Holiness

If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. To many, the Lord's command seems difficult and painful. But to those who experience the wisdom of Christ His command is not really difficult or painful because Christ Himself helps us to do what He commands. Christ says "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Love makes easy whatever may be difficult with respect to His commands.

To take up one's cross means we must endure many things that are painful. When we decide to follow Christ and embrace His teachings we will inevitably be contradicted. People will try to stop us. Even those who call themselves disciples of Christ will sometimes do so. Many people call themselves Christians, but few are truly friends of Christ because few are truly willing to suffer for His sake. If we wish to follow Christ we must use any obstacle and unite it to the cross. We must endure all hardships for the sake of Christ. "If anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself."

This is a command to all people; virgins, brides, widows, married women, monks, married men, clergy and laity. It is a command the whole Church must embrace. All members have their place in the Church. All must follow Christ in their own particular way of life. We must deny ourselves. We must rely on not our own strength, but on the strength of Christ Himself. We must take up our cross by enduring whatever pain the world brings our way.

Let us learn to love Christ more completely. He can neither deceive nor be deceived. He will never fail us. His promises are all true. Often people's faith fails because Christ does not offer an immediate reward. However, if we hold out and endure with patience we have carried our cross.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Holy Innocents, Martyrs

From the Office of Readings; a sermon by Saint Quodvultdeus, bishop:

A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.

Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.

You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.

Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace--so small, yet so great--who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God's adopted children.

The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the savior already working salvation.

But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.

How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Hidden Life

We must learn to appreciate the great value of silence. In a world that wants to pull us in so many ways away from heavenly realities, we must embrace a state of mind focused on meditation, peace and quiet. We must constantly reflect on that which is spiritual. We must properly dispose ourselves to be open to the Word of God Who speaks to us in our hearts. In short, it is our duty to develop and nourish a disciplined, well-ordered spiritual life. We must embrace silent prayer that is known to God alone.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Incarnation

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop

Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep rise up from the dead and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.

You would have suffered eternal death, had He not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had He not taken on Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life, had He not shared your death. You would have been lost if He had not hastened to your aid. You would have perished, had He not come.

Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which He who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.

He who glories, let him glory, not in himself, but in the Lord. For this reason, when our Lord was born of the Virgin, the message of the angelic voices was: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.

Let us then rejoice in this grace, so that our glorying may bear witness to our good conscience by which we glory, not in ourselves, but in the Lord. That is why Scripture says: “He is my glory, the one who lifts up my head.” For what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make His only Son become the son of man, so that a son of man might in His turn become Son of God?

Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Lord is made Manifest

A reading from the Epistle of Blessed Saint Paul the Apostle to Titus:

Dearly beloved: The grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men, instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. These things speak and exhort: in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Mystery of the Incarnation

Saint John writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through Him all things came into being; not one thing was created without Him...The world was made through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. He entered His own creation, and His own did not receive Him."

As Christmas day approaches we look forward to celebrating with great joy the Incarnation of Christ. We pray that we are not among those who did not receive Him. This Advent season we have been preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ through our prayer and penance. We take this time to recognize and acknowledge the ways we have not received Christ and rejected Him by our sinfulness.

When the Word was hidden within God Himself He was invisible to God's created world, but in the fullness of time God made Him visible. God made the Word visible so that the world could be saved by Him.

Let us open up our hearts to the grace God offers us in the person of Jesus Christ. Let us be converted from our sinful ways and enjoy true peace of mind and heart in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Judgment and Punishment for Sins

From the Imitation of Christ; Chapter 24

Keep your goal always before you and, remember, you shall stand before a strict Judge, who knows all things, who accepts no bribes, allows no excuses, and always passes a just judgment.

O foolish, wretched sinner! You sometimes become terrified when you see the face of an angry man, but what answer will you give to God, who knows your every wicked deed? Prepare yourself for Judgment Day, for when it comes you will not have a defense attorney to make excuses for you, but you will have to answer for yourself. Right now your efforts can bear profit, and your tears find acceptance; your sighs can be heard, and your sorrow find cleansing forgiveness.

The man who habitually exercises patience goes through a wholesome purgatory while still alive. He suffers injuries at the hands of others, but he is more concerned about their malice than his hurt. He willingly prays for those who harm him, wholeheartedly forgives offenses committed against him, and never puts off asking another's pardon. In fact, he more readily gives in to compassion than to anger. Too, he does not pamper his body, but by penances strives to bring it into complete subjection to his spirit.

It is better to purge our sins and root out our vices now than to keep them for some future purgation. We certainly deceive ourselves by the obsessive love we have for our bodies!

What else does this fire have to feed on but your sins? The more lenient you are on yourself and the more you yield to your flesh, the greater will be your future suffering, for you are only storing up fuel for the fire.

There, a man will be punished according to the types of sins he has committed. Those who are lazy will be pricked with red-hot spurs, and the glutton will be tormented by acute hunger and thirst. Those filled with lust and who have indulged their senses will howl in pain like mad dogs.

There is no vice that will not have its own special torment. The proud will be filled with disgrace and humiliation, and the miserly will suffer all kinds of privations. One hour of suffering there will be more fierce than a hundred years spent performing the hardest penances. For the damned there is neither rest nor comfort, but we here do enjoy a break from our toil and do find comfort in our friends.

Therefore, take care and be sorry for your sins, so that on Judgment Day you may be safe and numbered among the blessed. Then the righteous man will stand in great confidence in the presence of those who have afflicted him. The man who now humbly submits to other men's judgments will then rise to judge; the poor and humble will be wrapped in assurance, while the proud will be enveloped in fear.

He who learned to be a fool for Christ and was despised by men will then be revealed as truly wise. All trials patiently endured will prove a delight, while the throats of the wicked will be choked in sorrow. All the devout will rejoice and all the wicked weep.

Mortified flesh will then exult more than if it had been brought up on the choicest of foods. Rough garments will take on brilliance, while silks and stains will lose their sheen. The humble hut will be esteemed more than any gold-encrusted palace. Steadfast patience will prove more valuable than all the world's power, and simple obedience will be more honored than worldly wisdom.

A good and pure conscience will then give you more joy than all the philosophy you have ever learned. The contempt for riches will weigh more than all the treasures in this world, and fervent prayer will bring you more happiness than a multi-course banquet.

The silence you kept will then be more exhilarating than the telling of long tales, and holy deeds will be of greater value than nice-sounding words. And a strict life with hard penances will then bring you more pleasure than worldly delight.

Remember, the sufferings you now bear are somewhat slight, but they will free you from greater sufferings in the future. Try and endure, here and now, what you will have to suffer later on! If now you can only put up with so little, how will you bear a punishment that is eternal? If a modicum of suffering now makes you uneasy, what will hell's fire do to you?

It is impossible for you to enjoy a double paradise: one here, based on the delights of this world, and the other reigning with Christ in His kingdom.

If, up to now, you have always lived amid honors and pleasures, what good would all this do you if you were to die this instant? All is vanity, therefore, except loving God and serving only Him. If you love God with your whole heart, you will fear neither death nor punishment, neither judgment nor hell. Perfect love opens up an unerring way to God. If, however, you still find delight in sin, then it is no wonder that you fear death and judgment.

If love cannot draw you away from evil then, at least, let the fear of hell pull you away. If you put off fearing God you cannot long persevere in goodness, but all too quickly, you will fall into the devil's snares.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Penance

"Facite ergo dignos fructus poenitentiae."
"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance."

(Luke 3, 8)

This is exactly what John the Baptist preached to all the people in the desert. John pointed out that repentance is what we must embrace if we want to attain eternal life. Bring forth real fruits of penance so that your sins may be forgiven. In other words, if we have sinned we must do penance. However, we must realize that even if our sins have been forgiven, there is still punishment due which must be atoned for either in this life or in the next.

This is the difference between the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Penance. In the Sacrament of Baptism, God forgives us without requiring anything from us. On the other hand in the Sacrament of Penance, God forgives our sins, but requires that we undergo a temporary punishment either in this life or in the next. God demands that we do penance simply to keep us from relapsing into sin.

God wants us to unite our works with His work of salvation. He wants us to often contemplate on how much He suffered to make our works meritorious. Let us remember that without the Passion of Jesus Christ, anything we do to atone for our sins is worthless.

As we approach the Nativity of our Lord, let us repent, do penance and amend our lives.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Repentance III

It is God's will that we be saved. Nothing pleases God more than our coming back to Him with sincere repentance. All the prophets up to John the Baptist preached repentance. Christ Himself did the very same thing. He came to call sinners to repentance. He reminded us that is was not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Christ came to look for the sheep that was lost. "You can be sure that there is joy in heaven, over one sinner who repents" said Christ.

Consider how the Father was moved with pity for his wayward son who returned, repented and made amends for his sins. The Father embraced his son, dressed him once more in fine garments and did not chastise him for any of his sins. "Come to me, all you that toil and are heavy of heart. Accept my yoke, Christ said, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

"Forgive, and you will be forgiven, Behave toward other people as you would wish them to behave toward you."

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Sacrifice and Priest for God

In the words of Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop:

"How marvelous is the priesthood of the Christian, for he is both the victim that is offered on his own behalf, and the priest who makes the offering. He does not need to go beyond himself to seek what he is to immolate to God: with himself and in himself he brings the sacrifice he is to offer God for himself. The victim remains and the priest remains, always one and the same. Immolated, the victim still lives: the priest who immolates cannot kill. Truly it is an amazing sacrifice in which a body is offered without being slain and blood is offered without being shed."

Saint Paul says: "I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, living and holy." We are all called to be both sacrifice to God and his priest. Embrace holiness and chastity. Put on the armor of Christ with his cross acting as your protection from evil. Pray always and live in the Holy Ghost. Make your heart an altar to God. Present your body to God for sacrifice with full confidence. God wants us to live by faith. He wants our self-surrender. He wants our offering of free will.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Humility and Peace

From the Imitation of Christ

Do not care much who is with you and who is against you; but make it your greatest care that God is with you in everything you do. Have a good conscience, and God will defend you securely; no one can hurt you if God wishes to help you. If you know how to suffer in silence, you will surely receive God's help. Since He knows best the time and the way to set you free, resign yourself to Him, for God helps you and frees you from all confusion.

When a man humbles himself for his faults, he more easily pleases others and mollifies those he has angered. God protects and frees a humble man; He loves and consoles a humble man; He favors a humble man; He showers him with graces; then, after his suffering, God raises him up to glory.

He reveals His secrets to a humble man and in His kindness invitingly draws that man to Himself. When a humble man is brought to confusion, he experiences peace, because he stands firm in God and not in this world. do not think that you have made any progress unless you feel that you are the lowest of all men.

Above all things, keep peace within yourself, then you will be able to create peace among others. It is better to be peaceful than learned. The passionate man often thinks evil of a good man and easily believes the worst; a good and peaceful man turns all things to good.

A man who lives at peace suspects no one. But a man who is tense and agitated by evil is troubled with all kinds of suspicions; he is never at peace with himself, nor does he permit others to be at peace. He often speaks when he should be silent, and he fails to say what would be truly useful. He is well aware of the obligations of others but neglects his own.

So be zealous first of all with yourself, and then you will be more justified in expressing zeal for your neighbor. You are good at excusing and justifying your own deeds, and yet you will not listen to the excuses of others. It would be more just to accuse yourself and to excuse your brother.

If you wish others to put up with you, first put up with them.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

"How short a time it was when I left them before I found him whom my soul has loved. I held him fast, and I will not let him go." Saint Ambrose in his book on virginity writes in the Office of Readings: "How do we hold him fast? Not by restraining chains or knotted ropes but by bonds of love, by spiritual reins, by the longing of the soul.

If you also, like the bride, wish to hold him fast, seek him and be fearless in suffering. It is often easier to find him in the midst of bodily torments, in the very hands of persecutors.

His bride says: How short a time it was after I left them. In a little space, after a brief moment, when you have escaped from the hands of your persecutors without yielding to the powers of this world, Christ will come to you, and he will not allow you to be tested for long.

Whoever seeks Christ in this way, and finds him, can say: I held him fast, and I will no let him go before I bring him into my mother's house, into the room of her who conceived me. What is this "house," this "room," but the deep and secret places of your heart?

Maintain this house, sweep out its secret recesses until it becomes immaculate and rises as a spiritual temple for a holy priesthood, firmly secured by Christ, the cornerstone, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in it.

Whoever seeks Christ in this way, whoever prays to Christ in this way, is not abandoned by him; on the contrary, Christ comes again and again to visit such a person, for he is with us until the end of the world."

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Priestly Vocation to Perfection

From the decree on the ministry and life of priests of the Second Vatican Council (Presbyterorum ordiniis)

By the sacrament of Orders priests are formed in the image of Christ the Priest, to be ministers of Christ the Head in constructing and building up His whole Body, the Church, as fellow-workers with the order of bishops. In the consecration of baptism they have already received, in common with all Christians, the sign and gift of so great a vocation and grace that, even in their human weakness, they have the power, and the duty, to seek perfection, in accordance with our Lord's words: "Be perfect, then, as your Father in heaven is also perfect."

Priests are obliged in a special way to acquire this perfection. By receiving holy Orders they have been consecrated in a new way, and made living instruments of Christ the eternal Priest, so as to be able to continue through the years Christ's wonderful work which, by divine power, has restored to wholeness the entire family of man.

Since each priest acts, as far as he may, in the person of Christ Himself, he is given special grace to help him grow toward the perfection of the one whose role he plays, as he ministers to his flock and the whole people of God. He receives grace for healing of human weakness from the holiness of Christ, who became for us high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.

Christ, whom the Father sanctified, that is, consecrated, and sent into the world, gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all sin, and to purify for Himself an acceptable people, zealous for good works. So, through His passion He entered into His glory. In the same way, priests, consecrated as they are by the anointing of the Holy Spirit and sent by Christ, put an end in their lives to the sins of our selfish nature, and give themselves wholly to the service of mankind, and so are enabled to grow to perfect manhood in the holiness with which they are enriched in Christ.

As they exercise the ministry of the Spirit and of holiness, they are strengthened in the spiritual life, provided that they are docile to Christ's spirit, who gives them life and is their guide. By the sacred actions they perform daily, and by their entire ministry in communion with their bishop and fellow-priests, they are set on the way that leads to perfection.

The holiness of priests is itself an important contribution to the fruitfulness of their ministry. It is true that God's grace can effect the work of salvation even through unworthy ministers, but God ordinarily prefers to show His wonders by means of those who are more submissive to the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and, who through close union with Christ and holiness of life, are able to say with Saint Paul: "I live, but no longer is it I who live, it is Christ who lives within me."

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

More on the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

What relevance does this doctrine have for our own spiritual life? Why was it God's design to preserve Mary from every stain of sin? Why did He destine her to attain a degree of holiness far beyond that of any other mere creature? And why did God choose to reveal to us the special favors He bestowed upon the lowly handmaid of Nazareth?

First, it was fitting that Mary be conceived without sin because she was destined to be the worthy, beloved Mother of the Holy God. In preserving Mary from all sin, God prepared a holy tabernacle in which His Son was to dwell, a holy body from which He was to take His humanity, a holy Mother whom He could love with the fullness of His divine/human love. The Immaculate Conception is ultimately a reflection of the holiness of Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, with whom Mary was destined to enter into such an intimate relationship.

Sin is alienation from God, disorder in one's relation to God, a loss of the divine image, a defilement of one's being. It was fitting that one who was to be the Mother of God never experience such alienation, disorder, loss, or defilement. What veneration we therefore owe the Blessed Virgin!

Second, it was fitting that she, the New Eve, who was to cooperate so intimately with her Son in the work of our redemption, be entirely free of sin. She who was to be associated with her Son in His victory over Satan must never have been under the dominion of Satan.

Third, in revealing to us Mary's Immaculate Conception and perfect holiness, God places before our eyes a concrete model of what we are to love, and, in loving, strive to be. He gives us a model that is at once perfect and yet lowly, lovable, and imitable. Despite her unique privilege and lofty holiness, Mary is the most imitable of the saints because her greatness is in her lowliness. She is the handmaid of the Lord. Mother yes, but first handmaid. Blessed becasuse she believed.

In gazing upon the Immaculate Virgin, utterly free of the disorders of our sinful nature, the devout faithful feel a new hope in their own humanity. In contrast to their experience of a world given to sin, corruption, lying, cheating, cruelty and lust, they see a fellow creature that is utterly pure and good, totally given to love, a mother's love for all. For mortals trapped in this world of sin to look upon the sinless Virgin is like the mine workers recently buried in South America for so long who were eventually saved and allowed to see the bright sun and breathe pure air once more.

Finally, in revealing to the Church Mary's Immaculate Conception and perfect holiness God shows in her what the Church is called to be and what He will ultimately make her to be.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Immaculate Conception

Both the Angel Gabriel and Elizabeth pronounce Mary blest among women because she has been chosen to be the Mother of the Lord. The Christian faithful, recognizing how singularly Mary has been blest by God, have regarded her as wholly pleasing to God, and thus free from sin.

However, the Scriptures do not directly affirm that Mary was absolutely free from every stain of sin, personal or original, and that she always remained perfectly sinless. But Catholic piety and devotion have recognized that the Mother of God always was and always remained most pleasing to God and completely free from any stain of sin.

Mary was highly favored of God in that she was chosen to be the Mother of His Incarnate Son. The Catholic faithful have followed their instinct of faith in believing that God did not permit sin to touch her who was to be the living tabernacle and Mother of the Word Incarnate. They spontaneously understood that so good a Son endowed so good a Mother with the riches of His grace so that she always remained completely free of sin and most holy and beloved in his sight.

As we celebrate Mary's Immaculate Conception, we must take into account the explicit teaching of Saint Paul that all humans need redemption because they have inherited a condition of sin from Adam. The fact that Mary was never infected by sin of any kind does not mean that she did not need redemption. It means, rather, that she has experienced a more perfect redemption which has preserved her from actual contamination of sin.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Birth of Mary

From a Sermon by Saint Thomas of Villanova, Bishop:

"For a long time I have wondered and been at a loss to understand why the evangelists should have spoken at such length about John the Baptist and the other apostles, and yet told us so little about the Virgin Mary, who in life and distinction excels them all. Being at a loss, as I say, to understand this, all I can think is that it pleased the Holy Spirit that it should be so. It was by the providence of the Holy Spirit that the evangelists kept silent, because the glory of the Virgin, as we read in the psalms, was all within, and could more truly be thought of than described. The outline of her life: that Jesus was born of her, is enough to tell her whole story. What more do you seek for in the Virgin? It is enough for you that she is the Mother of God. What beauty, I ask you, what virtue, what perfection, what grace, what glory does not belong to the Mother of God?"

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christian Chastity

Blessed Saint Paul the Apostle in his epistle to the Corinthians writes: "I tell you, brothers, the time is short. From now on those with wives should live as though they had none; those who weep should live as though they were not weeping, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing; buyers should conduct themselves as though they owned nothing, and those who make use of the world as though they were not using it, for the world as we know it is passing away."

Saint Cyprian writes the following regarding chastity: "They have dedicated themselves to Christ, and, renouncing the pleasures of the flesh, have consecrated themselves body and soul to God, in order to finish a task that is destined to win a great prize; they should not strive to adorn themselves or give pleasure to anyone but the Lord, from whom they hope to receive the reward for their chastity."

Listen again to the words of the Apostle Paul: "The first man was made of the dust of the earth; the second is from heaven. Those who are made from earth are like him who was on the earth. Those who are of heaven are like him who is from heaven. As we have borne the image of the man who is of the earth, so let us bear the image of the man who is from heaven. This image is shown forth in virginity, purity, holiness and truth."

Finally, listen to the words of the Second Vatican Council regarding chastity: "Chastity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, professed by religious, is to be valued as an outstanding gift of grace. In a unique way it sets free man's heart, so that it may be the more inflamed with love for God and for all mankind. It is therefore a special sign of the blessings of heaven, and a most fitting means by which religious dedicate themselves eagerly to the service of God and the works of the apostolate. In this way they bring to the minds of all the faithful that wonderful marriage between the Church and Christ, its only spouse: a marriage that has been established by God, and will be fully revealed in the world to come."

Let us all embrace the evangelical council of chastity. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that our Lord wishes us to embrace.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Word of God

Scripture possesses a sacred character and excellence because God is the author. Since Scripture is the Word of God, it must be valued among our most prized possessions. "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work' (2 Tim 3:16). Scripture thus strengthens our faith, but it also provides a means for hope and consolation in the midst of trials and adversities.

De Verbum states: "in the sacred books the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet His children, and talks with them. And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life."

We must be diligent in our study of Sacred Scripture. Saint Jerome once wrote that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. If we want to strengthen our relationship with Christ we must increase our knowledge of Sacred Scripture.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

First Friday II

Christ continues to suffer insults even at the hands of Catholics who while believing in His benefits, repay them with great ingratitude. "My soul is sorrowful unto death!" This was Christ's complaint on the Cross when He received absolutely no consolation from anyone, not even His closest disciples. Christ experiences this same indifference even today at the hands of several classes of people.

We should consider the sentiments of Christ upon being rejected by His very own people for whom He became man. Christ preached His doctrine and performed miracles in their midst. For all this He received in return nothing but persecution. He was condemned to be scourged, mocked and crucified.

We should also consider today the sentiments of the Sacred Heart of Jesus upon receiving such harsh treatment from heretics. Consider all those who deny His Real Presence in the Blessed Eucharist.

Finally, we should consider those who do believe and yet remain cold or indifferent toward Him in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. The First Friday of the month is an opportunity to renew our love for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. We should make it a point to visit our Lord and make reparation.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Advent Continued

Advent gives us an opportunity to focus on our last end. It is a season that reminds us of the importance of not losing sight of our ultimate goal, namely heaven. Unfortunately, many lose sight of their last aim in the midst of this changing world. For these, life turns into nothing but trouble because thinking of eternity disturbs them in the midst of a life of pleasures in this world. Many do their best to never think of the reality of death.

People who pursue only happiness on this earth often deceive themselves. Many go so far as to forsake God, Who will be forced to forsake them on their bed of pain. Many spend their lives seeking for a good that they never find. In the absence of God-suffering, misery and no consolation is inevitable!

We should be encouraged to use this precious time to open our hearts up more fully toward our Creator. We should strive to focus on the fact that we were created for eternity. This world is but a means to an end.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Advent II

We are now in a time of both anticipation and preparation. The Advent seasons offers us an opportunity to look forward with joy to the greatest event in the whole history of humanity, namely the incarnation. At the same time, we are reminded of our responsibility to make ourselves ready for Christ's second coming when He will act as our Judge.

It should be a great joy for us when we meditate on the fact that our lives on this earth are so very short. We will soon depart this good world that God created; a world in which we are so often tempted to offend God who suffered so much for us. It is good for us to meditate often on eternity. When we do so how can we possibly cling to this life and all that is in it?

Judgment on the part of Christ should bring us consolation rather than despair. Our Lord is not a severe Judge, but a Father and Redeemer. God opens His heart to us in sympathy. Those who have been sincere in their tears for their sins, their penances and good works will no doubt be embraced by the loving arms of the Father.

Are you ready for that day?

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching