Community life is like a bonfire, made up of many logs that illuminate and give warmth to those who need it, but the moment a log is taken out of the bonfire, it slowly goes out until it loses its light, but if we put it back in the bonfire it lights up again. That is how we are, if we move away from the community, our light goes out and we become weak in faith and we can be easy prey fir the enemy who only seeks our death through sin. I invite you to be a light in the lives on those Who have abandoned the community. Let us begin with our domestic church, our home, inviting them to the Holy Eucharist, Adoration Blessed Sacrament, confession and all the activities planned in our church, so that we can make a bonfire so big that it illuminates the lives of others. Let us pay for those who have left the community and let us be faithful to the name of Christians.

You will discover that in prayer God communicates to you the light, strength and grace you need..." (Sr Lucia dos Santos)

This morning at the 6:30am I offered the following homily. Have you ever felt like you are overwhelmed in life, or overcome with your own struggles, but are constantly helping other people? You get off the phone after counseling someone who needed some advice or comfort and sigh thinking, “I wish I could listen to my own advice?!?” Sometimes helping others when we are overwhelmed, we can feel the weight of our own exhaustion, tempted to pull back and gather yourself for a bit to recoup. But… The apple tree isn’t fed by its own apples. The blueberry bush doesn’t feed on its own blueberries. The trees all find their nourishment from the ground and the sun and the rain, but their fruit sustains others… So it is with us. Our fruit, the work Jesus asks us to do in service of the community isn’t for ourselves and our own benefit and growth… it is meant for others. If we pull back when we feel overwhelmed and try and hoard the fruit for ourselves, it still wouldn’t provide us with the proper nourishment… your work and ministry bears fruit in the community, not to bear fruit for yourself. The nourishment for all of our work is Jesus. We need to go to the source to receive His nourishment and life. Only there can we find the proper foundation and life we need to serve one another. So when you feel the weight of life over you, go to Jesus, and then continue to serve the community in love and the Lord will still produce fruit. When all of us in the community work to bear fruit, then we are at the service of one another and we find nourishment in one another’s gifts. Look at St. Theresa of Calcutta. She experienced the “dark night of the soul” for fifty years. Fifty years she experienced nothing but grief and loneliness in prayer, yet she produced much fruit by her work and ministry. You want to know how? She kept coming back to the source. Day after day, year after year, she went to the Eucharist for nourishment and life. Two hours of adoration every day and the little saint became an instrument of grace and peace to the world. She fed the poor, taught the nations, and witnessed to the world the glory of God. These were her fruits, and if we go to the same source we can bear fruit, too!

We celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, we declare to the world and remind ourselves that Jesus is the Lord of the Church and of the entire universe.

The Catholic Church has a single founder, Jesús, and is the only one who has countless means left by him for us to reach holiness. Let us take advantage of each one of them: Prayer, the Sacraments, the Eucharist, the Works of Mercy, the Blessed Sacrament, the Communion of Saints, indulgences, etc. Although at times it seems difficult to achieve, holiness is for everyone and only requires our YES to God and a contrite heart, so that through the Holy Spirit, He can pour out the necessary gifts to rebuild the temple that God has made of us. We are unworthy servants, but ALWAYS loved by God, who is always looking for us, waiting for us like the father to the Prodigal Son, to give us his mercy and recover our dignity as Children of God.