Following the series of post-Paschal feasts that are intended to be consoling, Holy Mother Church steps forth to remind us that salvation is not automatic. This warning is intended to keep us vigilant even outside of the penitential season of Lent. Moreover, the Church desires us to know that the Catholic Faith is not just about consolations and that we must not make excuses for putting off the work of our salvation when we do not receive them.

Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. It is the high point of our lives. Whether vocal or silent, it is our means to connect with God. Through prayer, we ask everything we need to save our souls. Through prayer, particularly the devotion of the Holy Rosary, we are invited to draw closer to God and to reflect on the fact that we know we are in the presence of Our Lord.

To follow Christ, St. Paul was called to imitate Our Lord in every facet of his apostolate. And while he may not have known the abundant fruits of his labor in this life, we know and revere the results of his efforts. Moreover, St. Paul reminds us that the task of winning souls for Christ is an arduous one, but also one that will be rewarded in due course through God’s grace.

As Catholics, we are called to not only accept the tenets of the Catholic Faith, but to approach all facets of our lives with the mind of the Church. This is imperative when it comes to Holy Communion. As the greatest sacrament that God has offered to us, we must not presume that we are simply entitled to it nor that we can ever “earn” it. Rather, in keeping with mind of the Church, we should always appreciate that it is a great gift bestowed upon us by God out of His infinite love for us.

St. Peter had a great love for Our Lord, though we know from Scripture that he had an intemperate soul until Christ calmed it. His call for mutual charity or, to put it another way, supernatural friendship, is a reminder that we are called to look beyond our neighbors’ faults to find the good in them. And at the same time, we hope they will see the same in us.

Our Lord draws closest to us, spiritually and materially, in the Eucharist. How do we respond to this great gift, particularly after receiving Holy Communion? Do we continue to remember that Our Lord is within us, even after Mass, or do we get distracted immediately by worldly concerns? While Our Lord will always desire to be close to us, we must desire to be close to Him as well; we must return His love

On Pentecost, the faithful commemorate the birthday of the Church. Yet it is also a time to reflect on the coming of the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, and the gifts He bestows upon the faithful. What these gifts are and what they can do for us in our everyday lives is the topic of this sermon.

On the great feast of the Holy Trinity, we recall that while our limited human intellect can conclude a great deal about a single, all-good God, it can tell us nothing about the mystery of the Trinity without the light of revelation. Although the dogma of the Trinity appears, on the surface, to be simple, we must remember to approach it with caution and humility lest we slip into heresy. Even so, it is still possible to speak of the internal life of the Holy Trinity with respect to the knowledge of and love the three Persons of the Trinity have for one another.

When Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church, He intended it to be the sole means of receiving the grace of the sacraments and the sanctifying grace that they instill. However, as a result of our free will to choose sin over virtue, we know this grace can be lost at any given moment. Although Protestants may intend to follow Our Lord and be faithful to His precepts, by remaining outside of the Church and depriving themselves of the sacraments, they not only imperil their own souls, but deny themselves of the means of salvation that God provides.

The reality that charity covers a multitude of sins is found throughout Scripture. But in St. Peter’s first epistle he brings this truth front and center. It’s an expression of mercy and will always compel us to cover our neighbor’s sin. And as our Lord covered our sins we are called upon to do the same for those around us.