32 Lent 2nd Sunday

Reflect Upon the Gravity of Your Sin

DVRodriguez2024-03-13T06:27:34-04:00

Fix your gaze on Jesus. Behold Him that you may love and imitate Him. Lent is a time to leave the world behind and contemplate divine things. Embrace the cross (sufferings, trials and difficulties) for love of God, in reparation for sin, and in preparation for a happy eternity. Lent is a time to seriously reflect on your sin from a heavenly perspective. Sin is the source of ALL the evils and misfortunes that cover the earth. Recognize the gravity of sin and do not think, "Well everybody does it." Receive not the grace of God in vain! He is even [...]

Reflect Upon the Gravity of Your SinDVRodriguez2024-03-13T06:27:34-04:00

Fruits of Fasting

DVRodriguez2023-04-06T14:32:08-04:00

The goal of Lent is to grow in your love of God: to do His holy will, to live for Him, to be with Him. Fasting gives strength against sin, represses evil desires, repels temptation, humbles pride, cools anger, quenches fires of lust, renders the heart contrite, detaches from the world and and helps practice every virtue. It has great spiritual fruit: [1] makes satisfaction for sins, [2] protects the soul from its enemies, [3] and obtains grace from God. What better motives can you have to fast and abstain!

Fruits of FastingDVRodriguez2023-04-06T14:32:08-04:00

The Great Fast

DVRodriguez2023-03-13T07:50:24-04:00

Consider the Transfiguration from the Apostles' point of the view. They perceive a coming struggle and prefer to stay where its comfortable. So Christ immediately ends the consolation. We want to be saints; we want great results; but, we flee from the struggle it requires. This is a natural problem, not just a spiritual one. We want everything to be fine and everyone to be nice. But there is no "ok" or "nice" when it comes to the Catholic soul. It takes hard men and women to break the Gates of Heaven. Lent is not so much a time to 'suffer' [...]

The Great FastDVRodriguez2023-03-13T07:50:24-04:00

Pray to Accept and Love the Cross

DVRodriguez2021-03-16T13:03:11-04:00

Without the Cross, there is no growth in holiness. If we eliminate the Cross, we eliminate Christ. The sign of the Cross is a most terrible weapon against the devil. And yet the Cross remains a scandal and stumbling block - even for very devout Catholics. In theory, we praise it; but in practice, we lose courage, complain, and run away as soon as the possibility of suffering arises (just think how Mass and the public practice of our faith have recently been cancelled). The Cross is precious because: [1] It make us resemble Christ. [2] When well carried, it is [...]

Pray to Accept and Love the CrossDVRodriguez2021-03-16T13:03:11-04:00

A Spirit of Entitlement

DVRodriguez2021-03-09T08:48:24-05:00

There is a an entitlement complex among many youth: as if the world owes them something. Bitter complaints follow unrealistic and unmet expectations. This problem is not new. Man wishes to divorce Christ from His Cross and take the glory of Tabor without the passion of Calvary. The post-Christian West has created a cheap effeminate Christ by expecting resurrection without a cross. Today’s feast reminds us that these two mysteries of Christ (His transfiguration and death) are intimately related. This connection between glory and humiliation both moderates our joys and comforts us in our trials. A price must be paid for [...]

A Spirit of EntitlementDVRodriguez2021-03-09T08:48:24-05:00

The Passion Keeps the Devil at Bay

DVRodriguez2020-03-15T08:32:46-04:00

Christian meditation is reflecting upon a mystery of Christ and thereby making it real to ourselves. The devils do all they can to prevent us from such meditation as they can't easily find entrance into a soul unless they first deprive it of all holy thoughts. With the growing rise in the occult today, how much more important it is for us to increase such prayer. Christian meditation is most especially effective when focused on the Passion of Our Lord and Savior. For example, consider that at the end of time, the Cross and all the instruments of the Passion, will be carried by angles [...]

The Passion Keeps the Devil at BayDVRodriguez2020-03-15T08:32:46-04:00

Purity of Heart and the Commandments

DVRodriguez2020-03-15T08:29:50-04:00

Lent is a time to turn away from sin (convert!) and to turn to God. Christ asks of us our heart and that we follow Him. Now is a time to strive after a clean heart, that we may see God! Many people mistakenly think the Ten Commandments are merely a list of "thou shalt nots" and they fail to see how the Commandments also call us to practice virtue, to do good, to love our neighbor, and to love God. In fact, the Commandments are a wondrous expression of God's love and the most basic means by which we can [...]

Purity of Heart and the CommandmentsDVRodriguez2020-03-15T08:29:50-04:00