Hello everyone. I hope you are well and keeping safe. Welcome August!
Today is the feast day of St Alphonsus Ligouri, Bishop and Doctor of the Church who died in 1787. He helped fight a weird spiritual movement called Jansenism which sought for human perfection but really went off the cliff, so to speak! He is the patron of confessors because he taught his priests to lean on the side of the mercy of God in the sacrament of confession, especially when there was doubt as to the nature of the sin confessed.
He was a moral theologian so it was a nice surprise for me to offer the 8AM Mass today for Msgr. William B. Smith. Msgr Smith was my (our) moral theologian for many years here in the Archdiocese. I know how much the people of IHM loved him so much. He loved coming here.
When I was on faculty with him at St Joseph's Seminary, we would often have breakfast together, a great treat for me, as you could imagine. More than once, after I would often challenge him for the fun of it, knowing I would never win any debate with him, he referred to me as "horse's ass!" I was told by his best friend, Msgr. O'Connor, that he used that expression for people he liked! I hope he was telling the truth!
Enjoy the day!
Here is one of so many quotable insights from St. Alphonsus:
"Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with Him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends.