Eucharistic Adoration II

Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed is one of the greatest treasures that Jesus Christ offers us through His Holy Catholic Church, second only to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass itself. We should be diligent in taking every advantage of this type of prayer as often as possible. When we are fortunate enough to pray before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on a regular basis our lives will inevitalbly be changed.

As a Catholic priest, this is the first thing I do when I rise in the morning. It is the most important part of my day. As confirmed Catholic Christians, we must do our very best to encounter Christ through formal prayer on a regular basis. Our confirmation obliges us to spend our lives bearing witness to Jesus Christ. We cannot effectively bring Christ to the world unless we ourselves are rooted in Him.

Let us pray for one another. Let us pray we always answer the call to proclaim the Gospel.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christ and the Sacraments

Christ in His infinite wisdom has organized the Church. He passed on to His Apostles the sacred deposit of the truths which have formed the object of our faith. During the Easter season we recognize the great gift of faith God has bestowed upon us, particularly our faith in Christ's resurrection. However, it is not enough simply for us to believe, we must also allow the wonderful effects of grace to work within our hearts. We are living members of the Divine Head. It is by means of the sacraments that Jesus Christ produces in us these wonderful effects of grace.

The sacraments are an additional bond of union between the members of the Church. The others include submission to Peter and his successors and profession of the same faith. Hierarchy, dogma, and the sacraments all contribute to make us on Body in Christ. The sacraments testify to the fraternity that exists among the faithful, no matter what part of the world we may travel to. These divine sacraments are the same in every country. They are the same in the graces they produce.

Let us continue to rejoice in the sacraments. They are all concrete means by which we encounter the risen Lord!

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Risen Christ

Our risen Lord before His resurrection established His Church. He set it up in a hierarchical fashion in order to govern all the faithful in His name until the end of time. Christ taught His disciples His divine word. He instructed them in the eternal truths which in turn have been revealed to mankind. The word of God is equivalent to revelation. Revelation and grace are among our most precious gifts.

God has revealed His word to man since the beginning of the world. He spoke to us through the prophets. In the fullness of time God sent to us His Only Begotten Son. There will be no further revelation. God has led us into the fullness of the truth found in His holy Catholic Church. We must embrace this truth with our whole hearts and thus strive to please our God.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Paschal Time

Easter time is the most sacred part of the whole liturgical year. It is the one towards which the rest of the cycle converges. Easter is the feast of feasts. It is the solemnity of solemnities. During Easter we focus on the Word Incarnate finally attaining the object towards which He always tended to. Man regains what he lost by Adam's sin.

Jesus Christ is no longer the victim of death. He is the conqueror who destroys death and proclaims life to the world. The time when Christ shed His precious blood for our ransom, the humiliations He endured, all His sufferings and the agony on the cross, these are all over now. Now all is glory. Glory for Christ and glory for us.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Jesus Christ, perfectus Deus, perfectus homo

Jesus Christ in His humanity often grew physically tired from His travels and all His apostolic work. The same happens to us many times. We become worn out, we become hungry. We become thirsty. Christ experienced the very same things we experience.

Whenever we get tired from our own work or apostolic endeavours, we must always focus on Christ. He shows us that He is just like us in everything but sin. We should be consoled with the fact that together with Christ we can conquer all things! Neither weariness, hunger, thirst or anything else matters because Christ also experienced all these things. What matters is that we focus on fulfilling the will of God. God is always with us.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Suffering II

Saint Paul endured much suffering. He was beaten, flogged, stoned and left for dead. He suffered every kind of persecution imaginable. All this happened to him repeatedly. Never once did Saint Paul complain. He was never saddened! He never begged God to deliver him from his sufferings. Saint Paul knew their true value unlike many of us who many times want no part of suffering. Paul always blessed God in the midst of his sufferings. He looked upon them as a reward and honor! He considered himself privileged to be able to suffer for the sake of Christ!

There is no better way to share in Christ's glory than to share also in suffering. This is the same lesson the disciples came to learn. It is the narrow way that leads to true life. We should pray that God give us the grace to embrace hardship and suffering.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Sacrifice

Saint Paul writes: "I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living and holy." Saint Peter Chrysologus reminds us that "Each of us is called to be both a sacrifice to God and His priest. Do not forfeit what divine authority confers on you. Put on the garment of holiness, gird yourself with the belt of chastity. Let Christ be your helmet, let the cross on your forehead be your unfailing protection. Your breastplate should be the knowledge of God that He Himself has given you. Keep burning continually the sweet-smelling incense of prayer. Take up the sword of the Spirit. Let your heart be an altar. Then, with full confidence in God, present your body for sacrifice. God desires not death, but faith; God thirsts not for blood, but for self-surrender; God is appeased not by slaughter, but by the offering of your free will."

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christian Persecution

The world hates Christianity. Much of the world hates Catholic Christians. What we hold to be near and dear to us with respect to our great Catholic faith goes against many people's mistaken notion of "freedom." These people will argue that nobody or no institution may dictate to them what they may freely do or not do, particularly when it comes to moral issues.

We believe that God gives us the moral law. He knows what is good for us. We are only truly "free" when we cling to this law and live by it faithfully. God's law is not burdensome. We represent Christ on earth as Christians. As such, we must expect to be persecuted and hated. People will even want to slander our good name. These are the people who need our prayers the most.

Our God has led us into the fullness of the faith in the Catholic Church. Part of embracing this faith completely inevitably involves suffering. Let us carry our cross with Christ.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christ's Death and Resurrection has saved us

Even though we had disobeyed God and sinned God did not abandon us. God our Savior chose to raise us up again by becoming one of us. Christ came in the flesh, He taught us the Gospel way of life, He suffered and died on the Cross, was buried and rose from the dead.

If we want to be holy we must therefore pattern our lives after the example of Christ. We must be patient, gentle and humble of heart. We must also imitate Christ in His death. We do this by being buried with him in baptism. We must die to our old life of sin completely. Baptism cleanses the soul from worldly thoughts and inclinations to sin. Baptism is a symbol for the death and resurrection of Christ.

This Easter season let us renew our baptismal promises with sincerity. Let us truly die to our sins and live for Christ alone.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Amendment

We must always focus on the Crucified Christ. It is often easy to find fault with others. When we do, we must make sure we are not doing the same thing ourselves. We must study always to amend our lives and pray for this grace. We must stop turning our minds to things which are not our business.

When we focus on the Passion of Christ we will find there absolutely everything that is necessary and useful for our well being. We must pray that Christ the Crucified come into our hearts so that we can overcome our passions and vices. We must watch over ourselves and mortify ourselves. We must amend our lives.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Litany of the Passion

Jesus, unknown and despised, (Have mercy on me.)
Jesus, calumniated and persecuted,
Jesus, abandoned by men and tempted,
Jesus, betrayed and sold for a paltry sum,
Jesus, blamed, accused and unjustly condemned,
Jesus, clothed with a garment of opprobrium and shame,
Jesus, buffeted and mocked,
Jesus, dragged with a rope round Thy neck,
Jesus, scourged unto blood,
Jesus, reputed to be a fool and to be possessed by a devil,
Jesus, to whom Barabbas was preferred,
Jesus, shamefully stripped of Thy garments,
Jesus, crowned with thorns and saluted in derision,
Jesus, laden with the Cross, and disowned by Thy people,
Jesus, overwhelmed with insults, sorrow, and humiliations,
Jesus, sorrowful unto death,
Jesus, insulted, spat upon, beaten, outraged and scoffed at,
Jesus, hanged on the infamous tree in company with robbers,
Jesus, set at nought and deprived of honor before men,
Jesus, overwhelmed with all kinds of sorrow,

O Good Jesus, who has suffered an infinity of insults and humiliations for love of me, imprint deeply on my heart a great love and appreciation for them, and the desire to endure them willingly for Thee. Amen.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Unselfishness

Christ had no place to lay His head. He was born and brought up in poverty. He died upon the Cross and was buried in a borrowed tomb. How ashamed we should be to engross ourselves in the goods of this world. Our kingdom as Christians is not of this world. We have here no fixed abode. Why do we attach ourselves to things that pass away?

Seek first to extend the kingdom of Christ on earth. If we agree to be co-workers with Christ, all other things will be given to us in due time by God the Father Who is in heaven. Do good while there is still time. Give up your convenience and your rest. Christ came to serve and not be served. He left the glories of heaven to seek the lost sheep.

Let us imitate Christ in our own zeal to serve.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Easter Joy

As we enter the Easter season we must truly be thankful for the gift of Christ our Savior and the victory He has won over sin and Satan. The resurrected Christ is God's supreme and wholly marvelous work as Saint Augustine says. What a great gift God gives us to have a firm faith in the resurrection! Because of the resurrection we are assured of our own victory over sin and Satan as well. We have the ability to always resist temptation if we so choose because Christ offers the grace to do so. The decision is ours.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching