Fifth Sunday in Lent, Passion Sunday, April 6th, 2025

 Fifth Sunday in Lent, Commonly Called Passion Sunday, 

April 6th, 2025

In the Eighth Chapter of St. John's Gospel, we read about an encounter between the Pharisees and Our Blessed Saviour.  As we read through this encounter we can only envision the drama unfolding before our eyes.   In this passage, Our Lord poses two questions to those gathered before Him.  First He asks:  "Which of you convinceth me of sin?"  (St. John 8:46)  In other words, Our Blessed Saviour is saying "Is there anyone here who can honestly convict Me of any sin?"  Our Blessed Lord followed quickly with another question:  "And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" (St. John 8:46)  In other words, if Our Lord is speaking the truth, if He is saying what is true, why don't you believe Him?  To both of these questions the response Our Lord receives is silence.  They can not answer Him.   When Our Lord continues on with discussion, He begins to speak about eternal life and anyone who keeps His sayings will never see death.   At this point, the Pharisees are getting irate with Our Lord.  They even question Him and ask:  "whom makest thou thyself?" (St. John 8:53)  In other words, they are asking Our Lord, "Who are you making yourself out to be?"  To this question, Our Lord responds that it is His Heavenly Father Who glorifies Him  

Let's give credit where credit is due.  In my opinion, the Pharisees ask a perfectly valid question which, quite frankly, each one of us should ask ourselves:  Who are you trying to be?  So many of us try to be someone else.  As we grow up when we are young children we try our best to be the characters in our favorite story book or movie.  Children want to be super heroes or a princess or their favorite character from their favorite cartoon.  As we grow older, we try to be someone different as well.  We want to dress like our favorite musician or our favorite movie star.  We want to be popular so we wear what we believe is the "latest style" in clothing or shoes.   We get our hair cut just a certain way because it is popular.  So often we try to be somebody else by what we wear . . .  or how we act . . .  or what we do . . .  or what products we buy.  We only wear a certain type of jean or a certain brand of shoe.  We have to arrive at work with an eight dollar cup of Starbucks coffee because everybody else goes there and buys an eight dollar cup of Starbucks coffee.  Again, we ask the question:  Who are you trying to be?  The Pharisees asked Our Blessed Lord this very question and He gave the response that each one of us should give.  We should try to be someone that God wants us to be.   Instead, so often we try to be someone the world wants us to be.  But for the devout, faithful Christian we need to focus on what God would have us do  . . .  what God wants us to become.  So often, as I like to say because it's true, we defeat ourselves before we can ever get started.  In other words, we convince ourselves that we aren't holy.  We convince ourselves that we can't accomplish what we are trying to do.  And then what happens?  We quit.  We stop trying.  Of course we are going to fail in life.  Of course we will never be perfect.  But despite these facts we should never stop trying.  When things got tough, St. Peter denied Our Blessed Lord three times.  Yet, Our Lord still remained loyal to St. Peter.  God always remains faithful to us even though we do not always remain faithful to Him.  This is because God always stays true to His promises.  He never breaks His word.  Stay true to your commitment to God.  Let us try to be more like Christ and less like the world.

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!

Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 30th, 2025

 

Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 30th, 2025

In the Sixth Chapter of St. John's Gospel we begin by hearing of the "Feeding of the Five-Thousand."  Of course, this is where Our Lord takes a few small loaves of bread and a  few small fishes and is able to feed five thousand people.  But, you see, the story doesn't end there as we continue reading further in this chapter.  Because we find out that many of these five thousand who ate of the loaves and fishes followed Our Lord seeking for Him.  And in Verse 26 of this chapter Our Lord says to them:  "Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."  You see, dear friends, as Our Lord testifies in this chapter He is the Bread of Life.  "I am the Bread of Life; He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth of Me shall never thirst." (St. John 6:35)  And Our Lord continues in Verse 51:  "I am the living bread which came own from Heaven: if any man eat of this bread; he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My Flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."  Our Lord gives of Himself.  Our Lord sustains us . . .. He nourishes us . . . . He feeds us with HIs own Precious Body and Blood.  So often we think the things of the world give us "life."  But we know that the things in this world fade away.  But whoever seeks Our Lord will never be disappointed.  He gives us life.  He sustains us.  He nourishes us.  He is our salvation.  

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!

Third Sunday in Lent, March 23rd, 2025

 Third Sunday in Lent, March 23rd, 2025

Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but I am amazed at how often I "revert" back to doing something when I know I should not be doing it and then I turn around and do it again.  For example, I type every day on the computer.  And sometimes . . . . I don't know the reason why .. . . I may type the wrong letter in a certain word and then I will go back and erase it and type the correct word but then the next time I get to type that same word I end up typing the same exact wrong letter again.  And then it gets to the point that it is laughable because then suddenly no matter how hard I try and how determined I am NOT to type that one wrong letter . . .  . I do it again.

Sin is like that as well.  We may keep doing the same wrong things all over again even though deep down inside we know that the sinful behaviour is no good for us but we keep going back and doing the same thing over and over again.  In the Fifth Chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, we hear the following:  "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord."  (Ephesians 5:8)  Our Blessed Saviour redeemed us by His Own Precious Blood.  Our Saviour took our sins upon His shoulders and carried them to that hill at Calvary.  Our Saviour saved us from our sins by dying on the Cross for us.  With all of this in mind, it begs the question:  why do we do what we do . . . . especially when we supposedly know better?  How often do we do something really stupid and then we say out loud to ourselves:  "Why did I do that?"  St. Paul is saying to the Ephesians just like he is saying to us:  "You used to be ignorant of your sins but now you have knowledge in Christ . . . you are knowledgeable of Our Lord . . .  you know about Him . .    you know His ways . .  . you know Him . . . . now, act like Him and do not go back to your former, sinful ways."  This, in essence, is what St. Paul was saying to the church at Ephesus and what he is saying to us.

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!

Second Sunday in Lent, March 16th, 2025

 Second Sunday in Lent, March 16th, 2025

In the Fifteenth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, we hear the story of Our Blessed Saviour meeting the woman of Canaan who besought Our Lord seeking favour for her daughter.  Now keep in mind that this woman was not Jewish, and yet she said to Our Lord: "Thou Son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." (St Matthew 15:22)  Right from the beginning, it is evident that this woman must have recognized the greatness of Our Lord or else she would not have referred to Him as "Thou Son of David."  Now, we have all heard this story because Our Lord at first  . .. .. it seems .  .  .. that He ignores her because He says not a word at her first request.  After that it is apparent that she then proceeds to bother the disciples for her request because St. Matthew informs us that they "besought Him, saying, Send her away: for she crieth after us." (v.23)  After this, Our Lord still ignores her request by basically saying, in essence, that He was sent for the children of Israel.  And despite all of this, this woman still persisted until finally Our Lord recognized her persistence and her faith when He said:  " O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (v.28)

Now the point that we can all learn from this is to be determined and to have faith.  The woman of Canaan had both.  She recognized Our Lord to be the source of help and healing for her daughter.   But she was also determined.  In faith, we need to be determined.  But we need to be determined for the right reason.  In other words, sometimes we only get "religious" when we need God for something:  We want to get hired for a new job.  We need a favour of some sort.  We need guidance to get our of a jam.   Now there is nothing wrong with going to Our Heavenly Father when we need His assistance.  What is wrong, though, is when we ONLY go to Him when we need something and forget about Him the rest of the time.  A lot of people only go to God when they get into a jam or when they need something.  They suddenly get real "religious" when they are in need but the rest of the time they act as if there is no God.  Our Lord came to offer us Salvation.  He came to die on the Cross for us.  But He also spent some thirty-three years on this earth being a human being like you and I.  He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes.  He knows what it is like to laugh and to cry.  He knows what it is like to work and to rest. He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes as a human being.  As such, we can go to Him on a daily basis and we should go to Him on a daily basis.  Do not just go to God when you are in need of something.  Go to God every day with your concerns, your joys, your sorrows, your everything.

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!

First Sunday in Lent, March 9th, 2025

 First Sunday in Lent, March 9th, 2025

Have you ever worked on a project and after you put all that time and effort into it, everything fell apart anyway.  And you throw your hands up in the air and say, "That was a total waste of time."  Or perhaps you put a lot of time and effort and expense into buying something for a child or a loved one and you discover that the item goes unused just sitting on a shelf or in a closet.  Again, don't you feel like your efforts and money you spent were totally wasted?  Why did I spend all that money, you ask yourself.  Why did I go through all that?   We get frustrated when we feel that our efforts are in vain or go to waste.

In II Corinthians 6:1 we hear:  "WE then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain"  In other words, St. Paul is reminding each one of us that we should not let Our Lord's efforts for be nothing.  God sent His Son into the world to save us from our sins and despite His efforts so many throughout the world still ignore Him.  So many souls throughout time would rather follow the world than to follow Our Lord.  St. Paul is reminding all of us not to let Christ's saving actions to be in vain.  Christ died on the Cross to save you from your sins.  Give your heart to Him.  Follow Him.  Don't let His efforts go for naught.  Our Lord spilled His Precious Blood for you in the hopes that you would spend eternity with Him.  Don't let the spilling of His Blood be for nothing.  The world has nothing to offer you other than pain and sorrow.  The joys of this world are fleeting at best.  But what God offers to His children lasts for eternity.  Give your heart to God.  Spend these upcoming weeks before Easter dedicating your life to Him.  Give your life to Him Who gave His life for you.

(NOTE:  Remember to set your clocks ahead one hour tonight due to Daylight Savings Time)

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!

Quinquagesima, March 3rd, 2025

 Quinquagesima, or the Sunday Next before Lent, March 2nd, 2025

Like so many of you, I scan social media.  Most of the time I just scroll through and move on.  Every once in a while I read something that causes me to step back and reflect on what it says.  Recently, I had one of those very moments.  The post read:  "You are killing yourself for a job that would replace you within a week if you dropped dead.  Take care of yourself."  Reading these words truly did cause to think about its' meaning.  I would agree.  Those of us who work.  Those of us who have careers.  Those of us who take our jobs seriously.  I would imagine most of us have been in this position at one point or another.  We run around like the proverbial "chicken with its' head cut off" trying to accomplish everything that we need to do.  We try to jam Twenty hours worth of work into an Eight hour work day.  We prioritize all the things that needed to be done "five minutes ago."  All the while we try to "put out the fires" that spring up without notice.  We try to cover all the bases.   And it's just not the job where this is the case.  We try to do the best at our career; take care of our home; take care of our family; take care of ourselves; raise children; go shopping; find time to relax; etc.  The list goes on and on.  And the sad thing is that we are not only killing ourselves for our jobs.  Sometimes we are killing ourselves for people that are only using us.  Sometimes we are killing ourselves to maintain an image.   Sometimes we are killing ourselves to "fit in" with a crowd that is not really worth our time.   Again, the point of the meme referenced above is to "Take care of yourself."  In other words, we need to prioritize what is really important in life.  Yes, we need to work.  Yes, we need to take care of our home.  Yes, we need to spend time with our family.  We need to do all of these things.  But that being said we also have to put priorities in life.  That is part of the problem as well.  Sometimes our priorities are all messed up.  We place our careers ahead of our family.  We place popularity ahead of being true to ourselves.  We place greater value on attaining wealth than doing what's right.  And through all of this we need to remember God.  We need to have God in our lives.  We need to make time for God.  We make "time" for everything that is important to us.   If we really want to see a movie, we will make time to watch it.  If we really want to exercise, we will find time to do it.  But how much time do we spend with God each day?  How much time do we dedicate to reading the Bible each day?  How about Sundays?  Are we too busy on Sunday to get up and go to church?  Maybe we're too exhausted from  all our activities the other six days of the week to go to church on Sunday.  If it is important to you, you will find time for it.  Lent is a good time to step back and reflect on what we have done in life.  Lent provides us with time to focus on what is important.  Lent allows us to reflect on what we have done wrong . ..  where we have missed the mark . . . and where we have fallen short.  But more importantly, Lent allows us the opportunity to focus on what is ahead of us:  Easter.  Lent gives us the opportunity to look ahead.  Thus, Lent is truly a season of hopefulness.  Let us spend the next forty days to "take care of ourselves" by focusing on God.  Spend the next forty days spending time with God.  Make God a priority in your life.

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!

Septuagesima, February 16th, 2025

 Septuagesima, or the third Sunday before Lent, February 16th, 2025

Beginning today the Church celebrates what I refer to as the "Gesima Sundays."  The first is Septuagesima.  The second is Sexagesima.  And the third is Quinuqagesima.  These three Sundays comprise "Pre-Lent," or the three Sundays leading up to the holy season of Lent.  Lent itself is penitential season which leads up to Easter.  In other words, this time which I just described leads us and prepares us for Easter.  It is little wonder then that the Church chooses to quote the Ninth Chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians where he talks about preparing for a race or preparing for a competition.  St Paul first writes:  "KNOW ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."  (I Corinthians 9:24)  St. Paul compares all the work and the preparation which an athlete goes through in order to win a crown which ultimately will fade away.  On the other hand, St. Paul points out that we Christians are vying for a crown as well but this crown will never fade away.  The crown that the athletes are training for is an earthly crown.  The crown which Christians are training for is an everlasting crown.   St. Paul writes:  "Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." (I Corinthians 9:25)  This incorruptible crown is offered to us by Our Blessed Saviour.  He earned it on our behalf and gives it freely to us.  He did this by dying on the Cross to save us from our sins and next by being raised from the dead and offering us eternal life in His Presence.  And yet despite the fact that this crown is offered freely to us, we still must do our part.  We still must resist evil.  We still must do what God would have us do.  We still must stay close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and remain ever by His side.  So many people do not want to do these things.  So many people in our society and throughout the world want to abide by their own rules.  They are attracted by what the world has to offer.  They go after worldly riches and seek to satisfy their worldly desires.  These are the ones St. Paul is describing who are seeking a corruptible crown.  The desires, riches and wealth of this world will all eventually fade away but the love of Christ never fades away.  God loved us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins.  Let us use these upcoming weeks to remember the sacrifice which Our Blessed Saviour made on our behalf.  Let us remember that we need to train like athletes to run this race.  We need to remain focused and concentrate on finishing the race.  We cannot be sidetracked by the desires of the world.

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sundays at St. Margaret church.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. 

Please consider joining us for Mass.  Come hear the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Consider setting aside an hour of your week where you can dedicate that time solely to God.  Come hear the Word of God.  Listen to God speaking to you directly and hear what He has to say for YOU!  Receive the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time to be strengthened and nourished for your journey!