Power to Love

My Dear Parishioners,

It is hard to believe that this is the last weekend of July. Time flies. I do hope that everyone is having a good summer and enjoying themselves.

God is so good to us and gives us so many gifts. One of the most beautiful gifts He gives us is the power to love. Our first reading from Genesis reminds us that, sadly, this is one gift that is too often misused.

To help us use the gift of love correctly, God gives us additional gifts, the virtues of chastity and purity.

Chastity is not the suppression of love, but the right use of love. Chastity then allows us to open our hearts wide and to love with our whole heart and to unselfishly love the whole person. Chastity flows from Purity.

Purity is that deep seated belief that God is the source of true love and the desire to love as God wishes us to love.

Unchaste and impure attitudes and behaviors are the exact opposite. Unchaste and impure attitudes and behaviors are acts of selfishness, and this is why they are offensive to God and are sins.

I mention this because some sins against purity and chastity have now become “socially acceptable” which, in turn, may lead some people to think that these acts are no longer sins. These sins include marriage outside of the Church, cohabitation, the use of pornography, profane language, and those acts practiced in Sodom and Gomorrah.

While societies change and may even come and go, God is unchanging and remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thus, sins against purity and chastity are still sins even if they have become “socially acceptable.”

This is why we as a parish family always encourage the virtues of chastity and purity, so that all may continue to please God and grow in true love and avoid offending God and falling into sin.

Fr. Ed Broom of the Oblates of the Blessed Virgin Mary offers some suggestions on how we can continue to grow in chastity and purity and then also help others do the same:

1. Weapons of Prayer: To conquer the imperious demands of the flesh and the constant insinuations of the world and the temptations of the devil, we must (like Moses) lift up our arms constantly in Jesus invites us with these words: “Ask and you will receive… “(Mt. 7:7). Let us beg the Lord for the gift and virtue of purity.
2. Don’t play with fire: A key reason why many fall into sins of impurity is a failure to avoid the near occasion of Proverbs are not lacking: “He who plays with fire will get burnt”… and “He who walks on thin ice will fall in” … once again… “He who walks on a slippery slope will fall.”
3. Modesty: The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that modesty is the guardian of the virtue (CCC # 2521-2524) All must practice modesty. Through Baptism our bodies become temples of the Holy Spirit, still more, temples of the Blessed Trinity and after Holy Communion living Tabernacles of the Blessed Sacrament. Women should never be a provocation or occasion of sin to men. And men are not to be excused by a wandering eye.
4. Penance: Jesus stated: “Some devils can be expelled only through prayer and ” To conquer the imperious demands of the flesh we must pray, pray and pray, but also learn the art of fasting and live a life of penance. All the saints have taught us this clear lesson!
5. Avoiding Laziness: Another huge opening for the devil of impurity is the capital sin of sloth or call it laziness. Once again maxims are at our beck and call: “Idleness (laziness) is the workshop of the ” One of the primary reasons why so many young people have serious problems with Internet porn and self-abuse is because of excessive free time, boredom and easy access to impure websites. Saint Bonaventure put it succinctly: “When one is working a devil might be there to tempt, but when you have nothing to do a multitude of devils are there to tempt.”
6. Avoiding improper language: Never should it happen that issues from our lips dirty words, suggestive language and worse yet coarse, crude and impure Jesus warns us that we will be judged on all of the words that issue from our mouths. Never forget that we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus on our tongues; our tongues become the throne of Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let us speak with such nobility!
7. Constant Vigilance—especially of the eyes: The daily examination of conscience is key. This superb practice invites us to rewind the film of our day and see where God has been present and give thanks, but also to see where our hearts have wandered from our loving God. This we can easily apply to the virtue of purity.
8. The Sacrament of Confession & Renewed Hope: Saint Paul offers us these encouraging words: “Where weakness abounds the grace of God abounds all the ” A good confession can transform our souls into the beauty of freshly fallen white snow on the virgin ground!
9. Frequent Holy Communion: When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion we receive all of the following—His totality! We receive the mind of Jesus, with His memory that purifies our possibly dirty thoughts. We receive Jesus’ Blood that circulates through our entire body, rushing through our veins and arteries. We receive the most Sacred Heart of Jesus with His most noble of sentiments; even more, we receive the absolute purity of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
10. Devotion to the Blessed Mother: Of course it would be far from complete our treatise on the virtue of purity if we did not invite Our Lady, the Mother of holy and pure love to be with us, pray for us, and intercede on our behalf. Experience shows in the lives of countless saints that it is through their great love of God and filial trust and love for Mary that they can live holy lives and lives of great purity.

God is so good to us! He gives us everything we need to live good, holy, pure, and chaste lives.

This week we are also reminded that a powerful act of love is to pray for one another. We call this type of prayer intercessory prayer.

Abraham gives us one of the first examples of intercessory prayer as he prays for mercy to be shown to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The power to pray is another beautiful gift from God, and He gave us this gift so that we can grow in our union with Him. Thus, the first and most important reason to pray is to grow closer to Him. This is true no matter what type of prayer we are involved in: Liturgical Prayer, celebration of the Sacraments, Devotions, Mediation, Lectio Divina, Intercessory Prayer.

So, as we practice intercessory prayer and pray for the needs of others, we are most importantly helping ourselves. For we are allowing God to open our hearts ever wider to receive even more of His gifts, such as the gifts of patience and trust, especially trust in His Providence. Thus, as we pray for ourselves, our family, our friends, our world, we are most importantly praying “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done.”

Next weekend, we welcome a priest from the Comboni Missionaries for our annual Missions Appeal. The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus were founded by St. Daniel Comboni in 1867. Today they continue their work in Africa and Latin America. They evangelize, educate, and provide for the poor. Let us extend our usual warm welcome to the Comboni Missionaries as we continue to pray for an increase of vocations to the missions.

Let us continue to lay siege to Heaven with our Rosaries and Chaplets for our families, our nation, our parish, victims of floods and natural disasters, first responders, the sick, the dying, the deceased, and an increase in the virtues of purity and chastity in our world

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church and our Patron, pray for us!

Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor