[00:00] The reading and the holiest Gospel have an important theme in it that in this theme today we see that we can be open to conversion by God's grace where we can close ourselves to God's grace and turn away from God's grace and that His call to share in His life in His divine life in holiness and be cut off

[00:32] from God choosing rather what we want above all what God wants us to share in His life and we see throughout the history of the Church in the history of the Old Testament when God sent people to proclaim repentance conversion turning away from sin there were different reactions throughout history many times those reacted with resentment with hatred with vengeance as in the case of John the Baptist he had the courage to speak up that Herod's marriage to Herodias was unlawful was sinful and for this he was

[01:06] put into prison and ultimately beheaded out of hatred out of jealousy out of resentment and this has happened throughout the history of the Church Henry the Eighth King Henry the Eighth Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More told him your marriage was unlawful you were his divorce and remarriage was unlawful for this they were both beheaded they were both beheaded fear of death fear of persecution does not relinquish from us speaking the truth and

[01:37] that we have to speak the truth with courage and what is the root the root of that of that truth is love for Jesus Christ love for proclaiming the truth which Christ taught us love for wanting that soul to be converted and to be saved from eternal damnation saved from eternal punishment and to share in God's divine life the foundation of that call is love we want these people to share in God's life to not be eternally separated from God and this

[02:11] continues to this day you know that we in the Church do not we have a responsibility to preach the truth even if people hate me for it and want to put me to death for I must speak the truth as a priest you know because we live in a society that hates the truth and does not want to be told what they're doing is sinful and wrong sinful and wrong and ultimately the root of this is idolatry it's self-worship I love myself more than I love God I love what I want more than what God wants for me that I want what I want and nobody is

[02:47] gonna tell me that it's wrong and this is healed all the evils that we see in our society ultimately is the root of self-adultery self-love be it in I mean there's a whole list I can go through of all the immorality we see in society all the immorality we see in society it's ultimately the root is self-love choosing what I want above what God wants what God wants and and so John is the example for us to see that he wanted these people to be converted to be saved

[03:19] and for this he was put in prison and ultimately beheaded and so it's just a reminder for us that the root of our call the root of our motivation is love love for Jesus Christ love for the truth love for the person's soul that we want the person to be saved and converted and to share in God's divine life and and so what we can do is we can pray for them we pray for that conversion we can offer up sacrifices and penances for them because this is what our society needs

[03:51] so much right now in all that we see in our society we need prayer especially the prayer to Our Lady with the Holy Rosary but Our Lady at Fatima said many go to hell because there's no one to pray for them or do penance for them she told the children this Lucia many go to hell because there's no one to pray for them or do penance for them and so we must see that my prayers are important before God that I can pray for poor sinners and offer up my daily

[04:21] inconvenience and sacrifices for the salvation of souls but it's just a reminder to us because people try to shut us down in the Church we don't have a right to speak out against people living together before marriage we don't have a right to speak out against contraception abortion we don't have a right to speak out about divorce and remarriage we don't have a right to speak about people of the same sex living together we don't have a right to speak about all these immoralities which are sinful and if people stay in these sins could lead them to eternal damnation we have a right because Jesus

[04:52] has given us the call to proclaim the Gospel to proclaim the Gospel to preach it without fear to preach the truth no matter and we proclaim that truth without hesitation that human life is sacred from the moment of conception to natural death and we preach the truth that marriage is between one man and one woman and that marriage you know is sacred before God that bond is sacred before God and so it's just a reminder to us that we

[05:23] must be courageous as Catholics we must be fearless as Catholics because we cannot be afraid to share the truth we cannot be afraid to proclaim the Gospel of Christ because this is the history of the Church when people do nothing nothing changes when people do nothing God's grace is not available John preached the truth and people had a choice Herod and Herodias

[05:53] they shut themselves off to God's grace they shut themselves off to conversion and salvation and redemption and so it's just but it does not relinquish us from preaching the truth and the motive of that truth is love today we honor one of my favorite authors Saint Alphonsus Liguori he's one of the great authors of the Church doctors of the Church he's written so many beautiful books just a few of them to mention his Preparation for Death Duties and Dignities of the Priesthood On the Holy Eucharist and one of his most famous books is the

[06:25] Glories of Mary one of the most beautiful books written about Our Blessed Mother and in this book he not only gives devotion to Our Lady and shares information about Our Lady but he gives beautiful stories and testimonies of things that happened to people who prayed to Our Lady one of my favorite stories I'm going to share this because it's so important one of my favorite stories is about these two young men who lived together but they were living sinful lives and these two young men went to a house of ill repute

[06:57] one night now one of the men when he was a child his mother taught him to say three Hail Marys and he did this just out of love for his mother not out of any devotion not out of any religious conviction he just said them for his mother three Hail Marys he left this house of ill repute early he went home he went to bed as he was in his bed there was a knock on the door and he opened the door and there was his friend standing wrapped in flames and chains and he said and he opened his cloak that he had on and he saw the

[07:30] flames and the serpents around him he says I am in hell he said the same fate awaited you but those three Hail Marys that you say every day Our Lady saved you and that he had been strangled when he left that house of ill repute and his body was in a ditch and and so he went and he found his friend's body in the ditch strangled and as he was there he heard the church bells ring from the Franciscan Monastery for the morning office so he went to the Franciscan Monastery he sought conversion and

[08:05] repentance and went to confession and then the Franciscan he told the Franciscans the story of his friend and they found his friend's body blackened in the gutter and this young man went eventually to enter religious life he became a Franciscan and he became a missionary and he went to India and he ultimately gave his life he was burned to death as one of the Japanese martyrs in Japan and his name was Blessed Richard of Saint Anne and so it's just he said these three Hail Marys out of love for Our Lady out of just no

[08:37] conviction and Our Lady saved him it's just to remind us how important devotion to Mary is. Saint Alphonsus that same author who we celebrate today one of his famous quotes is no one who is a child of Mary will go to hell no one who is a child of Mary will go to hell so powerful is her intercession that even the greatest sinner if they turned to her before they died she would save them and intercede for them for a perfect contrition Our Lady will never turn away and abandon even the greatest sinner and her prayers are omnipotent

[09:10] she's God is omnipotent by His divine power by her name Saint Alphonsus Liguori said Mary is omnipotent by her prayers she can do all things by her prayers because the Holy Trinity refuses her nothing refuses her nothing Jesus will never say no to His mother and so today we honor it we remember also with the Immaculate Heart of Mary her request of meditating on the Rosary for 15 minutes praying the Rosary confession Holy Eucharist and reparation

[09:44] to the offenses against your Immaculate Heart Our Lady promised that those who do this will not die will receive the graces necessary for salvation at the hour of death and it's just a powerful promise in a powerful devotion today also it's a day of many graces today it's August the 4th and August the 2nd is the Feast of the Portiuncula of the little church in Assisi where Saint Francis started his order and Saint Francis one time Our Lady and Our Lord

[10:15] appeared to him asking him what he wanted it was there's anything that he wanted and Saint Francis asked that anyone who visited this little church in Assisi would be given a plenary indulgence and so our Lord said Francis what you have asked for is great what greater things will be granted to you I will grant you this but you must ask my vicar first who is the vicar the Pope so Francis went to the Pope and asked that anyone who visits the Portiuncula would be given a plenary indulgence so the Pope agreed and gave that indulgence that

[10:47] indulgence which can be granted every day in Assisi if you go to Assisi you go to the Portiuncula it's a little basilica church inside a big basilica you can gain the plenary indulgence of the Portiuncula indulgence but why is it I mentioned this now on August 2nd the Church has extended this to this indulgence to any Catholic Church in the world so from noon today until midnight tomorrow any church you visit you can gain a plenary indulgence the Portiuncula indulgence and all you have to do is go to confession within a week

[11:20] or two receive the Eucharist and say a prayer for the Holy Father and the prayer intentions of the Holy Father and the Apostles Creed and a plenary indulgence it's a great gift to the Church through Saint Francis's intercession my brothers and sisters today we're just reminded of God's love His call for us to be witnesses to a world in the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ may Mary our mother give us her heart and pray for us that

[11:53] we may always stand firm in following her Son and be witnesses to Him in our daily life and following Him and serving Him in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit