Bishop Giles sermon for April 27, 2013
Bishop Giles OFM 4th Sunday after Easter

Video Sermon 4th Sunday after Easter - Bishop Bonaventure, OFM

Fourth Sunday After Easter - Fr. Joseph, OFM

Holy Mass from Our Lady of the Rosary-Fr. Bernard, OFM

 Father Bernard's Sermon this morning was on this wonderful saint! 

Luchesio Modestini

Blessed Luchesius of Poggibonsi, T.O.S.F.
The first Franciscan tertiary
Born	unknown Poggibonsi, Tuscany, Italy
Died	April 28, 1260
Honored in	Third Order of St. Francis, Roman Catholicism
Major shrine	Poggibonsi, Italy
Feast	April 28

Life

Luchesius Modestini (also Luchesio, Lucchese, Lucesio, Lucio) (ca. 1180-1260) was a native and merchant of the town of Poggibonsi in the Province of Siena around 1180-1182. His biographers state that, more than most merchants, he was so entirely and solely concerned with material success that he was generally reputed to be an avaricious man. His wife, Buonadonna, was said to be of a similar disposition.
At some point Luchesius had a moment of conversion and realized how foolish it is to strive only for worldly goods. He began to practice works of mercy and to perform his religious obligations with fidelity. After Luchesius had put on the gray tunic or attire of a penitent, he rapidly advanced toward perfect holiness. He practiced ascetic austerities: often fasting on bread and water and sleeping on the hard floor; at his work He bore God constantly in his heart.
With his wife joining him in following a life inspired by their faith, Luchesius and Buonadonna had the option of separating and each entering monasteries. This was an ancient and respectable way for husbands and wives to develop their spiritual aspirations, commonly practiced by married couples who felt a deep desire to follow God. Clearly they chose to remain a married couple. In this they revived a way of sanctity for married couples.
Since they had no one to care for but themselves, and Luchesius feared that in conducting his business he might relapse into covetousness, he gave up his business entirely. He and his wife divided everything among the poor and retained for themselves only so much land as would suffice for their support. Luchesius tilled this with his own hands and used the bounty that was beyond their need to the hungry.
About this time Saint Francis of Assisi came to Tuscany. After his sermon on penance, many people desired to leave all and to follow his way of life. But Saint Francis admonished them calmly to persevere in their vocation, for he had in mind soon to give them a guide by which they could serve God perfectly even in the world, without entering into Religious life.
At Poggibonsi Francis visited Luchesius, with whom he had become acquainted through former business transactions. Francis greatly rejoiced to find this avaricious man so altered, and Luchesius, who had already heard about the blessed activities of Francis, asked for special instructions for himself and his wife, so that they might lead a life in the world that would be pleasing to God. Saint Francis then explained to them his plans for the establishment of an Order for lay people; and Luchesius and Buonadonna asked to be received into it at once. Thus, according to tradition, they became the first members of the Order of Penance, which later came to be called the Third Order of St. Francis, which name, in 1976, was changed to the Secular Franciscan Order.
If Luchesius and Buonadonna were really the first Tertiaries (members of a Third Order), they must have become so not long after St. Francis founded his First Order in 1209. The first simple rule of life, which St. Francis gave to the first tertiaries at that time, was supplanted in 1221 by one which Cardinal Ugolino prepared in legal wording. And in the same year Pope Honorius III approved this rule verbally. For this reason the year 1221 is often given as the date of the founding of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Fourth Sunday after Easter 28 April 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

The liturgical seasons are once again about to change – from the Easter season to Pentecost. With each change we are reminded of the similar change in the life of Christ and of the Church. Jesus is preparing the Apostles for his Ascension into Heaven and the coming of the Holy Ghost.

Change always has an element of fear because of the unknown. Christ is removing some of this unknown for the Apostles. Our Holy Mother the Church likewise is preparing us for the unknown. We pass through the liturgical seasons year after year and this change is fairly well known so it has lost much of the unknown and therefore the fear of these changes. There is however, a change in our lives from year to year as we progress in our material lives, and more importantly in our spiritual lives.

As the Paschal season is drawing to a close the joy of Our Lord’s Resurrection is fading as we anticipate His glorious Ascension into Heaven. This loss of Christ’s visible human presence is not a little disconcerting, but it is necessary for the Apostles as well as us. We are to follow in a broad sense in our spiritual lives the development of the Apostles. We began with Advent and the longing for the Savior. This longing and desire came to fulfillment in the Birth of Our Lord. We are born in sin and fall miserably daily but, through baptism we receive the Christ Child into our lives. As we approach the Epiphany our Faith brings the revelation of Christ more clearly into focus and joy fills our hearts as we make these small steps increasing our joy and more importantly our love for God. We are then reminded of the loss of the Christ Child in the Temple, as we are allowed to fall and Christ begins in this early stage to strengthen us through hardships. He is not away long and then we find Him again to strengthen and renew our Love, Faith and Joy.

Then we approach the Lenten season and are shown the pain and suffering that we have caused Jesus because of His profound love of us. We see His suffering and then our focus is upon our sins, faults, and failings that were the very cause of His sufferings. We follow Him to Calvary in the spirit of penance and mortification, repenting and confessing our sins, and shedding tears of contrition. Then we experience the joy of having our sins forgiven as our Holy Mother Church speaks to us of the Resurrection.

Now once again Jesus is going to hide Himself from us. He is about to ascend into Heaven. We begin to feel this loss already even before He is gone. He has given us Himself in the Holy Eucharist and He has promised us the gift of the Holy Ghost. We have experienced sin and forgiveness several times and hopefully have learned from each fall and made good use of the evil by learning humility and a distrust of ourselves, and a greater and greater love for God should be filling our hearts. We are in a way being weaned from the spiritual milk and soft food and are beginning to take more solid spiritual food.

We fear this progress and are eager to hold on to the pleasures of childhood we have known; and fear the difficulties that spiritual maturity will bring. But our Faith promises us that God is with us, He will not ever give us more than we can handle. As He said to St. Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

As we approach Pentecost we make the spiritual transition from adolescence into adulthood. When the Holy Ghost comes to us in the sacrament of Confirmation, we leave many of the easy joys and consolations of our youth, the immature love of childhood transforms step by step into more mature love of spiritual adulthood. The fears of hardships and difficulties fade away as the grace of Charity fills us more and more. With the grace of God we are able to accept, embrace, and even love the crosses of this life. With this maturity we are inspired to follow Our Lord to Calvary and even shed our blood with His. Suffering, sacrifice and even death loses its sting as the God of Love fills our hearts more and more.

This God of love has convinced this world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. As we are filled with this Holy Ghost we too see more and more clearly the sins of this world and resolve to turn away from this world of sin. We see the justice in all that God does, in the crosses, suffering and misery in this world, as well as the apparent success of evil. We judge this evil world and the devils that guide and lead so many of this world on their way to Hell. We see the temporary success of the evil in this world knowing that these poor people only seek material success at the expense of spiritual success. God is just and is good – He gives them what they desire here and now; but there is Hell to pay for it. They do not love Him or wish to be with Him so they will forever be separated from Him.

May this cycle of the liturgical seasons spur us onward in our spiritual growth and progress so that we mature and develop our love for God. We must never fear to take the next spiritual step but with Faith and Hope grow in Charity from day to day and season to season.

On the 17th of December, 1899, the fast mail on the way from
Bordeaux to Paris met with a collision. In the mail car was Gabriel
Gargam, a 30-year-old post office express clerk. At the time of the
wreck the train was going at the speed of fifty miles an hour. By the
crash Gargam was thrown fifty-two feet. He was terribly bruised and
broken and paralyzed from the waist down. He was barely alive when
lifted onto a stretcher. Taken to a hospital, his existence for some
time was a living death. After eight months he had wasted away to a
mere skeleton, weighing but seventy-eight pounds, although normally a
big man. His feet became gangrenous. He could take no solid food and
was obliged to take nourishment by a tube. Only once in twenty-four
hours could he be fed even that way.

Gargam's condition was pitiable in the extreme. He could not help
himself even in the most trifling needs. Two trained nurses were
needed day and night to assist him. Previous to the accident, Gargam
had not been to church for fifteen years. His aunt, who was a nun of
the Order of the Sacred Heart, begged him to go to Lourdes. He
refused. She continued her appeals to him to place himself in the
hands of Our Lady of Lourdes. He was deaf to all her prayers. After
continuous pleading of his mother he consented to go to Lourdes. It
was now two years since the accident, and not for a moment had he
left his bed all that time. He was carried on a stretcher to the
train. The exertion caused him to faint, and for a full hour he was
unconscious. They were on the point of abandoning the pilgrimage, as
it looked as if he would die on the way, but the mother insisted, and
the journey was made.

Arrived at Lourdes, he was carried to the miraculous pool and
tenderly placed in its waters with no effect. Rather a bad effect
resulted, for the exertion threw him into a swoon and he lay
apparently dead. On the way back they saw the procession of the
Blessed Sacrament approaching. They stood aside to let it pass,
having placed a cloth over the face of the man whom they supposed to
be dead.

As the priest passed carrying the Sacred Host, he pronounced
Benediction over the sorrowful group around the covered body. Soon
there was a movement from under the covering. To the amazement of the
bystanders, the body raised itself to a sitting posture. While the
family were looking dumbfounded and the spectators gazed in
amazement, Gargam said in a full, strong voice that he wanted to get
up. He got up and stood erect, walked a few paces and said that he
was cured. The multitude looked in wonder, and then fell on their
knees and thanked God for this new sign of His power at the shrine of
His Blessed Mother. For two years hardly any food had passed his lips
but now he sat down to the table and ate a hearty meal.

On August 20th, 1901, sixty prominent doctors examined Gargam.
Without stating the nature of the cure, they pronounced him entirely
cured. Gargam, out of gratitude to God in the Holy Eucharist and His
Blessed Mother, consecrated himself to the service of the invalids at
Lourdes. Fifteen years after his miraculous cure he was still engaged
in his strenuous and devoted work. He was for years a living, visible
testimony of the supernatural.

 Bishop Giles published this on facebook yesterday and it is so interesting and so worthy of our time that it's being posted here for you:



"I am in Atlanta and was reading St. Augustine. I find his interpretation of various scriptural numbers very interesting -- principally the numbers 7, 10, 40, 50. He states that there are many more interpretations that he does not have the time to mention. I began to wonder about the scourging of our Lord -- 40 less one. I know from other readings that to scourge more than 40 meant to scourge to death. It was considered the final death blow. Therefore, because they wanted to crucify Him, they limited the number to 39. There are ten commandments that we break in four ways (thought, word, deed, and -- the one everyone forgets -- omission) this makes a total of 40. Christ's scourging was not complete. His sacrifice (as St. Paul tells us) must be completed by us. Rather than have us die in making the necessary reparation for our sins, Jesus has taken 39 of our lashes leaving us to receive only one. This little bit of penance/sacrifice on our part fills up that which was lacking in Christ's sacrifice. Christ has died for us and offered a perfect sacrifice, but for that sacrifice to become applicable to us we must take the final blow ourselves. We must willingly (lovingly) embrace our daily crosses with Him. The sacrifices that God and the Church demand of us are nothing compared to what we actually deserve. Mathematically we might consider it 1/40th or a miniscule part. Considering this we are more convinced of the heinousness of our sins and the magnificent love of God for us. Truly we must see great cause for rejoicing in the wondrous life that God has given us, His love for us, and the ease that He creates for us to make reparation and return to Him."

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Sermon for April 20 - Bishop Giles, OFM
Third Sunday After Easter - Bishop Giles, OFM

Third Sunday After Easter - Bishop Bonaventure, OFM

Third Sunday after Easter - Holy Mass from Our Lady of the Rosary - Fr. Bernard, OFM

For a long time the parish priest of Moncada in Spain had
celebrated Mass without any scruples of conscience, when suddenly he
became the prey of a violent doubt as to whether he had been rightly
ordained. In his distress, to allay his doubts he determined to put
his case before his bishop. He immediately set out on foot and
journeyed to Valencia, the seat of the diocese. In this place it
pleased Almighty God to deliver him from his trouble, and to give him
light and peace by means of a very remarkable miracle.

The priest had been appointed to say Christmas Mass. He had reached
the awful moment of Consecration, and with trembling hands took the
host and pronounced the words of transubstantiation with a quivering
voice. As he raised the Sacred Host aloft, and knelt again in
trembling adoration, the cry of a little five-year-old child rang out
from the congregation: "O Mama, what a lovely child! See there, Mama!
He is up on the altar." A little lad nearby, apparently forgetful of
everything else, stood upon the chair and clapped his hands with joy.
The boy's mother was embarrassed and bade him hush, for no one else
had seen the vision of beauty; only the innocent child saw it when
the Sacred Host was raised on high. Again and again he entreated his
mother to look. "Such a beautiful child, Mama," he whispered, "just
like the little baby over there in the crib."

The mother and child awaited to hear a second Mass which was said by
the same priest at dawn, and again at the Elevation the little boy
exclaimed, "Oh, there he is again, Mama, don't you see? The priest is
holding him up in his hands and now he has laid him on the altar!" The
mother bade the child be silent; she could not see anything, the great
grace being granted only to her little son.

The priest completed the Christmas offering by saying the third Mass.
At the Elevation the boy was all excitement, and the same scene was
enacted as before. The happy mother repeated this strange occurrence
to others, and through them it reached the ears of the priest himself
who, it may be believed, was greatly comforted thereby. However, his
scruples were not entirely removed. He doubted whether the child
might not have been deceived, and therefore he requested that the
little boy be cross-examined by him. But the answers of the child
were so accurate that he found no reason to doubt the reality of the
manifestation. Full of joy and filled with gratitude towards God, he
invited the little boy and his mother to be present as often as
possible at his Mass, and on each occasion the miracle was renewed.
As doubts still lingered in his mind, he resolved to receive a final
convincing proof. Taking three particles with him to the altar, he
placed two upon the corporal and consecrated them, leaving the third
one unconsecrated but within reach. After Holy Mass was ended he
called the little boy to the altar, and asked him if he saw the
divine Infant in either of the particles, and, if so, in which. "Oh
yes, Father," said the boy, "there He is! See, He is stretching out
His hands." The little fellow seemed quite ravished with delight. On
pointing to the other host the priest asked: "And what about it? Is
the Divine Infant also in that other host?" The child answered, "No."
"But are you sure?" queried the priest. "Oh yes, Father, there is
nothing there." At the last manifestation the peace of the good
priest returned to him. Unrest and scruple vanished from his mind
forever, and for the remainder of his life he served God with greater
love and piety.