Ash Wednesday Homily

Ash Wednesday serves as a solemn reminder of our mortality and our need for reconciliation with God. When we come forth to be marked with ashes we will be instructed either “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “You are dust and unto dust you shall return.” In both of these statements we do not hear an invitation to celebrate, but to repent. Therefore, to those who dare to be marked with ashes this day please remember the statement that you make. By surrendering yourself to this ancient tradition you cry out that you are a sinner who is in need of God’s mercy. With that I invite you to make use of the sacrament of confession because if you dare to wear these ashes you have something to confess and are greatly in need of God’s infinite mercy. Dare to surrender yourself to this mercy instead of continuing to profess that one is a sinner who knows that they are such, but rejects God’s mercy. Through this penitential season of Lent may we repent and believe in the Gospel; only then will we become true witnesses of the Gospel message.

Bulletin Article: February 23

Lent is just about upon us and with that we are called to enter into a 40 day season to prepare us for Easter.

We will start the Lenten season with Ash Wednesday, February 26. This is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but is a perfect way to enter into this season. Masses for that day will be 7am, 8:30am, 6pm, and 7:30pm (Spanish). We will also have an Imposition of Ashes liturgy at 12:15pm, this will not be Mass.

During the season of Lent we should make use of the sacrament of confession. On Ash Wednesday I will hear confessions at 8am and 7pm until the last person in line makes their confession. We will also have our Lenten penance service on March 10 starting at 7pm.

I also invite you to attend out Friday activities. It was Friday in which our Lord died upon the cross to save us from our sins and open the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven. On this day we will have a special 5:30pm Mass and Stations of the Cross at 7pm. The Knights of Columbus will also offer their Lenten fish fry following Mass until the start of the Stations of the Cross.

I also want to highlight our Lenten Day of Recollection which will be February 29 on the topic of “Fast in order to Feast.” This will start following 8:30pm Mass and stretching until 12:30pm. This time will include a Holy Hour which will offer the opportunity for the sacrament of confession.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

Quinquagesima Sunday Homily

This is the final Sunday before we enter into the season of Lent. We call this Quinquagesima Sunday for this is the fiftieth day before our celebration of Easter. The English name “Lent” comes from the word “length”which is made in reference to the lengthening of days which take place in the Spring. In Latin this season is known as Quadragesima which marks the reality of forty days until the celebration of Easter.

Christ puts His approaching death upon the cross into perspective when He reveals this information to His apostles in the Gospel of Saint Luke. As we advance into the Lenten season it is my hope that we will place our attention upon this reality. That through this season we will come to embrace the cross of our Lord in order that we may truly rejoice with Him on Easter at the Good News of the Lord’s Resurrection.

The imagery of the cross should make us consider uncomfortableness. In our modern day society it is easy to pursue what is comfortable and to reject that which is uncomfortable. As our Blessed Lord states from the Gospel of Saint Matthew: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” Despite this statement the allure to reject the cross in small matters, let alone large ones, is very real.

The Lenten season serves as a time to prepare for Christ’s Resurrection. It is a time where people are preparing to enter into the life of the church through the waters of baptism. For those of us who have been baptized it serves as a time to prepare to be renewed in the waters of baptism. If we are to accomplish these tasks we must take this sacred season that has been set before us seriously. With that, Lent must become an honest occasion where we enter into practices such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in order to pursue virtue.

If we are to pray more, fast more, and give more we will come to feel the weight of the cross and through its great weight we will grow in our capacity to grow into people of virtue. With that I invite you to take an hour in our adoration chapel, I invite you to come to our parish Stations of the Cross on Friday or to pray them on your own each Friday, I invite you to take up spiritual reading even if it means only a few pages a day, and I invite you to find other ways to sacrifice in order to grow close to the cross of Christ.

To enter into Lenten practices such of these may require you to let go of some your time, they may require you to let go of your passions, and they will require you to grow close to the cross of the Lord. Are we willing to take up this cross and embrace it or would we rather be left unchallenged, unchanged, and unknown to the Lord? Very soon we will enter into Lent and before we know it we will celebrate anew at Easter. Let us not enter into this season unprepared, but instead may we be found ready to take up these Lenten practices in order to encounter the Lord for who He truly is rather then the lord who we fashion in our own image.

7th Sunday of OT Rite of Sending Homily

Today we celebrate this final Sunday of Ordinary Time before the start of the sacred Lenten season. It is my fervent hope that we will use these days which lay ahead to further prepare ourself for this season of penance.

Today we also celebrate the Rite of Sending where those who have been preparing to be received into the Church at Easter will sign a book which will be received by Bishop Stika next weekend at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

With that may we continue to prepare ourself for what now lies ahead. From our Gospel we were instructed: “So be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” It is through those Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that we further prefect ourself to be more like Christ.

May we now pray for these individuals who will soon enter into the waters of baptism at Easter and be received into the life of the Church during that most holy of nights.

Friday of Week 6 OT Homily

There are some who accept the importance of faith, but reject the importance of works. Yet to this we heard from the Epistle of Saint James: “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” When we die we will not present our works to God in order to threaten Him to what we are owed. Rather, our works are a response to faith. As the Gospel of Saint Matthew attests: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink.” “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.” Here we can see the response that is required of us due to the fact that we are a people of faith. As we enter into the Lenten season may we find ways to perfect within us this response to the Gospel. Our faith calls us out of idleness and into the busyness of the world where we can bring Christ Jesus and His love and mercy to all those that we encounter.

Thursday of Week 6 OT Homily

Jesus takes each of His disciples as well as each of us deeper and deeper into the truths behind Him and His ministry on this earth. Some saw Christ as being John the Baptist, Elijah, or even one of the other prophets. Hopefully we have and continue to discover who Christ really is. Christ is God the Son, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. Hopefully once we have made this discovery we continue to pursue this reality and never take it lightly. This is precisely why the sacred season of Lent is so important because through it we take up practices such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in order to draw close to this life giving reality. May we always desire to behold Christ for who He is by pushing away everything that keeps us from beholding this life giving reality.

Wednesday of Week 6 OT Homily

This is the final Wednesday and all school Mass before we observe Ash Wednesday and enter into the season of Lent. Once we head into the Lenten season we will notice a few changes which take place in our liturgy. The priest will wear violet vestments as a reminder of our need to do penance, we will cease to use the Gloria (Glory to God), our music will become somber in nature, we will not have flowers that adorn the sanctuary, and our use of the word “alleluia” will cease.

This word “alleluia” is tied to Easter and the joy that comes with the Good News of our Lord’s Resurrection. This word comes to us from the Hebrew and means “praise the Lord.” This is seen as the joyful term that is used as the choirs of angels worship around the throne of God in Heaven. By putting the “Alleluia” to rest we place our focus upon the Kingdom of God which coming as we place our emphasis upon that reality. If we are to draw close to this most important of realities we must “put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.”

Following this Mass we will participate in an old tradition which gave rise in the 13th century by burying the “alleluia.” Here we will process outside and literally bury it in the ground. Hopefully this practice reminds us at our need to mourn at the filth of sin and to prepare to rejoice with the Lord’s Resurrection. As stated by Bishop William Duranti in the 13th century on this practice: “We part from the Alleluia as from a beloved friend, whom we embrace many times and kiss on the mouth, head and hand, before we leave him.”

Tuesday of Week 6 OT Homily

Leaven is a substance which is added to dough in order to make it rise.

Jesus is not using the word “leaven” in a positive sense when He uses it in our Gospel. Here He applies it to the Pharisees and to Herod and is ultimately alluding to the fact that what they have to offer can bring about a transformation which ruins a person.

With that we must stay on guard against anything that can take hold of us which may ruin us. Instead we must follow Matthew 13:33 or Luke 13:20-21’s positive use of the word “leaven.”

From the Gospel of Saint Matthew: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

From the Gospel of Saint Luke: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

Very soon we will enter into the season of Lent. Hopefully we will make use of this season to move ourself away from wordiness in order to pursue the Kingdom of God.

Bulletin Article: February 16

I will lead a Parish Day of Recollection for the Lenten season on February 29th. The day will start with Mass at 8:30am, a lite reception following Mass, a conference from 9:30am-11:30am, and Holy Hour with confessions from 11:30am-12:30pm. The theme for this day is “Fast vs. Feast.” This serves as a reminder that Easter is a great feast, but if we are to celebrate with great joy we first need to fast. This is true not only of Easter, but with our encounter with the Eucharist for to prepare for this feast we are asked to fast for one hour prior to its reception. This concept of fast vs. feast appears in other areas of liturgical life and can aid us in the celebrations that we are about to celebrate with great joy.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

Sexagesima Sunday Homily

On a given Sunday there are many who grace the doors to this Church for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A very high percentage of these individuals, maybe some 98 percent, find themself in line to receive our Lord in Holy Communion. The reception of our Lord in Holy Communion should never be lowered to becoming a mundane and mindless encounter. After all the one who we receive in Holy Communion is Jesus Christ who is present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Nevertheless, it seems that there are many who fail to contemplate or take seriously this reality.

Our Gospel calls to mind those who “fell away among thorns” as those “who have heard and, going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit.” This gets to an issue which surrounds us in our present age. It seems that many have become mindless drones when it comes to matters of faith. Thus people come to church solely out of habit without coming to contemplate the invitation that the Lord has extended into their life to come and follow after Him.

Instead of being a mindless drone we are invited by our Lord to remain on the good ground for here we discover those “who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.” If we are to fall into this category we must come to take the faith seriously. It cannot just be something that we do out of habit. Our Lord does not want us to blindly walk about this life, but instead to invest ourself in what is taking place before us.

Our attitude on matters of morals and faith cannot come from a spirit of relativism or a spirit of mindlessness. Let us instead enter fully into these Sacred Mysteries, for if not, we will be this seed which has fallen among thorns. It will never take hold and it will never bare fruit. If we find ourself in this category we need to be shaken out of our idleness and into action. This is precisely why the season of Lent is so important for us.

With that we observe this Sexagesima Sunday. Here we are reminded that Lent is ever drawing close. Here we are reminded of the seriousness of this season for through it we place our emphasis upon the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These practices are important for us to take seriously for through them them we draw close to Christ and are forced to stay awake in our practice of faith. Sadly, there are those who will not take the Lenten season nor these practices seriously and they will remain in their slumber. To this Sacred Scripture attests: “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devout. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.”

These words must ring true for there are many who don’t allow themself to stay awake. We cannot allow ourself to be these people, but instead we must be people who remain alert for there is nothing mundane which happens when it pertains to matters of morals and faith. May the Lenten season be fruitful for us in our preparation for Easter which is drawing close.

Wednesday of Week 5 OT Homily

What type of speech do we choose to utter with our lips?

Our response to today’s Psalm was: “the mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.” Yet there are also those who murmur the many sins which Christ listed in our Gospel.

Our words then become a reflection of what is taking place within our heart. As Christ instructed: “nothing that enters one from outside can defile the person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

With this in mind may we continue to purify our heart in the Lord’s midst in order that all that comes out from us can give proper glory to God.

St. Mary Men Evening of Recollection Sermon VI: The Cross

Very soon we will enter into the season of Lent. This season will draw us close to the cross of our Blessed Lord as we prepare ourself for the celebration of Easter.

As Christ came to state from the Gospel of Saint Matthew: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

The cross by its very nature is an instrument of death. There is not anything which is pleasant about it. So often we adorn ourself with the cross, but do we truly allow ourself to contemplate its meaning?

Throughout the Lenten season we will contiusely receive this invitation. The more we move towards the cross the more we will move towards virtue and come to abandon vice. This is precisely why those practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are so important. Sadly, we live in a world that likes to feast, but rejects the importance of fasting. With this Lent as well as our faith calls us to practices which call us to moderate everything in its God given purpose.

The cross must become a central element of our life. As stated by Saint Josemaria Escriva: “How beautiful are those crosses on the summits of high mountains, and crowning great monuments, and on the pinnacles of cathedrals...! But the Cross must also be inserted in the very heart of the world.”

If the world or our own life is run rampant by sin we cannot say that we have come to embrace the cross. With that Saint Josemaria Escriva continues: “Wherever there is a Christian striving to lead an honorable life, he should, with is love, set up the Cross of Christ, who attracts all things to Himself.”

Here we see that all is not attracted to us, but unto the Lord. It is my hope that we will make the Lenten season a time of fruitful resolve. Embrace the reality that Friday is a day of penance for this is the day the Lord expired upon the cross in order that we may be healed and saved from the plight of sin and death. On Friday pray the Stations of the Cross, make sure to abstain from meat, and insert other forms of penance to draw you close to this reality.

From Saint Josemaria Escriva we are told of the importance of the cross: “before you start working, place a crucifix on your desk or beside the tools you work with. From time to time glance at it... When tiredness creeps in, your eyes will go towards Jesus, and you will find new strength to continue with your task.”

Let us heed these words of advice by making the cross central to our life. The cross calls us to the reality of our redemption. The cross encourages us in the midst of hardship. The cross is truly the vessel that leads us towards Christ and His healing mercy. May we come to embrace the Cross of Christ always! We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Tuesday of Week 5 OT Homily

Today we observe the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was at Lourdes, France that many have made pilgrimage and through the healing waters of this place have found healing. Thus this day is also known to us as the World Day for the Sick.

Sadly, a part of the human condition is the reality of sickness. Sometimes our sickness can be explained while at other occasions there is no explanation for it. Another sickness that also plagues us is sin.

At Lourdes our Blessed Mother appeared to Saint Bernadette and asked her to “pray for the conversion of sinners.” Of these sinners that our Blessed Mother speaks of we are included. Our Gospel speaks to this reality for we are told “this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

With this let us continue to pray for the sick and for their caregivers, but let us also continue to pray for the conversion of all sinners. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Bulletin Article: February 9

This Sunday begins a series of three Sundays where the faithful prepare to enter into the season of Lent. These Sundays are still celebrated in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and are known as Septuagesima Sunday, Sexagesima Sunday, and Quinquagesima Sunday. During these three liturgical days the celebrant will wear violet vestments and the Gloria will be suppressed at our 2pm Mass to remind us of the penitential season that we are about to enter into.

I draw attention to this because Lent will be here before we know it. Lent officially begins with our observance of Ash Wednesday which falls on February 26. With this in mind I encourage each of you to begin to think about your Lenten practices now. Traditional areas of concern should be fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. The Lenten season should assist us in coming to see Christ more clearly as we come to rejoice at the Good News of the Resurrection and thus the triumph over the tomb of sin and death.

To the men of our parish I invite you to join us for the February Evening of Recollection. This will be held February 11 at 6:45pm. It will include prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, an opportunity for confession, and a brief talk on the writings of Saint Josemaria Escriva.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

Septuagesima Sunday Homily

Today falls Septuagesima Sunday which stands nine Sundays prior to the celebration of Easter. With that we are only seventeen days away from Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season. For the next three Sundays our liturgical color will be violet which serves as a reminder of our need to undergo penance.

Our Epistle takes up this theme by reminding us that “every athlete exercise discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.” Our goal cannot be the passing things of this world, but rather it must be the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a kingdom which will never pass away. As an athlete trains to excel at a given sport, so must we as Christians strive to excel in living a life of virtue.

If we are to put vice to rest and go out in pursuit of virtue then we must come to see the importance of discipline. During the season of Lent we are given the perfect opportunity to grow in such a manner. Nevertheless, we do not always  allow ourself to be properly prepared. It so easy to wander into Lent, and even throughout this life on earth, without first undergoing proper preparation. Lent is not just another season, but it is an avenue which leads towards Easter and an encounter with the Risen Lord.

With that these final days which lay ahead, before entering into this season, should be used to our advantage. We should begin to discern how we will grow in virtue through practices such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Some enter into Lent without a true goal set in sight and thus when they come to celebrate Easter no change has taken place in their life. We cannot allow this to be said of us for our Blessed Lord is always inviting us to enter more fully into this reality.

This is seen in our Gospel when the landowner went into the vineyard to gather laborers. Here each laborer heard the call of the landowner and chose to follow after it. This is an analogy made to Heaven and how the Lord calls each of us to follow after Him. No matter the point in time when we hear this call we must follow after it in order that we may enter more fully into this reality. May the Lenten season be a time of renewal in our life in order that we may truly come to follow after the Lord who calls each of us by name.

5th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

The human body is truly interesting for its impressive ability to heal. If one falls and breaks a bone the body part can be placed inside of a cast and healing will take place. If one falls and scrapes a knee the skin will begin the process of healing. From the Prophet Isaiah we heard: “Your wound shall quickly be healed.”

We live in the midst of a world which is very much so in need of the healing mercy of God. We can see the effects that sin have raged upon society. With this we see injustices against different races, we see injustices made against the unborn, we see the breakdown of marriage and the family, we see a lack of fear for God and rise of a spirit of relativism.

Despite this our Epistle directs our attention towards the cross. Here Saint Paul pointed out that he “resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” If we want true healing to be brought about within our life and this world then each of us must come to make this same resolution. The cross of our Blessed Lord is important because through it He has come to snatch the world out of Satan’s grasp. The cross of our Lord teaches us to surrender all that we undergo in order that we may live for the Lord.

This makes me think of the Benedictine monk who enters into solemn monastic vows. Here he lays down, is draped with the funeral pall, the bells of the Church are rung as at a funeral, and the monks join together to chant the “Dies Irae” “”Day of Wrath” as would be traditionally used at a funeral. From here the monk rises into his new life which is similar to the new life that springs forth from the Resurrection where our Blessed Lord came to triumph over the tomb of sin and death.

Very soon we will enter into the sacred season of Lent. Here we will orient our sight towards the Good News of our Lord’s Resurrection. Here we will come to see the necessity for healing to take place within our life in order that we may better come to behold this reality. With that I invite each of you to begin to pray concerning Lent and the ways in which you will enter into the practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in order to draw close to the Lord. It would be a mistake to enter into the season of Lent without first contemplating these realities. From realities such as these may we draw close to the Lord and allow Him to heal that which has been broken down by sin and death.

Friday of Week 4 OT Homily

Very soon we will embark upon the season of Lent. During this season we will draw close to the cross of our Blessed Lord.

In our Gospel we encounter the murder of Saint John the Baptist. Here I see an interesting parallel to the Passion of the Lord which will be proclaimed on Palm Sunday as well as Good Friday.

With that we were told: “the king was exceedingly sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.” From the Passion we hear: “When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.”

Here we see the unwillingness to do something that one sees as wrong and yet despite this unwillingness they make the choice to do it anyway. So too with sin we must stay on guard in order that we rebuke it despite its effect upon us. To rebuke sin may keep us from being popular, following after the group, or being comfortable. We know that to embrace Christ can even bring about death as is seen through the witness of the martyrs. May we become convinced of this reality and thus proclaim Christ and Him crucified no matter the cost.

Thursday of Week 4 in OT Homily

The twelve were sent out by our Blessed Lord and “they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” This brings us to one of the sacraments of the Church known as Anointing of the Sick. 

We receive further instruction concerning it in the Book of James. Here we hear: “Are there people sick among you? Let them send for the priests of the Church, and let the priests pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick persons, and the Lord will raise them up. If they have committed any sins, their sins will be forgiven them.”

To receive this sacrament one must be in danger of death from sickness or old age. This sacrament aids one in their sufferings by conforming them to the cross of Christ. It gives faith and trust in the Lord as one faces the possibility of their death. If it is conductive for one’s salvation it can bring about healing. The sacrament also forgives sins, but one should still prevail themself to the sacrament of confession in so far as they are able.

Let us pray for those who are sick and facing the reality of death. May we also be aware of the importance of this sacrament and make sure to notify a member of the clergy when we find ourself or one whom we love in a situation which would warrant the reception of this sacrament.

Bulletin Article: February 2

The Parish Pastoral Council has set the date of our next Parish Open Forum for April 27. This will begin we a pot luck dinner beginning at 5:30pm and the forum lasting from 6:30pm-7:30pm.

This past week our parish school was filled with joy as it came to celebrate Catholic Schools Week. During this celebration our students got to participate in a Faith Rally. During this time they were given an opportunity for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and got to participate in a Eucharistic Procession through the halls of our school.

It is my hope that our community will also be drawn towards similar devotion to our Eucharistic Lord. I am given great hope of this for we have filled many of the open adoration spots on our schedule. It is my hope that we will have all slots filled soon and then can work on filling the slots which exist from 12am-6am, so that our parish can again acknowledge that we have perpetual adoration. If you would like to receive more information on how to take an hour of adoration please contact our parish office or our adoration coordinator. 

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins