These last two weeks before Advent, the Scriptures speak of the end of time when all things will be made new. The Church gathers us together to help us prepare. At the end of our life, what will we be able to say?

This month dedicated to our praying for the poor souls in  purgatory gives  us the opportunity to think about what purgatory is and the likelihood of us being there.

Purgatory is a period after our death, when we are suspended from seeing God. It is a suffering of love that purifies our souls from sins for which we have not repented or for which we have not done penance.

The children at Fatima were given a vision of purgatory, which Lucia refused to reveal. She said no one should witness a soul who cannot see God. “Pray for the souls, pray for the souls,” she said.

My dear friends, purgatory is a reality in our journey to heaven. We should think about our lives/what we have done wrong or what we have failed to do, to perfect ourselves in the virtues and produce for Christ the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

If we only had these last two weeks until the end of our lives, what could be said of us? Did we teach our children how to p ray especially for the poor souls in purgatory? Have we taught them to remember the least soul who has no one to pray for them? Have we they learned how to pray for us? Have we showed the by our example what it means to pray in the Church, in the quiet of our own rooms?

We are on the right path however as our parish gathers on the mountain of God’s glory this Sunday to partake of His Holy Eucharist and encounter Christ’s holy Word.  With these gifts we attain happiness and the courage to march on in our Christian confession with courage and grace.

At our Baptismal Font we have a guide on how to attain a plenary indulgence for you, some one you  love, living or dead or even for that poor soul, the least in purgatory. Help send souls to heaven! Let this be our work in the Holy Year of Faith. Send more souls to heaven!

This is World Mission Sunday and our minds and hearts reach out today to people who in extraordinary ways make it their business in life to live out the Gospel of Jesus on the Continents of Africa and Asia, and in South America. “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” These catechists remind us that we share this mission here in America, and in Europe where the faith is weakening and our silence deafening.

Christ needs us my friends, to be catechists in a new generation of disciples. In these very public times, we have an opportunity to express Christ’s teaching as servants of both the Word and the Sacrament, in the way the Church reveals that Truth to us.

Do not allow fear or complacency to get in the way of being a faithful servant of God. The trouble today is people do not understand who we are and we need to be able to explain to them the words of Jesus in our lives.  Speak the words given to you by the Holy Spirit and do not be afraid. God is with you.

Jesus needs you to learn the Catechism so you can explain to people in the marketplace what Christ means when He says love your neighbor, love even your enemy!

Jesus went into the marketplace and preached about human dignity and reverence. He preached these things as the Father taught Him. Jesus, being His father’s obedient Son, did as He was commanded. We can do no less.

Jesus sets the example for us; do not be afraid to give up your own life for the sake of others. It makes you more human and better able to reflect the face of God.

The story of rich young man challenges us at the dawn of this holy year of faith to look more carefully at how the young man approached Jesus and how Jesus met him.

The wealthy young man came running. He flung himself at the feet of the poor, penniless carpenter from Nazareth. The man calls Jesus, “good” and immediately Jesus stops him: Don’t flatter me! Jesus then leads him to the Father.

While at first, it seems that Jesus is trying to cool the young man’s enthusiasm, Jesus did what every evangelizer should be careful to do: point to the God. Often times we find a preacher who is exciting and fun to listen to; there develops a kind of personality cult around them. The preacher can forget his job is to lead others to Christ.

Jesus knows that this man’s zeal has led him to fall to his knees, but he should not fall simply because he was overcome with emotion. Jesus, the teacher needs to bring him along and help him mature in his faith.

Did you notice that Jesus only laid out the negative commandments that the young man excitedly says he has kept? Because Jesus realized this is where the man was in his life. This is good if you want to be a good citizen, a good person. But to gain eternal life, what more have you done?

The Christian life consists not in being just a good person; in just ‘not doing wrong things.’ The Christian Way involves ‘doing right things’, putting yourself out for others; drawing others in. In effect Jesus is saying to the young rich man, do the right thing, take all of your possessions, all that you have and are and use them for the good of others.

Jesus is asking us how much do you want to get to heaven? It may be respectable never to take anything away from anyone, that’s just being good.  It is the Christian way to give everything to someone.

Jesus looks at the young man with love. Why? Because Jesus does love him and because He does so much, He wants the man to be everything  he is called to be and to do everything he is capable of doing. Jesus looks at us the same way. He challenges us, He looks into our eyes and sees what we might be, what we could be if we accept His challenge to love others.

All disciples of Jesus are called in this Holy Year of Faith to consider their own relationship with Christ in the Church and to see in real and effective ways how that faith can become more attractive in a world that is learning what ‘life without God means:;’ to enter a desert of human experience, a void in real emotion, the confusion of irrational thought and alienation from love and truth.

The Church enters this desert in order to “rediscover the value of what is essential for living; to recognize a true thirst for God. The Church needs people of faith like you to be in the desert to look with love on those who have stalled their faith in emotion and lead them to a more mature love that involves commitment, perseverance and sacrificial joy.

It is the power and influence of the Holy Spirit that draws the Church to this moment of opening. It is here we can clarify our Creed with the knowledge and surety that these beliefs will embrace the whole person, body and soul. And, since he is a pilgrim on this earth, they will lead him always toward eternal life.

As a parish we dedicate ourselves once again to building up the faith in new ways with a new excitement and a mature zeal, given so generously to us by God, within our families and within our parish.

Meditating here at the Baptismal Font, we have come to recognize there are within our community Catholics who have abandoned the true faith, embracing other churches in order to find easy, uncommitted way to meet emotional needs. We have Catholics too who are in danger of losing their faith from a lack of perseverance in their religious practice; they have allowed material things to take precedence over the spiritual realities.

These are the challenges in King of Prussia. This holy year will be a time for us to mature and deepen the practice of our faith, and face straightforwardly these challenges, then go out, through this door, and proclaim Christ as Lord of all Life.

I say, “we,” because I cannot do this alone; I need you to walk with me, to run with me to the feet of our Lord and ask him, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

We seek on this day and in the days to come, a door to faith, a deeper faith, a converting faith, a faith rendered unto God Who looks at us with love. Catholics are increasingly vulnerable to secular and fundamentalist movements that pull us away from our relationship with God. This holy year strives to pull us together once again under the folds of the Good Shepherd.

This year will be a time to reflect more deeply on the gift of faith, by meditating at the baptismal font; by deepening our knowledge and understanding of the Catechism and the Documents of the Second Vatican Council; by reading, reflecting and praying with Scripture, by nourishing and strengthening our faith through the Holy Eucharist and finally, by becoming brighter lights to become ourselves “the door of faith” for others.

Let us go forth from this place and time; seeking God with all our hearts, knocking on the door of those who have lost their way; asking them to join us in Sunday worship so together we can find once again the unity for which we long and the communion He so desires.

Go out then, be a true and more mature Christian, don’t ever give the least, give the most and you will inherit eternal life.

“To Jesus Christ, our most amiable Redeemer, immortal King of peoples and of times, be love, power, and glory forever and ever. Amen”  (John XXIII)

History is filled with people who wanted to achieve perfection in this life by denying themselves all the pleasures of this world. Jesus speaks to these people and to us who want to be His disciples. “Let him deny himself.” What does that mean?

We need to take this demand simply and literally. “Let him say no to himself.” If we are follow Jesus Christ we must learn to say no to ourselves and yes to Christ. We must practice saying no to the natural love of comfort and pleasure. We must say no to the instincts and the desires that prompt us to touch and taste and handle forbidden things.

Remember your Catholic School report card? There was a grade there for self-discipline? This is a vital tool for parents to teach their children. We do not have to satisfy our every desire or impulse. We can control ourselves even though it is not pleasant or does not feel good. What self-discipline does is teach children how to be discerning of good and evil; to distinguish between what I want or desire and what I truly need. Self-discipline cannot be learned alone. It must be taught within the family and re-enforced by each parent, father and mother.

The true disciple of Christ must say yes to the voice and the command of Jesus that we find clearly in the Church. We must be able with Saint Paul to the Galatians say, “It is not I who live, but Christ Who lives in me.” The disciple lives no longer to follow his own will but to follow the will of Christ, and in that service find perfect freedom.

Submission to the Will of God is not an act of slavery. It is rather an act of likeness. We desire ourselves to be like God Who is creative, forgiving and holy. The Gospel reminds us that many people will find this teaching restrictive and hard to live.

Certainly if we try to be the perfect self-reliant individual rather than a perfecting Christ, we will run into a lot of heartache.

But, if we allow ourselves to be seeing more deeply into the Truth, we will come to understand that being Christian is not the simple result of following the ethical standards of the Ten Commandments.

We are Christians because we encounter the person of Jesus Christ who gives new life and new direction.  He frees us to be in a relationship based on love not fear.

Through this relationship, we become in fact subordinate to the other out of reverence for Christ.

Joshua says decide today who you will serve the gods of self-centeredness and self-absorption or God Himself Who will set you free.