Adult Ed Series on Prayer, session 1 - Corpus Christi Parish, Great Falls, MT

Below is the audio and handout of the first lecture for a series on prayer I am giving at Corpus Christi Parish in Great Falls, MT -- Tuesday evenings from 7 to 8pm.

"Introduction to Christian Prayer"

Will I really go to hell for just one mortal sin?

The Serpent said, "No, you shall not die the death" (cf. Gen 3:4)

26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 18:25-28

When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.

 “Do you really think that God is going to send me to hell just because I skipped Mass one Sunday?! I mean, I was on vacation!”

To this, we must respond, “If you die without true repentance, you will surely go to hell.”

Speaking to the prophet Ezekiel, Our Lord makes clear that one mortal sin causes not only the loss of the state of grace, but also the loss of all previous merit. For, by a single mortal sin, by which a just man turneth himself away from his justice and comitteth iniquity, all the good he has done will be set aside and forgotten, and he will not live but he shall die eternally.

Without sanctifying grace habitually present in the soul, no man can possibly be saved. The question of a man’s eternal destiny comes down to this: If he should die in the state of grace, with the divine life present in his soul, he will live eternally in heaven. If he should die in mortal sin, without the divine life present in his soul through grace, he will die eternally in hell.

Let us consider why all the good deeds of a lifetime are not enough to save a man who dies in the state of mortal sin.

If the just man turn himself away from his justice and do iniquity … all his justices which he hath done shall not be remembered. (Ezekiel 18:24)

Weekday Sermons, September 23 through 27

Daily Mass sermons, September 23 through 27: Padre Pio, Our Lady of Ransom, the Eucharist, Sts Cosmas and Damian, Ember Saturday

Weekday Sermons - September 16 through 20

Daily Mass sermons, September 16 through 20: Sts Cornelius and Cyprian, St Joseph of Cupertino, St Januarius, Our Lady of Sorrows

September 14 - Sunday - Exaltation of the Holy Cross

This sermon is from two weeks ago. On the Cross as exalted in the lives of the saints.


Listen online [here]!

Last Sunday's Sermon, 9/7 -- Excommunication

The biblical and rational foundation for excommunication.
What excommunication really means and why the Church has the authority and the duty to excommunicate.


If the stream below doesn't work, listen online [here]!

Daily Mass Sermons: 9/9 - 9/13

Daily Mass sermons, September 9 through 13: St Peter Claver, Nativity of Mary, Holy Name of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows

The Cross as Perpetually United to Our Savior

September 14^th, Exaltation of the Holy Cross

We adore your Cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify your holy resurrection: Behold by the wood joy has come into the whole world. (Antiphon from Morning Prayer)

The Catholic Faithful pay a special honor and veneration to the Holy Cross of our Lord. Indeed, we even speak to the Cross as though to Christ Jesus himself as we sing, Ave Crux, Spes unica! “Hail O Cross, our only Hope!”

The True Cross of our Lord, whose feast we celebrate this Sunday, is given such honor, love, and adoration by the Church on account of the marvelous union it shared with our Savior. Let us consider how the Cross was united to the Lord by comparing this union to the Hypostatic Union of Humanity and Divinity in Christ.

Mary was rational while in the womb of her mother

September 8^th, Feast of the Birth of Mary

Some may be surprised to learn that St. Alphonsus, whom the Church recognizes as the most learned and to trustworthy theologian regarding doctrine about the Blessed Virgin Mary, teaches as certain and deserving of pious belief that Our Lady had the perfect use of reason from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception. Mary was no ordinary child in the womb, nor was she a typical infant or young girl.

Rather, according to the Marian Doctor, the Blessed Mary had attained to the use of reason even while in the womb of her mother. Let us consider the reasons for holding this pious belief, and then ponder what it would take for Our Lady to be so exceptionally blessed.

Daily Sermons, August 5 and 6 -- Mother Teresa, and the Sorrowful Virgin

Friday, August 5: Blessed Mother Teresa, Love Means Giving Till It Hurts

Listen online [here]!







Saturday, August 6: Consoling the Sorrowful Heart of Mary

Listen online [here]!

Sunday Sermon, August 31 -- How Catholics Suffer Well

Listen online [here]!

Daily Sermons: September 3rd and 4th

September 3rd: Christ Knew Everything, Even You (Feast of St. Gregory the Great)

Listen online [here]!






September 4th: Why we celebrate Mass in a Sacred Place with Sacred Things

Listen online [here]!

Should the Church excommunicate anyone? Can the Pope send a man to hell?

Pope Gregory IX excommunicates Henry IV

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

7 September 2014

Matthew 18:15-20

If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

There can be no doubt that the power and practice of excommunication is well established both in Sacred Scripture and in the Apostolic Tradition. Not only in ancient times under the prior dispensation, but even in the New Testament, we read of men suffering the penalty of excommunication. To reject the notion of excommunication is to reject the revelation given in Scripture and Tradition, and therefore it would be a rejection of the faith itself.

And so we ask, Should the Church ever excommunicate anyone? Furthermore, considering the effects of excommunication, we ask, Can the Pope exclude someone from heaven?