Thine Own Service

Thine Own Service

Monthly Archives: August 2015

Homily for Saint Monica

27 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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canon law, homily, saint monica, salvation, suprema lex

Saint Monica, depicted in the Basilica Church of Saint Mary, Phoenix, AZ (Franz Mayer of Munich).

Saint Monica, Basilica Church of Saint Mary, Phoenix, AZ (Franz Mayer).

The United States Embassy to the Holy See has recently moved to new facilities in central Rome and has posted some pictures of its new surroundings online. One photograph is of a painting by Giulio Bargellini, showing Justice holding a text from Cicero which served as an axiom of Roman law: Salus populi suprema lex— the health of the people is the supreme law. This text finds its way into the canon law as salus animarum suprema lex in the last canon of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. It may be translated as “the salvation of souls is the supreme law.”

Why is this important? Saint Monica, whom the Church celebrates today, understood this notion well. In the account of her death in the Confessions of Saint Augustine we receive two insights. First, having seen the conversion of her son from paganism to Christianity, she asks, “What am I still doing here?” As the Collect reminds us, Saint Monica wept tears for the conversion of her son and, having seen him safely within the Church and achieved her principal hope, even her life-breath becomes circumstantial to her desire for eternity. Secondly, recognizing her death, Saint Monica instructs her son, “Lay this body anywhere, and take no trouble over it. One thing only do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.” Knowing the importance of her own salvation also, Saint Monica thus shows concern for her own soul, too, by asking her son to intercede for her after she has fallen asleep in the Lord.

By her fervent prayer for the conversion of her son and her own concern for salvation Saint Monica shows us that salus populi suprema lex. May her example inspire us to put nothing before our own salvation, that we may turn once more to the Way that is life in Christ, and come with Saint Monica and Saint Augustine to enjoy eternal in the peace and joy of the heavenly kingdom.

Homily for Sunday XXI of the Year

22 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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BOL2015, eucharist, homily, morality

High Altar, Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, New Orleans, LA

High Altar, Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, New Orleans, LA

Over the past five weeks the Church has led us through the primary scriptural text concerning the Most Holy Eucharist, the sixth chapter of the gospel according to Saint John. This has afforded us the opportunity to meditate on the nature of this most august sacrament, and consider our approach to this gift to us of God himself. We began with the familiar description of the feeding of the five thousand. Here we discovered that the Christian life must be profoundly Eucharistic; that in the Most Holy Eucharist we find supernatural nourishment for the soul, receiving Christ himself in Holy Communion. This led us to acknowledge the reality of Christ’s presence in the Most Holy Eucharist—not simply a means of grace but an opportunity, through true Eucharistic piety, to encounter the Lord God and to grow in a personal-passionate relationship with him. Finally we considered the connection between our encounter with the Most Holy Eucharist here in earth—particularly in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—and the eternal banquet of the kingdom of heaven: how we should prepare to come to the Eucharistic altar, which is at once the foot of the cross and the gate of heaven. We come now to consider in a particular way the relationship between the Most Holy Eucharist and the moral life.

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Homily for Trinity XI

14 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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BOL2015, eucharist, heaven, holy communion, homily, mass, preparation

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, WI

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, WI

As the Church leads us through the sixth chapter of the gospel of Saint John in these weeks, today we focus once more on the Most Holy Eucharist. Throughout the bread of life discourse the Lord delivers a rich catechesis on the nature of this sublime gift, the freely-given gift of himself, thereby nourishing our faith and strengthening our hope of heaven. As the reality of Christ’s presence in the Most Holy Eucharist and its centrality is revealed to us in the sacred scriptures, we now consider the intrinsic link between the Eucharistic oblation we make here in earth and the banquet prepared for those who are faithful in the kingdom of heaven.

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Homily for Saint Lawrence 2015

10 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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deacon, diaconate, homily

Detail from Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena, Allentown, PA

Detail from Cathedral of Saint Catharine of Siena, Allentown, PA

Since the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council the role of deacons, always maintained by the Church, has become more apparent in parishes such as ours through the presence of those ordained not on the path to the Sacred Priesthood, but in distinctive and permanent service as deacons. On this feast of the great deacon and martyr, Saint Lawrence, it is worth reflecting on what is the role of these ordained ministers and how Saint Lawrence demonstrates in a beautiful way the service to which those in this state of life are called.

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Homily for Trinity X

08 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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adoration, BOL2015, bread of life, communion, eucharist, homily

Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena, Allentown, PA

Cathedral Church of Saint Catharine of Siena, Allentown, PA

For three weeks now the Sunday lections have centered around the Bread of Life discourse found in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John. This began with the miraculous feeding of the multitude near Bethsaida in Galilee, and continued with the Lord announcing himself as “the bread of life” by the lake of Capernaum. As we have seen, the Johannine description of these events is explicitly Eucharistic; the link between the feeding of the five thousand and Christ’s pronouncement point not simply to one who has come to provide natural, but supernatural sustenance. The timing of these events with the Jewish feast of Passover suggests this all the more keenly: the coming sacrifice of Calvary is to be understood alongside the Lord’s proclamation, “I am the bread of life.” Thus, in the Most Holy Eucharist we find both the action of the cross, re-presented for us on the altar, and the bread of life, who nourishes us and sustains us on our pilgrim way.

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Homily for the Transfiguration 2015

06 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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liturgy, prayer, transfiguration, worship

Transfiguration of the Lord, Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Charleston, S.C.

Transfiguration of the Lord, Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Charleston, SC

In the twenty-third chapter of the book of Leviticus the Lord God instructs the people of Israel to build temporary homes in which they are to live once a year, for seven days (Lev. 23: 33 ff). These dwellings are to act as a reminder of their itinerant forty year exodus, from captivity in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. The annual commemoration of these events is known as the feast of tabernacles, and we read that it was a time appointed for the gathering together as the People of God, to offer sacrifices to the Lord in thanksgiving for his saving acts. Two important themes bear attention: first, the thanksgiving sacrifice of a covenanted people for their salvation from bondage to freedom as children of God; secondly, the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to his people, giving to them a land of their own inheritance.

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Homily for Sunday XVIII of the Year

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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baptism, BOL2015, bread of life, communion, eucharist, homily

High Altar of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, WI

High Altar of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, WI

The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, which we heard in the gospel last Sunday, fundamentally concerns the Most Holy Eucharist. The abundance of food given to those gathered with the Lord and his apostles near Bethsaida is a sign of the super-abundant and super-substantial gift of the Lord himself, his very own body and blood, given to us in Holy Communion. By this miracle—as by those which preceded it under the old testament—the Lord softens the heart of man to receive the true food, the bread of angels, the Most Holy Eucharist, which sustains us on our pilgrimage to heaven. By providing for the natural nourishment of those who have sought him out he shows how, by the fruits of his sacrificial love on the cross, he will provide also for the supernatural nourishment; that feeds the soul, and which gives his people the grace to become more and more like him.

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