The Mission
As a priest of Jesus Christ, I am forever grateful to my mother and father who taught me what it means to give and receive love. My vocation as a priest was born from the beauty of my parent's selfless spousal love. Their witness of authentic spousal love awakened Christ's desire for my life! God used the witness of my parent's marriage to invite me into his sacred priesthood. When Jesus Christ called me to share in his priesthood, He was inviting me to personally participate in his spousal love for his bride, the Church.
When a man is validly ordained into the priesthood of Christ, he is configured ontologically to Jesus Christ. This means that every priest is 'In Persona Christi Capitis' -- In the Person of Christ the Head. Jesus Christ is the ONLY priest of the New Covenant! In the Roman Catholic Rite, a newly ordained priest does not marry because through his ordination into Persona Christi Capitis, he now shares in Christ's spousal love for his Bride, the Church. Every man who is validly ordained into the priesthood of Jesus Christ, is married to the Church!
The central mission of Jesus Christ, the eternal bridegroom, is to give himself in holy communion to every single human being! This is precisely why the Holy Mass is called the Wedding Feast of the Lamb! Christ personally invites every man and woman to participate in the ultimate wedding feast, the Holy Mass! Jesus thirsts for every human being to respond to his invitation with a resounding, "I do!" There are a number of mystics that relate Calvary to the wedding bed. Calvary is that most sacred and timeless moment where Jesus, the eternal bridegroom, speaks those eternal words of consummation: "It is finished!" It is their on Calvary that the wedding vows of Christ and the Church are consummated, enfleshed! It is on Calvary, which we participate in at every Mass, that the essence of marriage vows are revealed and lived! In truth, every time we participate in the Sacrament of the Holy Mass, we are entering into this most sacred and timeless moment of profound intimacy between God and humanity. It is at the Mass that couples are empowered to reveal and live their marriage vows! This spousal analogy is the analogy that God uses throughout the entire bible because it is the closest to our humanity.
Groom:
I, Jesus Christ, take you, Church, to be my wife.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.
I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.
Bride:
I, the Church, take you, Jesus Christ, to be my husband.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.
I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.
Heaven is the perfect union between Christ and the Church. Christ, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders and Holy Eucharist brings about this holy union of Heaven and Earth at every Mass. St. Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians 5:31-32: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church." Christ's spousal love for his Bride, the Church, is the "great mystery" that every husband and wife is created, designed, and called to display. This is precisely why Marriage is called a Sacrament. God instituted Marriage to be a sacred and efficacious sign which communicates the "great mystery" of Christ's union with the Church. Every husband should love his wife as Christ loves the Church! If every couple contemplated and understood this profound calling more deeply, more and more marriages would taste Heaven on Earth. Society would literally "taste and see the goodness of the Lord"
"Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."
If we continue to read the sixth chapter of Ephesians, St. Paul begins to speak about spiritual warfare. Why is this? Well, if the Sacrament of Marriage is a sacred and efficacious (grace giving) sign instituted by God for the purpose of enfleshing, revealing and communicating his love to humanity, then what would you attack if you were an enemy of God's plan? What sign would you seek to distort? Confuse? Divide? Pervert? Destroy? Twist? Exactly! It is Marriage! Therefore, it is no wonder why Satan is attacking marriage between one man and one woman today. There is a spiritual war on marriage, family, and sexuality (infidelity, divorce, same-sex marriage," contraception, sterilization, abortion, STD's). Satan is attacking marriage because marriage is designed to be a visible sign of Heaven on Earth!
No Priest, No Eucharist! No Eucharist, No Holy Communion! No Holy Communion! No power to live out marriage as an efficacious (grace giving) sign of Heaven on Earth. The priesthood of Jesus Christ is inseparably connected to the strengthening of marriages and the sacrament of marriage is inseparably connected to strengthening of the priesthood. The two vocations are inseparably linked and both are under attack. Both are called to bring Heaven to Earth in different, yet complimentary ways. Therefore, we can sit back and let Satan attack these sacred vocations or we can "take up our cross and follow Christ!" We need each other on this rugged journey through life. Our final destination will be determined by our daily "I do" to Jesus Christ in this life, our fidelity to our marriage (baptismal) vows to God. Our daily "I do" is directly associated with the crosses that come with our vocations. Remember, it from the cross that Christ consummated and enfleshed his marriage vows with humanity. It is from the cross that we, in Christ, deliver the world from the evil of not knowing authentic love! It is from the cross that Satan is exorcised from humanity!
How do we live out our baptismal vows, our vocations? We live the Eucharist, the Holy Mass! We speak those powerful words of consecration from the cross in our respective vocations! "This is my Body given up for you... This is my Blood pour out for you.... Do this in rememberance of me."
As a priest, my mission and purpose of this web site is to help and encourage married couples to bring Heaven to Earth...to live the Eucharist by giving them the Eucharist! This is only possible by fostering a deep interior life in every married couple (contemplative prayer life). I pray that God will use this web site to take husbands and wives deeper and deeper into the mystery of themselves and, thus, unveil the "great mystery" which they are called to participate in! When married couples encounter HIM, who is their strength, they will live his love as good and holy husbands and wives, dads and moms!
May every man, in Jesus Christ, learn to love every woman as Christ loves his Church. And, may every woman, in Jesus Christ, learn to love and reverence every man as the Church loves Christ! Whether you are married or not, you are called to live spousal love, to be fruitful and multiply and thus become spiritual and/or biological mothers or fathers. Embrace the Gift! Live the Gift!
Let us pray for the grace to live the Holy Mass!
more to come....
The central mission of Jesus Christ, the eternal bridegroom, is to give himself in holy communion to every single human being! This is precisely why the Holy Mass is called the Wedding Feast of the Lamb! Christ personally invites every man and woman to participate in the ultimate wedding feast, the Holy Mass! Jesus thirsts for every human being to respond to his invitation with a resounding, "I do!" There are a number of mystics that relate Calvary to the wedding bed. Calvary is that most sacred and timeless moment where Jesus, the eternal bridegroom, speaks those eternal words of consummation: "It is finished!" It is their on Calvary that the wedding vows of Christ and the Church are consummated, enfleshed! It is on Calvary, which we participate in at every Mass, that the essence of marriage vows are revealed and lived! In truth, every time we participate in the Sacrament of the Holy Mass, we are entering into this most sacred and timeless moment of profound intimacy between God and humanity. It is at the Mass that couples are empowered to reveal and live their marriage vows! This spousal analogy is the analogy that God uses throughout the entire bible because it is the closest to our humanity.
Groom:
I, Jesus Christ, take you, Church, to be my wife.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.
I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.
Bride:
I, the Church, take you, Jesus Christ, to be my husband.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.
I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.
Heaven is the perfect union between Christ and the Church. Christ, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders and Holy Eucharist brings about this holy union of Heaven and Earth at every Mass. St. Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians 5:31-32: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church." Christ's spousal love for his Bride, the Church, is the "great mystery" that every husband and wife is created, designed, and called to display. This is precisely why Marriage is called a Sacrament. God instituted Marriage to be a sacred and efficacious sign which communicates the "great mystery" of Christ's union with the Church. Every husband should love his wife as Christ loves the Church! If every couple contemplated and understood this profound calling more deeply, more and more marriages would taste Heaven on Earth. Society would literally "taste and see the goodness of the Lord"
"Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."
If we continue to read the sixth chapter of Ephesians, St. Paul begins to speak about spiritual warfare. Why is this? Well, if the Sacrament of Marriage is a sacred and efficacious (grace giving) sign instituted by God for the purpose of enfleshing, revealing and communicating his love to humanity, then what would you attack if you were an enemy of God's plan? What sign would you seek to distort? Confuse? Divide? Pervert? Destroy? Twist? Exactly! It is Marriage! Therefore, it is no wonder why Satan is attacking marriage between one man and one woman today. There is a spiritual war on marriage, family, and sexuality (infidelity, divorce, same-sex marriage," contraception, sterilization, abortion, STD's). Satan is attacking marriage because marriage is designed to be a visible sign of Heaven on Earth!
No Priest, No Eucharist! No Eucharist, No Holy Communion! No Holy Communion! No power to live out marriage as an efficacious (grace giving) sign of Heaven on Earth. The priesthood of Jesus Christ is inseparably connected to the strengthening of marriages and the sacrament of marriage is inseparably connected to strengthening of the priesthood. The two vocations are inseparably linked and both are under attack. Both are called to bring Heaven to Earth in different, yet complimentary ways. Therefore, we can sit back and let Satan attack these sacred vocations or we can "take up our cross and follow Christ!" We need each other on this rugged journey through life. Our final destination will be determined by our daily "I do" to Jesus Christ in this life, our fidelity to our marriage (baptismal) vows to God. Our daily "I do" is directly associated with the crosses that come with our vocations. Remember, it from the cross that Christ consummated and enfleshed his marriage vows with humanity. It is from the cross that we, in Christ, deliver the world from the evil of not knowing authentic love! It is from the cross that Satan is exorcised from humanity!
How do we live out our baptismal vows, our vocations? We live the Eucharist, the Holy Mass! We speak those powerful words of consecration from the cross in our respective vocations! "This is my Body given up for you... This is my Blood pour out for you.... Do this in rememberance of me."
As a priest, my mission and purpose of this web site is to help and encourage married couples to bring Heaven to Earth...to live the Eucharist by giving them the Eucharist! This is only possible by fostering a deep interior life in every married couple (contemplative prayer life). I pray that God will use this web site to take husbands and wives deeper and deeper into the mystery of themselves and, thus, unveil the "great mystery" which they are called to participate in! When married couples encounter HIM, who is their strength, they will live his love as good and holy husbands and wives, dads and moms!
May every man, in Jesus Christ, learn to love every woman as Christ loves his Church. And, may every woman, in Jesus Christ, learn to love and reverence every man as the Church loves Christ! Whether you are married or not, you are called to live spousal love, to be fruitful and multiply and thus become spiritual and/or biological mothers or fathers. Embrace the Gift! Live the Gift!
Let us pray for the grace to live the Holy Mass!
more to come....
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