they could not stop the bleeding. The first bullet tore into the priest’s left shoulder. The second resides somewhere in Father Hobson’s stomach. The third and fourth merely grazed him, as he had turned to flee from his attacker. 

Father Hobson managed to run a block or so from the scene, before finding someone to help him. That Good Samaritan took him to the hospital, which was only a few blocks away. 

Father Hobson could be heard muttering, “impossible,” as he was brought into the hospital. 

The Good Samaritan would stay to ensure the older priest would receive the care he most certainly required.

Some of the doctors and nurses knew of Father Hobson, who was the pastor of the nearby Saint Francis Catholic Community for many decades. During his tenure, he converted the old parish into a model of inclusivity and progress. He inherited the church from a Father Faure, who had adamantly refused to follow the directives placed throughout the diocese after the council. 

After the death of Father Faure, Hobson launches a series of “renewals” within the parish, all under the auspices of honoring the late Father Faure. This included sacking the head server, who was loyal to the former priest. Anthony left the parish, as did his family. They never returned.

Father Hobson introduced new organizations into the “faith fold”, as he called his parish. These new groups brought new parishioners to the church, and quickly drove the old ones out. The new priest found his replacement head server from the ranks of these new groups; Richard Schwartz handled the retraining of all servers, including the girls, a first for the diocese. When he wasn’t training servers, he oversaw the fundraising for “The Q”, the parish’s homosexual outreach program. 

Father Hobson also brought in religious sisters to concelebrate the Mass, to do readings and sermons, as well as teach the faithful. He threw out everything even remotely connected to the days before the council, and then he did away with vestments entirely. He was surprised to find a buyer for all the old religious materials. The money he brought in from those sales went directly into funding the remodel of the church into the modern marvel of which he had hoped.

His services were along the most progressive in the country, if not the world. Readings came from a variety of sources, both sacred and secular. His sermons came from the newspaper, or from his favorite magazines. He invited the best, local bands to play for his services, and sourced the finest shortbread cookies for the Lord’s Supper. 

It was no surprise to anyone that Richard Schwartz entered the seminary. It was also not surprising when he was ordained and moved into Saint Francis as an auxiliary pastor. The two worked hand in hand to continue the great work they started. 

They made friends with all faiths, and visited all the local churches and synagogues, save for one. Someone had opened a new, Catholic Church not far from Saint Francis. It was unaffiliated with the diocese. Rumors spread that the church celebrated the Mass as it was before the council, that the new parish was part of an organization that renounced the council and the spirit that preceded from said council. 

Fathers Hobson and Schwartz ignored the newcomer, and moved ahead with grooming their own flock into the paragon of progressives. 
Their sweet successes of their partnership would end suddenly, as the first of the allegations against Richard Schwartz streamed into the Bishop’s offices. The bishop buried the first two complaints under miles of red tape. The next two were not so easy to eradicate. 

Father Hobson defended his partner with all the ferocity of a mother bear for her beloved cub. He insulted the accusers of trying to undo the success of the church, of being homophobic, intolerant, bigoted, or worse. 

The refusal of the diocese to act spurred one of the lost souls to take action. One of the former servers, who trainings extensively under Schwartz, confronted Hobson at the rectory of Saint Francis. Their dialogue was brief; four shots. The shooter reserved the fifth shot for himself.

Hobson hobbled off towards the hospital, and ended up at the open doors of a church. He stumbled in and stood there for a moment, his mouth agape. 

“Impossible.” 

The traditional Catholic parish he arrogantly overlooked was decorated with all the furnishings he had sold some time before. They even had the old portrait of Father Faure in a place of honor. 

Hobson collapsed at altar rail. The pastor of the traditional parish took the dying Hobson to the hospital, and stayed with him to offer last rites. 

When the doctors finally admitted the traditional priest to Hobson’s bedside, the dying pastor recognized the face of he who would administer the sacrament.

It was Anthony, the server he had rejected decades before. 

The doctors and nurses would speak of those moments many times afterward, when Father Anthony administered the Last Rites to the dying priest. Some swore they heard the voice of God giving judgment, just before the priest’s last gasp. 


The operating theater shut down for a week after that night, to air out the sulfuric fumes...

 

 

 

Written by Manual Chavez. 

Originally posted here HERE

“Go Ye Into the Whole World...”

The Epiphany of Our Lord

*** 

Dear faithful,

Ludwig and Gertrud were children of a poor widow. When their father died, Ludwig was 7 and Gertrud was 6 years old. After her husband’s death, the mother looked with even greater care for the upbringing of her children.

She often told them about the poor pagan children in China and in Africa who did not know Our Lord and who had never heard of Child Jesus. The lively compassion for the Gentiles gave rise to a firm decision in their hearts.

“I want to become a missionary and go to the savage peoples“, Ludwig said to his sister one day. “And I‘m going with you!“, little Gertrud replied. “You can’t!“, declared Ludwig definitely, “a girl cannot become a missionary.“ – “Of course, she can“, Gertrud explained, “you convert and baptize the savages and I take care of the little children!“ – “All right“, Ludwig answered, “tomorrow, we are going to leave!“ The decision was made!

When the mother had left the house the following morning in order to go to the Holy Mass and to make the necessary purchases, both children dressed quickly, took a large piece of bread leaving as quickly as they could. They hoped to reach faraway Africa or Asia soon.

At lunch-time, the hunger was noticeable. They therefore consumed their bread and went on their way. That is when they came to a creek. But how should they cross the water?

Ludwig soon knew what to do. He collected some big stones and threw them into the creek. Full of trust in God, they tried to cross the dangerous creek, and indeed they succeeded. On the other bank they believed to be already in the land of the savages. – “Be quiet!“, Ludwig whispered and pointed to a tall man near the tree, “that is certainly a savage; we have to go to him!“

The children were approaching quietly so as not to frighten the savage. When they were close enough, Ludwig politely took off his cap and asked, “Mister Savage, have you ever been baptized?” The large man replied testily: “Why does this concern you, little fellow?“

Terrified, Gertrud plucked his brother’s sleeve and whispered: “Let’s go, I am afraid.“ – But Ludwig did not give up; he asked more kindly than before: “Mr. Savage, have you already been baptized?“ – “Well“, replied the latter, “why do you think that I am a savage?“

Now Ludwig told him, how he and his sister had gone away in the morning in order to get to Africa and convert the savages there, and why they think there must probably be the land of the savages because the way was very long and the sun was shining very hot.

Then the face of the strange gentleman cleared up to a friendly smile. He took the little boy on his knees and Ludwig had to tell him the whole story again. He described with enthusiasm what the mother told them about the poor unbelieving pagans far away, how they would die without baptism and without knowing Jesus, and they may be lost forever; and how he and his sister decided to convert these people.

During this child story the man was moved to tears!

“You are not in Africa yet. But you do not have to go that far to meet a savage“, he replied. “Here is one in front of you, a European who has already been baptized but who is perhaps even worse than those you want to seek. But from now on I want to become a real Christian. Are you satisfied?“

Of course, the children were happy to have converted an unbeliever. The man brought the two children back to their mother, told her the whole story, and wished her good luck because her teaching had already produced such fruits in her children.

The mother who has already been very worried about the children was relieved now. Yes – she was very happy that her children brought a lost soul back to God.

Dear faithful!

This is one little missionary story out of many others. All of them have their origins in the today’s feast. The wise men sought and found the Saviour by a star and they returned converted to their homeland. The first pagan mission! And they brought this joy to the pagan people in their country.

I remember well the crib in the kindergarten. There was a Moor with a cash box. When he got a coin, he nodded with his mobile head. It was a collection for the pagan people in Africa in order to give them the necessary instructions to receive baptism.

Missions are also our job: Pagan mission and mission of the indifferent Christians. Jesus ordered us before His Ascension: “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.“ (Mark 16:16)

We don‘t need to go to Africa to convert people. How many unbaptized people live in our country? Buddhists, Mohammedans, unbaptized children of Catholic parents…

May everybody find the Saviour in the manger and may he announce this joy to his fellow men!

The mission begins in our family, in our house. That is why we have our house or our flat blessed on the feast of Epiphany. Everybody who enters our house should find Jesus, Mary and saint Joseph. Everybody should find holy pictures, blessed water and Christian books there! Everybody should find a prayer-life there! Morning prayer, evening prayer and prayers before and after the meal. May we help our fellow men, particularly in their spiritual needs! Amen.

 Fr. Martin Fuchs´s sermon on 6^th January 2019, Prague, Czechia
source  rexcz.blogspot.com

The Lifesaver

Fr. Martin Fuchs´s sermon on 2^nd December 2018, Prague, Czechia

The First Sunday of Advent

***

Father Konrad Kümmel in one of his books “On God’s hand“ described the following true story:

When Father Bruno was four years old, he fell into a creek very close to his parents´ house. A man, who happened to walk down the way, saw the little boy and jumped into the water to save the boy’s life.

He took the totally wet boy to his parents. Both, his father and his mother, did not realize that the boy had disappeared. With many thanks, the mother invited the lifesaver to stay with them for a few days. But he refused. Since the parents were poor, the mother took the miraculous medal from the boy´s neck and put it around the rescuer’s neck saying: “Carry this medal and pray one Hail Mary every day and add the prayer: ´O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!´ We cannot give you a more precious gift than this. You will receive the blessing from Heaven, especially at the hour of your death.“ After the lunch, the stranger left the house without telling his name.

Later on, Father Bruno thought a lot about this accident and why God saved him from drowning. Again and again he wanted to know his lifesaver. He was also persuaded that God had given him a special mission. He had entered a monastery and when he became a priest, he asked his superior to send him to Africa.

But there he got sick. He had to leave the mission and was sent to the port cities: to Cape Town, Williamstown, Port Elizabeth and other places.

One morning, when he visited the city hospital, he found an old man who was badly suffering. His health was apparently exhausted by hardships and a disorderly life and could not be restored. Father Bruno greeted him very kindly in English but the patient replied with an English cursive word and then added in German that the man in the black cassock should leave him alone.

“You are a compatriot of mine!“, said Father Bruno with joy ignoring the rude reception. “Oh, how glad I am!“

The old man was surprised and asked: “Are you also from Germany?“ – “Yes“, the religious replied and then a conversation began. But the patient asked for not talking of religion and faith. “Otherwise“, he added “I start cursing so that you will certainly go on and leave me alone.“

With compassion, the priest looked at the old, depraved sinner. Despite of all, he did not give up the hope of saving his soul. He decided to pray for him and he consoled himself with the fact that he still had time because the old man would have to stay longer in the hospital.

The days afterwards Father Bruno had to think again and again of Hell in which the old man would come soon.

But then, he was suddenly called to the sick man who suffered from a faintness attack. He did everything to make him receive the Holy Sacraments; it was in vain. The attack passed. The patient became calmer. Father Bruno warned him to make the necessary steps otherwise he would certainly go to Hell.

The old man replied: “I do not believe in Hell.“ – “So you do not want to believe,“ the religious said in astonishment, “what Christ has solemnly taught, what the Catholic Church and the Holy Scripture teaches, what all Christians believe, that there is a condemnation?“

“Oh, I would believe in Hell“, the old man replied, “but I don’t believe that Hell lasts forever.“ “Do you think that the Lord is following your faith?“ – “I only claim that Hell is not eternal“, the old man answered. “But then, it is not Hell, it is just purgatory“, said the priest, “please think of it again!“ So it went back and forth, until Father Bruno left the room.

During the following days, Father Bruno was stuck by a true terror that he himself might go to Hell. He had generally fulfilled his duties but his whole life seemed to be an empty dream. Shaken to the core, he asked God for mercy and compassion for so many lost hours. He wanted to enter a stricter order to make penance.

But then, we see him back at the bedside of the old man. He asked him again what he would think of Hell. “Leave me alone!“, he replied. “If I am condemned to Hell, I would like to rest here.“ – “Who says that you should be condemned? It only happens if it is your decision; but if you convert, God gives you special graces, otherwise he could have called you years ago.“ – “It is too late to convert“, laughed the patient with scary sparkling eyes.

Then Father Bruno came to him, took gently and quietly his right arm and spoke in a soft voice: “Dear brother! No, it is not too late, it is still the eleventh hour. The Savior, the Son of God, shed His Blood also for you. For your immortal soul he suffered and died on the cross.” The old man listened attentively to the words of the priest.

“Father“, he said, “you are very friendly to me and I don’t want to swear anymore. But I don‘t think that I could be saved. What you have said about Christ is far too high and too much for me. Perhaps you have a special sign by which you can prove that Christ has really shed His Blood for me.“

Father Bruno answered: “May Our Lord forgive your terrible obstinacy! The Lord taught it! If you don’t believe, it will happen to you as it happened to the rich man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man, who was in Hell, wanted a special sign for his brothers. But he got the answer: ´They have Moses and the prophets; if they hear not them, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.´“ (Luke 16:30-31)

As he spoke, his eyes fell over the desperate sick man to the picture of the Immaculate Conception hanging on the wall. Then he noticed a little string with a medal around the patient’s neck. Father Bruno recognized at first glance that it was a miraculous medal which the old unbeliever wore. 

Trembling with joyful excitement, he took the medal to his hands and asked the patient: “Tell me how did you come to his medal? Do you know what it means?“ – “I have had it for a long time; it belongs to me and I don’t give it to anyone; it is a keepsake“, the old man replied. – “Certainly from your mother“, said Father Bruno, “is she still alive?“ – “No, not from my mother, but from another one from the Bas-Rhin, “was the equanimous answer, “her little boy fell into the creek. I happened to see him and I took him out. The woman thanked me very much and did not last until she had taken this medal from the little boy’s neck and given it to me. It was a dear, good woman, and so I have taken the medal as a reward. She insisted that I wear it for all my life…and to do something every day what I don’t want to talk about now.“

At this moment, the priest put his arms around the old man and exclaimed: “O Lord be praised for a thousand times! Now, I tell you what you don’t want to talk about. The name of the village where you saved the little boy is…. And it is four hours from the city…away, and it is now exactly 32 years ago when this accident happened. It was in the afternoon. The creek is situated near a garden. You crossed the garden and in front of the house there was a sign of a baker hanging on the wall.

The man and the woman wanted you to stay with them, but you refused. The woman who gave you the medal wanted you to pray one Hail Mary every day and the little prayer ´O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!´ - Have you kept the promise?“

“Why not?“, was the answer. “I promised it to the dear lady and I have kept it. But how can you know that?“ – “Because the woman was my own mother and because the child you saved was me!“ exclaimed the Father.

He could hardly believe it and repeatedly looked at the religious. But now Father Bruno told him that he had had no peace, until he had been sent from his monastery to Cape Town and other port cities, to this very hospital where his life saver was.

“So, I had to follow you from home to this place to save your soul as you once saved my physical life. God has worked such an obvious miracle for you only because you prayed at least one Hail Mary every day. Is this not a sufficient sign and proof for you to have full hope to believe firmly that the Saviour shed His Blood for you, suffered for you and have given you full satisfaction? Will you continue to resist the call of his grace?“

“No, oh no, the Lord may forgive me, poor sinner; I want to do what you want!“ was the patient’s answer. And he placed his life confession confidently in the priestly heart of the one whom he had once saved, and he received the Holy Communion with great devotion. It was the highest time! He died shortly afterwards. Father Bruno, however, lived on and the longer he lived, the more severe and penitent he was.

Dear faithful!

This story looks like a fairy-tale, but it is a true story! May we have confidence in the Immaculate Conception! May we carry the miraculous medal and pray one Hail Mary with the invocation: "O Mary! conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!" Amen.


Source  http://rexcz.blogspot.com