Gratitude

We should daily express our gratitude towards God for all His benefits. The Advent season gives us an opportunity to anticipate with joy the birth of Christ. The Incarnation was by far the greatest event in the whole history of the world. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Word made Flesh.

God comes to us in the person of Christ. He will come again in glory to be our judge. He comes to us through grace whenever we are willing to open our hearts and accept his bountiful gifts. What more could we possibly ask for?

God gave us absolutely everything when He gave us His Son. We now have the sacraments through which we encounter Christ in a concrete manner. We may receive our Lord in the Eucharist as often as we wish. How can we remain indifferent or ungrateful for the favors God bestows upon us?

Today let us give thanks to God.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Sin

Many of us do not realize that sin kills the soul. Sin kills God Himself. Many love to cling to their sins. We must always meditate seriously about the nature of sin and its effect in our lives. If we sincerely do this, we will learn to have such a hatred for sin that we will cease to commit it.

God created us to be happy and at peace. He gives us His commandments not to be a burden, but to bring us happiness and peace. Unfortunately, many choose unhappiness. Many choose to turn away from God and give themselves over to Satan. We commit sin and soon find ourselves not knowing how to extricate ourselves from it. We lose sight of how nothing is more important than the state of our souls!

Many go to confession and still are not converted because they feel no true contrition for their sins. Our sins crucify our Lord all over again and we feel no contrition! The saints all understood how much sin offends God. They spent most of their lives weeping for their sins!

Let us make our prayer to God a petition that we will amend our lives and feel true contrition for our sins against God!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Advent

The Church in her wisdom gives us the different liturgical seasons of the year to help us follow Christ more closely. We now enter into the season of Advent when we prepare to welcome the "coming" of Christ our Lord.

Christ's first coming was as a helpless infant. He suffered and died to redeem us with His blood. However, His second coming will be much different than the first. In the future, Christ will come in all His glory escorted by His angels and saints to be our judge.

The Church gives us this wonderful season to help us prepare for this second coming. We want it to be a day of joy and rejoicing. However, for many who are not prepared it will be a day of frightful terror.

Is your heart ready to welcome your Savior? Christ also comes to us through His grace, especially in the sacraments. Let us make use of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist while we still have time. We know not the day or the hour of Christ's visitation.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Confession

We cannot even begin to comprehend the goodness of God towards us in giving us the sacraments. They are given not because of any need on the part of God, but because God foresaw our weakness and fraility. He knew how much we would need His sacramental presence, particualry when it comes to the need of forgiveness.

What a great gift it is to have the sacrament that heals the wounds of our souls! We must make frequent use of the sacrament of penance. We must also take great care to make sure our confessions are good ones. It is not enough to simply tell the priest our sins. We must be sincerely sorry for them. Otherwise we receive Holy Communion and offend our Lord!

We cannot put off our confession. We must pray to amend our lives and for the grace of true contrition for our sins. When we are sincerely sorry we must make every effort to remove the spots on our souls through sacramental confession.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Christian and the World

Saint John says: "Never give your love to the world, or to anything in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. All that the world offers is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and earthly ambition. The world and its allurements will pass away, but the man who has done the will of God shall live for ever."

We have a responsibility to discern and carry out the will of God at all times. It is not for us to do our own will. I reluctantly accepted the office of priesthood because it was not my own will for my life, but the will of the Father. Once we have accepted God's will in our lives, we must, according to the words of Saint Cyprian, "be single-minded, firm in faith, and steadfast in courage, ready for God's will, whatever it may be."

We must constantly remind ourselves as baptized Christians how we have renounced the world. As Christians we live in it, but are not of it. We are aliens in this world. We should never fear death because death in this life means an end to our exile. We will then become free from this world and be able to welcome the paradise that awaits us. If we want to show the world that we sincerely live our faith, we must always focus on the eternal life that awaits us after this our exile!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Pure Soul

Saint John Vianney tells us that we know if a person is pure only by looking at him. "His eyes have an air of candor and modesty which leads you to the good God. Some people, on the contrary, look quite inflamed with passion...Satan places himself in their eyes to make others fall and lead them to evil. Those who have lost their purity are like a piece of cloth stained with oil; you may wash and dry it, and the stain always appears again: so it requires a miracle to cleanse the impure soul."

We would truly suffer severe punishment if there were not some pure souls making amends to God for the many sins of impurity. It is a crime all too common in our world. As Christians created in the image of God this sin dishonors our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Nothing impure will enter the kingdom of heaven.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Soul and Christ

The soul that is darkened with sin and does not possess Christ has had its desires degraded. It knows nothing but shame. In the words of Saint Macarius: "Woe to the soul if the Lord does not walk within it to banish with His voice the spiritual beasts of sin...Woe to the soul without Christ as its true pilot; drifting in the darkness, buffeted by the waves of passion, storm-tossed at the mercy of evil spirits, its end is destruction. Woe to the soul that does not have Christ to cultivate it with care to produce the good fruit of the Holy Spirit...Woe to the soul that does not have Christ dwelling in it; deserted and foul with the filth of the passions, it becomes a haven for all the vices."

Christ our King offers His grace to save us from the power of sin. He has prepared our souls to be fitting temples of the Holy Spirit by dying on the Cross. We must always remember our responsibility to glorify God in our bodies.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christ the King

Christ is the conquerer of sin and death. The powers of darkness rail against Christ's Church and against His children. However, we must not fear because Christ is the King of kings and the God of armies.

All Christ's enemies are in His presence infinitely less than the smallest grain of sand. In this life we suffer and struggle in the bosom of the Church, but if we have trust and confidence in Christ our victory is assured.

We must realize that no power of evil can reach the Almighty or snatch from His hand a single soul that is sincerely bound to Him. No lack of success, no weakness, no frailty is able to interfere with Christ's action or hinder His will to do good through a person for the glory of God the Father.

If we are patient and faithful in little things, Our Lord will soon place us over great things. Christ will say: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Salvation

Saint Peter exhorts us to embrace virtue. We have been invested with a divine power by virtue of our baptism. We therefore have everything necessary for living a life of genuine piety. This is part of our two-fold responsibility toward our Creator. Through the knowledge of Christ Himself who has called us to be His own, we have the strength to fulfill our responsibility.

Saint Peter says we must embrace virtue with a lively faith. Since we have left a world corrupted by lust to become sharers in the divine nature, we must practice self-control. Self control leads to perseverance. Perseverance leads to piety. Piety in turn leads to charity. Charity leads to love.

We thus fulfill the second part of our duty toward God, namely to love. Saint Peter says that these qualities bear fruit in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we lack these qualities we possess a spiritual blindness.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Judgment

We should never lose sight of the fact that one day we will all be judged without mercy. All our sins will be revealed in plain sight of the whole world. We must use this short life we have for repentance and conversion. We must assure ourselves of the Kingdom of God.

As long as we live here on earth we can hope for pardon. However, if we wait too long or put off our repentance, it may be too late. There is a chance that there may be no help for us. We should pray to God for the grace that we never lose sight of the day of judgment and that He will not allow us to fall into temptation.

We want to hear on the last day the words of our Redeemer: "Come ye blessed of my Father, possess ye the Kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning."

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

We should strive as much as possible to adore our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We should look for every opportunity possible to pray before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. There are many forms of prayer and there are many opportunities to pray. In fact, we can pray at all times and absolutely anywhere. However, there is absolutely no substitute for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed.

The Consecrated Host is the true presence of Christ, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Praying before our Lord's presence in the Host in like a window into heaven. It has the effect of calming our souls and setting our hearts not only on the eternal, but on the absolutely truest reality in the universe--God Himself.

What more could we ask for? What more is there to look for in our daily routine after we have placed ourselves in the true presence of our Lord and Creator? He inspires us, gives us strength, enlightens us, and shows us the true path to peace of heart and mind. When was the last time you placed yourself in the Eucharistic presence of Jesus Christ?

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Prayer and Charity

As God's creatures, we have a two-fold responsibility toward our Creator; to pray and to love. We must place our relationship with Christ above absolutely everything else in our lives. We must foster this relationship through our dedication to prayer each and every day. Prayer is a combination of an act of the will and a response to God's grace in our lives. God wants our attention more than anything else. Submission to His will is what He desires of us more than anything.

After we have prayed, we must be people of charity. If our prayer does not evolve into active works for our brothers, it means nothing. What have we done for Christ today? How have we neglected Him? What we do or do not do for others we do or not do for Christ.

Let us pray and love.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Prayer and Penance

We must constantly pray. Christ prayed before, during and after every significant occasion in His entire life. Contemplation and meditation are what we must beg God's grace for in order to be disposed to them. As we pray we must ask God for a knowledge of ourselves and our own sinfulness. After we acknowledge our sins we must pray for the grace to do penance for them.

Prayer and penance are essential to the life of the Christian. We really don't have any idea of the number of innocent souls who combine their innocence with lives of penance not only for the salvation of their own souls, but for ours as well!

Let us strive to renew our dedication to prayer and making atonement for our sins through penance.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Peter the Rock

When Christ asked Peter and the apostles "Who do you say that I am?" Peter was able to acknowledge Christ for who He was. Peter's response was "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus then told Peter that he would be the rock upon which Christ would build His Church and that the jaws of hell would never prevail against it.

Today we commemorate Pope Saint Martin who succeeded Peter in his chair. What a great privilege it is to be a part of the Church that Christ Himself established! It is a Church that will always exist! We can rest assured that we have access to the fullness of the faith in the Catholic Church! There is to be no further revelation. Through the successors of Saint Peter Christ Himself continues to communicate the fullness of His truth to all who are willing to listen.

Today let us pray the we will embrace the truth with open hearts and do our part to lead others into the truth. Let us also pray for Christian unity.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Repentance

No one knows the day or the hour when our life will be required of us says our Lord. When we have left this world, we shall no longer be able to repent and confess our sins. We must utilize all means necessary to keep our bodies pure and follow God's commandments. In order to obtain eternal life it is absolutely necessary that we remain pure and keep our baptismal promises.

Our bodies are temples of God. We shall therefore be judged in the body. Let us turn to God for forgiveness with contrite hearts.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Doing all things well

We should ask God each day for the grace to perform the seemingly simple, every-day actions of our life extraordinarily well. Since we are in fact created in God's image, we must always strive to imitate Him. "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5,48).

As Christians we must always strive to conform our lives with that of Christ. Christ always gave glory to God His Father. He performed all His actions for the love of God His Father, even the very smallest of things.

God is just as concerned with the seemingly insignificant things in our daily lives as he is with the significant. This is why it is so important for us to show the same interest in our smallest actions as we do for the important ones. This is how we learn to grow in grace and holiness.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

First Friday

Saint Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven. We must remember constantly that we are a pilgrim people. The reason we were born is to be with God forever in heaven. Christ Himself exhorts us in the scriptures to pursue heavenly realities with but a fraction of the fervor that we often pursue the things of this world.

We have a special opportunity on the First Friday of the month to remember the infinite love Christ shows us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. He gives so much to us and in return asks so very little. All He longs for is our unconditional love in return! Today let us make a special effort to visit Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and pray for His mercy and love!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

All Souls Day

Today it is most fitting that we pray for the dead, particularly for the souls in Purgatory. The souls in Purgatory may no longer pray on behalf of themselves in order to be released from their suffering. They rely completely on our prays in order to aid their delivery to eternal happiness.

Prayer for the departed, sacrifices, and suffrages for the dead are very much a part of our Christian worship. We should always foster a particular devotion towards the souls in Purgatory. Scripture reminds us that: "It is a holy and wholesome thought, to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (2Maccab. 12:45-46).

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most efficacious prayer we can offer to God in order to alleviate the suffering of the poor souls in Purgatory. Let us make every effort to attend Mass today and pray for those souls who are counting on our intercession.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching