Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
5th Sunday of Easter
May 6, 2007
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
In 1955 Pope Pius XII declared the optional memorial of May 1st to be the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker because there was an error circulating, by the communists especially, about work. I mentioned this last week We just celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and because there were so many errors circulating about work, the Christian model of work would be seen in the person of St. Joseph.
In 1956, the following year, Pope Pius XII wrote a beautiful encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, “You will draw waters from the streams of salvation”, which is a verse from scripture that the pope was using to introduce his encyclical. It was the 100th Anniversary of the Extension of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart as a feast in the Universal Church, and not merely in France but throughout the world.
In 1856, at the end of the year, Pope Pius IX had written that this Feast should be included in the universal calendar of the Church and so the following year, 1857, was the first time that the Mass of the Sacred Heart was celebrated. If we do the math we can see that as it approaches, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus this year will be the 150th Anniversary since this Feast was made available to the Universal Church.
This is no small feat and is a time of incredible grace, considering that in the 1670s the Sacred Heart appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque over a period of months. It took the Church quite a while to establish the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart as a Feast in the Universal Church. It is a Feast in which we need to prepare and so in the approaching weeks we need to be preparing for this tremendous moment in the history of mankind. It is the first 150th Anniversary and there needs to be preparation and this Feast needs to recognized. It is not like passing some mile marker on the highway.
The Sacred Heart appeared to St. Margaret Mary, who was in the Visitation Order, which had recently been founded by St. Jane Frances de Chantal and St. Francis de Sales. Margaret Mary was there at Paray-le-Monial in the south of France and was a good religious, who prayed and worked while living in obscurity. No one knew who she was; she was “Sister Nobody.” She liked it that way.
When the Sacred Heart appeared to her, it was actually a great cross for her to bear because attention was then given to her, which is something she was not looking for. In the conversations between St. Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart, she asked Him why he chose to appear to her. The answer He gave to her applies to me and to you as well. He said to her,
“Because you are an abyss of ignorance and unworthiness.”.
That sounds like a real slap in the face but the Sacred Heart of Jesus created St. Margaret Mary and you and me, and if that is God’s assessment, I think God knows better. God knows best. Again,
“Because you are an abyss of ignorance and unworthiness, but My Heart is so full of love for mankind and for you in particular that it cannot be contained.”.
In other words, His love was spilling over to mankind and it had to reveal itself. It is kind of like the Nile River, which is the greatest and longest river in the world. It spills out into the Mediterranean Sea but has its origin in the very heart of Africa, thousands of miles away. Lake Victoria, which spills over and gives rise to the Nile River is a great example for the Sacred Heart, which has tremendous love spilling over for all mankind who have been conceived from the very beginning to the end of the world. Jesus is pictured at times with a fire above the heart; His heart is on fire with love for mankind.
Jesus called St. Margaret Mary an abyss, a bottomless pit, an abyss of ignorance and unworthiness. I know that, for my part I am very grateful that the Sacred Heart appeared to Sr. Nobody, the same way Our Lady appeared to St. Nobody…St. Bernadette in Lourdes in the South of France. I guess Our Lord and Our Lady like to stick around the South of France; they spent a lot of time there it appears. But, at Lourdes in 1858 Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette, and when questioned about this later, they wanted to know why Our Lady would appear to her. St. Bernadette always gave the same answer.
“No one more unworthy could be found.”
This is Saint Bernadette!
Yesterday began a nine-day Novena leading up to the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, on the 13th of May, which is next Sunday. It is also the 90th Anniversary of our Lady appearing to the three most insignificant children in Fatima Portugal. These children were all under the age of ten and could barely read or write and Our Lady chose these three children to appear to, speak to, and instruct. As in the appearance of the Sacred Heart to St.. Margaret Mary, Our Lady had a message of “reparation.”
Reparation is a word that is often neglected in the Church today but it is always on the lips of Our Lord and Our Lady. Reparation has a bad rap so it is not even given a moment’s consideration among too many Catholics today. What is reparation? Well, think about what happened just a few days ago in Kansas, Greensburg Kansas. There was a tornado a half a mile wide and the city was leveled. There was great destruction there.
Now think of this... that same storm could have passed through Greenville, Texas and done the same thing. Greensburg, Kansas….GREENville, Texas. It could have taken the roof off this Church like opening a can of cat food that has the flip top lid. Last week we had ninety-five mile per hour winds, which we might be used to on 1-30… zoom…. but we are not used to them when it comes to weather conditions. These winds caused trees and power lines to fall down but we were more or less unscathed. Prayers of thanksgiving always go up…yea, yea, right! I don’t believe it. We have been so blessed to escape great harm and we could care less. Those people in Greensburg are grateful to be alive. You can see that first there is death and destruction and then “repair” is what they will be about now. Reparation is another way of saying this.
Sin is to the soul what that tornado was to those homes in Greensburg, Kansas. So, reparation is what Our Lord has in mind. Our Lady has this in mind also, because the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart are really two hearts that beat in unison; there is no discord. The greatest disciple of Jesus is His mother. It is not nepotism but a fact. There was no one who followed Christ more closely than His most blessed mother. So, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart have this great desire for reparation, but we will have none of it.
“I want an easy life…get out of my way!”
Look at what it says about St. Paul and St. Barnabas in the First Reading and what they said to the earliest members of the Church two thousand years ago.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”
“Well, I don’t know what that is about; when I die someone is going to dump my body in an elevator, reach in and push “Heaven”, and the doors will close, then when I get there I will just roll out.”
What if…when the elevator gets there someone reaches in and punches another button, hummmm?
“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Forget the elevator or the cannon that is going to shoot you into Heaven with Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler and every other wretch who has afflicted the world. No, everyone doesn’t go to Heaven; that is something we’ve manufactured and made up. Saint Paul says very clearly that we have to preserve in our faith and it will bring us great suffering, but it is better than the other option, right?
Now, this Gospel is a problem; first of all it is the size of a postage stamp. We weren’t saying Gloria tibi domine when we were saying laus tibi Christi; no, we’d just started the Gospel and it was already over. Last Sunday’s Gospel was like this, a postage stamp. The Gospel could be written on the back of a stamp with room left over. It is probably a federal crime though. But, the Gospel is so short that it can get overlooked. Look at the top half of the Gospel.
Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him God will also glorify Him in Himself and God will glorify Him at once.
Did you hear the part about “glorify”? Glorify, glorify, glorify, glorify! Oh, it’s profound! But because it is so short and full of glorify, glorify, it goes right past us. It is like when I was a kid I would watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Now that is the true meaning of Christmas, or Charlie Brown’s Halloween. Charlie Brown would be in school and he would always raise his hand and ask a ridiculous question, which reminds me so much of myself. The teacher would always have the same answer. Charlie Brown would ask what time class would end that day and the teacher would say in response,
“Wa wawa wa wa waaa”
It is probably what most children hear when parents, grandparents, or PASTORS speaks to them.
“Wa wawa wa wa waaa, Joe. Wa wawa wa wa waaa, Susie”
We probably hear our names but the rest of it is just static. I contend that when we heard this Gospel today and glorify, glorify, glorify, glorify, that is all we heard; wa wawa wa wa waaa, was all a bunch of static. Then…we get to the second half of the postage stamp. Now, this half is equally problematic. Since the 1960s we have been afflicted with those four psychedelic letters, L…O…V…E! If they had been honest in the 60s they would have written the letters, L…U…S…T! All the luv, luv, luv we have heard about since the 60s has been about lust, lust, lust! We can’t say the word “lust” because it has no marketing value. Advertising has been such a gift to humanity. Anyway, luv, luv, luv, luv…waa, waa, waa, waa.
Let me mention that in the first half of the Gospel it is Holy Thursday night, just after the last Supper. When Judas had left them he went to betray, to sell Christ. When Judas had left them Jesus said all of that in the Gospel today. What does Jesus mean about glory? This is the important question. I will show you, watch…. Okay?
Father Paul turns to the crucifix and circles it with his finger
What does Jesus mean when He talks about glory? The same thing you and I would automatically think of, right? Look at what He says.
And God will glorify Him at once.
On Holy Thursday He is glorified at once, on Good Friday He is glorified at once; see the connection with the first reading?
It is necessary for us to undergo many glorifications to enter the Kingdom of God.
Yes, that is what HE means by “glory”; that is what HE means by being glorified. Do you notice the disconnect between my definition of glory and His?
The children at Fatima were taught a lesson on this before Our Lady appeared to them in 1917. Months before Our Lady appeared to them on May 13, 1917, an angel appeared to them to teach them how to pray, and yes…how to sacrifice. Now, these are three children out in the pastures shepherding their flocks and they are incredibly inconspicuous individuals and are nobodies to the world. The angel appeared and said to them,
Do not be afraid, I am the Angel of Peace, pray with me.
Then he knelt down and bent his head all the way to the ground and prayed in this way.
The angel prayed in this way three times, teaching the children to imitate him and to learn the prayer and then after he told them to pray in this way and he said,My God, I believe in You, I adore You, I hope in You and I love You. I ask Your pardon for those who do not believe in You, do not adore You, do not hope in You and do not love You. Amen
Wow! This is how they began to learn how to pray. Months passed and the children, well… pray and play sound so close and being children they would be more absorbed in play than pray. The angel appears to them again, kind of the way a father or mother turns the corner at home and finds the kids playing when they should be doing something else. You know, those kids from Dallas, right? But these three shepherds are just children and they like to sit and play on the great rock covering the well. Oh isn’t that great? Playing on a rock that is covering a big hole with water in it! Anyway, they are kids, right? An attractive nuisance. So they are playing there when the angel appears and he asks them what they are doing. How many parents have said that to their kids today? The angel said,The hearts of Jesus and Mary are ready to listen to you.
These three children were cousins and Lucia was the oldest. She is kind of the lawyer for the group, the representative, so she is always piping up and thanks be to God she was always asking. She says,You must pray; the Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you. You must offer your prayers and sacrifices to God the Most High.
The angel said,How are we to sacrifice?
This is an angel teaching them. That last line probably stands alone head and shoulders above the rest.In every way you can offer sacrifice to God in reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and in supplication for sinners. In this way you will bring peace to our country; for I am the Guardian Angel of Portugal. Above all, bear and accept with patience the sufferings God will send you.
Do you see how parallel that is with the words of St. Paul in the First Reading?Above all, bear and accept with patience the sufferings God will send you.
Persevere in the faith.
The angel left them and they began to make sacrifices and pray the Rosary as they had been exhorted, which is a meditation on the Life, Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Christ. So they began to make these changes in reparation.
The angel was very beautiful and that has been attested to again and again. The last time the angel appeared he was carrying something in his hand, which made him pale in comparison. He was carrying the Sacred Host and a chalice like the one you see in this first stained glass window. So he was carrying the Sacred Host with the chalice beneath, and from the Sacred Host the blood of Christ dripped into the chalice. The angel left the Sacred Host and chalice suspended in the air and went around to where the children were and prostrated himself; he fell over in worshipping God and this is the prayer the angel prayed.
There is that word again! Reparation! Notice that the prayer is addressed to God because that is God in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Love. So, he is addressing God and telling God that he offers to Him the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of His dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in reparation. The greatest gift we have that we can offer to God in reparation is Holy Communion and that is exactly what the angel did. After praying this way he gave the children Holy Communion. As he did so he said,Oh Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,I adore Thee profoundly.
I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinityof Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world,in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges andindifferences by which He is offended.
By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,I beg the conversion of poor sinners.
Amen.
After he said that and gave them Communion and said the prayer, Most Holy Trinity” once more. Do you notice how he is asking these three nobodies to repair the damage done to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary through worthily receiving Holy Communion. When the angel was appearing to the children he was getting them ready for Our Lady’s visit. They were better prepared since the angel had instructed them.Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ horribly outraged by ungrateful men; repair their crimes and console your God.
On may 13th the children saw a beautiful Lady and later she would tell them who she was. She appeared to them saying,
Then she looked at the children with love and of course Lucia asked her where she was from. She responded,Please don’t be afraid; I am not going to harm you.
Hum, since she just came from Heaven Lucia decided she had a lot of questions about Heaven. Lucia asked the Lady what she wanted of her and the Lady told Lucia she wanted her to return there on the 13th day of each month for the next six months and at the very same hour. She told Lucia that she would tell her later who she was and what it is that she most desired. She also told Lucia that she would return a seventh time.I come from Heaven.
Now, Our Lady of Fatima is a mother; what are mothers famous for? They are famous for cutting up what their children need into small pieces so they don’t choke on it, right? This is exactly what Our Lady of Fatima is doing; she has a message for them but in order to help them focus she is going to cut it up into small pieces over a period of months to allow it to sink in. Lucia continued with her questions about heaven.
The Blessed Mother said,Shall I go to Heaven?
Being a girl, Lucia turned to the Blessed Mother and asked about Jacinta, her cousin. We all know how girls stick together. Our Lady told Lucia that Jacinta would go to Heaven as well. Now, there are two girls and a boy. Every man here should be shivering in fear at the answer given when asked if Francisco would go to Heaven. This is a little boy under ten years old! Remember, this is 1917 and they didn’t have DSL in Portugal yet; they didn’t have cable TV or even TV much less electricity. This was Portugal! So this little boy has grown up in the countryside, he is under ten years old and now the question, which would apply to every boy and man here, right?Yes you will.
Will Francisco go to Heaven?
Uh, this will be my last Mass and I will spend the rest of my life praying the rosary and getting ready for my final judgment. Think about this, men. The Blessed Mother just assured these three children that they would go to Heaven but what did she do then? It may sound cruel, but she gave them a vision of hell, showing how people are tortured for all eternity in hell. It scared the life out of these three kids but they already had the knowledge that they would go to Heaven.Francisco too; yes, he will go to Heaven but he will first have many rosaries to say.
So far Lucia has gotten great answers about Heaven and so she asks about some of her friends who had recently passed away. She asked if Maria was in Heaven and Our Lady said she was. Then she asked the Blessed Mother if Amelia was in Heaven and Our Lady said that she was in Purgatory. Well, Lucia’s eyes filled with tears and looked at the Lady as though there might be something they could do for Amelia. The Lady then asked them a question that not only concerned Amelia but all the sons and daughters of the earth.
All three children said they would do this. One of the things that Our Lady of Fatima said to these children about hell, and this was in 1917.Will you offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He sends you in atonement for all the sins that offend God and for the conversion of sinners?
That was in 1917 and now we have all the wonders and glory of the Internet, TV, Wall Street, and pardon me if I don’t genuflect. We have all the latest fashions and how to dress and undress in public. If you turn the TV on you would be hard pressed to find a station that wouldn’t in some way sin against purity, apart from Mother Angelica. What Our Lady said is so disregarded.So many souls go to hell because of sins of impurity.
I have provided for you in your bulletin a quote from Sacramentum Caritas. Written by Pope Benedict XVI and released in February of this year. He is talking about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He says,
I also have provided for you in the bulletin a most powerful prayer to pray after receiving Holy Communion, written by Pope Benedict. It is not fly over territory.Furthermore, the precious time of thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion should not be neglected; besides the singing of an appropriate hymn, it can also be most helpful to remain recollected in silence.
This prayer is based on the words of Pope Benedict in “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” p.88-89.
Jesus, my Living Lord, I know that You have just entered my Soul - my Heart. Thank You! I surrender myself to You! Please raise me up AND transform me! Amen.
After receiving Holy Communion and going back to your place, it is a time of thanksgiving and silence, but in your own heart you should hear all the hammering; it is a construction site because a bridge is being built in my soul, in your soul, and across an abyss of ignorance and unworthiness. Who is the builder of this bridge? The Sacred Heart of Jesus!
I will soon be 48 and for 47 years on a daily basis I have shown without a doubt that I am an abyss of ignorance and unworthiness and yet, when I receive Jesus in Holy Communion, He builds a bridge across the abyss because God does have a sense of humor. There is a lot of repair that this world needs and here is the sense of humor, which is not a joke. God wants all that repaired through you and me and the way we do this, especially in accepting the sacrifices that come to us, we offer them in union with the Mass and especially Holy Communion, the Body. Blood, Soul and Divinity as the angel taught the children at Fatima.
Also, look at the 41 intentions in the bulletin that we can pray for. This will just get you started. Last Monday a friend of mine, who was only 50 years old died of a brain tumor. I didn’t realize this was happening and I only found out when I saw it in the paper. He left a wife and two children. I have to pray for the repose of his soul; I have to pray for his widow and children. This man died suddenly; who is going to help him? You can see how God puts us in connection with people starting with family members and our friends and neighbors. We are connected with brothers and sisters around the world and this is why praying for the conversion of sinners is praying for family. Hopefully there is someone praying for my conversion everyday.
If we love in this way, the love of Christ, which loves to the point of shedding blood, which loves to repair the damage caused by sin and death, then other people will know that we are His disciples.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen