The parable of the Good Samaritan represents how we have been stripped of all that God has given us. Ignorance, malice, concupiscence, and weakness are the wounds we remain inflicted with, even after the grace of baptism. This is why Our Lord reaches out to us, to heal these wounds, and draw us close to Him. We may resist this act of love from God, but His grace conquers all.

As much as we can speak about the life of St. Pius X, we must also reflect on the life he led for Christ. He dedicated his life for Christ and committed himself to living poor and dying poor. He was a model an icon of humility that remains a model for us to this very day.

In a relay race, a series of runners must take a baton, pass it on between each other, and get it to the finish line without dropping it lest they be disqualified. This sporting event can be seen as an image of human history whereby each generation is a runner and the baton they pass on to subsequent generations (runners) is the Catholic Faith until the end of recorded time. This image of receiving and passing on the Faith is as old as Christianity itself, as seen in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians.

Sinners who draw close to Our Lord know that they will not be rejected by Him. For as the Gospel tells us, Christ came to save sinners; everything He does is for our salvation. Moreover, Our Lord knows our sinfulness and need to be pardoned. This is why He asks us continually to draw near to Him.

In the Sundays following Pentecost, Holy Mother Church provides us with instructions through the Collects at Mass on how to think about God and pray rightly to Him. One of the central themes of these prayers is God’s overflowing goodness and His love for us. Indeed, Our Lord’s love is so abundant that He will forgive our sins if we ask with the right disposition, so that we may have eternity with Him in heaven.

There are three moments in Our Lady’s life that are integral to her privileged role in assisting us in our salvation: The Immaculate Conception; the Annunciation; and the Crucifixion. All of them show in a unique way how God set Mary apart from her very existence up through the death of her Divine Son in a manner not granted to any other mortal. God the Father prepared for heaven to come down to earth through the person of Mary while also offering us the unique grace of her intercession before her Son for our salvation.

God is goodness in Himself. The miracle of creation is a manifestation of His goodness. In this parable, we are called to recognize that our salvation is not by our our means. Indeed, we cannot redeem ourselves. All we can do is recognize our own sinfulness and beseech God for the grace to assist us in this life. He owes us nothing.

The Mass is the heart of the Catholic Faith. It also animates us with a truly Christian spirit. It is the most important means by which Our Lord draws us closer to Himself and a perpetual expression of God’s inexhaustible love for us.

The Temple in Jerusalem as an image of our own soul; it is now the place where God dwells. Yet like those in Jerusalem old old, we divorce ourselves from God through mortal sin and seeking after those things that have nothing to do with the supernatural life. To bring us back into the life of grace, God has sent saints into the world to serve as models of holiness and repentance, including Ss. John Vianney, Lawrence, and Philomena.

In modern parlance, we use the term “chaos” to refer to disorder. Indeed, this is how the ancient Greeks conceived of the universe before the formation of the cosmos, which brought forth order and objective beauty. From this order and beauty that we experience in the world, our minds are elevated quickly to Almighty God, from Whom the goodness of creation flows. We, too, can reflect this order and thereby draw closer to God through the virtue of modesty, which includes regulating our inner tendencies and subduing the chaos in our own souls.