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May is the month of Mary – the month we honor and deepen our love for Mary the Mother of Jesus. May 1 is the Feast Day of Saint Joseph the Worker. Father Ed says if you don’t have a love for Saint Joseph, your love for Mary is going to be limited. If you don’t love Saint Joseph, you are hopping around on one leg. Very few people have a devotion to Saint Joseph. We want to get to know Saint Joseph better. Father Ed gives 10 ways to honor and imitate Saint Joseph so we can die as Saint Joseph did, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Father Ed shares one of his favorite prayers:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, make my heart like unto thine.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I breathe forth my soul unto thee.

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John 15: 12-17  “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.'”
 
Today the Church celebrates one of the greatest women who ever lived on the face of the earth. Pray that you will get to know her. Hopefully she will become your friend starting today. You might even get a biography of her life and read it, and she will set your heart on fire with the love of God! This woman put today’s Gospel into practice almost perfectly. There are three basic ideas in this Gospel: obedience, friendship and love. Catherine of Siena had a deep friendship with Jesus Christ. Her heart was on fire with love for Christ. She was obedient to Christ and His Church at a time when many people were not, like our own times today. Shouldn’t we pray for these qualities? To obey Christ and His Church? To have a deep friendship with Christ? To love Christ? Let us ask Saint Catherine of Siena for this.  Father Ed goes on to say that there is so much to be said about this woman! But he will give some ideas of the life and the greatness of this saint.

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Today is the Feast Day of Saint Catherine of Siena. She was born the 24th of 25 children. She was a stigmatic – she bore the wounds of Christ in her body, as did Saint Padre Pio. However, there was a difference. Padre Pio’s stigmata was visible for 50 years, then disappeared before he died. Catherine’s stigmata was invisible  and only appeared after her death. Saint Catherine was named one of the first two women Doctors of the Church, with Saint Teresa of Avila. About today’s topic, both Saint Catherine and Saint Padre Pio lived for years on the Eucharist alone! The Eucharist sustained their lives! When Saint Catherine tried to eat other food under obedience, she threw it up. When Saint Padre Pio tried to eat other food under obedience, he lost weight, so they told him to stop. What is the meaning of this? Spiritual food is more important than physical food! Spiritual Food – the Bread of Life – that’s the greatest! Saint Catherine couldn’t read or write. How could she become a Doctor of the Church? She had a really good teacher – the best – the Holy Spirit! All her knowledge was infused knowledge from the Holy Spirit! All the Saints loved the Mass and the Eucharist, our topic today. Do you love the Mass and the Eucharist? What is the most important thing you can do in your life? Receive Holy Communion – the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God become man! If you go to Mass and receive Jesus in Holy Communion worthily, in a state of grace, for your whole life, then you will go to heaven when you die! Pray for priests and for vocations for the priesthood! No priests, no Mass. No Mass, no Eucharist. No Eucharist, no Holy Communion. No Holy Communion, we are spiritual orphans!

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The greatest of the Seven Sacraments is the most Holy Eucharist. Eucharist means Thanksgiving. The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament and a sacrifice. In the Holy Eucharist, under the appearances of bread and wine, the Lord Jesus is contained, offered, and received. In every Mass during the consecration, by the action of the Holy Spirit and the words and actions of the priest, bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Do we see Jesus? No, but it is really Jesus the priest holds up for adoration after the consecration. The appearances of bread and wine remain but the substance is changed into Jesus’ own Body and Blood. We truly receive Jesus in Holy Communion! The smallest particle of the consecrated host is the whole and entire Jesus! Jesus gave us this Sacrament because He loves us so much that He wants to come into our hearts. Why do we believe this is truly Jesus? Because Jesus Himself told us so! “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.” (Jn 6: 53-56). The Eucharist is worth more than the whole created universe because it is GOD. The children of Fatima knew that the Eucharist was Jesus’ own Body and Blood. They called the Eucharist the “hidden Jesus”- hidden from their sight but truly present. Pray for faith in the Eucharist. And then love the Eucharist!  Make visits to the Eucharistic Jesus in tabernacle! Receive Jesus in Holy Communion frequently and fervently! Ask Our Blessed Mother to help you receive Jesus with all the love and devotion that is in her Immaculate Heart! Then, like Mary’s Heart, your heart will become a living tabernacle of Jesus the Lord!

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