Father James Farfaglia has posted another outstanding homily to his blog. On his sidebar, Father states that, "TO PREACH THE GOSPEL WITH CONVICTION AND PASSION IS THE GREATEST DUTY OF A PARISH PRIEST."
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I have also been blessed recently to hear some excellent, out of the ordinary, homilies from parish priests where I have attended Mass--priests who are not out to win a popularity contest, but to save souls. It should be encouraging for those of us who pray for priests to witness, or hear about, the Holy Spirit at work in priests in a powerful way!
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Jesus revealed to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, spiritual mother of priests, "...the true priest ought to seek...to move to compunction, to contrition, to captivate souls with the divine, to uproot souls from the earth; to remind them of their last ends; to encourage them in the exercise of virtue; to ponder My Passion; to instruct them of My life of love and sacrifice, enamor them with the cross, of suffering, of their calvaries; instructing them about the price of Redemption and of sacrifice; to open their eyes to the horizon of perfection and facilitate for them the path to heaven."
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The priests who preach the whole truth of the Catholic faith are the ones most under attack by the prince of darkness and his troops who directly attack the priests in whatever ways they can. They will even use parishioners who don't want to hear the truth to criticize, complain, spread gossip, and sometimes invent false rumors to discredit the priests. Catholics who don't want to hear sound preaching can be vicious to their priests. Sad to say, they probably don't even realize that it is NOT the Holy Spirit who is motivating them, but the forces of evil.
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Priests who are preaching what is popular and easy to hear are applauded and praised and can be easy prey for the trap of human respect. It is comfortable to be liked and appreciated. Sometimes priests who take the easier road will be the devil's tool to attack their more devout and courageous brother priests.
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To Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, Jesus also said, "The mission of the priest is to disseminate My teaching, to move people to repentance, to enlighten the spirit, to convert souls, to make hearts respond and not to throw out allurements to draw forth praise."
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God bless Your priests; fill them with Your grace; help them to be saints! Lord, we trust in You to enlighten, protect, strengthen, and help priests, and the rest of us, to avoid the traps set for us by Your enemy and ours. Thank You, Lord!
Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.
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