St. Mary's Church, Auburn, NY

10/30/2025

Oct 29 – St Colman of Kilmacduagh (560-632)

"Colman was born at Corker, Kiltartan, County Galway, the son of an Irish chieftain Duach. He studied with Saint Enda at his monastic settlement on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands, and lived there as a hermit in prayer and fasting. He himself founded two churches there near Kilmurvey. He later moved to a cave in the Burren in County Clare, bordering south Galway and close to what is today the village of Kilmacduagh.

In 610, along with a relative, King Guaire Aidne Mac Colmáin (d. 663) of Connaught, he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh, and governed it as abbot-bishop." (Catholic Ireland)

In 2017 I walked the standing ruins of Kilmacduagh and felt the continuing presence of Colmsn and the other great Saints who lived on these hallowed grounds. Pray for Ireland which has lost it's deep faith faster than any nation over these last 50 years.

10/26/2025

Learn to think like a Publican!
In today's Gospel Parable, Jesus shows us how the proud (Pharisee) pray to themselves and the humble (Publican) pray to God. The latter's prayers are heard by God and they are exalted!
This week over 100,000 of our brothers and sisters joined Fr. Mike Schmitz to reorient their thinking to that of Christ and the Publican. Would you like to join this 30 day crash course?
This coming Tuesday local folks will be coming together at 3 PM in Nacca Hall to talk about the start of Fr. Schmitz lead into The Imitation of Christ. Feel free to join us! The discussion will be repeated at 6:30 PM at a private residence at 64 Hamilton Ave. for those who cannot come at 3 PM.
Questions in the meantime: Contact Deacon Dennis by text/VM at 315 406 1538 to learn more.

10/25/2025

The Litugy of the Hours is how the Church fulfills Christ demand to pray unceasingly! This Liturgy has been considered as the 8th sacrament and connects the community between the source and summit of our Sunday Eucharistic gathering.

The advent of online breviaries and mobile breviary applications now makes the Liturgy of the Hours accessible to everyone.

How could praying the repeating four-week cycle of psalms, biblical canticles, prayers and Scripture readings that has been part of the church’s public prayer almost from the beginning enhance your spiritual practice?

Learn more in the Worship & Faith section of the Courier's website: https://catholiccourier.com/articles/liturgy-of-the-hours-101-dont-be-intimidated/

10/23/2025

St. John of Capistrano, nicknamed the “soldier saint,” helped liberate Belgrade from a military siege at the age of seventy

"John was born in Italy, the son of a former German knight. He studied law at the University of Perugia and practiced as a lawyer in the courts of Naples. But then in one moment, everything changed. His city was attacked and John was imprisoned.

We can’t know for sure what John experienced in prison, but we know he used that time to realign his life with God’s will. When he was released, he left behind his life as a lawyer to become a Franciscan and began preaching throughout Europe and Russia. Years later, John had to realign with God’s will again. The pope asked him to lead 70,000 Christians in a battle against the Turks, who were trying to invade Vienna and Rome. John said yes and came out victorious.

In ways big and small, John realigned his life with the will of God. He sacrificed for it. He went to battle for it. How do you need to realign your life with the will of God?

This is the constant battle we have in the spiritual journey. We want to do what we want to do, to assert our will. The Gospel is a constant invitation to surrender to God's plans, will, and desires. We revolt against that, sometimes in big ways, sometimes in small ways. But each day is a call back to realign ourselves with the will of God." (Dynamic Catholic)

10/22/2025

(Saint)"John Paul 2, We Love You!" Memorial

"Karol Wojtyla's truth--his faith--is profoundly layered, starting at the deepest level with his having to find meaning in a stunning catalogue of personal losses: his mother died, his only brother died, his father died, his nation was occupied and his culture was threatened with extinction, his university was closed and many of his professors were executed, his Jewish friends and families were uprooted and killed in the Holocaust-- all by the time he was 25. The young Wojtyla found strength in what he believed was the will of an unfathomable God.

The total mystery of God led in turn to an experience of what he understood as the "mystery" of man, namely, the link with the Absolute which he identified with the deepest level of personal experience. This link with the Transcendent became for him the defining experience of personhood, present and perceived each time the human person expressed his identity through action. His passion for poetry and drama was born from this conviction, and they became the principal weapon in his opposition to the humanisms that denied this spiritual root of human activity. His philosophy sought insights of the existentialists and phenomenologists with their emphasis on human interiority. Although eventually he was to find their thought inadequate, he saw their mission as opening up traditional Catholic thought to the reality of experience and subjectivity. His rejection of much of modern thought as leading to "the culture of death" was born from what he claimed is the absence of the truly spiritual in modern ways of thinking about human life.

The dramatic nature of Polish Catholicism, and its application of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection to the efforts to defend Polish identity from extinction, led John Paul II to the centrality of the person of Jesus Christ. The horrific potential of mankind that Karol Wojtyla experienced close up made the question 'Who is Man?" all the more urgent. The Christian answer--that it is only the mystery of Christ that reveals the mystery of the human being and the mystery of creation--is the key to Wojtyla's theology." (Frontline transcript)

10/20/2025

OCT 21 | 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐨𝐝, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫 🙏🇵🇭

This young Filipino saint, canonized in 2012, is an incredible example of courage, faith, and steadfastness. At a young age, he was a catechist and student of Jesuit missionary Father Diego Luis de San Vitores. In the 17th Century he journeyed to the remote Marianas Islands to preach the Gospel. He faced great danger and ultimately lost his life for the faith, becoming one of the most well-known martyrs from the Philippines.

His story also reminds us that holiness is not just for the elderly or the powerful but a way forward for everyone, young people included. Let us be inspired by his zeal to share the good news and his fortitude to profess.

May St. Pedro Calungsod intercede for us especially our young people so that we all of us may continue to grow in faith, and be courageous witnesses who share the love of Christ into the world today.

San Pedro Calungsod, ipanalangin mo kami! (pray for us!

10/19/2025

Check out the link to his story and time in the Gulag as a "Vatican Spy". His modern spiritual classic "He Leadeth Me" is a must read!.

American Jesuit Fr. Walter Ciszek (1904-1984) served for 23 years in Russia, much of it spent in captivity in Siberian labor camps and Soviet prisons. Today is the annual Fr. Walter Ciszek Day Mass in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, where he was born. Learn more about him: https://ow.ly/q9gh50TPhQG

10/19/2025

Today is World Mission Sunday and the Feast of the North American Martyrs

Eight French missionaries became martyrs in North America in the 17th century, six Jesuits and two “donnés”, laymen who served the Jesuits. Three were killed at Ossernenon, today’s Auriesville, near Albany, New York. Five were killed in Huron territory, about 150 km north of Toronto. These missionaries were supported by Europeans to bring Catholicism to our nation and now we are asked to support missionaries spreading the Catholic faith under equal danger. Pray to these saints to protect other missionaries and the country were their own blood was shed to again become one nation under God!
Saint Isaac Jogues, SJ (1608-1646)
Saint Antoine Daniel, SJ (1600-1648)
Saint Jean de Brébeuf, SJ (1593-1649)
Saint Gabriel Lalemant, SJ (1610-1649)
Saint Charles Garnier, SJ (1606-1649)
Saint Noël Chabanel, SJ (1613-1649)
Saint René Goupil, layman (1608-1642)
Saint Jean de la Lande, layman (160?-1646)
Pray for Us!

10/18/2025

The Gentile Doctor
St Paul speaks of St Luke – the author of the Third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles – in the Letter to the Colossians, referring to him as the “Luke, the beloved physician” (Col 4:14). According to Eusebius, the Church historian, Luke was born in Antioch, and was a Gentile; in fact, in the Letter to the Colossians, when speaking of his companions, Paul always mentions first “those of the circumcision” (that is, the Jews), without including Luke among them (cf. Col 4:10-11). And in his Gospel, Luke shows a particular sensitivity with regard to the evangelization of the Gentiles. The parable of the Good Samaritan is found only in his Gospel; and it is Luke who records Jesus’ appreciation for the faith of the widow of Zarephath, of Naaman the Syrian, and of the Samaritan l***r – the only one of the ten l***rs who were healed who returned to express his gratitude.(Vaticsn News)

Luke appears in Acts during Paul’s second journey, remains at Philippi for several years until Paul returns from his third journey, accompanies Paul to Jerusalem, and remains near him when he is imprisoned in Caesarea. During these two years, Luke had time to seek information and interview persons who had known Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the dangerous journey to Rome where he was a faithful companion. (Franciscan Media)

10/18/2025

A Calm Dawn at Elmer Hill Pond this Morning

Morning has broken like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!

10/17/2025

This Sunday, October 19, Pope Leo XIV will canonize 7 new saints! Join us for the Canonization Mass LIVE at 4:30 am ET | 1:30 am PT, with a repeat at 12:00 pm ET | 9 am PT on Salt + Light TV.

Here's the full list of blesseds to be canonized:

Ignatius Maloyan
Peter To Rot
Vincenza Maria Poloni
Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez
Maria Troncatti
José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros
Bartolo Longo

10/16/2025

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Brought the Sacred Heart Devotion into Our Homes and Our Hearts

A self-effacing nun in the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial, France, was inspired by the Lord Jesus to establish the devotion of the Holy Hour. Her name was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and from the age of seven, when she received her first Holy Communion, she had always manifested an intense love of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Our Lord appeared to her often, usually as the Crucified Christ. Her simplicity caused her to feel that these apparitions were also granted to others who had recourse to Jesus in the sacrament of His love. Once the Master appeared to the young girl as she was returning from a dance and reproached her for not espousing Him.

When twenty-four years of age, Margaret entered the cloister, choosing the most menial tasks. Gifted with intelligence and common sense, she made great progress in holiness. Our Lord entrusted to her the mission of establishing the reign of the Sacred Heart among the children of men. Criticism did not hamper her zeal, and her charity toward her opponents won them over to the cause of the Master.

In the first revelation of the Sacred Heart to the nun, Our Lord made known His burning desire to be loved by all men, and His design of manifesting to them His Sacred Heart with its treasures of mercy. Margaret Mary communicated Our Lord's wish that the faithful receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month and observe the Feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.

After nineteen years in the convent, St. Margaret Mary died October 17, 1690. Many pilgrims to her tomb have sought and obtained favors. Through her apostolate of devotion to the Sacred Heart many sinners have repented and found grace with God.