Liturgical Year

The Two Ends of Marriage

DVRodriguez2025-03-11T09:39:09-04:00

The primary end of marriage is to "increase and multiply" (Gn 1:28). God wants souls with which to share His goodness – Himself – for all eternity. Parents are 'stewards' of their children with the duty for help children reach the perfection God has planned for them (think of the parable of the talents). The secondary end is mutual help and the quelling of passion (Gn 2:18,23). Marriage demands a man and woman who are open to all the children God wishes to give them. They must be ready to die for their vocation, and not be motivated by self-interest or [...]

The Two Ends of MarriageDVRodriguez2025-03-11T09:39:09-04:00

Three Images for the Whole Year

DVRodriguez2025-03-08T14:18:28-05:00

Jesus was born in order to die for us. Colossians 3:17 aptly describes our fitting response. Three 'Christmas' images which help us keep this response in mind are: [1] The Blessed Mother offering her Son in sacrifice in the temple. [2] Jesus teaching the truth in the temple. [3] Jesus the King teaching from His cathedra. It is necessary to hear and transmit the teaching of Christ and to worship God rightly. Keeping these three images in your mind and heart will help you be faithful to God's grace and to grow in His grace.

Three Images for the Whole YearDVRodriguez2025-03-08T14:18:28-05:00

Cooperate with Actual Graces

DVRodriguez2025-03-03T17:29:18-05:00

Each of us struggles mightily with conversion. Let us not receive the grace of God in vain. Sanctifying grace – the life of God – gives us eternal life. Actual grace is a supernatural help which God bestows upon us daily to work out our salvation. When we cooperate with grace we merit more graces. But the abuse of God's grace prevents us from receiving further graces. There is direct relationship between the amount of grace in our soul when we die and the level at which we will experience the beatific vision of God for all eternity. God is faithful. [...]

Cooperate with Actual GracesDVRodriguez2025-03-03T17:29:18-05:00

My Son, Give Me Thy Heart

DVRodriguez2025-03-03T21:04:32-05:00

Septuagesima season is another example of the great need for us to recover our Catholic Faith. God is calling each of us to be converted to Him with all our heart [intellect & will]. Penitential practices – such as prayer, fasting and almsgiving – are meant to bring about this conversion. To give God our heart, we must be less attached to our own will (that's the biggest problem in all relationships). We also give him our heart by being faithful to the Church's lex orandi, lex credendi. In all this, we look to imitate the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of [...]

My Son, Give Me Thy HeartDVRodriguez2025-03-03T21:04:32-05:00

Five Mysteries of Candlemas

DVRodriguez2025-02-28T10:29:31-05:00

Bringing the Christmas season to its glorious conclusion, the feast of Candlemas emphasizes: [1] Jesus is the Light and Salvation for all men. [2] Simeon's example. [3] Jesus was born to be sacrificed. [4] Strive to fulfill the will of God. [5] The Blessed Virgin Mary's role. Christ is obviously the Light, but it is God's will that she place Him into the arms of Simeon and then of Anna.

Five Mysteries of CandlemasDVRodriguez2025-02-28T10:29:31-05:00

Be Guided by Light of Faith

DVRodriguez2025-02-22T14:23:29-05:00

The Epiphany Star represents Jesus, the True Light. Secondarily, it represents the true Faith. Today, a Catholic simply can't rely on what this priest or that bishops says because so many of them are no longer guided by true worship and right doctrine. Instead, each Catholic has to strive to learn the truth. Live your vocation within the family so as to offer it as fitting adoration to the Christ Child. Parents are especially called to educate their children in the truth and to offer reparation for past failings.

Be Guided by Light of FaithDVRodriguez2025-02-22T14:23:29-05:00

The Marriage Vows

DVRodriguez2025-02-28T20:13:45-05:00

Marriage is under terrible attack in our society. Even many Catholics are succumbing to the errors which have proliferated society. In order to live holy matrimony well, the wedding vows and the nature of the sacred contract must be understood and appreciated. This contract can only end by death (God does not permit divorce). The primary end of marriage is the procreation and formation of children. The secondary end is the mutual good of the spouses. Unity and indissolubility are essential properties. These deep truths have very practical consequences for how marriage must be lived on a day to day basis.

The Marriage VowsDVRodriguez2025-02-28T20:13:45-05:00

Pilgrimage to Quito, Ecuador

DVR Fatima2025-02-15T16:50:46-05:00

St. Vincent Ferrer Pilgrimages to Our Lady of Buen Suceso in Quito, Ecuador A brief overview of the 2016 pilgrimage can be viewed / downloaded HERE. Sites we have visited on our various pilgrimages are listed below. This miraculous statue, completed by St. Francis and the archangels, will last until the end of time.Priests leading prayers during the novena processions before dawn.The incorrupt body of Mother Mariana de Jesús Torres y Berriochoa (+1635).Touched to Mother Mariana's incorrupt body, the pilgrims' sacramentals become third class relics.Sermons preached by Father are included in the Mission Talks.Monasterio de la Inmaculada ConcepciónOur Lady of the [...]

Pilgrimage to Quito, EcuadorDVR Fatima2025-02-15T16:50:46-05:00

The Family Needs Purity of Intent

DVRodriguez2025-02-11T09:03:13-05:00

Our Lady provides a great model for what it means to be pure, which is far more than just purity in body. Purity begins in the mind. A family can't be happy unless it is a pure family. Purity helps us resist pride, selfishness, and the world. It means not judging things by our feelings but according to what God wills. Parents, practice purity and form your children accordingly. Children should not face these things alone. It is far easier to shun vice when we know the truth. Marriage is not for pleasure or self, it is to die; to die [...]

The Family Needs Purity of IntentDVRodriguez2025-02-11T09:03:13-05:00

Ten Sins Against Marriage

DVRodriguez2025-02-11T17:19:04-05:00

Go spiritually to the cave at Bethlehem. Contemplate what you see: the Holy Family. You have a role within a family. Offer it to Baby Jesus as a gift; that it may please, serve and honor Him. We can't change someone else, but we must know the truth and stand fast in what Christ the King teaches regarding holy Matrimony. Do your best to live according to His truth, transmit these truths to others, and resist the errors and evil of others. Offer prayers and sacrifices for the failings of your past sins against marriage and in reparation for mankind's many [...]

Ten Sins Against MarriageDVRodriguez2025-02-11T17:19:04-05:00