Bulletin 145

SAINT AGNES CATHEDRAL 533 South Jefferson Springfield, MO 65806

EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS (LATIN)

CELEBRANT: Father Jeffery Fasching

March 24th, 2013 Palm Sunday

There will be no Liturgies in the Extraordinary Form during Holy Week. Mass on Easter Sunday is at 2:30pm.

“Let the faithful be invited to take part in the Procession of Palms in greater numbers, this rendering Christ the King public witness of their love and gratitude.”

Palm Sunday commemorates the last triumph of Jesus Christ on earth and begins Holy Week. Palm Sunday is a celebration of the triumphant entry of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. Christ’s followers cut off branches from trees and laid them on the ground while proclaiming Christ as the Son of David. In commemoration of this event palms are blessed to begin the Liturgy and are carried in solemn procession.

It will be only days later that these very followers will call for the death of Jesus Christ. However, as Christians we believe that Christ’s death was not a failure. It was through His Passion and Death that Christ conquered sin, Satan and the world! “I, if I be lifted up…will draw all things to Myself” (Jn. 12:32).

On Palm Sunday we give thanks to Jesus Christ for redeeming us through His Passion and Death. Christ is our triumphant King. He is King of the universe and King of our hearts if we allow Him to be.

In Christ,

Father Jeffery Fasching

Bulletin 138

SAINT AGNES CATHEDRAL 533 South Jefferson Springfield, MO 65806

EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS (LATIN)

CELEBRANT Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

February 3rd, 2013 Sexagesima Sunday

Epistle: II Cor. 11: 19-33; 12: 1-9—Gospel: Lk. 8: 4-15

Mass schedule February 4th --- February 8th

Monday-Saint Andrew Corsini; Bishop & Confessor--NO LATIN MASS

Tuesday-Saint Agatha * Virgin & Martyr

Wednesday-Saint Titus, Bishop & Confessor

Thursday-Saint Romuald, Abbot

Friday-Saint John of Matha, Confessor

In memory of Saint Blaise, Bishop & Martyr, the blessing of throats will be offered this Sunday immediately following the 2:30pm Mass.

Satan deceives those who are sinners. He makes them think they lead a life of happiness and enjoy peace while engaging in their sensual appetites. However, there can be no peace for those who offend our God. God has stated that all His enemies lead a life of misery. God has created us with an intellect which gives us mastery over brute animals. We have been created for God. We must love Him and strive to be united with Him. God alone is able to make us truly happy. The world and worldly goods can never make a man happy and content.

King David once cried: “My tears have become my bread, day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God?” In a state of sin David sought out his many possessions and royal amusements, but to no avail. David’s conscience could only be heard to say: “Where is thy God? Go and seek the God whom you have lost. He alone can restore your peace!”

Sin brings only remorse of conscience. The Lord says to sinners: “You have refused to serve me in peace.” The result for the sinner is a life of hunger, thirst and constant yearning. Let us choose the happy life of those who love God. The peace which God offers surpasses all sensual delights the world has to offer. God alone can give content to the heart. Go to Holy Mass. Practice prayer regularly. Visit the Blessed Sacrament. Go to confession and communion often. Avoid evil conversations. Walk always with God and your life will change forever. You will enjoy peace which the world will never give you.

In Christ,

Fr. Jeff Fasching

Sincere Repentance

From a homily written in the second century:

We should repent of our sins while we are still on earth...we must wholeheartedly repent of sins committed in the body and make it possible for the Lord to save us while there is time. When we have left this world, we shall no longer be able to repent and confess our sins. We must do the will of the Father, keep our bodies pure, and observe the commandments of the Lord, for this is the way to obtain eternal life...In other words, in order to obtain eternal life, we must remain pure and keep the seal of our baptism undefiled.

...Our bodies are the temple of God, and as such we must guard them, for even as we were called in the body, so shall we also be judged in the body...
Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

All Souls' Day

Today we recommend to God the souls in purgatory in order that we may help alleviate their terrible suffering. We pray that God in His mercy may quickly bring them to His glory. When the poor souls finally do enter into heaven, they will certainly pray for those who have prayed for them.

Let us today recommend to Jesus Christ and to the Blessed Virgin Mary all the souls in purgatory, but especially the souls of our relatives, benefactors and friends. We must also remember to pray for our enemies.

Jn. 6: 51-55

At that time Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give, is My Flesh for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, Amen, I say unto you, except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christ in Relation to the World

Pope Paul VI writes in one of his homilies: "Not to preach the Gospel would be my undoing, for Christ Himself sent me as His apostle and witness. The more remote, the more difficult the assignment, the more my love of God spurs me on. I am bound to proclaim that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God. Because of Him we come to know the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn of all creation; in Him all things find their being. Man's teacher and redeemer, He was born for us, died for us, and for us He rose from the dead...

I can never speak of Christ for He is our truth and our light; He is the way, the truth and the life. He is our bread, our source of living water who allays our hunger and satisfies our thirst. He is our shepherd, our leader, our ideal, our comforter and our brother...Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, Lord of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we play in it...

Remember it is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and reecho for all time even to the ends of the earth."

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

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

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

Obtaining What we Want

It is not forbidden to ask for money, material well-being or whatever is necessary to maintain us in our position in life, but we must ask for these things in their proper order. If we want our desires to be met in this respect without fail we must first ask for the larger things. These larger things include the amendment of our lives, the gift of Christian patience, detachment from things of the world and true contrition for our sins. Then afterwards we should pray for health or success. Until we have received these first graces, anything else will likely be harmful to us.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

More on Temptation

Job says: “Man’s life on earth is a temptation.” No one is too perfect and holy as sometimes not to have temptations. Nevertheless, temptations can be very profitable, difficult though they may be. Christ Himself was tempted precisely to show us how we can gain victory over temptations. In fact, temptation is necessary for us because it teaches us to know ourselves. Satan has asked to put us through the crucible of temptation, but Christ has prayed for us. Saint Paul reminds us that “God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.”

Satan knows his time is limited. His goal is to tax your patience, to discourage you, and at last to drag you into hell. He will tempt you with desire for gain. He will induce you to accumulate worldly goods. He will tempt you with the devil of pride and the demon of pleasure. We must therefore watch over ourselves. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We may be standing now, but we must pray and watch lest we fall.

Sincerely in Christ,

Re. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Cross is our Glory

Christ is glorified in everything He has accomplished, but His supreme glory is of course His Cross. In the words of Saint Paul: "God forbid that I glory in anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!"

Christ performed countless miracles throughout His public ministry, but the Cross is by far His greatest work. Through the Cross we are freed from the bondage of sin and Satan's power. Through the Cross we have found redemption.

As Catholic Christians we can never be ashamed of the Cross of Christ. Christ freely laid down His life for our sake. He was a willing sacrifice. Nobody took His life from Him. "I have the power to lay down my life and to take it up again." Christ took great joy in His suffering and willingly submitted to His passion. The Cross is how He saved the world.

We must maintain the joy of the Cross in good times and in bad. Christ was crucified for us, yet He never sinned. We must allow oursleves to be crucified for Him by taking up our crosses. This is how we show our love for Him

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Trust in God alone and not in men

Our ultimate goal is of course God. He is the source alone of all that is good and holy. Faith in God is among our greatest gifts. God wants our faith to be strengthened. Christ demanded faith from all those for whom He worked His miracles. In order to hear our prayers, our Lord wishes us to experience poverty, distress, abandonment and even persecution. In His wisdom, this is how God shows us we are included among His beloved friends. However, we must remain faithful to Him in all such circumstances.

God wants us to always grow in our confidence in Him alone and in nobody else. God refuses to work in and through those who refuse to place all their confidence in Him alone. On the other hand, if we have a lively faith and hope in Him He will do great things for us. God always raises up the lowly.

Finally, God wishes to test His faithful servants like gold in the furnace. We must remain unshaken and steadfast in times of distress. God will in turn always raise us up. This is the way God has always dealt with His saints. If we remain faithful in the face of trials, God will give us true peace in this world and life forever in the next.

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

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

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

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

Christ the King II

Christ is the Word through whom the universe was created. He is therefore above all things. Everything in heaven and on earth must obey Him. Christ's dominion extends throughout the entire cosmos. Christ's kingship over natural creation is followed by His primacy in the economy of salvation as well. In other words, by dying on the Cross Christ has reconciled the world and mankind to God the Father. Christ is therefore both our Creator and Redeemer.

Christ is pre-eminent over all creation. Sin cut mankind off from God, but Christ's blood shed upon the Cross has obtained peace for us. He who created all things has re-established peace throughout all of creation.

Today and everyday let us worshop Christ the King!

In Christ,

Father Jeffery A. Fasching

The World

"They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world" (John 17, 16). Such was the prayer of Jesus to His Father regarding His Apostles. The Apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints lived in a spirit of aversion toward the things of this world.

The world consists of both malice and folly and these two qualities are why the holy ones learned to hate the world. Changing fashions and styles are a clear indication of worldly folly. We should guard against getting caught up in worldly habits, dress and always succumbing to the changing environment. Christ said: "You are the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5, 13).

We have a responsibility as Christians to be the wisdom and the "wise" people of this earth, otherwise we become "salt which has lost its savour."

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching