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Monday, August 31, 2020

Carrying Our Crosses - 22nd Sunday in OT - August 30th, 2020

In February 2019, I was blessed to lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  We went to many places in the Holy Land where the events in the Bible actually happened.  While we were in Jerusalem, we took the opportunity to walk the Way of the Cross.  We started near the site believed to be where Jesus was condemned by pilot, then we walked through Jerusalem carrying a large wooden cross.  We had at least 5 people carrying it at a time, and I was leading the Stations of the Cross as we stopped at different locations that commemorated those events.  We couldn’t take the wooden Cross all the way to the top of Calvary because Calvary is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 

Although we couldn’t take the cross all the way to Calvary, we did carry it most of the way.  Why did we do that? ... Listen to my homily and find out!

Readings:  Jer 20:7-9; Ps 63; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27

Key Themes:  Good out of Evil, Carrying Our Crosses


Carrying a cross through the streets of Jerusalem
February 2019

Excerpt from homily:

Whatever difficulty, challenge, suffering, or burden we face, we can unite that to the sufferings of Jesus Christ for a greater good as we carry that cross.  Some crosses can be small and easy to endure, like a paper cut.  Others can be devastating and difficult to comprehend like the terrorist attacks that took place on 9/11 back in 2001.  But, God can bring good out of any evil.  We as a nation rallied together after 9/11 and for a time many who fell away from the faith came back.  We must cooperate with the grace that God offers us when we are confronted with our crosses, and in this way we can experience and receive the good that He intends to bring out of it. 


P. S. Ironically, I mentioned in my homily a cross of a paper cut and got one the next morning. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to carry this cross and offer up this minor suffering in union with the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord!

Sunday, August 23, 2020

A Huge Responsibility - 21st Sunday in OT - August 23rd, 2020

In 2017 Msgr. Rivituso was named the new auxiliary bishop for St. Louis.  At that time, I was still a seminarian and many seminarians would ask each other about the possibility of becoming a bishop someday.  A common response was not to want it because of the huge responsibility that comes with being a bishop. ... We are about to get a new Archbishop for St. Louis.  Archbishop-designate Mitchell Rozanski will be installed as our new Archbishop this Tuesday on the Feast of St. Louis.  This is a huge responsibility. 

Listen to my homily to learn more about this responsibility of a bishop.


Readings:  Is 22:19-23; Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8; Rom 11:33-36; Mt 16:13-20

Key Themes:  Responsibility of a bishop 

I challenge you to pray for Archbishop-designate Mitchell Rozanski every day this week with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. 

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Pray Like the Canaanite Woman - 20th Sunday in OT - August 16, 2020

A young man set his heart upon a young woman back in the 1920’s.  He expressed his romantic interest in her by a letter.  She replied saying that it would never work out.  However, he was not deterred by her letter.  Instead he was inspired to write another.  She again resisted his advances.  He did not give up and wrote again.  Although she gave little evidence that a romantic relationship could ever work out, she continued to write back to him.  The very fact that she would continue to respond gave him hope and he would look for every opportunity in what she said in her letters to try and persuade her to give him a chance.  She seemed to be playing hard to get, and as she was willing to continue the exchange of letters, the young man’s love for her continued to grow.  Listen to my homily (recorded at the 5:30 pm Mass) to find out what happens and how this is similar to the prayer of the Canaanite woman.  Or watch the video recording from the 9:15 am Mass!


Readings:  Is 56:1, 6-7; Ps 67; Rom 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt 15:21-28

Key Themes:  Pray like her, imitate the Canaanite Woman, Perseverance in prayer, Faith, and Humility




Sunday, August 9, 2020

Benefits of Adoration - 19th Sunday in OT - August 9th, 2020

St. Alphonsus Liguori said:

Know also that you will probably gain more by praying fifteen minutes before the Blessed Sacrament than by all the other spiritual exercises of the day. True, Our Lord hears our prayers anywhere, for He has made the promise, ‘Ask, and you shall receive,’ but He has revealed to His servants that those who visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament will obtain a more abundant measure of grace.



Readings:  1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a / Ps 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14 [8] / Rom 9:1-5 / Mt 14:22-33

Key Themes:  Adoration, Benefits of Adoration, Expanding Adoration to Tuesdays


Although Mass is objectively superior to Adoration, and Adoration is an extension of the Mass, many people are too easily distracted during Mass to be open to all the graces God wishes to give them.  Adoration allows us an extended time of quiet prayer before the Lord so that we can be less distracted and more focus on the Lord and receive more from Him than if we didn't spend any time at all in Adoration.


No editing was done to this picture,
the glow around the top of the monstrance
 is how it appeared in the camera!

Please take a moment to help us determine if there is enough interest in Adoration on Tuesdays from 7 am to 7 pm for us to commit to having it.   Eucharistic Adoration Survey:

  https://ascensionchesterfield.wufoo.com/forms/z1kjy18s1njc7rr/

Last Posting for this Blog!

Hello Everyone, I was blessed to be at Ascension for 4 years and all my Sunday homilies, most Holy Days of Obligation homilies, some Vocatio...