The name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen. I’d like to welcome you to our Perseverance family conversation. I’m Father Ed Broom, Oblate of the Virgin Mary, your friend and your host in this Perseverance family conversation we have every morning. Great to be with all of you!

I would like to start off our conversation by inviting Mary to be with us. Mary has many wonderful titles. Mary is the Mother of God, Mary is the Mother of the Church, Mary’s the mother of each and every one of us. Also turn to Mary and invoke Mary from the Hail Holy Queen, Mary is our life, our sweetness and our hope! That’s true, Mary, is our life, our sweetness and our hope! 

Let’s ask Mary to pray with us, and to pray for us in this beautiful month of May dedicated to Mary. May is for Mary! Let us pray: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

Now I’d like to invite to be with us our Spiritual Director. Our Spiritual Director is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has many wonderful titles, the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, Holy Spirit is also from the Catechism of the Catholic Church is also the Gift of gifts, the Holy Spirit from the Sequence that will be praying on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is also known as the Sweet Guest of our soul. The Holy Spirit is also known as our Consoler. He’s the one that can help this, help us to get out of desolation. Holy Spirit is also known as Our Counselor. And the Holy Spirit is our Interior Master. Saint Paul says that we really don’t know the prayers we ought but the Holy Spirit intercedes with ineffable groans so that we can say “Abba” which means Daddy, or “Father”.

Let’s beg the Holy Spirit, God’s gift to us, to give us a lot of light in our intellect and set our hearts on fire with love for Him. As we pray: “Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle within us the fire of your divine love. Send forth your spirit and they shall be created and thou should renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. Oh God who did instruct the hearts of your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us that by the same spirit we may be truly wise and every choice in his consolation to the same Christ our Lord, Amen. 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was and beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us. St. Faustina, pray for us. Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us. Saint Raphael, pray for us. Saint Gregory, pray for us. St. Beed, pray for us. St. Mary Magdalene de Patsy, pray for us. All God’s angels and saints, pray for us! In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I’d like to welcome you all to our Perseverance family conversation and as always, I will be praying for all of you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is by far the greatest of all prayers. It is a prayer, par excellence, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I’d like to place you all on the altar and I would like to offe the following intentions. 

INTENTIONS FOR TODAY

First I’d like to pray for all of us that we would be open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and perhaps we can say during the course of the day: “Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come through the heart of Mary. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come through the heart of Mary”. My next intention, I’d like to pray for our families especially the conversion of our families. For the family members who have walked away from God.  Family members who don’t go to church. Pray also for our own conversion, because conversion is not simply radical conversions, but also daily conversions. Let’s pray that we would go deeper in our own conversion on a daily basis.

Next intention: We could pray, my friends, in a special way for those who be dying today. Especially those who are not prepared for this all-important moment in their lives. Let’s pray that those who are dying would open their hearts to God’s infinite mercy. Jesus said: “What would it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process”?  Pray that those who are dying would open up their hearts to God’s infinite mercy, indeed His mercy is infinite. Give thanks to Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

MARIAN REFLECTION

So, in this month of May we’re giving a brief Mary reflection at the beginning of our conversation. The Marian reflection I’d like to offer today is consecrate one’s family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Maybe you will not do this overnight. But I think it’s a great idea to consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Here’s your beautiful image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Perhaps you can say that prayer, ‘sweetheart of Mary, be my salvation. So let’s return my friends to the Acts the Apostles.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

I’d like to kind of give you an overall summary of what St. Paul has been doing. Rewinding the film of the life of Saul of Tarsus, Saul was persecuting the first Christians and he was throwing them into prison. One of the most prominent moments of the Acts of the Apostles chapter six and seven we have the person of Saint Stephen. Steven is preaching the Word of God, he’s eloquent, he’s convicted, he’s strong and he is condemned to death. As he’s being stoned to death Stephen is forgiving his persecutors. Saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them, Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit”. Who is present there is the person of Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus concurred with the death of Saint Stephen. Shortly after that after pursuing the early growing Christian he’s heading toward Damascus. On his way toward Damascus, he surrounded by bright light, and he hears a voice, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me”?  “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord”? “I’m Jesus, who you are persecuting”. Saul is blinded by this bright light and he falls to the ground, his companions take him by the hand. Saul is blind and doesn’t eat anything for three days and three nights. God speaks to Ananias, an early follower of Christ, and God tells Ananias to go to Straight street where Saul of Tarsus is, Ananias objects, but the Lord points that I have chosen his Saul as his special vessel. “I will point out to him how much he’ll have to suffer for my name”. So Ananias obeys the Word of Jesus Christ, who speaking to him and Ananias then goes and he places his hands on Saul. Something like scales fall from his eyes and Saul is able to see. Saul’s baptized, given something to eat. And this, my friends, is one of the most radical conversions in the history of the world. Perhaps the most famous conversion in the history of the world. Saul of Tarsus, who was dragging Christians into jail, putting some of them to death, was present at the death of Saint Stephen, now has an encounter on the road to Damascus with Christ. He’s baptized and there’s a radical change in his life. 

Paul gets up and he preaches in the synagogue that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. This note my friends, let’s pray for conversion of the world. Let us pray for the conversion. Let us pray for the conversion of Catholics. Let us pray for the conversion of our church. Let us pray for the conversion of our family, which is the domestic church. Let’s pray for our own conversion. Saint Bernard once commented that it’s easier to see someone undergoing a radical conversion from sin to grace than to see someone going from going to better in their spiritual life. Saint Bernard is pointing out that we can have a tendency in our lives to stagnate. Our spiritual life, my friends, is a call to daily conversion. If you’re rolling your boat and you don’t row against the current, you’re going to be dragged downstream. 

Saul goes this radical conversion, he’s baptized by Ananias, and he preaches in the synagogues. He will experience persecution. So note for all of us: You should not be surprised that if you are living out your Catholic faith that you experience some type of persecution, you should not be surprised. 

Jesus preached that in the Sermon on the Mount there are 8 Beatitudes. The last of the Beatitudes Jesus says: “Blessed are those are persecuted for my name, for theirs is the Kingdom of God”. We’re talking about the presence of Saul and Paul in the Acts of the Apostles today. 

We’re seeing how God is working in this great man and we’re trying to apply this to our own lives. We shouldn’t be surprised. And if we enter called persecutions in our own lives? And often the persecution in our own home, our spouse or children don’t seem to understand us. They think that we’re religious fanatics. They think we’ve gone overboard that we’ve gone over the top! They think that we’ve lost our common sense. They really feel that we’re going crazy. They really believe that we are not really living in the world.  I think most of you have experienced that type of a persecution. 

So going back to Paul, Paul is converted.  Paul will separate himself and go to Arabia for several years. Where the Lord will speak to him, Paul comes back and is united with the apostles and Paul is sent on a missionary trip. In his first missionary trip he goes with Barnabas who’s known as the son of consolation and he goes also with John Mark, who wrote the second Gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 

On this journey, something happened, such that John Mark abandoned Paul and Barnabas.  Paul was not happy over this such that the next time that they would go off on the missionary trip, Barnabas wanted to take Mark, who was actually his cousin and Paul said no! Because John Mark had abandoned him the first time. He will not come with us!  There was a dissension and Barnabas decided not to go with Paul. Now, fast forward, we see the presence of. Saint Paul. 

Most of the second part of the Acts of the Apostles, known as the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.  We see a good part of the Acts presenting Paul the Great Apostle, Saint Paul the Great Missionary! But what has happened in Paul is the following. God is going to use him to carry out an extraordinary mission within the Church. Often, he’ll be preaching to the chosen people, the children but more than once, they don’t accept this preaching and they persecute him. Paul is going to be persecuted in many ways, in one of his writings he gives us a list of his persecutions: he was beaten with rods, shipwrecked, thrown in jail. There’s a whole litany or list of the many sufferings that Saul, rather Paul would undergo for the sake of the name of our Lord.  But once He was converted, his love for Jesus Christ was so strong that nothing can stop preaching from Lord’s everything. 

The very life of Saint Paul, which is we should pray for that grace. Pray for the grace that Jesus Christ will be the very center of and the Principle is Foundation of our lives, the beginning and the end! That Jesus will be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, He’ll be our rock foundation, our everything. 

Paul was actually a Pharisee. Paul decides that he will go because of the persecution, the beating, stoning, the scourging, the rejection of Saul, of Tarsus. Because of this God is speaking to Paul in a very powerful way, saying that now you will be called to preach the Word of God to the whole nations, and that is what he did. 

Paul would go and preach the Word of God to the whole nations and the world, ‘Catholic, Kata Holos’ in Greek, and it actually means, universal. That Paul would preach the word of God to all the nations. Paul then goes to Antioch to preach to some of the Greek speak people because he also could speak Greek. He stayed there and many converts came about through this. Paul is going to go to Antioch and he’s going to be going to many places. He’ll go to Athens, He’ll go to Galatia, He’ll go to Corinth, where you spent a couple of years. He’ll go to Ephesus where he spent a couple years. He will go to Jerusalem, where he’ll be thrown in prison. He’ll go to Rome. Saint Paul is on the move, so one of the points I just like to highlight for all of us. Saint Paul, obviously after Jesus Christ, was perhaps the greatest missionary in the Catholic Church, he could not keep the love of Christ within it. It’s so true, even in our lives one of the best ways for us to grow in our faith is to share our faith with others. That’s right! One of the best ways to grow in our faith is to share our faith with others. Now what he would do? Paul would go to a place, he would preach, and there would be converts, then after preaching that there be converts, then he would ordain priests, also known as presbyters. These priests or presbyters Would preside over the church. Then Paul would write letters to them.

Today we have Paul, who’s. Paul, who is in prison, in Jerusalem, and he’s brought before the court, and beforehand you have two different two different groups of Jews. You have you have the Pharisees and you have the Sadducees. And Paul opens up his mouth and the Pharisees and Sadducees did not agree on many things, even though they were Jews. Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul, they believe in angels, they believed in the resurrection. The Sadducees didn’t believe in any of that. So Paul spoke up and there was such a disagreement among the Pharisees and Sadducees that they wanted to kill Paul. 

There is a fear that he’d be torn to pieces, so the Roman guards go and they take him to the compound, where he is thrown in jail. Jesus once again speaks to Paul and says, “do not be afraid as you’ve given witness in Jerusalem, you will give witness to me in Rome”: So Paul will be transported, he’s going from Athens to Corinth, from Corinth to Jerusalem, Jerusalem to Rome. He’s moving from one place to the other. 

HUMILITY

I’d like to comment briefly on what Saint Paul said this would be going back to yesterday, I thought a very pertinent. Some of the advice that he gave to the church in Ephesus, he says this: “You know how I lived among you the whole time, from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility”. My friends, there’s a lot in there. There’s a lot in there! As Saint Paul the Great, the Lord with all humility. So I am called to serve the Lord with all humility, and you are called to serve the Lord with all humility. Let’s pray that we would be at the service of Christ and the service of the gospel. He says, and with tears and trials. That came to me because of the plots of the Jews that I was speaking about. The chosen people that he wanted to convert. It seemed to pursue you with him. And he suffered very much because of that and Paul says, and they did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit. Or from teaching you in public or in your homes. See, Saint Paul was so filled with the love of God. Saint Paul was so filled with the love of God that he could not keep it to himself. He would preach in the synagogues. He preached in the public square; he would preach in Athens in the Areopagite. He would preach in their homes. Every opportunity that Paul had, every opportunity Pal had he would take advantage to preach the Word of God in season and out of season. Pray for the grace, as you draw closer to Pentecost, which is the coming of the Holy Spirit, praying for the grace that all of us. Like the great apostle St Paul would preach the word of God!

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. I’d like to welcome you all, I’m Father Ed Broom, Oblate the Virgin Mary priest, and it’s great to be with all of you as we try to grow in our friendship with Christ and arrive at our eternal destiny, which is heaven. We’d like to start off our conversation by invoking Mary. Mary is the Mother of God, Mary is the Mother of the Church. Mary’s the mother of each and every one of us! And when we pray the Hail Holy Queen, we invoke Mary as our life, our sweetness and our hope. So let’s lift up our gaze to Mary. Who is truly the Mother of God, but also our mother and the order of grace and ask her to obtain for our special graces today as we pray. 

Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee. Bless you thou among women, and blessed the fruit of divine Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

Now let’s invite our Spiritual Director to be with us. Our Spiritual Director is the Holy Spirit and He has many wonderful descriptive titles among which would be the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Gift of gifts. And in the Sequence that will be praying this Sunday we invoke the Holy Spirit as the Sweet Guest of our souls. The Holy Spirit is also our Consoler. The Holy Spirit is also our Counselor. Holy Spirit is also known as our Sanctifier. The Holy Spirit is also Our Interior Master, our Teacher. Saint Paul said to the Gentiles, in his letter to the Romans, Chapter 8: “we really don’t know how to appraise we ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes with ineffable groans, so that we can say “Abba, Father”. 

Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to be with us and to guide our words, our thoughts, our actions.  Let’s pray the classical prayer to the Holy Spirit. So together:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, who have taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,

grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. 

Our Lady of good counsel, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Michael the Archangel Pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us. St Raymond, pray for us. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us. Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, pray for us. All God’s angels and Saints, pray for us. In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My friends, the family that prays together stays together and a world at prayer is a world at peace. I’ll be praying for you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today that God would bless you most abundantly. I promise to place you all on the altar in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the following intentions:

1. First, that all of us, as we draw closer to Pentecost, we’re in the novena now for Pentecost, which is the coming of the Holy Spirit, that we would be open and docile to the Holy Spirit. Let us make this our prayer. “Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come through the heart of Mary. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come to the heart of Mary.” 

2. Next intention, I’d like to pray for our families, specifically for the conversion of our family members. Pray for the conversion of those who are far away from God and that we ourselves would go through a deeper conversion every day. I’d like to pray for our sanctification, not only would we be converted, but that we would make a concerted effort to grow in holiness. Saint Paul says this is the will of our Heavenly Father, is our sanctification. Jesus says, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness they will be satisfied”. I’d like to pray also for our final perseverance, that we would be given the grace of all graces, which is the grace of final perseverance until the end. I’d like to place all of you on the altar. 

3. The next intention, for all those who within the next 24 hours we be dying, for those that will will pass from this life to the next, from time to eternity, from the realm of God’s mercy to the justice of God, where all of us will have to be judged by Christ. He will come to judge the living and the dead! Please pray for those who are dying, especially those who are perhaps not prepared to die today. That they would open up their hearts to God’s mercy. 

MARIAN REFLECTION

We’re still in the month of May. May is the month of Mary. I’d like to offer you a brief Marian reflection, as is our custom in the month of May. May is the month of Mary and given that we’re closer to Pentecost. I’d like to give a brief reflection on Mary and her relationship to the Holy Spirit. 

Let’s start with the Blessed Trinity. In the context of the greatest mystery of our Catholic faith, which is the Trinity, Mary has a very special place. Mary is the daughter of God the Father, Mary is the Mother of God the Son and Mary is the Mystical Spouse of God the Holy Spirit. Mary is intimately interwoven in the presence of the Blessed Trinity. But related to the Holy Spirit, Mary is the Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Oh, beautiful! But how true!

Let’s start with Mary’s earthly existence. Like all of us, Mary began to exist in the moment of her conception but Mary’s conception was very different than our conception, because we believe as faithful Catholics that one of Mary’s great privileges that you receive from God himself is then privilege of her Immaculate Conception. When we say Immaculate Conception, we mean that the very moment that Mary started her earthly life in the very moment of her conception in the womb of Saint Anne, her mother, God intervened in a miraculous way thereby preserving Mary from the stain of Original Sin. For that reason we say, oh, Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 

Saint Thomas Aquinas says that this was very opportune because of the Incarnation. God would have to come into the world through the most pure and perfect channel through the Immaculate one! So that takes us, moves us from the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of. Saint Anne, her mother, that moment in which Mary was conceived, God preserved her from the stained of original sin. As William Wordsworth, the English poet expressed it, “Mary is our tainted natures, solitary boast”. How beautiful! So that takes us to what is called the virginal conception. The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s conception in the womb of Saint Anne, the virginal conception refers to when Mary has the encounter with the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her by saying “Hail full of grace the Lord is with you”. The Archangel, the messenger of God says, “…you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth the Son and his name is Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins”. 

Mary gives her ‘fiat’. ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to their word’. And that moment, Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The next, Mary’s goes to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth who was pregnant in her old age. Mary moves in haste! The Venerable Beed points out that this is a manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and Mary corresponding to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit works with great alacrity, with great speed, with speed and graceful ease. 

Mary travels to the Hill Country, a mission of charity toward her elderly cousin. The next moment is when Mary agreed to Elizabeth. Mary is communicating the Holy Spirit to Elizabeth the baby leaps for joy and Elizabeth says, “blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me at the sound of your greeting, the baby leapt in my womb for joy! Blessed are you for having believed that these things, and it’s by the Lord would be accomplished”.

In the same context of the visitation, Mary opens up her her heart. And she offers us a beautiful canticle of praise that we call the Magnificat, Mary, moved by the Holy Spirit, again says. “My soul does magnify the Lord! My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. He’s looked upon the loneliness of his hand. Henceforth. All generations will call me blessed. For the mighty has done great things for me, and Holy’s His name, His mercy, extends from generation to generation upon those who fear Him. He’s lifted up the lowly. And cast down the proud from their Proms. He’s remembered Abraham is servant.” This is what is called the Magnificat. It’s a wonderful, magnificent, sublime canticle of praise which Mary teaches us. She teaches us how to pray and how to praise God. All during the earthly life of Mary she was inspired by the Holy Spirit, she was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, she was motivated by the Holy Spirit, she was enveloped by the Holy Spirit. She was totally absorbed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we should pray for the same grace!

NOVENA IN PREPARATION FOR PENTECOST

Right now, we’re in the very heart of the Novena in preparation for Pentecost, which is the coming of the Holy Spirit. There we have Jesus after he ascends to heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus will commission His apostles to go out and teach the whole world, all that He taught them, and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son, the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus promising them that they that He will be with them always, even until the end of the world. But it says first to go to the Upper Room. He tells his Apostles to go the Upper Room to be with Mary. And that’s where we are now. We’re in the Novena in preparation for Pentecost were in the novena preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit when the Upper Room. 

The Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary are in the upper room in silence, in fasting and in prayer, awaiting the Gift of gifts, the promised one of God, the Consoler,  the Sanctifier! Imploring the coming of the Holy Spirit! After those nine days and nine nights of intense prayer, the Apostles united with Mary, the Mother of God, then we have the Pentecost experience. And there’s like a strong wind that shook the very foundations of their house. and tongues of fire descended upon the Apostles. They were able to express himself in different languages so that the people could have could understand them. 

This outpouring of the Holy Spirit came about as a result of the Blessed Virgin Mary present with the Apostles in deep prayer! This was the first Novena, nine days and nine nights. As we draw close to this biggest Feast of Pentecost, which happens to be all set, the birth is church, let’s turn to Mary, the Daughter of God the Father, the Mother of God the Son, and the Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit, to descend upon us that we would have our own Pentecost experience. 

My friends, we are a family, exactly one year ago today, Father Vincenzo Antolini died exactly a year from today. So in a few minutes I will be with the other priests and the Deacon. Which will be celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for Father Antolini. I’d like you to pray for him today and for his soul. And in that Mass, I’ll be praying for him. But also be praying for each and every one of you. That through the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary you also. Will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Lord be with you! May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. I’d Like to welcome you to our Perseverance Family Conversation, top of the morning! That God would bless you and very special way as we prepare to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

We’d like to start off our conversation by inviting Mary to be with us. Mary has many titles, among which would be Mary is the Mother of God; Mary, the Mother of the Church; and Mary is the mother of each and every one of us. Let’s turn to Mary. In the Hail Holy Queen we invoke Mary as also our life, our sweetness and our hope. Ask Mary to obtained for us and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray the prayer that she loves most, and that’s the Hail Mary.

Together: Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed are thou among women and blessed the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

My name is Father Ed Broom, and I’m an Oblate of the Virgin Mary, your host and. We would like also to invite our Spiritual Director to be with us. Our Spiritual director is the Holy Spirit. Like the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Spirit has many wonderful titles. His titles are the following: The Holy Spirit is known as the Gift of gifts. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Sweet Guest of our soul. Holy Spirit is known as our Counselor as well as their Consoler. Holy Spirit is also known as the Sanctifier. If we truly want to pursue a life of holiness, and we have to rely upon the inner workings of the Holy Spirit and our collaboration with him. Holy Spirit is also our Interior Master. Saint Paul reminds us, “We don’t know how to praise we ought but the Holy Spirit intercedes with ineffable groans, so we can say “Abba, Father”, which means daddy or Father. 

Let us beg the Holy Spirit to give us a lot of light and our intellect and the fire of divine love to burn within our hearts as we say the classical prayer to the Holy Spirit. Together: “Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faith and enkindle within us the fire of your divine love, send forth O God, who did instruct the hearts of your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us that by the same spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation, through  the same Christ our Lord, Amen. Glory be to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Our Lady Fatima, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us. All God’s angels and saints, pray for us. St Ignatius of Loyola,  pray for us.  Saint Rita of Cascia, pray for us.  St. Faustina Kowalska, pray for us. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

A after praying together, the family that prays together stays together. I like off your words of consolation. I promise to pray for you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we celebrate the greatest prayer in the whole universe. It is the prayer par excellence. It unites heaven to earth and earth to heaven by the Blood of Jesus who suffering on the cross. I’d like to place these intentions on the altar. 

INTENTIONS

First, I’d like to pray that all of us would be open to the inner workings of the Holy Spirit and His inspirations. Perhaps this can be a prayer, especially this week. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

My second intention? Like the pray especially for our families, that we would be converted by the workings of the Holy Spirit and we would grow in grace and that we would be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. And that we would persevere to the end and be saved. Jesus says: “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his soul in the process” 

THIRD INTENTION.  I’d like to pray for the dying. Many will be dying during the course of this day, that they will be saved. That they will turn to the infinite mercy of Christ. The greatest sinners can be the greatest saints of they simply entrust themselves to God’s infinite mercy. Give thanks to the Lord for your God for his mercy, for his mercy endures forever. 

MARIAN REFLECTION

My friends, we’re still in the month of May. I’d like to give a brief Marian reflection before entering into our topic for the day. Today I’d like to just give a brief reflection on Mary and her relationship to the Blessed Trinity and to the Church. Mary has an intimately relationship to the Blessed Trinity. Mary is the daughter of the Eternal Father, Mary’s the Mother of God the Son, and Mary is the Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Mary had a very intimate relationship with the Blessed Trinity.  Mary also is the living temple of the Blessed Trinity. 

We become sons and daughters of God through baptism, or adopted sons and daughters of God through baptism. We’re brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ. We become temples of the Holy Spirit through baptism. So, let’s ask Mary to help us to appreciate more and more our union with God through baptisms. In the most complete way as we get closer and closer to the Feast of Pentecost. 

ASCENSION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST INTO HEAVEN

Yesterday we celebrated the ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven. Now we’re with Mary and the Apostles in the Upper Room called the Cenacle. And we’re praying fervently with Mary for the down pouring of the Holy Spirit in their own lives that we would have her own Pentecostal experience. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come through the heart of Mary!

SAINT RITA

Today we have the feast of a Saint Rita. We have Saint Paul going to Ephesus and preaching, converting and, laying his hands upon the people there. Then the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus says take courage in the midst of our tribulations because He has conquered the world. 

I’d like to start off by talking about Saint Rita of Cassia. She was born in 1381 and died the 1400’s in her 70s. That church reminds us that the saints can help us in the following ways, the saints can pray for us. They are our friends! The Beatles sang “Get a little help from your friends”. We can get a help from our friends, and those friends are the Saints in heaven and their power of intercession for us. Most of the Saints, they are models for us to imitate in their lives of virtue. We should never forget that all of us are called to become Saints! As Jesus said, be holy as your heavenly Father is holy. So, let’s get to know the Saints. 

Every year we celebrate on May 22nd, the feast of Saint Rita of Cassia. Some background: In the late 1300’s, early 1400’s her parents were somewhat like the parents of John the Baptist and in the sense that they could not have children. Her parents could not have children. Finally, in their old age, God bless him with their daughter, who they named Margarita. Yesterday I was taking a walk and praying rosaries with two Rita’s, today they celebrate their Onomastico. She was born of elderly parents, pious, and therefore elders. They’re living in time in Italy, whether it’s just a lot of they call the ‘dolce vendetta”. There are a lot of wars warring between families, it was part of the social fabric. She try to live the beatitude of the peacemakers. As a little child she just love to pray. Her parents arranged a marriage for her to Paolo Mancini. Rita simply obeyed her parents, she implemented the 4th commandment.  According to the writings on her life, she married a man that had a lot of egregious character faults. It is certain sense you can see is a certain parallel between Saint Rita and Saint Monica. In this sense St. Rita and Saint Monica, they both married very, very difficult men. Rita’s husband was in very angry man with a very explosive temperament. He also had problems with drinking and he was a womanizer. 

These are the qualities also of the husband of Saint Monica, whose name was Patricius. St. Rita patiently put up with these egregious temperamental faults of her husband. God blessed her and her husband with two children, two boys. The boys followed in the footsteps of their father in their violent temperament. She prays very fervently for the conversion of her husband. and apparently, he was converted. But something happened that would change the life of Rita, as well as her whole family. She found that her husband. Was brutally murdered. Now with this, her two sons recognize that the honor of their family was severely damaged. The sons were planning to seek out revenge and to kill the person that killed their father. Rita prefer the death of her sons rather than they carry out this dastardly deed. Rita spoke with the family that murdered her husband and begged and she gave forgiveness. And she tried also to speak with her own family members that they would practice mercy.

She trying to live out the gospel, “blessed are the peacemakers”. What happened was it affected the two sons of Rita and they became gravely ill. Saint Rita was helping to intercede for them and get them to repent. Such that both of the sons of Rita died. So Rita lost her husband, and one son, and then another son. She was bereft of all human attachments. 

Rita had a desire within her heart to become religious nun. That was the desire of her heart. Rita had devotion to. Saint Augustine, St. Mary Magdalene and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. Saint Nicholas of Tolentino was an Augustinian priest. With great devotion to praying especially for the souls in Purgatory. She begged these three Saints to intercede for her. As it happened, she was praying one day in front of the Augustinian convent and the gates of the convent opened of themselves. The Mother Superior saw this as a sign that she should allow this woman to enter into the convent. Back then, it was not the custom to allow older women who were widows to come in and become part of the religious life. Rita was accepted in. She was very humble, very obedient, very prayerful, very mortified and one of her greatest desires was to pray and the meditative upon the Passion of Christ. She was put to the test. One of the tests that they made her do was a humiliation. Sister, go out now in the garden and plant the stick and water it. Obviously, this was a huge humiliation. But Rita did that and to the surprise of the nuns in the convent the stick actually blossomed! Blossom into a flower! 

Rita spent 40 years of her life in the convent of the Augustinian nuns for 40 years. Praying and offering sacrifices, excepting humiliations, helping out the poor. There’s something else happen in their life that’s worthy of note. Rita wanted to love Christ all the more and she wanted to participate in His passion and to console the suffering Christ. It was Good Friday, and she was praying in front of a crucifix, and all of a sudden Rita experienced a sharp pain under forehead. And this was this was a manifestation of the stigmata. You’ll probably know that St. Francis of Assisi as well as Padre Pio had the stigmata. They had the wounds in their hands and in their feet, and they had also on his opened side. But there are various forms of the stigmata. 

In the case of Saint Rita, it was her brow, her forehead was pierced with thorns and this, of course, caused her excruciating pains. And not only that, but it emitted a terrible stench and even worms would come out of that wound. But she patiently endured it! The latter part of her life, the last few years of her life she became very sick. And was confined to bed that she could barely move. 

She suffered so very much but Rita was always offering her suffering to God. I believe that’s a very powerful message for us. That we have to suffer, let’s pray that we don’t waste our suffering. That’s all for our day to Jesus, who Mary and through the angels and the Saints. Not to waste our suffering, but to unite our suffering to Christ. Suffering can be spiritual, emotional, physical and familiar. There are many, many ways that we suffer. One of the biggest tragedies is  the fact that we can so easily waste our sufferings. 

So let’s learn to unite our sufferings to the sufferings of Christ, past, present, and future. Father Solanus Casey would actually thank God for the future crosses that God would send him. Father Salonus is Casey  who was the porter of Saint Bonaventure in Detroit, MI? Who was the Spiritual Director of my great uncle in Detroit, MI about 80 years ago. 

Rita spends the last part of her life on the cross, confined to bed. She’ll eventually die in 1457,. and like Christ goes to the cross always, and only through love, always, said the words of Saint Pope John Paul II. So the fact that she embraced the cross, she embraced suffering that was the means by which she was able to do so much good. Especially as a peacemaker. But a few other things, miracles that happened during her life in an afterlife. When she was about to die, someone came to visit her and said what can I give you? And it was in the winter, and the Saint Rita said, I want you to go in the garden and I want you to get me a flower. And this person was thinking, well, in the winter, you’re not going to get any flowers in the middle of winter. So her friend went there and she saw a flower in full bloom and brought the flower to Rita. 

Another one asked her. What would you like? I don’t know if you’ve ever done this, but the Italian figs are among the most delicious fruits. She asked, can you give me a couple of figs? And also was the time in which the fig tree was not in blossom? And what did they find? Figs. The fig tree? Another one I just learned yesterday I was listening to a YouTube and Saint Rita in preparation for my talk today and there was a Carpenter that heard about Rita and he admired her very much but he was basically paralyzed confined to bed, could barely move. This, Carpenter said, I would love to make a coffin in which Rita would be able to rest for all eternity. As he made this petition, immediately he was healed of this paralysis and the people were shocked! They saw this man who was paralyzed up and running and after that, this man actually made the coffin for Saint Rita and her body was placed in that coffin. 

Another note about Saint Rita, her body! Her body is incorrupt! One day you might get a hold of the book by Joan Carroll, The Incorruptibles. There are some Saints that are incorrupt. God allows that to happen. That would be St. Jacinta of Fatima, Padre Pio, One of the most fascinating incorrupt would be listen to this Saint Anthony of Padua. That’s right. Say, Anthony Padua. Who lived at the time of Saint Francis and the 1200s, hje died in his 30s St. Anthony of Padua was known to be one of the greatest preachers in the Catholic Church. So much so. Did you know in the Hammer of Heritics! You with thunder against those who work

I’d like to welcome you to our Perseverance Family conversation. I’m Father Ed Broom, an Oblate of the to the Virgin Mary. It’s always great to be with all of you at the start of this new day, this new week we see celebrate this wonderful Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into Heaven. 

The Lord is truly raising alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. He has ascended on high where he takes a seat at the right hand of God the Father. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! I would like to start off our conversation by inviting Mary to be with us.  Mary has many different titles. Mary is the Mother of God; Mary is the Mother of the Church, and Mary is the Mother of each and every one of us. We also call out to Mary as we’re doing the Hail Holy Queen, Mary is our life, our sweetness and our hope. 

Let’s call out to Mary, and invite Mary to be with us by our prayers, so that we would love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let’s pray the prayer that Mary loves most. And that prayer is the Hail Mary. 

Together: Hail Mary. Full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.  Let’s lift our gaze and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

Let’s pray to our Spiritual Director. That is the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit has many different titles. The Holy Spirit is known as the Paraclete; Holy Spirit is also known as the Gift of gifts; Holy Spirit is also known as the. Sweet guest of the soul; Holy Spirit is also known as Our Counselor as well as our Consoler; Holy Spirit is also the sanctifier; Holy Spirit is our interior Master or teacher. Let us turn the Holy Spirit and beg for his Presence as we converse today. Ask the Holy Spirit to give us a lot of light but also to give us interior fire of love to burn within our hearts.  As we pray: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful enkindle within us the fire of your divine love send forth your spirit, and they shall be created and thou should renew the face of the earth. 

Let us pray. Oh God, who did instruct the hearts of your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us that by the same spirit we may be truly wise, never rejoice in his consolation through the same Christ our Lord, Amen. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit, as it was in beginning is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. So, Lady Guadalupe, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us. Saint Raphael, pray for us. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us. Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us. Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, pray for us. All God’s Angels and Saints, pray for us. In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

INTENTIONS

This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it,  alleluia. alleluia, alleluia. So today we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in to heaven. To motivate all of you, I promise to pray for you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I’d like the place, all of you on the altar and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There is no greater prayer in the whole world than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I’d like to place you on the altar with the following attentions. 

First, I’d like to pray for all of us as we draw closer to Pentecost, which is the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we’ll be celebrating next Sunday. That all of us would be more and more open to the prompting, the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, the Sweet Guest of our soul. Perhaps we could say this prayer: “Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come to the Heart of Mary. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come to the heart of Mary”. 

Let’s pray that we would be open to His inspirations and be motivated to do great things for God. The Saints who are the masterpieces of the Holy Spirit. 

My second intention, I like to pray for your families, for the conversion of the family members, those who have walked away from God, but also I’d like to pray for ourselves so that we would go deeper in our own conversion to Christ. And for our sanctification. A Better way of explaining sanctification would be our growth and holiness, that we would not stagnate, but that we would grow in holiness. 

Third intention, for our final perseverance and grace that we would die in God’s grace so that we can go to heaven. Jesus says:  “what would it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” I’d also pray for those who will be dying today, that there will be saved. Jesus says what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul? So those are my intentions that I’d like a place on the altar in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today. 

MARIAN REFLECTION

Given that we’re still in the month of May, May is for Mary, I would like to give a a brief Marian catechesis. Id’ like to invite you to honor Mary by praying the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps the most famous is the Litany of Loretto. If you’ve never prayed the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary invite you to do it. It’s a series of short invocations, short prayers, that we offer to Mary. These short invocations we respond by saying, pray for us! For example: Holy Mary of Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. Mary mother to church, pray for us. Mary, Virgin of virgins, pray for us. Mary, Mystical Rose, pray for us. Mary Tabernacle of God, pray for us. Mary, Ark of the Covenant, pray for us. Mary, Model of patience, pray for us. There’s a series of invocations that we pray to Mary, terminating with the words pray for us. The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The invocations present Mary’s virtues. Many of these invocations are biblical and many of them are somewhat poetic and also they’re mystical. They bring us to go deeper and deeper into the Word of God, the Bible. They’re poetic and a beautiful expression. of linguistic perfections and mystical means that raise our hearts on high to God. Helping us to have a deeper union with God through a deeper prayer life. That’s my suggestion that sometime, perhaps in this week, to pray the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary Litany, the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

REFLECTION FOR TODAY | THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

Today, my friends we celebrate the Ascension of our lord and Savior Jesus into heaven. In the context of the liturgical year, we celebrate Easter, which is the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with the Easter Vigil Mass. In which you have the Baptism of the neophytes, their Confirmation in their First Communion. Then that whole week after Easter Sunday in the Easter Vigil Mass that whole week we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviro Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of our Catholic faith! Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again, we say, in the Mass. Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead. alleluia. This is the day the Lord has made, l let us be glad and rejoice in it, alleluia. 

We celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, but also we celebrate that not simply one day, but we celebrated 8 days. We celebrate that from Easter Sunday until the following Sunday in which we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. Which was a feast day that was instituted by Pope St. John Paul II on April 30th. 2000. On that day, he also canonized St. Maria Faustina Kowalska. Who’s known as the Secretary of Divine Mercy. “Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you”. That day if you made your confession and you receive Holy Communion you received the special privilege of having your soul become white as snow, like a baptismal grace, one of the promises that Jesus gave St. Faustina. 

The Easter season is 50 days. we’ve been in the Easter season all these days, and that leads us to what we celebrate today, the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven. And some Diocese that was already celebrated last Thursday, Ascension Thursday. Wherever most diocese in the United States of America, they celebrate the Ascension of our Lord this Sunday. So what does this mean? Well, Jesus, after he rose from the dead, hee stayed with the disciples for 40 days in which he was manifesting to the world that he was not dead, but he was alive. 

This preeminent action of Christ in which he truly rose from the dead, never to died again. Was a life transforming event that will that that would change the whole world until the end of time, all the way into eternity. Christ conquers death by his Resurrection. He proved to others that he did die, but he rose from the dead and that means that he appeared to others to prove His real presence. 

First, he appears to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Even though this is not written we believe that he truly appeared to his Blessed Mother. She was the only one that didn’t doubt. Other apparitions? Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene; Mary Magdalene believed that Jesus Christ was the Gardener. He appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24) They only recognize him when He breaks bread. They recognized him in the breaking their bread, they went back to the Apostles in Jerusalem relating what they had experienced on the road to Emmaus and, they said, “did not our hearts burn within us as he explained the word of God to us”. 

Jesus appears to the Apostles in the Upper Room. All this happened on Easter Sunday! The doors were closed, Jesus just goes through the Wall in His glorified presence. And he says, “Shalom, peace be with you.  As the Father sent me, so I send you”, and he breathed on them, the Holy Spirit, said, “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they’ll be forgiven, who sins you hold down, they’ll be held down. 

Then Jesus will appear to the Apostles when they go fishing. The Apostles catch nothing the whole night. Jesus, the man on the shores, tells them to cast their net on the other side of the boat, and they catch so many fish that the nets were almost breaking. And John sees that this is Jesus, and he says “it’s the Lord”, Peter launches himself into the lake Galilee, swims, and there are Lord is preparing breakfast for them. And after they’ve eaten, Jesus walks on the shore with Peter and asks him three times. “Peter, do you love me? Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Feed my lambs”. Then Jesus appeared to say Paul, then Jesus appeared to 500 others at the same time. 

I’m purposely going through these Resurrection events to point out the fact that Christ even though he died, he truly rose from the dead never to die again. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again! We should be beg the Holy Spirit as we contemplate the Resurrection of Christ for the most intense joy, in Spanish “intensísimo gozo” And the reason for this joy is that Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead of the alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

After appearing during these 40 days to the Apostles, Jesus summons them to Mount Olivet. They climb the mountain. This is very symbolic, the mountain. We have the Sermon on the Mount, we have Moses ascending the mountain, we have the Transfiguration which took place on the mountain. They are sent to a higher place, a higher realm! We’re also called to climb the mountain. Saint John the Cross wrote a mystical work called the Ascent to Mount Carmel. Were called to ascend the mountain of holiness in our spiritual life. So, they’re  in the mountain, they go to the mountain, the passage is taken from the last few verses of Saint Matthew, chapter 28.  It says: “…when they saw Him, they worshipped”. 

WORSHIP

Let’s briefly speak about “worshipped”. Of all the different types of prayer that we can offer to God, the highest form of prayer that we can offer to God is… What do you think? Of all the types of prayer that we can offer to God, by far, the highest form of prayer which we can offer to God is that a praise and worship.  And on earth, the greatest prayer we can offer to God is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What is the purpose of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? In that doxology, as the priest lifts up the Host and lifts up the Chalice, we hear these words: “through Him, with Him and in Him, in the unity, Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever”. Amen! So as the priest, lifts up the Host, and the patent, and the Chalice, there’s an upward descent, this is the Ascension. There’s an upward ascent, the Ascension! 

DOXOLOGY

The doxology is very much related to the Ascension that we celebrate today. The upward rising of the Host and the Chalice points the purpose of our existence. And the purpose of our assistance is: “we’re here to praise God, we’re to praise God the Father, by the offering of God the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit”! Praising God the Father for the offering of God the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Once we get to heaven, we’ll be praying, we’ll be loving God, but we’ll be praising and worshipping God for all eternity. So the biblical text says that they worship Him, but it’ll it also said they doubted, interesting! Jesus is risen! He’s appeared several times, but still, some of them doubted. Perhaps even today, some of us are doubting. 

We can bring this to the Lord in prayer. Lord, help me to overcome my doubts but have by having a greater trust than you. Such a good prayer. Think about it! Many people, I believe, have trust issues. We trust God only up to a certain point, but when things don’t go our way,  when things seem to fall apart, when there’s no apparent success, when we have certain setbacks or failures, then we start to doubt. So let’s pray that God would give us greater trust. Perhaps we can even look at that image of Jesus and Divine Mercy. And say, “Jesus, I trust in you”. We can say with that man and the gospel Lord, “I believe Lord, but strengthen my faith”. 

After Jesus is already risen 40 days, they’re still doubting. And that’s for us, because we. Of all the theological virtues that of that of a lack of hope is predominant of our culture. There are two sins against the virtue of hope, one is presumption which means “I can keep continue sinning, God’s going to save me anyway”. That’s the sin of presumption. The other one is despair. Which I’m convinced that, my sin or sins are so bad that God cannot forgive them. That was the sin of Judas Iscariot. Let’s ask God to strengthen our hope in Him and that we would not doubt. 

“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Jesus and approaches them, take that word for approach. There’s that recoil from them, but he approaches. If you look at the Divine Mercy image Jesus is stepping towards us, not stepping backwards. The Lord approaches us! But also may we approach Him also. 

Jesus says: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”. 

Then we have another attribute of Christ, all-powerful. Another word for all power would be omnipotent.God is all-powerful. But let’s be honest, we are all very weak. Oh true, God is all- powerful, but we are very weak. So we’re walking hand in hand with Christ that we’re all powerful too, because he’s the essence. Of holiness and purity and power and intelligence. God is the essence of all these virtues! “All power in heaven and on earth has been give to me”. So we are weak, but we are. Associated with an all-powerful God, Jesus. After this we have Jesus giving his last words in the Gospel, this is the gospel of Saint Matthew, (Mt 28: 16 -20) the last five verses of the Gospel of Saint Matthew. 

His last words are his missionary mandate. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations”. So what Jesus is saying is this we say that the Catholic Church is one holy, Catholic and Apostolic. These are called Four Marks of the Church One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. By saying this, Jesus is saying that he wants the whole world, every continent to belong to Him. every country to belong to him, every nation to belong to him; Every state to belong to him; every county to belong to him, every city to belong to him; every village to belong to him. Every family to belong to him. Everyone in the world to belong to Jesus Christ. That is his intention. 

With that, we have the word Catholic. Catholic actually means in Greek Kata, holos, Catholic. What is this word? Kata holos, this Catholic mean? It actually means universal. Not local or provincial, but universal. Jesus wants all to know him, to love him, to obey him, and to be saved. So these words. Are related to what we call the missionary mandate. We should feel like incumbent upon us to be missionaries. These are the last words of Christ, to be missionaries. So that means, my friends, we have a lot of work to do. Think about China. More than a billion people. It’s a communist country denying. God’s existence. Communist Russia. Communist Vietnam. Communist Korea. North Korea. Communist. Cuba. All these are communist country. And Karl Marx says that religion is the opium of the people. Let the poor peasants believe in God. As the pacifier, to appease, to pacify the multitude. So, my friends, we have our work. We have our work cut out for us. We’re not called to sit on our hands. Would have played tic tac toe, nor to be passive. Jesus wants us to preach and extend His Word to the four corners of the earth. For that reason, over the past few weeks Pope Francis in his General Audience on Wednesday, He’s giving a catechesis. Pope Francis is is exhorting us, encouraging us to have Apostolic zeal. 

Pope Francis means he’s encouraging us to try to as best we can to bring Christ to others and bring others to Christ. Last Wednesday, Pope Francis presented to us a model for Apostolic Zeal, a missionary.  Who has been the greatest missionary in modern times? Is the great Saint Francis Xavier. Well, at Saint Ignatius of Loyola formed the company of Jesus, the Jesuits, they had four vows, one vow was to do and to go wherever the Holy Father would send them. Had a very strong missionary spirit. The Pope wanted to send missionaries to the Far East. St. Ignatius asked Francis Xavier, “would you be willing to go”? And he said yes and then Ignatius said to Francis Xavier: “go now and go set all on fire. Go sit all on fire.” So what the Portugal embarked Did he travel to India? Where his headquarters was gone. You went from India to Indonesia, from Indonesia to Japan, from Japan. He wanted to go to China because if you went to China and the Chinese were converted, then that would be like a domino effect in the conversion of Japan. But he died overlooking main land China on the island of San Chan and died when he was 46 years old. Having worked as a missionary 11 years. Go set all on fire. That’s what Jesus was saying, That what Jesus was saying we have in the Gospel today (Mt 28). Go therefore and make disciples of all nations and then Jesus says to baptize them. How? To baptize him in the name of the Father and of the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. So to first teach, Swo that our faith is understood then after the teaching, then to baptize. 

This would be a good day, my friends, which we can renew our baptismal commitment. We should be to renounce sin, to announce the pomps of the devil, to end renounce worldly values, to renounce everything in our lives that can impede us from giving ourselves fully and totally to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you know any family that doesn’t have a child baptized, to strongly encourage this family member or friend to have the child baptized as soon as possible. In the lives of many Saints, they have their child baptized the same day that the child is born realizing the many graces that flow from the moment that’s that that someone is baptized. 

Jesus says to go out to all nations and to make disciples of all nations to teach what He has taught them. In the baptize and you have the Trinitarian formula. Jesus says to baptize in the name of the Father, and of Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus says, “teaching them to observe all that I’ve commanded you”. So Jesus is insisting also upon teaching! My friends how important it is to have good teachers! We’re ready and willing to teach the fullness of the faith to others. 

PRIETS CALLED TO PRAY AND TO PREACH

We as priests are called to pray and to preach. But one of the dimensions or purposes of our perseverance family conversation. It is my hope and desire that all of you will become teachers. Maybe not a formal teacher in the school. But all of your teachers, Catechists of the Catholic faith. Many of you are parents, some of your grandparents. You are the primary teachers and catechists of children. Parents are the primary educators of their children. So the better we can educate ourselves, the better we can educate, inform ourselves, the more we’re able to educate others. Then the last words of Jesus. He says: “and behold I am with you always, even until the end of the age”. With that we have the Acts the Apostles Chapter One. This extension of the Gospels I mentioned my course on the Acts of the Apostlesthat after we finished reading the Gospel of Luke, the Acts chapter one is like an extension of the last chapter of the Gospels. So Jesus ascends. So what we celebrate today is the second glorious mystery Jesus ascends on high. He goes up and up and up. Go to the clouds. Where he sits at the right hand of God the Father. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead, and his Kingdom will have no one. We pray that the Creed. Every time we go to Mass on Sunday.  

The question that possibly crosses our mind if our Lord says that he’ll be with us always until the end of time. Then he sends and it goes through the clouds, where he sits at the right hand of God the Father. How can it be that he says he’s going to be with us when he’s leaving us? I think it’s a good question. And the response is the following. Is. That Jesus passes through the clouds and he sits at the right hand of God the Father. Then where is he? If he’s going up to heaven. And the response is very simple. He’s not with us in what is called his glorified body in heaven. But Jesus remains with us until the end of time in another presence. That other presence would be in his church, which we can define the Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ. I’ll be with you always until the end of time. So he’s with us in the church. And you, my friends, are part of the Catholic Church. Saint Peter says in one of his writings you are the living stones. You are the living stones of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. You are the Living Stones of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. And Pope Saint John Paul II. says that the very living heartbeat or center of the church is the Tabernacle, where you have Jesus present in the Eucharist, in his body, his blood, his soul, and divinity. So we should be drawn to Jesus Christ in his church. In his members were part of the members. But most specifically, the Jesus press is present. He has His real presence. And Eucharist means Thanksgiving. So, my friends, these are the messages for us today! 

ALL CALLED TO BE MISSIONARIES

All of us are called to be modern apostles, modern missionaries! We’re called to extend the message of Christ t the four corners of the world. We’re called to promote baptism in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. But also we’re encouraged with those last words of Christ. He said, we’re not orphans, we’re not alone. Jesus said that he’ll be with us, always given until the very end of the world. He’s with us in his church. And now Jesus will send upon us in his church the Paraclete, the Consoler, the Sweet Guest of the soul, and that is the Holy Spirit. 

Mary’s the daughter of God’s Father. Mary is the Mother of God, the Son.  Mary is the Mystical Spouse of the Holy Spirit. I am Father Ed Broom, and I’m an Oblate of the Virgin Mary. In there by all of you can be missionaries and to share this to all of your friends. May God be with you, and may almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

My name is Father Ed Broom. I’m an Oblate of the Virgin Mary. I’d like to welcome you to our Perseverance family conversation and as always, it’s great to be with all of you on this wonderful Saturday. And as always, we like to start off our conversation by inviting Mary to be with us. Mary has many wonderful titles. Mary is the Mother of God, Mary is the Mother of the Church, Mary’s the mother of each and every one of us. Then as we prayed the Hail Holy Queen, Mary is also our life, our sweetness and our hope. 

As we start off this day, let us lift up our minds, our heart, and our souls to Mary, who is truly our life, our sweetness and our hope. Together: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary. Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen. 

Now we like to invite to be with us our Spiritual Director.  Our Spiritual Director is the Holy Spirit of God. What a great grace and privilege it is to have the Holy Spirit to be our spiritual guide. Like Mary, the Holy Spirit has many wonderful titles. The Holy Spirit is known as the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Gift of gifts. Holy Spirit is also known as the Sweet guest of the soul. Holy Spirit is also known as the Sanctifier you makes us holy. Holy Spirit is also known as our Consoler. 

In the midst of many trials and tribulations in life, there’s the Holy Spirit that will give us great consolation. Holy Spirit is also known as the Counselor. He will give us proper advice as we pursue true holiness of life. Holy Spirit is our Interior Master or Teacher.  Saint Paul and his letter to the Romans says that we really don’t know the praise we ought, but it’s the Holy Spirit that intercedes for us so that we can say “Abba, Father”. We don’t know how to pray as we ought, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us that we can say “Abba, Father” that we can talk to God is our loving Father. 

Beg the Holy Spirit to give us a lot of light in our intellect and the fire of love to burn ardently in their hearts as we pray the classical prayer to the Holy Spirit, which many, many of you already have memorized. That prayer is: Come Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful and it enkindle within us the fire of your Divine love, send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and thou shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. Oh God, who did instruct the hearts of your faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us that by the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son, to the Holy Spirit. As it was in beginning is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. Lady Fatima, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us. St Gabriel, pray for us. Saint Raphael, pray for us. Saint Bernadine of Siena, pray for us. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us. Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, pray for us. All God’s, angels, and Saints, pray for us. In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

PRAYER INTENTIONS

I will pray for you in the greatest of all prayers. The greatest of all prayers is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There’s no prayer in the world more powerful than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I’d like to place all of your in in your intentions on the altar. And offer these specific intentions. 

First, I’d like to pray that all of us would be open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, we’ve already started our Novena to the Holy Spirit.  That we would be open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and that we could pray often this prayer. “Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come through the heart of Mary.

My next intention, I’d like to pray for our families, for the the conversion family members. Pray for the conversion of our family members, the sanctification of our family members, and I’d to pray also for the eternal salvation of our family members. I’d like to pray also for those who will be dying sometime this day. Our Lord said, “what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul in the process?” So like to pray for the dying, I’d also like to pray for those who are dying who are perhaps they’re not well disposed in this moment. So that through our prayers, they would open up the God’s infinite mercy and be saved. So those intentions like lay on the altar and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

I’d like to give all of us a certain liturgical orientation.  Where are we right now liturgically? Well, we went through the 40 days of Lent, in which you’re trying to live out Lent, as Father Al Hall said, “we’re called to go up, to go in and to go out”. To go up through prayer, to go in through a life of penance and mortification, and we go out by practicing charity toward all we meet. We can take Matthew chapter 25 as a biblical verse to motivate us! Jesus said: “I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was naked and you clothed me; I was in prison and you visited me; I was a foreigner, and you’re welcome me”.  Whenever we did to the least of our brothers and sister, we did it to Christ! So, we want to go up, we want to go in, and we want to go out, not only in the time of Lent, but all the days of our life. 

Then we entered into what is called Holy Week. With Palm Sunday. We started Holy with a Passion Week with Palm Sunday. Culminating in what is called the Easter Triduum. Easter Triduum are three days in the very heart of Holy Week. Holy Thursday, we thank God for the Eucharist and the priesthood. They’re Jesus Institute at the Last Supper. We thank God Good Friday for having. Christ having shed his blood for our salvation. Holy Saturday, we spent time with Mary reliving the Passion of Christ through her eyes and through her heart. And that very night we celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass, in which we celebrated the key event in our catholic faith!

And that is the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That’s right! We celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who’s truly risen from the dead! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it, Alleluia. The beautiful Easter Vigil Mass in which the neophytes were baptized they made their First Communion, and they were Confirmed! That holy night in which we lifted on high Jesus Christ, the Light of the World! 

Easter, my friends, is the is a very culminating high point of our Catholic faith! What it means that Jesus truly rose from the dead. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! The fact that He rose from the dead, we one day will also participate in the Lord’s Paschal mystery and His resurrection. We die with Him, then we’ll rise with Him to new life in this short life in which we live. We’re all headed toward eternal life in heaven. We should all have a longing for heaven! Saint Paul says: “Eye has not seen, ear, has not heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love him”. Beautiful words! And Jesus said Saint Paul says also:  “The suffering of this present life are nothing in comparison with the glory of the sons and daughters of God”. Jesus consoles us with these words in the Gospel of John: “I am going now to prepare a place for you. So that where I am, you also might be. In my father’s home, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would not tell you”.  I’m going to prepare a place for you. So all of you have a place prepared for you in heaven. How encouraging those words of Christ! How encouraging! 

So, for whole week rather, eight days we celebrated. The great mystery of our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it. Alleluia. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So that whole. Week We’re celebrating with great joy, Christ being raised from the dead. Then the 8th day of Easter we celebrated at night another great solemnity, and this is the solemnity of Divine Mercy. 

It was Pope St. John Paul II that instituted this Solemnity. He did this, my friends. And the year 2000! Actually in April 30th the year 2000, John Paul II carried out two very important actions. Some say that he said that that was the happiest day in his life. Because John Paul II instituted the Solemnity of Divine Mercy. I exhort you to read the Diary of Divine Mercy in my soul with St. Faustina Maria Kowalska. And that same day, April 30th year 2000. Saint John Paul II canonized the first Saint in the new Millennium; and that was related to Divine Mercy Sunday. 

That was Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. She was the first Saint to be canonized in the year 2000, the new Millennium. Known as the Secretary of Divine Mercy. John Paul II considered that day to be one of the happiest days in his life. Let us pray with the Psalmist: “Give thanks to the Lord for His mercy, for his mercy endures forever”. And if we want to experience God’s mercy, then we should try to. Break God’s mercy to others. Now my friends, they thought of it was opportune today in our conversation. Just go through the. Liturgical church here. To see where we’re at, you give us a certain orientation. So. With Easter. We have the Easter day that lasts 8 days. And then?

Most diocese in the United States, specifically, Los Angeles, where I am present, tonight and tomorrow we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven! The Second Glorious Mystery. And what this Liturgical celebration means i s that the end of the earthly life of Christ. The end of his earthly life after he died and rose from the dead. He appeared several times to his Disciples; to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to his disciples in the Upper Room, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to Saint Paul, the 500 people at the same time. That’s what we’re celebrating today! 

This evening and tomorrow will be celebrating, my friends, the Ascension of our Lord and to heaven. The Lord said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me. I’m going to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you also might be. In my father’s home, there are many mansions”. So we rejoice in that! We rejoice that our Lord went to heaven to prepare a place for us. Once again, I’d like to apologize to all of you because. I’ve been given the 8:00 o’clock mass this morning. But the good news is I will be placing all of you on the altar. That all of you. One day we’ll go to heaven. So I’d like to give you my priestly blessing and then tomorrow I’ll be with you for the full hour. But I’ll be placing you all on the altar list. This very day. And of course, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is by far the greatest prayer in the whole world. So they’re to give you my priestly blessing. The Lord be with you. Mail, lady. God bless you. The Father. And the sun. And the Holy Spirit, this is the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in you. And I’m your host Father Broom, Oblate of the Virgin Mary.