● To the Cannizzaro family for driving carpool
● For hosting students over the weekend: the families of Thomas Nguyen and Daniel Lim
● For hosting a fun Saturday of kayaking for the weekenders (and the confreres who chaperoned)
● For hosting receptions and award ceremonies: Mrs. Tractenberg (Fall Sports Awards, Graduation Reception) and Mrs. Saglietto (Advent Choral Concert Reception).
Volunteer Opportunities
We are in need of volunteers to organize the following events:
● Soccer Awards Ceremony (Feb. 21st at 7:00 p.m.)
● Reception after Baccalaureate Mass (May 21st at 1:00 p.m.)
● Reception after Spring Choral Concert (May 16th at 7:00 p.m.)
● Baseball Awards Ceremony (May 31st at 7:00 p.m.)
Please call the school office if you would like to help.
Daylight Savings Time
Daylight Savings Time ends at 2:00 a.m. Sunday, November 1st. Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night.
Admissions
St. Michael’s next Open House is Saturday, November 14th at 3:30 p.m.
Fall Sports Award Ceremony
Players, coaches and parents are invited to attend the Fall Sports Award ceremony November 15th at 7:00 p.m. The award ceremony honors those who participated in football and cross country. It takes place in the school’s Recreation Room. Parents who can help organize the reception are asked to contact Mrs. Elizabeth Tractenberg whose phone number is in the school directory.
Thanksgiving Break
Students will be dismissed at 12:40 pm on Tuesday, November 24th for Thanksgiving break.
Congratulations to our students
● Josh
Aaker for the best time in last week’s cross country meet.● Brendan Bowe for his gr
eat catch that helped tie Friday’s football score before halftime.● Don Nguyen as the most improved cross country runner at the last meet
.Upcoming Athletic Events
Friday, Oct. 30th: Fball vs Southlands Christian @ STM; 3:00 p.m.
Weekly Homily by Fr. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem.
Among other things, Fr. Sebastian also teaches philosophy to the juniors at St. Michael’s Prep.
It may be tempting to disregard or pay little attention to the instruction our Lord gives in this morning’s Gospel precisely because most of us do not classify ourselves as former demoniacs: persons once possessed by a devil. But this would be a grave mistake. The truth of the matter is that everyone in this church who has been baptized was once under the dominion of the evil one, and the fact that there is an exorcism in the baptismal rite of the Church attests to the Church’s constant faith that before our baptism we were dwelling places for demons because of original sin. An elderly Irish priest I knew used to console parents at a baptism if the baby started to cry by saying “Pay no attention to that, it’s just the demons leaving the baby.”
Yet even if we are convinced that the words of the Lord apply to us as well, there is a second reason why we may fail to profit from our Lord’s instructions in this morning’s Gospel. It was the practice of the Lord Jesus to teach the faithful by way of simple likenesses and analogies so that His doctrine might be accessible to even the most-simple soul. But the believer should not stop at the metaphors and analogies, but should strive to penetrate more deeply into their full meaning. Let us return together to the saving words of the Lord: When a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. The strong man signifies the devil. The fact that he is fully armed means that he possesses all the wiles and power at the disposal of an angelic nature. His palace that he guards is the world, as St. John teaches: he is “the prince of this world,” (Jn. 12:31). His goods are said to be in peace because the men under his dominion remain under his subjection without difficulty. But when one stronger than he attacks him, and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil. The One who is stronger is Christ, and He mentions four things which He does to the devil: attacking, overcoming, taking away armor and dividing the spoils. First, Christ attacks the devil by resisting temptation: Matt. 4:10, “Be gone Satan!” Second, he attacks the devil by His preaching, since His truth overcomes the deception of the devil, as St. John teaches: “because the word of God remains in you…you have conquered the evil one” (1 Jn. 2:14); third, Jesus attacks the devil by His miracles by which He casts them out. After attacking the devil, Jesus overcomes him by means of His Passion and death, as St. Paul teaches: “by His death He robbed the devil,” (Heb. 2:14). Next, Jesus takes away the armor of the devil by imparting His grace to men, by which they are liberated from their sins and vices which are like the armor of the devil by which he ensnares men. This is what St. Paul teaches in Romans: “Let us cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light;” (Rom. 13:12) for the virtues of the saints are like the armor of God: (Eph. 6:11, “Put on the armor of God”). Finally, the Lord Jesus divides his spoil by bringing those who were subject to the devil into His Kingdom as His own subjects, as St. Paul says: “since you were set free from sin, you were made slaves of righteousness,” (Rom. 6:18). He also divides the spoil by dividing the faithful into the various orders and roles in the Church. Thus we read in Ephesians, chapter 4: “He gave gifts to men…some as Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.”
Yet after describing His victory, Jesus gives a sobering warning: He who is not with Me is against Me. Jesus has conquered the evil one, but our hearts remain free to invite Him in or to cast Him out. If, after Christ has cast out the devil from our souls, we refuse to admit or grant hospitality to His Holy Spirit, our soul remains open to the unholy spirits. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest. Notice again that the Lord speaks using certain figures or metaphors so as to proportion his words to the understanding of the simple: for demons, being pure spirits, are not susceptible to thirst or weariness. And so, when He says that the devil passes He does not intend to signify that the demon is walking or moving from place to place, but rather that he is turning his consideration from one thing to another, especially in his attempts to deceive men by his cunning. And when it is said that he passes through waterless places, this signifies the demons’ search for souls without the grace of the Holy Spirit, for this is what is signified by waterless places, as John, chapter 7 makes clear: “from within him shall flow living water…He said this concerning the Spirit;” and the second epistle of St. Peter: “These [wicked men] are waterless springs,” (2 Pet. 2:17). And when He says seeking rest, he expresses the desire of the demons to inflict harm upon men. For they think that they will alleviate their sufferings by satisfying their wicked desires, as we read in Wisdom 11:15, “their thirst proved to be unlike that of the just.” And finding none, he says “I will return to my house from which I came,” that is, to the man from whom he was cast out. Please God that it shall not be a priest to which the devil returns, lest the prophecy of Joel be fulfilled in such a one: “Weep O priests, wail O ministers of the altar…the house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.” And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished, that is, empty of the grace and love of God and garnished with vices and the inordinate love of creatures, as we read in Psalm 73:6, “Pride adorns them like a necklace.” And this happens because the one from whom the devil is cast out takes no measures to avoid sin and amend his ways after he is liberated from the evil one. Then, he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself. St. Ambrose notes that just as the Holy Spirit brings to men His seven-fold gifts, so the wicked spirits bring a seven-fold punishment. And they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. This is what St. Peter says in his second epistle: “For if after they have fled the defilements of the world in clear knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first,” (2 Pet. 2:20). For after having received such a great gift from God by his first deliverance, one who does not give thanks to God or resolve to amend his life spurns the gift of God; and thus he deserves a greater punishment than before.
Beloved in Christ, it is by the sheer mercy of God that we have been freed from the power of the devil and made a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. We have only the brief moment of this life to give Him thanks. Let us at least resolve to begin in this moment to give Him thanks, and pray for the gift of perseverance so that our praise may never for a moment cease
In publishing this homily, we hope to share a portion of the spiritual treasure by which the students are enriched every day. However, this homily may not be reproduced by the parents or friends of St. Michael’s without written permission of the author.
Prayer RequestsIt may be tempting to disregard or pay little attention to the instruction our Lord gives in this morning’s Gospel precisely because most of us do not classify ourselves as former demoniacs: persons once possessed by a devil. But this would be a grave mistake. The truth of the matter is that everyone in this church who has been baptized was once under the dominion of the evil one, and the fact that there is an exorcism in the baptismal rite of the Church attests to the Church’s constant faith that before our baptism we were dwelling places for demons because of original sin. An elderly Irish priest I knew used to console parents at a baptism if the baby started to cry by saying “Pay no attention to that, it’s just the demons leaving the baby.”
Yet even if we are convinced that the words of the Lord apply to us as well, there is a second reason why we may fail to profit from our Lord’s instructions in this morning’s Gospel. It was the practice of the Lord Jesus to teach the faithful by way of simple likenesses and analogies so that His doctrine might be accessible to even the most-simple soul. But the believer should not stop at the metaphors and analogies, but should strive to penetrate more deeply into their full meaning. Let us return together to the saving words of the Lord: When a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. The strong man signifies the devil. The fact that he is fully armed means that he possesses all the wiles and power at the disposal of an angelic nature. His palace that he guards is the world, as St. John teaches: he is “the prince of this world,” (Jn. 12:31). His goods are said to be in peace because the men under his dominion remain under his subjection without difficulty. But when one stronger than he attacks him, and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil. The One who is stronger is Christ, and He mentions four things which He does to the devil: attacking, overcoming, taking away armor and dividing the spoils. First, Christ attacks the devil by resisting temptation: Matt. 4:10, “Be gone Satan!” Second, he attacks the devil by His preaching, since His truth overcomes the deception of the devil, as St. John teaches: “because the word of God remains in you…you have conquered the evil one” (1 Jn. 2:14); third, Jesus attacks the devil by His miracles by which He casts them out. After attacking the devil, Jesus overcomes him by means of His Passion and death, as St. Paul teaches: “by His death He robbed the devil,” (Heb. 2:14). Next, Jesus takes away the armor of the devil by imparting His grace to men, by which they are liberated from their sins and vices which are like the armor of the devil by which he ensnares men. This is what St. Paul teaches in Romans: “Let us cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light;” (Rom. 13:12) for the virtues of the saints are like the armor of God: (Eph. 6:11, “Put on the armor of God”). Finally, the Lord Jesus divides his spoil by bringing those who were subject to the devil into His Kingdom as His own subjects, as St. Paul says: “since you were set free from sin, you were made slaves of righteousness,” (Rom. 6:18). He also divides the spoil by dividing the faithful into the various orders and roles in the Church. Thus we read in Ephesians, chapter 4: “He gave gifts to men…some as Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.”
Yet after describing His victory, Jesus gives a sobering warning: He who is not with Me is against Me. Jesus has conquered the evil one, but our hearts remain free to invite Him in or to cast Him out. If, after Christ has cast out the devil from our souls, we refuse to admit or grant hospitality to His Holy Spirit, our soul remains open to the unholy spirits. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest. Notice again that the Lord speaks using certain figures or metaphors so as to proportion his words to the understanding of the simple: for demons, being pure spirits, are not susceptible to thirst or weariness. And so, when He says that the devil passes He does not intend to signify that the demon is walking or moving from place to place, but rather that he is turning his consideration from one thing to another, especially in his attempts to deceive men by his cunning. And when it is said that he passes through waterless places, this signifies the demons’ search for souls without the grace of the Holy Spirit, for this is what is signified by waterless places, as John, chapter 7 makes clear: “from within him shall flow living water…He said this concerning the Spirit;” and the second epistle of St. Peter: “These [wicked men] are waterless springs,” (2 Pet. 2:17). And when He says seeking rest, he expresses the desire of the demons to inflict harm upon men. For they think that they will alleviate their sufferings by satisfying their wicked desires, as we read in Wisdom 11:15, “their thirst proved to be unlike that of the just.” And finding none, he says “I will return to my house from which I came,” that is, to the man from whom he was cast out. Please God that it shall not be a priest to which the devil returns, lest the prophecy of Joel be fulfilled in such a one: “Weep O priests, wail O ministers of the altar…the house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.” And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished, that is, empty of the grace and love of God and garnished with vices and the inordinate love of creatures, as we read in Psalm 73:6, “Pride adorns them like a necklace.” And this happens because the one from whom the devil is cast out takes no measures to avoid sin and amend his ways after he is liberated from the evil one. Then, he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself. St. Ambrose notes that just as the Holy Spirit brings to men His seven-fold gifts, so the wicked spirits bring a seven-fold punishment. And they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. This is what St. Peter says in his second epistle: “For if after they have fled the defilements of the world in clear knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first,” (2 Pet. 2:20). For after having received such a great gift from God by his first deliverance, one who does not give thanks to God or resolve to amend his life spurns the gift of God; and thus he deserves a greater punishment than before.
Beloved in Christ, it is by the sheer mercy of God that we have been freed from the power of the devil and made a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. We have only the brief moment of this life to give Him thanks. Let us at least resolve to begin in this moment to give Him thanks, and pray for the gift of perseverance so that our praise may never for a moment cease
In publishing this homily, we hope to share a portion of the spiritual treasure by which the students are enriched every day. However, this homily may not be reproduced by the parents or friends of St. Michael’s without written permission of the author.
● Marilyn Enciso, mother of alumnus Fred Enciso ‘99, who is recovering from an illness.
● Dr. Joseph Gloudeman who suffers from the reoccurrence of cancer.
● Mrs. Jodi Meschuk for a healthy pregnancy.
● Mrs. Betty Vaughan who suffers from declining health.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.
● Those who suffer the effects of the current economic crisis.
● Those who are in the armed forces.
Repose of the soul of Mrs. Kelly Schroepfer’s grandmother Mrs. Joan McDonald.
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