"Tell me, I ask you, where will we get by all these labors of ours? What are we seeking for? To what purpose do we serve in office? What higher ambition can we have at court than to become friends of the emperor? In such a position what is there that is not fragile and full of peril? By how many perils do we arrive at a greater peril? When will we get there? But to become God's friend, if I wish it, see, I become one here and now." (St. Augustine)   
Bishop Giles

Today’s Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians …

We are either children of the slave girl or children of the free woman. The choice is ours and has nothing to do with who physically gave birth to us. If we belong to the True Church we are children of the Free Woman, if we belong to any other church we are children of the slave girl. The children of the Church are fewer than the children of the slave girls. But, the children of the slave girls are cast out and only the children of the Church have the inheritance.

May we rejoice in having been given the grace of children and not of slaves. May we never falter from the Church (our mother) or from God (our Father). This will entail that we receive our crosses, corrections and punishments: willingly, cheerfully, and gratefully with the loving hearts of true children and not of slaves.
Bishop Giles, OFM Sermon for Laetare Sunday 

Feast of St. Catherine of Bologna-Bishop Bonaventure, OFM 
Laetare Sunday - Bishop Bonaventure, OFM 

Laetare Sunday - Fr. Joseph OFM 

Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Fr. Bernard, OFM-Laetare Sunday 

CHAPTER X
HOW BROTHER MASSEO TOLD ST FRANCIS, AS IN JEST, THAT THE WORLD WAS GONE AFTER HIM; AND HOW ST FRANCIS ANSWERED THAT IT WAS INDEED SO, TO THE CONFUSION OF THE WORLD AND THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD
St Francis once was living at the Convent of the Portiuncula, with Brother Masseo of Marignano, a man of great sanctity and great discernment, who held frequent converse with God; for which reason St Francis loved him much. One day, as St Francis was returning from the forest, where he had been in prayer, the said Brother Masseo, wishing to test the humility of the saint, went forth to meet him exclaiming: "Why after thee? Why after thee?" To which St Francis made answer: "What is this? What meanest thou?" Brother Masseo answered: "I mean, why is it that all the world goeth after thee; why do all men wish to see thee, to hear thee, and to obey thy word? For thou art neither comely nor learned, nor art thou of noble birth. How is it, then, that all the world goeth after thee?" St Francis, hearing these words, rejoiced greatly in spirit, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, remained for a long space with his mind rapt in God; then, coming to himself, he knelt down, returning thanks to God with great fervour of spirit, and addressing Brother Masseo, said to him: "Wouldst thou know why all men come after me? Know that it is because the Lord, who is in heaven, who sees the evil and the good in all places - because, I say, his holy eyes have found among men no one more wicked, more imperfect, or a greater sinner than I am; and to accomplish the wonderful work which he intends to do, he has found no creature more vile than I am on earth; for which reason he has chosen me, to confound all strength, beauty, greatness, noble birth, and all the science of the world, that men may learn that every virtue and every good gift cometh from him, and not from any creature, that none may glory before him; but if any one glory, let him glory in the Lord, to whom belongeth all glory in eternity." Then Brother Masseo, at such a humble answer, given with so much fervour, was greatly impressed, and learned of a certainty that St Francis was well grounded in humility.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Fourth Sunday in Lent 10 March 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Jesus is the turning point in all of history. We read how St. Paul reminds us, in today’s epistle to the Galatians, that there are two sons, or two different paths; and we see in today’s Gospel how our Lord is symbolically teaching us the same thing. St. Paul speaks of sons of slavery and sons of freedom. In the Old Testament they were slaves to the Law and obeyed through coercion or servile fear, whereas in the New Testament we are free men who obey through love or filial fear. There is truly a vast difference between the two even though outwardly they may appear the same. One type of obedience gains no merit and is unpleasant the other is filled with merit as well as pleasure and contentment. We all must obey; the only question is how we will obey. Everyone eventually complies in obedience to the will of God. The good are rewarded in heaven for their faithful and loving obedience. The evil obey God’s will of justice when they are punished and must suffer. Even in this life they are already miserable because of their servile attitude. It is God’s will that because they do not love they make their own misery.

Christ came down from the mountain of the Old Testament of servility and the harshness of the Law and entered into the desert that was devoid of the Law. He is inviting and instituting a new Law – the Law of Charity. A law that is open to everyone regardless of heredity, wealth, or position. The Gentiles as well as the Israelites are all invited. The Old Law is represented in the five loaves as there were five books to the Old Law. The two fishes represent the Old and the New Testaments together. The twelve baskets left over represent the twelve tribes of Israel as well as the twelve Apostles.

Before Christ came, the Law was a burden and heavy weight upon the people, because they were acting as slaves in their obedience to the Law; and so it is that many rejected God and turned away to false Gods. These are the children of the slave girl born into bondage.

Jesus put the five loaves (the Old Law) into the hands of His Apostles to distribute and, lo and behold, there is enough for everyone with plenty left to spare. In the New Law where we become children rather than slaves and we take the Laws of God with love and filial devotion of children, we find enjoyment and satisfaction in the Law. We are filled and still there is much left over. We can see with eyes now open how the Law prepared and pointed out the way for Christ. The Law is now not given to us from a single tribe or family, but is distributed to us from various families that God has chosen specifically for this task. The Apostles are elevated not to a worldly priesthood because of their birth and ancestry, but rather they are elevated to an eternal priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek. They are to offer an unbloody sacrifice of bread and wine – a sacrifice that is clean and beautiful, and brings love and joy to all who worthily receive It.

This season of Lent is a penitential season imposed upon us by a law of the Church. We have the option of being children of the slave girl or children of the free woman. In other words, we can enter into penance unwillingly and begrudgingly as the people of the Old Testament (the slaves) did and find nothing in it to feed our souls, not profiting in the least by it, because we only obey servilely; or we can enter into the penance willingly and cheerfully as sons eager to do anything and everything that their Father desires because they love Him, and thus find joy and contentment in our penances. The slaves understand nothing and obey mechanically and without merit. The sons obey with understanding, and love. The Law, given to and obeyed by the slaves, they did not understand because the meaning was hidden. The meaning was hidden because they did not love. The Law that is given to sons is explained and understood because there is charity in the hearts of sons that is not present in the hearts of slaves.

The freedom of the sons is not license as so many mistakenly think. The true sons love their Father (God) and their Mother (the Church); they obey not from compulsion but from love. Those who have true Charity and are therefore true sons are free and they recognize God and the Church, rejecting false gods (idols) as well as false churches. The true Church (the bishops who are true successors of the Apostles) is the only place that we may feed our souls with this miraculous life giving bread that is never depleted but is always more than sufficient.

Let us always strive to be true children of God always recognizing the true Church through which God feeds our souls. To accomplish this it is necessary that we have true Charity (an uncompromising love for God and the Truth). To obtain this true Charity we must humble ourselves in prayer and penance so that we may not be deceived by false teachers. This prayer and penance is done with joy by all the true sons of freedom. May we always be cheerful givers to the Lord and thus be found worthy to be called children rather than slaves.

"Compromise with those not of the Faith is at all times the deadliest of errors. Here precisely is the danger of religious indifferentism. Here is the danger of socialism. Here is the danger of mixed marriages. Here is the danger of seeking to keep at all costs the golden opinion of the world and fearing its contempt. Here is the danger of education in non-Catholic schools, no matter how innocent they may seem to be."--Fr. Joseph Husslein, The Catholic's Work in the World (Imprimatur 1917), pp. 93-94

First Friday in March - Bishop Giles, OFM
First Saturday in March - Bishop Giles, OFM
Third Sunday in Lent - Bishop Giles, OFM

Third Sunday in Lent - Bishop Bonaventure, OFM 

Third Sunday in Lent-Holy Sacrifice of the Mass-Fr. Bernard, OFM 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Third Sunday in Lent 3 March 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

“Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep It.” We often forget that it is not enough for us to have been associated with Jesus in this life. To have carried and nurtured Jesus is not what entitles Mary to be called blessed. Too often we are led to believe that once a place has been consecrated to God that it will be forever His. Our once Catholic buildings have been desecrated and God has been driven out. These houses are no longer blessed. Christ has left these places not only physically but also spiritually. 

When physical things are dedicated to God the Church begins with an exorcism. The consecration of Churches is in this manner much like the baptism of a person. The devil is first driven out. Then that which was once profane is made sacred. The Church buildings were preserved from any source of profanation or desecration, and any that had the misfortune to have been desecrated in some manner had to be cleansed again. 

As the Modernists took over once Catholic Churches they began by first gradually watering down the doctrines and then the form (words) of the Sacraments, so that eventually transubstantiation and sacrifice no longer took place in these once Sacred Places. The Word of God was corrupted in the moral and doctrinal teachings and the Physical Christ was driven out of the Sacrament. At this moment the devils that were exorcised when the building was consecrated re-entered; and brought along seven others that were worse. The sad state of these buildings much like the sad state of human souls was worse than before. 

The blasphemy is that now they allege to have and speak of Jesus Christ, but the spirit within them is not the Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost) but is rather the spirit of anti-christs (the devils). Because the kingdom of Hell is not divided in the attack against God and the Church we see that the devils are not cast out any longer by this Modernist church. The office of exorcist has been thrown out with the other minor orders. The Modernist baptisms have been robbed of exorcisms. 

The houses that are swept clean are not clean in the sense that they are free from sin or corruption. What the Scriptures refer to can be best understood when we understand some simple yet profound philosophical concepts. Evil and sin are not something positive. They are the absence of some good that should be there. In speech we speak of these negations as if they were something positive or tangible. We speak of sins that we have committed as if they were positive, but in reality they are the negations of what we should have done. For example, darkness is not a positive thing, but is rather the absence of light; and a hole is not a positive thing but rather the absence of something that would normally be in that place. All sin is the absence of some virtue or grace and ultimately the absence of the most important virtue of charity. So when we read that the houses were empty and swept clean, we are to understand that all virtue and grace have been removed. There is now a void of darkness or emptiness; and into this void the devils enter readily, quickly and easily. 

It is foolishness for us to look upon these houses as blessed now just because God once physically resided there in the Holy Eucharist or He was once there spiritually when the true doctrines of Jesus Christ were preached there. Houses are only blessed if they receive and keep both Jesus and His Word. The same is true with human souls. It is not enough that we have been baptized and once received Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist, we must keep Him and His Word with us at all times. If we fail to hold on to Him, our house becomes empty and swept clean of all grace and virtue. Any semblance of grace and virtue is only that, a semblance, and therefore it is an illusion and deception of the devils, because without the Holy Ghost living within we are empty shells.

We can readily see the emptiness of the Modernist churches that have been stolen from the Catholic Church, and if we are astute we can see the works and effects of the eight devils that now dwell therein. What we must be even more concerned about is our own souls. Our souls are much more important to God than these physical structures. God wants our hearts not the inanimate buildings.

The end of creation and time is drawing nearer to us each day, and just as Noah warned the people of his day but was ignored by the majority so today the True Church through Her True Bishops warn us again and are similarly ignored by the majority. Let us not be among that majority when Jesus returns, but rather let us already have Him living within us and find our souls not empty and swept clean but rather decorated and filled with His graces and virtues.