Second Sunday in Lent, February 28th, 2021

 Second Sunday in Lent, February 28th, 2021

Growing up, I have always loved "classic" TV shows.  Although so many of these shows were not "classic" when I was growing up, they were "new."  Whether they be "classic" sitcoms such as "I love Lucy" or "classic" detective shows such as "Columbo" or even "classic" westerns such as "Bonanza."  One thing I have noticed about these shows is the fact that no matter how big the problem is, no matter how major of a problem it presents, the problem can always be solved in either a half an hour or an hour, depending, of course, on how long the program lasts.  For example, Columbo can solve the most difficult murder case in an hour,  .  . . . tops.  No matter the problem, you know it will be solved completely by the end of the program.  Yet, in real life, some problems are not solved that quickly or simply.  You need real persistence to deal with some problems in real life.

If nothing else, the Canaanite woman in Chapter Fifteen of St. Matthew's Gospel was certainly persistent.  St. Matthew tells us that this mother was in search of a cure for her daughter who was "grievously vexed with a devil."  (v. 22)  At first she tried to get the attention of the disciples but this only caused them to get irritated with the woman.  In fact, she bothered the disciples so much that they themselves went running to Our Lord asking for His help to get rid of her.  But then even when she was able to approach Our Lord, she did not get the answer that she sought right away.  But that did not stop her.  She kept beseeching Our Blessed Saviour until she finally got the favor she sought.  The Canaanite Woman showed how great her faith was that Our Lord said to her:  "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (v. 28)

We need to be persistent as faithful Christians.  We need to be persistent  . . .  in our prayers . . . . in our faithfulness . . . in our character and morals.  We need to be persistent with the way we live our lives as faithful Christians.  The problem with us is that we want everything done right away.  We want things done "five minutes ago."  As humans, we are inpatient.  And yet not everything is worked out right away.  So often in real life problems are not fixed and taken care of in a half-hour or hour.  And we are called to be like the Canaanite Woman and be persistent in our faithfulness.  Stay close to God and let everything else fall into place.  And especially during this Lenten season, stay close to the Cross of Christ.  Never forget that Our Dear Saviour carried His Cross to the hill at Calvary for our sake.  Never forget that He carried His Cross for you and me because He loved us.  Loved us so much that He was willing to die for us.  When problems seem to much to handle.  When life seems to much to handle, remember Our Blessed Saviour and stay close to Him.

PLEASE NOTE:  St. Margaret Church will NOT meet on Sunday, February 28th, 2021.

St. Margaret Church is still being affected, as is the whole world, by the Coronavirus outbreak.  Specifically, our church is not allowed to meet as we would like due to CDC and State recommendations.  But despite these recommendations, our members still continue to pray to Our Heavenly Father.  Our members still continue to reach out to their neighbors and loved ones.  Our members still continue to be the face and hands and instruments of the Lord throughout these troubling times.  Additionally, Fr. Todd also continues to post his sermons and reflections online.  So, please continue to pray for St. Margaret Church and all the Christian Churches throughout the world that we may continue to stay close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.   

And please remember that you can still show support to St. Margaret Church by sharing these posts on social media . . . sharing the sermons and reflections of Fr. Todd on social media as well.  In this way, despite any sort of "lock-down," you will help St. Margaret Church continue to spread the Gospel and continue to tell the world about our love for Our Blessed Saviour!

First Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2021

 First Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2021

In the Fourth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, we are told how Our Blessed Saviour went into the wilderness where He fasted for "forty days and forty nights." (St. Matthew 4:1)  And St. Matthew describes what happened to Our Lord when He was hungry.  Of course, the devil came and tried his best to take advantage of Our Lord's condition.  He tempted Our Blessed Saviour a total of three times:  first, he tempted Him by offering to turn stones into bread; secondly, he tried to get Our Lord to prove Himself by throwing Himself off the pinnacle of the temple to show that the angels would save Him; finally, the devil  ". . .  . sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; "  in exchange for His loyalty to Him.   Our Blessed Saviour without hesitation turned down each and every one of these temptations despite His weakened condition from fasting for forty days.  

How many of us are tempted by the devil?  How many of us give in at the first sign of weakness?  Our Lord remained firm in His purpose and resolve for forty days although St. Matthew tells us that Our Lord was "hungered."  I seem to get hungry after forty minutes without eating, let alone forty days.  So certainly He was hungry.  But the point being is this:  Our Lord remained firmly committed to His purpose here on earth no matter how tempting the offers of the devil were.  We need to remain true to ourselves and our purpose is the bottom line.  

So often the devil tries to tempt us as well.  And things don't really change that much, the devil still tempts us with the same things he tempted Our Lord with.  We get tempted with gluttony.  We don't know when to stop ourselves sometimes when it comes to eating.  We eat until we are full and then we eat again, knowing full well that we are full, but we eat again simply because it looks "so delicious."  You ever hear that old phrase:  " My eyes were bigger than my stomach?"  Yes, of course.  We see it.  We want it.  End of story.  That's called gluttony.  The devil tempts us to prove ourselves to the world.  How often are we tempted to prove who we are . . .  to show who we are.  As kids we hear:  "Go on I dare you . . .  "  The world mocks us for who we are.  People mock us for what we believe.  Even loved ones will mock us sometimes.  The world dares us.  But we don't have to prove anything to anyone.   The only thing that we need to "prove" is that we are loyal to Our Heavenly Father.  And, finally, don't we sometimes daydream what it would be like to be rich . . . . to be famous . . . to be a star?  Do we ever ponder what it would like to be a millionaire .. . .  or in charge of a company  . . . . or to live in a mansion?  Sure, all of us have these dreams from time to time.  All of us think about "what if?"   What if I was rich?  What if I was famous?  What if I was in charge?  What if   . . . . what if . . .  what if . . . .  What we need to focus on is doing the will of God in our life.  We need to focus on staying close to Our Blessed Saviour in the good times and the bad.  We need to focus on showing God that we are a loving son or daughter to Him.  Our Blessed Saviour remained loyal.  He remained true to both Himself and His Heavenly Father.  This is the lesson we can learn from Our Blessed Saviour's forty days in the wilderness:  stay true to who we are; stay true to what we believe in; stay true to God in the good times and the bad.

PLEASE NOTE:  St. Margaret Church will NOT meet on Sunday, February 21st, 2021.

St. Margaret Church is still being affected, as is the whole world, by the Coronavirus outbreak.  Specifically, our church is not allowed to meet as we would like due to CDC and State recommendations.  But despite these recommendations, our members still continue to pray to Our Heavenly Father.  Our members still continue to reach out to their neighbors and loved ones.  Our members still continue to be the face and hands and instruments of the Lord throughout these troubling times.  Additionally, Fr. Todd also continues to post his sermons and reflections online.  So, please continue to pray for St. Margaret Church and all the Christian Churches throughout the world that we may continue to stay close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.   

And please remember that you can still show support to St. Margaret Church by sharing these posts on social media . . . sharing the sermons and reflections of Fr. Todd on social media as well.  In this way, despite any sort of "lock-down," you will help St. Margaret Church continue to spread the Gospel and continue to tell the world about our love for Our Blessed Saviour!

Quinquagesima, Sunday Next before Lent, February 14th, 2021

 Quinquagesima, Sunday Next before Lent, February 14th, 2021

In the Thirteenth Chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul speaks a lot about love.  Now, bear in mind if you are reading this chapter in the King James Version, you will see the word "charity" instead.  If that is the case, just remember that when you see the word "charity," St Paul is speaking about  . . . .  Love.   And St. Paul is correct in pointing out we can do many things but if we do not do these things based in love, they mean nothing.  "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (I Corinthians 1:2-3)  In other words, St. Paul is pointing out that love needs to be the basis for why we do anything we do as a Christian.  If we preach, we should do it with love.  If we donate our money to a school, or an orphanage, or a homeless shelter, we should do it with love, if we pray for our enemies, we should do it with love, if we forgive our enemies, we should do it with love.  The cold reality is that so much of what we do in life is done without love.  We may do something such as donate to a good cause . . .  such as building an orphanage or giving to a homeless shelter . . . .  but we may not necessarily donate out of love.  Perhaps we donate because we do not want to look "cheap" in front of our friends.  Maybe we donate because it will make us feel better about ourselves if we give.  Maybe we are trying to "keep up with the Jones" and we see everyone else donating so we go ahead and donate too so that we won't feel "left out."  Perhaps we feel "pressured" to give because our friends or relatives keep asking us about donating.  How many times have we left a store around Christmas time and there is that red kettle and someone is ringing the bell, have there been times when you dug into your pocket and gave something because you felt guilty about "not giving anything?"  Have you given a donation because you wanted to impress someone because they saw you giving to charity?  St. Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand and wants us to understand that there are many motivations for doing something but for the Christian our motivation for doing something first and foremost should be "love."  And this is because Our Blessed Saviour did everything for us for no other reason than LOVE.  He was born as a small innocent baby because of His love for us.  He grew as a man and lived among us because of His love for us.  He went around preaching and teaching and performing miracles because of His love for us.  He was mocked, spit upon, beaten, made to carry His Cross and Crucified on that same Cross because of His love for us.  He laid in the Tomb and was raised to new life on that very first Easter morning because of His love for us.  He did everything He did out of love for us because He loves us.  So next time we do some action.  Next time we treat someone one way or another.  Let us ask ourselves if we are doing it because of love or for some other reason.  

PLEASE NOTE:  St. Margaret Church will NOT meet on Sunday, February 14th, 2021.

St. Margaret Church is still being affected, as is the whole world, by the Coronavirus outbreak.  Specifically, our church is not allowed to meet as we would like due to CDC and State recommendations.  But despite these recommendations, our members still continue to pray to Our Heavenly Father.  Our members still continue to reach out to their neighbors and loved ones.  Our members still continue to be the face and hands and instruments of the Lord throughout these troubling times.  Additionally, Fr. Todd also continues to post his sermons and reflections online.  So, please continue to pray for St. Margaret Church and all the Christian Churches throughout the world that we may continue to stay close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.   

And please remember that you can still show support to St. Margaret Church by sharing these posts on social media . . . sharing the sermons and reflections of Fr. Todd on social media as well.  In this way, despite any sort of "lock-down," you will help St. Margaret Church continue to spread the Gospel and continue to tell the world about our love for Our Blessed Saviour!

Sexagesima, Sunday Next before Lent, February 7th, 2021

 

Sexagesima, or the Sunday Next before Lent, February 7th, 2021

When Our Blessed Saviour told the parable of the "Sower,"  (St. Luke 8:4 ff)   He explained that the Sower sows his seed on various types of ground.  Some of the seed went on rock, some of the seed went among thorns, some of the seed fell by the wayside, etc.  The parable certainly makes sense for it shows that the seed will grow (or not grow, for that matter) depending on the soil it is planted in.  And yet we always have to remember that we have a say in what kind of "soil" we offer the seed to be planted in.  In other words, the "seed" in the parable is the Word of God.  And we in a certain sense are the soil.  Thus, are we listening to God?  Are we open to hearing God's word?  Are we searching for God?  Do we want to find God in our lives?  It is really up to us if we find God.  It is really our choice if we hear God or not.  God is always near-by.  God is always close.  God is always speaking to us.  But we need to make a point to notice that God is near.  We need to make the effort to listen to what God is saying to us.  We need to be open to receive what God is planting . . . . what He is sowing.  So, while it is true that there are various types of "soil" . . . . some better than others.  The truth of the matter is that the type of soil we become is really up to us.    What kind of "soil" are you?  

PLEASE NOTE:  St. Margaret Church will NOT meet on Sunday, February 7th, 2021.

St. Margaret Church is still being affected, as is the whole world, by the Coronavirus outbreak.  Specifically, our church is not allowed to meet as we would like due to CDC and State recommendations.  But despite these recommendations, our members still continue to pray to Our Heavenly Father.  Our members still continue to reach out to their neighbors and loved ones.  Our members still continue to be the face and hands and instruments of the Lord throughout these troubling times.  Additionally, Fr. Todd also continues to post his sermons and reflections online.  So, please continue to pray for St. Margaret Church and all the Christian Churches throughout the world that we may continue to stay close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.   

And please remember that you can still show support to St. Margaret Church by sharing these posts on social media . . . sharing the sermons and reflections of Fr. Todd on social media as well.  In this way, despite any sort of "lock-down," you will help St. Margaret Church continue to spread the Gospel and continue to tell the world about our love for Our Blessed Saviour!