Excerpts from Sermons of a Hermit Priest

(This new button for the Solitudes Web was devised with the hope that friends of Solitudes might benefit from the spiritual wisdom contained in sermons given at the Ranch. As you read bear in mind that they were given to a specific group - that is, hermits and retreatants - even though what has been selected can be applied to active Catholics in the world as well. )

April 18, 2004 - Mercy Sunday

"Many people feel miserable. We need to have an interior resurrection. It was a sign of mercy that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, and then another sign of mercy when he appeared to Peter who denied him, and then to Thomas who was skeptical.

"Jesus says 'Peace.' He doesn't keep a list of who denied him, because he loved them. How we benefit from this mercy of Jesus is through the sacrament of reconciliation. He said, 'whose sins you have forgiven are forgiven.'

"We need to die to our own self-desperation. The devil gives us subtle thoughts of how hopeless we are. When that happens we need to ask for a new birth of our spiritual persons, to perk us up for rebirth through God's gift. It can be easier to believe that those we pray for can be reborn than to believe that we can be reborn."