Being Immaculate: An Experience for Mary, an Expectation for Us

 

(Immaculate Conception 2025: This homily was given on December 8, 2025 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Luke 1: 26-38.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Immaculate Conception 2025]

 

If you look up the word “immaculate” in the dictionary, you’ll find definitions like these:

1.    Having no stain or blemish.

2.    Pure.

3.    Undefiled.

4.    Having or containing no flaw or error.

5.    Spotlessly clean.

6.    Correct or perfect in every way.

For our Blessed Mother Mary, being immaculate was an experience; for you and for me, being immaculate is an expectation.

And that’s the difference between Mary and us in a nutshell.

Her “immaculateness” began to be experienced at the moment she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Ann—which is the event we commemorate on this feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Remember, the Immaculate Conception does NOT refer to the virginal conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary—which is what many people mistakenly believe.  The event that led to Jesus’ virginal conception is called “the Annunciation.”

The Immaculate Conception prepared Mary for the Annunciation and for everything that came afterward, but the Immaculate Conception itself refers to Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother.  Here’s how Pope Pius IX defined the dogma: “the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin.”

But Mary’s immaculateness didn’t stop there.  It continued throughout her life and into eternity!  She said yes to God at every moment of her life and consequently never sinned.  She was, as the angel Gabriel said, “Full of grace.”  And so, all those definitions of “immaculate” that I listed a few minutes ago apply to her entire life, spiritually speaking: she had no stain or blemish (on her soul); she was pure, and undefiled, and without flaw, and spotless—and morally perfect!

Now this is something we can understand intellectually—that Mary was born without original sin and was free from sin throughout her entire life.  But that’s as far as we can go, because we don’t have an experience of “immaculateness” in our earthly lives that’s comparable to Mary’s. 

The closest we come to it is at the moment of our baptism, when original sin is taken away and we receive the gift of sanctifying grace into our soul.  But even then—even after we’re baptized—we still have to deal with concupiscence, which remains in us even after original sin is taken away.  Mary never had to deal with concupiscence because she never contracted original sin in the first place.

Concupiscence is the inclination to sin—the inclination to sin that we all experience every day.  It’s what St. John was alluding to when he wrote about “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”  It’s what St. Paul was getting at when he spoke of “the flesh” rebelling against “the spirit”.

Concupiscence is what gets us into trouble.  Concupiscence is what makes it so easy for us to lie, and cheat. and steal, and swear and hold grudges—and make excuses for our sins.

This is why I said at the beginning of my homily that for our Blessed Mother Mary being immaculate was an experience (it was a spiritual condition she lived in), but for us it’s something different.  For us, being immaculate is an expectation (that is to say, it’s something we look forward to in faith!).

We won’t be immaculate in the sense that Mary was immaculate until we get to heaven and are finally purified of every sin and of every sinful desire.  In a sense, that’s the bad news.  But the good news is we can grow closer to that goal right now in this life, if we make our relationship with Jesus our top priority and repent of our sins often (yet another reason to go to confession on a regular basis).

The “collect”—the opening prayer—of today’s Mass said it perfectly.  It made reference both to Mary’s experience of being immaculate and our expectation of being made so.  We heard these words a few moments ago:

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son, grant [that] … through her intercession, we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence.

So today let our simple prayer be, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, that our expectation of becoming immaculate like you will someday be fulfilled.  Amen.”

 

John the Baptist: Back Again This Advent with His Message of Repentance

 

(Second Sunday of Advent (A): This homily was given on December 7, 2025 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Matthew 3:1-12.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Second Sunday of Advent 2025]

 

He’s back!

On the Second Sunday of Advent each year, he’s back.

Now in case you’re wondering, I’m not talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator.”  I’m talking about John the Baptizer.  In the 3-year liturgical cycle of readings, John is always the central character in the Gospel text that’s read on the Second Sunday of Advent.

Which is a bit surprising, because during this season of the year we’re preparing to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.  Recall that John and Jesus were almost the same age; according to the Bible, John was born roughly six months before our Lord (that’s why the Church celebrates the feast of the Birth of John the Baptist on June 24).

So obviously John did not come to prepare people for Jesus’ physical birth.  He would have had a difficult time doing that from the cradle.  But John did come on the scene 30 years later to prepare people for their own spiritual rebirth—a rebirth that would soon be available to them through Jesus. 

Because of John’s work—because of his preaching and teaching—many people were prepared to “receive” Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  And that’s why it’s so appropriate that he makes an appearance in our Scripture readings each year.  Every time we come to Mass, we Catholics have the opportunity to receive that same Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist.  But, as John would certainly remind us, we need to be properly prepared—properly disposed—for that encounter.

Notice that in today’s Gospel story, two groups of people are denounced—“chewed out” if you will—by John: the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Why?

It’s because these men were not prepared to receive Jesus!  They weren’t ready to receive him because they weren’t repentant—and John knew it!  That’s why he shouted at them, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.”

John knew they weren’t sincere; he knew that they were just “going through the motions” by coming to receive his baptism; he knew that they really didn’t think they were sinners in need of God’s mercy and pardon. 

As Catholic Christians we need to be careful—lest we simply “go through the motions” when we come to receive Jesus in Holy Communion at Mass.  And how do we avoid that pitfall?  Simple: through sincere repentance.  Before we approach the altar for the Body and Blood of the Lord we need to repent—sincerely and properly—of any serious sins we’ve committed.

We do that, of course, in the confessional—or as it’s often called nowadays, the “reconciliation room.”

But even if we don’t have mortal sins on our soul, frequent confession—frequent repentance—is necessary if we’re really serious about growing closer to Jesus in our lives.  If we’re satisfied with spiritual mediocrity then it doesn’t matter; but if we want to be the best people, the best disciples of Christ that we can possibly be, then Confession is crucial.

So I suppose you could say that ultimately John the Baptist comes to us every Advent to remind us to get to Confession!

Now I’m sure we have some men and women here with us today who have been avoiding Confession—or who have not made a good, thorough Confession—for a long time.  Since that’s probably the case, let me now address some of the more common excuses people will use for staying away from this most important sacrament.  Perhaps some of these will sound familiar.

Objection #1: “Father, if I go to Confession the roof will fall in on the church.”

I have done extensive research on this subject, and I have not found one instance in 2,000 years of Christian history, of a roof ever caving in on a church because somebody went to Confession!  And besides, we just had a new roof put on the church, so we’ll be okay.  No need to worry.

Objection #2: “I don’t need to go, because I confess my sins directly to God every day.”

Very good.  So do I.  There’s only one problem with that: your sins don’t just involve you and God.  Your sins involve you, God AND OTHER PEOPLE!  So you need reconciliation with the Lord and with your brothers and sisters in Christ.  That’s what happens in Confession.  The priest not only acts in the person of Christ; he also represents the community that you’ve offended by your sins.  So when you’re reconciled in the sacrament, you’re reconciled vertically and horizontally: with the Lord, AND with others.

Objection #3: “Father Ray will yell at me.” 

Do not confuse Fr. Ray at the pulpit with Fr. Ray in the reconciliation room.  There is a difference, believe it or not. In my priesthood I have always tried to follow the advice of St. Alphonsus Liguori, who once said that a priest should be a “lion in the pulpit, but a lamb in the confessional.”

Trust me; I’m not so bad.  Here it’s “roar, roar”; there it’s “bah, bah.”

Objection #4: “Fr. Ray will remember my sins and not like me anymore.” 

Since I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday morning, it’s highly unlikely that I will remember your sins.  I’ve literally heard a million of ‘em!  Of course, if that’s a big concern you can always go anonymously behind the screen, or you can go to a priest you don’t know. 

Objection #5: “I don’t have any sins.” 

Another form of this objection is: “I don’t know what my sins are.”

This little difficulty can be easily overcome in one of two ways: either you can make a formal, academic examination of conscience, or you can make what I would call a “living examination of conscience.”

The academic version involves sitting down and honestly answering some questions about your life.  You can get those questions in lots of places online, one of which is the Catholic bishops of the United States’ website.  Or I can give you an examination of conscience myself.  I have some in my reconciliation room.

If that doesn’t appeal to you, then there is this alternative: find someone who knows you well, and ask them to tell you your sins!  They will help you to make a “living” examination of conscience.  If you’re married, for example, I’m sure your spouse would be happy to give you a rather lengthy list of what you do wrong.  And think of how happy you’ll make your husband or wife in the process!  They’ll really enjoy assisting you in this way, I can almost guarantee it! 

And finally, objection #6: “I’ve committed too many serious sins for God to forgive me.” 

If you honestly believe that you’re “too far gone” in terms of the sins you’ve committed in your life, my suggestion is that you get a copy of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and watch it within the next few days. 

I’m serious about that. 

Jesus Christ went through that living hell so that every sin from the beginning to the end of time could be washed away.  If for some reason you think your particular sins are beyond his forgiving touch, then in effect you’re telling him that he wasted his time when he went through all that on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  I don’t think that any of us would want to say that to Jesus.

John the Baptist is back.  He’s back once again with his message of repentance, to prepare the people of God to receive Jesus spiritually at Christmas, and eucharistically at every Mass.

May we all heed his message—and may we do so not only during this season of Advent, but throughout the year.

 

The Proper Use of Time: The Way to Prepare for Eternity

 

(First Sunday of Advent (A): This homily was given on November 30, 2025 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: First Sunday of Advent 2025]

 

What is “it”?

See if you can figure out what “it” is.  (It really shouldn’t be too difficult.) 

• We all have it.
• We all live in it.
• We all use it—but we also misuse it.
• We sometimes take it for granted.
• We work in it.
• We play in it.
• We never seem to have enough of it.
• We can’t stop it or move it along more quickly, even if we’d like to.
• We all waste at least some of it.
• And at the end of our lives, we will have unequal amounts of it.  You may end up with more of it than I end up with; I may end up with more of it than you end up with (there’s no guarantee one way or the other).

So—what is “it”?

It, of course, is “time”.

On that note, the message of today’s second reading and gospel can be summed up in this one line:  When our lives on this earth are finished and we enter eternity, all that will matter is what we have done—or not done—with our time.

Jesus, in this gospel, talks about the end of time—the end of the physical world as we know it.  (And incidentally, what he says here about the end of the world also applies to the moment of our physical death, if we don’t happen to survive until the Lord’s second coming). 

Now what Jesus indicates here, sad to say, is that many people will not be ready for the end when it finally does occur.  And notice what he says about the men and women who are not prepared.  He compares them to the people of Noah’s time who were not prepared for the Great Flood.  He says, “They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.”  Notice that Jesus does NOT say, “They were fornicating and committing adultery and murdering their brothers and sisters—and doing other incredibly horrible, evil things.”

All he says is that they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage—none of which is an intrinsically evil activity! 

So what was Jesus’ point?

His point was that they were going about their ordinary daily business with little or no regard for the condition of their immortal souls!  In other words, they were misusing the time that God had given them on this earth; they were wasting their precious gift of time by not working on their relationship with God.  Oh sure, they were doing some very important and necessary things, but they were also ignoring what was most important in life—consequently they were not ready for the flood when it arrived.

This first Sunday of the season of Advent is a day for us to reflect in a serious way on our use of time.  St. Paul tells us in First Thessalonians that we are tri-dimensional as human beings: we are body, soul and spirit.  That means—in addition to helping others and fulfilling our daily duties—we should be using our time to care for each of those dimensions of our human personhood: our bodies, our souls (which here can signify our intellectual and emotional life), and our spirits.

So here are a few questions to reflect on during the upcoming week:

What am I doing (or not doing) to maintain good physical health?  What am I doing (or not doing) to maintain good emotional and intellectual health—especially as that relates to my Catholic faith?  For example, when was the last time I read a book or an article—or watched a television program on EWTN—that helped me to learn more about my Catholic religion?  On that note, I heard that there’s a book on the Mass, written by some local guy that’s now available on Amazon.  I just thought I’d mention that.

And what am I doing to stay in good spiritual health—besides going to Mass once a week?  Am I giving at least as much time to God in prayer each day as I give to text messaging my friends?  (A very good question for our teenagers, especially—though not exclusively!)  Am I giving at least as much time to God each day in prayer and Scripture reading as I give to surfing the internet, or playing video games, or doing my other acts of recreation?

And what am I going to do with my time this Advent?  Is this season only going to be about shopping and wrapping gifts and getting together with friends, or am I also going to take some concrete steps during these next 4 weeks to grow closer to God—the God who sent his Son into this world on Christmas Day to save me from my sins?

And what about the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  Will I take some serious time during the next few weeks to examine my conscience thoroughly, and then will I make the time to get to Confession?  Hear again the words of St. Paul in today’s second reading: 

“Brothers and sisters: you know the time [notice the reference to ‘time’]; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.  For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.  Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”

I am sure that Jesus Christ is speaking directly to some people in this church right now through the words of that text—especially those among us who have been away from the sacrament of Reconciliation for many years. 

Back in the 4^th century, a man named Augustine read those words I just shared with you and they literally changed his life.  After living a lifestyle for many years that Hugh Hefner would definitely have approved of, Augustine made the most important decision he would ever make: the decision to take the time to repent of his sins and make room in his heart for God.

And so today we call him Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Church.

Finally he put his time to good use.

May we all learn to do the same thing—not only during this season of Advent, but every day of the year.

Dear Lord, give us the grace that we need each day to use our time well, to use our time wisely, so that whenever the end comes for us, we will be ready—ready for a life with you, not in time, but in eternity.  Amen.

 

Are You at Least as Good as the ‘Good Thief?’

 

Christ the King 2025 (C): This homily was given on November 23, 2025 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Luke 25:35-43.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Christ the King 2025]

How good a Christian are you?  Are you at least as good as the “Good Thief?”

That might sound like an odd question, given the fact that this man was a Christian for less than 3 hours of his life; but he definitely made the most of his brief earthly discipleship!  As the old saying goes, he “seized the moment”—in such a way that he now serves as an example of faith to all of us.

We hear about this man and his conversion in just one Gospel—the Gospel of Luke—and only in a very few verses of that Gospel (the ones I read a couple of minutes ago).  But—amazingly—we learn an awful lot about him in these few verses.

First of all, we see that he wasn’t someone who formed his views based on majority opinion.  As he hung on the cross, he was surrounded by many people who were openly hostile to Jesus: the Jewish religious leaders, the Roman soldiers, and even his fellow thief.  They far outnumbered the few—like St. John and our Blessed Mother—who were there in support of our Lord.  But all those opposing voices didn’t stop this man from submitting himself to Christ. 

Think for a moment about how you form your beliefs on the hot button issues of the day.  Do you accept the majority opinion uncritically?  I would say that many (perhaps even most) people do!  They don’t often realize it, but they think just like the secular media “programs” them to think.  That’s why I always laugh when I hear someone say, “Catholics are brainwashed (i.e. by the Church); they don’t think for themselves.”  The truth of the matter is: most of our society is currently brainwashed; and real, committed Catholics are among the few in our culture who actually have minds of their own and think clearly!  They don’t accept what CNN or Fox news says, just because CNN or Fox news says it.  They dig deeper, learn more, and seek out the real truth.  The only Catholics who are brainwashed are those who allow themselves to be brainwashed by the world!

Because he thought for himself and wasn’t unduly influenced by all the negative voices around him, the Good Thief was willing to defend our Lord publicly by rebuking the thief on the left.  When was the last time you defended your Catholic faith?  Or maybe I should rephrase that question: Have you ever defended your Catholic faith?  I remember one of the teenage girls who came to our Thursday night youth group for almost four years (and learned a lot in the process) saying to me that she loved it when she had the opportunity to defend the truth to her friends and to others at school.  She said her attitude was, “Bring ‘em on!  I’m ready.”  I liked that attitude, because it told me that she was one of the few people around who had actually thought matters through for herself and accepted the truth; consequently, her convictions ran deep—as they should have.  The Good Thief would have heartily approved.  You know who else had that attitude?  Charlie Kirk—God rest his soul.

This man who hung on the right side of our Lord also had the proper perspective on himself; in that respect he’s also an example for us.  He knew he wasn’t perfect, and he wasn’t afraid to admit his sin.  When he rebuked the thief on the left he said to him, “We have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes.”  What a different world it would be if every Catholic were that honest in the confessional!

The Good Thief had the right perspective on himself, which is why he admitted his sin; but he also had the right perspective on Jesus, which is why he didn’t despair!  He knew that somehow and in some way Jesus was the answer to his present problem.  He recognized Jesus as a king (even though our Lord didn’t look like a king as he hung there on the Cross); he affirmed his belief in Jesus’ kingdom (even though he didn’t fully understand the nature of that kingdom); and he believed that Jesus could somehow change and cleanse him so that he would be worthy of living there.  This led him to say the beautiful prayer which expressed his deep conversion: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus responded, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Bishop Sheen’s famous comment on this text is always worth repeating.  Sheen said, “This thief died a thief, for he stole Paradise; and Paradise can be stolen again!”

Any discussion of the Good Thief must also include a reference to the way he responded to his suffering.  Everybody suffers; it’s part of the human condition.  The all-too-typical response to suffering was exhibited by the thief on the left, who turned away from God in bitterness and anger: “Are you not the Christ?  Save yourself and us.”  Here we have a selfish man who was only interested in his own comfort.  As Bishop Sheen used to say, all this thief wanted was to be taken down from the cross, probably so that he could go back to his old, dishonest way of life.

On the other hand, the Good Thief—who suffered just as much—responded to his cross by allowing it to bring him to conversion!  He saw his suffering as a path to something greater—which it was!  And once he heard those words from Jesus—“Today you will be with me in Paradise,”—I’m quite certain he had a great joy in his heart, a joy which strengthened him in the midst of the intense physical pain he was experiencing. 

This is an example we need to follow as individuals—and also I would say as a nation.  I was hoping and praying it would happen after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but unfortunately it didn’t.  That national suffering, unfortunately, did not lead to a national conversion—nor have the many acts of violence against innocent people—especially children—that have occurred since then in places like Newtown, Connecticut and Parkland, Florida and most recently in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  We will know if it ever does happen, by the way, because when a genuine national conversion does take place, our laws will begin to change.  That will be the telltale sign.  Our laws will begin to change such that innocent human life will finally be respected from natural conception to natural death.  The media will also begin to clean up its act and stop filling people’s minds with violent and sexually-perverse images.  And God and his moral law will be invited back into our families, our schools and our other cultural institutions. 

Many years ago, there was a television show on the air called, “It Takes a Thief.”  For a national conversion to take place here in the United States of America, it will take not just a thief, it will take MANY thieves: that is to say, it will take many Christians who are at least as good as the Good Thief was.  Let’s pray today that WE will be among that number.