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Dear Fr. Z,
My good news is that next Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, I get to meet the Patriarch of Antioch of the Melkites, Gregorie III (Lufti) Laham. His Beatitude will be at a small (40 family) Mission Church in Covina, Ca
I get to go on a field trip tomorrow at work tomorrow to some modernist sisters convent to go discuss a community service project. It’ll be nice to get out of the office for a few hours.
As for the sermon, we celebrated the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary instead of the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, and the sermon was on the rosary, and how Mary intercedes on our behalf on problems we don’t even know about right now and won’t know about until Judgement Day.
This is good news in the Archdiocese of Toronto to take place on the last Sunday in October, the Feast of Our Lordy Jesus Christ, King, in the Extraordinary Form calendar.
Not in almost half a century have this many EF Masses been celebrated publicly on the same day!
Laudetur Jesus Christus!
St. Patrick’s Schomberg
Read Mass with Music at 9:00AM
Solemn High Mass at 11:30 AM
Toronto Oratory Church of St. Vincent de Paul
Read Mass with Music at 1:00 PM
St. Lawrence the Martyr Scarborough
Solemn High Mass at 2:30 PM
St. Patrick’s McCaul Street
Dialogue Mass with Music (1962 Rubrics and Universae Ecclesiae)
St. Mary Immaculate, Richmond Hill 7:00 PM.
Good news: out fo the classroom as a student and back into one as a student teacher.
Sermon point: Not really the point, but this particular Basilian Father has the ability to stir uo your spirit to go out and actually do something for teh Church, rather than just showing up again next Sunday without even sounding that radical. A great message for University students.
Good news 2.0: This Father after the regular announcements of the campus ministry going-ons, had a nice smal lecture aboutt eh coming translation change. The need for the change, the experimenting of the 60’s, differences between dynamic and formal translation (and in a nice dig said the current is even a bad dynamic translation), and the wonderful scriptural alusions and direct quotations being restored in English at Advent.
We celebrated Mass yesterday with a beautiful Erntedankfest…a harvest festival of thanks. One of the side altars at our village St. Ulrich’s Church (Ulrichskirche) was beautifully bedecked in flourishes of fresh vegetables, fruits, squash, potatoes and flowers; explosions of brilliant color and sweet smells. Each house of the village has the honor of contributing something that they have themselves grown to the altar. After Mass, we formed in line for a procession, lead by a gentleman carrying aloft a large centuries old Crucifix. He is followed somewhat timidly by the Ministranten (altar boys) carrying small Austrian red-white-red striped flags and pulling a wagon holding a beautiful handcrafted cross-topped harvest ‘crown’. Three of my colleagues and I held the posts supporting ‘ Der Himmel’ (the Heaven); the beautiful handcrafted canopy under which Pfarrer Simon carried the monstrance. We marched in slow time as the Pinswanger Musikkapelle played, down the main street of Pinswang midst farmer’s houses dating from the 17th century to the central square, where under the ancient Oak tree, a lovely small altar had been created. There, Pfarrer Simon and all prayed. We then marched back to the Ulrichskirche where a Te Deum was sung in Latin, with Pfarrer Simon facing the High Altar. It was a lovely day indeed. As an aging federalized Western Europe slowly wends its way toward cultural extinction, it is easy for so many of us to mourn the slow loss of our rich Christian heritage and traditions. However, in those moments of despair, look to those many villages, towns and cities throughout Austria and Bavaria…to places in the Tirol like Pinswang… where a vibrant, celebratory and heartfelt living Catholicism continues to flourish. For me, this is good news indeed.
At 11:59pm on Saturday evening, I had FINALLY cleared my main countertop in my newly remodeled kitchen after moving back in (after having been moved out for almost a year). For me, that was huge. And exciting. It’s beautiful now!
Also, got an epistle today from our sophomore at Wyoming Catholic College who just finished the Latin Immersion Outdoor Weekend (ref. this post: https://wdtprs.com/2011/09/latinum-iter-montanum-wyomingense/). She wrote:
“The Latin Immersion Weekend was so much fun! . . . [lots of enthusiastic details about the activities: nature walks & hikes, vegetation identification, board games, trailrides, music & music theory, BBQ, and a bonfire]
All in all, I had a really good time–all in Latin. I would totally do it again.
. . . I woke up this morning thinking in Latin, and when Magistra told us to speak in “lingua barbarica” again, I was having to consciously remember to think in English so the words would come out and not be in Latin. Different feeling for sure–having to remember to speak in English.”
Just too cool. I wish I had learned Latin this way.
Sermon point: a la St. Faustina, just getting a person to say the words, “Jesus, I trust in You” is enough for the grace of God to go to work on that soul–even unto any necessary afflictions [but don’t tell them that!!].
Good news – answer to my prayers – I reconnected and reconciled with my estranged brother. Thanks be to God for His mercy.
Sunday homily: nuanced catechesis on the forthcoming new translation; and straightforward talk on the Gospel. Our priest doesn’t pull any punches. He’s a convert and definitely has zeal for our Father’s house.
Engaged to be married! Happy as a bird!
My nephew, whose parents are fallen-away catholic (mother, my wife’s sister) and non-denominational Protestant (father), was baptized Saturday. We are not sure of the parents’ motivation, but the Sacrament was finally performed on our little nephew (at almost three years old), and we are ecstatic that the doors to heaven are opened for him and he is a member of the body of Christ. My wife was considering baptizing our nephew in the kitchen sink, for the sake of his soul, if she ever had the chance to do so!
After a pleasant family get-together after the baptism (sometimes a challenge with my wife’s family), we returned to the Church for Saturday vigil mass. The sermon was a general pro-life advocacy sermon (from conception to natural death). The sermon also featured the best insertion of an anti-death-penalty position–the priest said that HE didn’t favor the death penalty (instead of incorrectly asserting that the Church was against it) and blew up one of the arguments for it that even I, as a supporter of that penalty, find the weakest (the “I need closure argument”), equating “closure” with revenge. (For the record, my position is that the death penalty must be invoked on certain people as a penalty only because that is the only thing you can penalize them with–taking away the only thing they really care about, their lives. This CAN be invoked without revenge, and invoking it as revenge is not proper, in my view.)
On Sunday, I went to the memorial service and graveside service for the Jewish father of a Rugby teammate of mine. Once again, I find myself at the memorial service of a person I never met, that I wish so strongly that I knew during his life–he sounded like an amazing, inspiring individual. I do not know how some of the traditionalists will feel about my observations, but I found the graveside service very moving; most of the prayers were repeated in both Hebrew and English, and I found them to be almost exactly what I hear at Christian burials. The Rabbi explained that he was directed by the decedent (who was planning this whole thing from his hospice bed) to explain all the customs to the non-Jewish attendeees, including the “mitzvah” of burying the dead, with each family member shaking some Georgia Red Clay into from a shovel into the grave.
I even attempted to recite the Kaddish with all the other folks (we were all given a pamphlet). This might be considered illicit and sinful participation in another religion, but I saw the translation, and I see nothing wrong with praising God and praying for the soul of the departed. (I guess many traddies here will say that I was not praying to the true God; I guess I have to disagree with those folks.)
Michael Val
The Catholic New Media Confrence was a great success. Awesome Liturgies, fellowship and speakers. Really enjoyed meeting and listening to Sean Patrick Lovett from Vatican Radio. Look forward to next yer in Dallas!
This weekend we were up in Maine at our summer place which we are slowly renovating to put it into a livable condition. The town is on the very easterly coast of Maine in the aptly named parish of St. Peter the Fisherman which encompasses 4 churches, one of which is located on Campobello Island which is actually in Canada but whose only all year connection is to the US. Needless to say the parish priest puts a lot of miles on his car doing Sunday and weekday masses plus the usual parochial duties. This particular Sunday he was going to preach on the new missal translation but a sad event further south (one of the parish families traveling in the Carolinas had a serious car accident (someone ran a stop sign), with the father left in critical condition. So instead Father talked about how in a small parish like St. Peter people know each other and care about each other and all we can do in a situation like this is to pray. I did not get the names of the people involved but am adding them to my daily prayers, God knows who I am talking about. Also please pray for the fishermen who will be getting up at 3 AM to go out in the cold Atlantic to drag for sea urchins, a tough way to make a living.
I preached on the new English translation of the Mass, specifically “And with your spirit.” People are extremely receptive! The parish where I am assigned has a children’s Mass (at one of the Masses, the children sit in the front and the homily is “kid friendly”)…so as I was explaining the phrase “and with your spirit,” I decided to teach them the response in Latin. For the rest of the Mass, each time I said “The Lord be with you,” one little boy shouted “Et cum spiritu tuo” in response! Does that qualify as a stable group of the faithful requesting the EF?
The good news is that parishioners are looking forward to the correct translation! And kids are interested in Latin!
About 2 months ago my son requested one of the prayer shawls my small prayer shawl group made and distribute. It was for a friend of his wife, a young woman in her 30’s who had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. In fact, by the time he requested the shawl, the woman was in a hospice.
Last week he told me that her boyfriend told him that, a few days previously, she informed her doctors that she was no longer feeling any pain. The doctors immediately examined her and started running tests – they can no longer find any cancer! Praise God!
Praise G-d. What are these prayer shawls? She must have had a number of people praying for her. Wow. I am always gratified when I hear of miraculous cures. One doesn’t hear too much about them outside of the Catholic Faith….
Sunday Sermon: Respect for Life Sunday and how the evils of contraception are responsible for a culture that has lost the concept of human dignity. Come to think of it, this homily also qualifies as the good news.
I smoked for 48 years and last had a cigarette 28 days ago, to my wife’s joy (but still pining – please pray for me!)
Our homily was about the proposed anti-Catholic health care legislation, about how the Church is under attack, and how we should all be praying fervently at this precarious time.
The good news came at the beginning of Mass. A while ago, Bishop Zubik asked the people of Pittsburgh to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for vocations. On Friday, 16 young men who are hoping to begin seminary studies next fall toured St. Paul’s Seminary. 16!!!!
Wonderful multi-faceted sermon by an energetic priest who is on the road most Sundays giving parish retreats and missions, encouraging greater trust in God’s loving and infinite providence.
Long drive completed safely – always good news! First long car trip with both dogs – they did fine!
Heard a good homily. Father’s love of the recurring vineyard theme was evident. He then talked about the importance of taking wahat we have been given and not jealously keeping it to ourselves, but that we must share as we have received (particularly when teaching the young).
yesterday was the Sunday after Cross Elevation (Julian kalendar); the appointed gospel was the pericope from Mark on taking up the cross and following Christ. After speaking to the gospel lesson i then spoke on the necessity of frequent confession to our spiritual growth, and gave six points of preparation. I also quoted Archbishop Sheen’s remark of some years ago: “If we fail to become penitents, most assuredly we will become patients.”
Yesterday was Pro-Life Sunday at St. Agnes in St. Paul. Fr. Ubel gave a wonderful pro-life sermon, like I’ve not heard in a long time. I was there because I enrolled in a weekly Ecclesiastical Latin I class that meets after the 10:00 Mass. Much more interesting than the puer amat puella class from high school lo these many years ago. Heavy on the grammar. Professor from St. Olaf’s in Northfield teaches it and he’s pretty good.
A good friend of mine married her fiance of several months this past Saturday. The wedding and reception were really lovely. May God grant them many years of good health and happiness, may their marriage be filled with joy, and may they be blessed with many children.
We had a sermon on the Rosary and it’s origins. Very good.
MY best news is from Andreas! – there is still traditional catholicism in the Austria and Bavaria!
Andreas,
What a beautiful description of your Erntedankfest! If I close my eyes I can almost imagine that I am there in the midst of your people.
Many years ago (in the 1960s) I lived for a summer in Bayern. I was not Catholic then, but I was impressed and edified by the devotion of the people and the signs everywhere of faith in daily life — the wayside crosses, the very active parish and pastor, the delightful method of praying the “Bavarian Rosary” that a friend taught me. Just another one of many gentle nudges that brought me to the Church.
Very glad to hear that these faithful customs still survive.
In other news — our senior Parochial Vicar preached a barn-burner of a homily on the Gospel, and harked back to our Holy Father’s words upon his election – “Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me – a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.”
He noted the ferocious attacks in the German media before his visit there, and Pope Benedict’s disarming, gentle, faithful persistence in the face of those attacks. He reminded us that we, too, must press forward faithfully. He didn’t actually compare the media to the wicked husbandmen who slew the son of the house . . . but it was pretty obvious. I told him afterwards that he slammed a low-hanging curve ball over the right field fence (he’s an Irishman and still thinks Americans are highly amusing, especially with baseball analogies.)
And last night our Parish Choir came to the Young Professionals regular meeting after Sunday evening Mass — we gave a presentation on chant, polyphony, and the musical heritage of the Church. People seemed receptive to the music and our music director’s (as usual) brilliant talk about How Music Works. We even got a couple of earnest inquirers and gave them the pitch to join the choir — but more importantly the 20-30-somethings heard about the importance of good music in the liturgy and heard something besides the contemporary . . . ah, ‘stuff’.
Somebody billed us in the bulletin as the “contemporary choir” — not sure how that happened, but I said, “Sure we’re contemporary — just with Palestrina and Byrd.”
I attended the Knights of Columbus College Conference this weekend in New Haven, CT. We had mass each day at in the hotel ballroom and I’d say 90% of the people’e chanted parts were in Latin! The masses were extremely reverent, antiphons were chanted in Latin, and there was a good mix of beautiful, traditional English and Latin hymns. Praised be Jesus Christ!
My husband is at work today after over a year of unemployment.
Good news, my first Latin Mass (only baptized and confirmed last April) at San Secondo d’Asti in Guasti, CA (right near the Ontario Airport. Fr Marx gave very strong pro-life homily and discussed the state of grace of pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Bad news, close family member diagnosed with colon cancer.
[NoraLee9 says:
Praise G-d. What are these prayer shawls? She must have had a number of people praying for her. Wow. I am always gratified when I hear of miraculous cures. One doesn’t hear too much about them outside of the Catholic Faith….]
Prayer shawl groups are becoming quite common, mainly in the US, but also in other countries throughout the world. I read about them in an issue of the National Catholic Register about 4 years ago and thought that I would like to get involved with this in my retirement.
A group of us are knitting or crocheting (I crochet) shawls for ladies, lap blankets for men and blankets for babies and children. We pray, at least some of the time when actually knitting or crocheting. About 3 or 4 times per year, as the need arises, we have the completed ones blessed. This usually happens at one of the 9:00 daily Masses.
We never know who will receive one of the shawls or blankets we make, since it is necessary to have an inventory of blessed ones ready for when people request them. Frequently I will crochet while praying in the evening. I do not know who will receive what I am crocheting, but God knows, so I ask that the person receiving the finished garment will receive comfort, courage to face whatever they are going through, healing, if it is God’s Will, and, particularly, that they will feel the loving arms of Jesus around them.
So far, in about 2 years, we have 85. there are just 5 or 6 of us knitting and crocheting, and some are slower than others, but so far we have been able to fill all the requests received.
Since I shared the news of the young woman whose cancer has disappeared, I received 4 more requests, which I have already delivered, and another 3 request forms are expected.
This is an apostolate that brings great comfort to suffering people and also brings peace and joy to those who make the shawls and blankets.
Father spoke on the importance of treating Sundays properly, of avoiding the “weekend mentality,” and of making Sunday Mass the most important thing on Sundays, not just something to “fit in.” He also gave really solid encouragement toward doing additional devotions, prayer, etc. on Sundays, which fit really well for me because this parish does a Rosary, sung Vespers, and Benediction after the Mass. I had already been considering staying, but Father’s homily sealed it for me.
Good news…my wife is visiting her goddaughter to celebrate her first birthday – the little one had a very traumatic birth and first few weeks of life, but is healthy now!
Father said yesterday that praying the rosary could stop the just (and awful) consequences to the Church and America of abandoning the laws and the love of God. I was a protestant until I was 48 years old, and something that is still loose in the back of my brain wonders how that possibly could be true. But just in case it is… my husband and I started to pray it together last night. Also went to confession yesterday morning before mass. How did I survive 48 years without this??
A Eucharistic miracle occurred. I went to give Last Rites and Last Communion to a young Ukrainian teenager in late August. His mother showed up at my parish yesterday for the first time. I went to speak with her after liturgy and began searching for words to comfort her. Before I could say anything she tells me a miracle has occurred. After communion the swelling went down in his brain, all the blood left, they operated on the tumor, he came out of the coma, he is breathing on his own, the chemo is working, and his doctor says he will live with 100% certainty, and that all he can say is a miracle occurred. I went and prayed a healing service today, and gave communion again. What a joy to be a priest. Our God is a God of miracles.
I echo the praise for Andreas’ good news. It is good indeed to be reminded that the Faith is still strong in parts of Europe, the continent that for so long was the heart of Christendom.
Our Associate Pastor focused on the new translations coming out. Mentioned something about “continuity” and that the ’62 Missal was never repressed. You know, controversial stuff. Does have a good head on his shoulders.
Now if we could find out who is replacing our Archbishop, I’d be a happy man.
My young pastor gave a whale of a good PRO-LIFE homily. He is a gifted orator and he has caught fire for the pro-life effort. And he came out and said that you cannot call yourself a good Catholic and be pro-abortion and if one cannot accept that, please come and speak with him to discuss it.
I have waited years to hear such things from the pulpit.
Nothing super-big like other people; but my brother’s horse isn’t sick after all, my mom’s doing good in her physical therapy on her leg, Swiss chard is very easy and tasty to saute in olive oil, and I’m ten pages from the end of Chapter 6 in translating the Beatus.
Oh, and we in the choir introduced the new Sanctus translation from our new Mass setting, and nobody killed us. :) Somebody fainted with a thunk onto her pew at the 8 AM Mass while they were doing that, which kinda distracted everybody. But the person was okay and it wasn’t from shock at the words “Lord God of Hosts”. :)
Had another great night with the Dead Theologians Society.
For the Sunday homily, Father spoke about three marks of a Catholic pro-life approach: 1) positive/pro-active, 2) consistent, and 3) exceptionless. Not bad, but I do wish he had mentioned the importance of the intercession of our Guardian Angels in these matters.
Quanah
My third grandchild, Ethan Miguel, was born Saturday. Mother and baby are going home today.
Good news: I was blessed to attend my second Extraordinary Form mass in as many weeks yesterday. Last week was a low mass, while yesterday was a Missa Cantata. It was so beautiful and felt so right! I was brought to tears during the consecration, seeing father elevate our Lord and Savior while the altar boys were swinging thurifers of incense. It was reverent and so Catholic, and I felt connected somehow to all of the Saints through the ages that celebrated this mass, as well as in communion with our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters who haven’t forgotten how to use incense! I am so blessed to be able to attend a TLM within driving distance. It I was glad to see the “its only for old people” stereotype completely debunked as there were so many families with young babies, as well as myself as a 30 year old attendee, having grown up completely Post Vat II ordinary form with legions of extraordinary ministers of communion.
The sermon was about the fact that it was Respect Life Sunday. Father tied in the gospel, explaining that in Jesus’ time he was radical in healing people on the Sabbath, as it was against how the Pharisees interpreted the law, but as it was the right thing to do, Jesus was saying that the law was unjust, considering they would save an ox or an ass but not their fellow man. Father then went on to explain that if Jesus returned to earth right now, he’d be praying, voting and speaking out amongst our friends and associates against the abortion clinics, and we must do the same. Father also mentioned that when we vote and support candidates, we need to be mindful of those who are Catholic In Name Only, which was the first time ever I have heard CINO brought up at mass.
Good News No. 1-I’m hoping to go and hear Father Wade Menezes, CPM, at one of our local parishes tonight (he’s frequently on EWTN). He was here to preach at a Family Rosary Crusade yesterday, which I didn’t go to because it’s too long for me to sit through. But when I found out that Father is still here and will be preaching tonight, I’ll go and hear him.
Good News No. 2-the ‘tiny choir’ (the organist, two teenage girls and myself) began practicing at our small TLM chapel for the Feast of Christ The King later this month (traditional calendar). We went through the ‘Missa de Angelis’ (Mass of the Angels) and the ‘Credo’ from the ‘Missa Facile’ (I think it means, ‘Easy Mass’). We also rehearsed a very cool hymn to Christ the King composed by Father Daniel Lord, SJ–never heard it before, but it’s got some ‘oomph’ to it! I loved it!
Sunday sermon topic-the young priest preached on the power of the Rosary, using as his ‘springboard’ the opening words of the Hail Mary.
When the priest was leaving and heard us singing upstairs in the choir loft, he gave us a compliment! That was nice of him to do! : D
And soon we’re going to have to sing for one of the other priests who come to say the Mass. Found that out from the organist. I think it’s to find out if we’re competent enough to tackle a High Mass (this will be our first, since we usually sing only for Christmas and Easter).
I was in Omaha over the weekend and I assisted at High Mass at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church administered by the FSSP. Fr. John Brancich, FSSP had the Mass and he made a correlation between the external feast of OL of the Rosary and the importance of fortitude with the battle of Lepanto. It really was quite the homily and one that I am grateful for.
Also, he made the point that our worship can take many forms whilst at Mass and that we should be free to express our form of worship as we see fit. For some it will be meditating on the PDR of Our Lord, for some it will be praying the rosary (ties in to the external feast day), for some it will be uniting to the chants and polyphonic music, and for many it will be following along with the priest as he prays the Mass….for it was Pope St. Pius X and his immediate successors through Pius XII which promoted finding the gems which are in the Mass to mediate upon.
Personally, I was drawn to the prayer of the Holy Trinity, as well as making my adoration during the consecration. Sunday was a good day.
i went to Our Lady of Lourdes’ first missa cantata on Sunday in Philadelphia. it seemed like a good number of the Latin novus Ordo congregation showed up, at least as evidenced by the number of folks who began chanting the pater Noster with father. how blessed, how so very blessed am i to live with a Missa Cantata and perpetual Adoration chapel at the end of my block! God has brought me so far! Fr. James Mayor, O.M… what a wonderful shepherd we have here!
on saturday, i did the following. got up, walked to Church to have my confession heard, walked to the train, took it into philadelphia, walked to a doctor’s appointment, took a trolley to grab a few groceries, found a kitchen supply shop and spent way too much money, walked through rittenhouse to get my hair cut, took the subway to my work to pick up a few things i had forgotten, went to the bank, stopped back at the kitchen place for one last temptation, then went home. totally unremarkable, i know. but trust me, coming from someone who has only had the ability to do these things for 2 years, after learning to use my cane and conquer my fears of traffic and public transit, it still feels absolutely glorious!!!
lux perpetua, WOW! That was a great outing. I wish I could have gone through the kitchenware place too. It is so great when one can get around again.
More great news.
Somewhere in my hectic schedule I lost track of my Independent Studies Class and all the due dates for my 30 page research paper that’s due at the end of the term. I just discovered the current due dates (all the old due dates from the summer are where they should be) hidden in some obscure place on the online site. Apparently I have a 20 page Project Proposal due in two days, and I didn’t even have a topic. Through the intercessions of St. Anthony, I not only found my topic, but enough online information to come up with a thesis statement, and I’m pushing through my detailed outline and required sections of my proposal, all within the last 90 minutes. Pretty good considering I’m stuck in the office with a really problematic version of Internet Explorer, and no access to my school’s online journal database thanks to some government computer blocker thingy.
While I’m used to writing last minute papers and projects for school, they’ve never been this stress-free before. Weird.
I was at a reunion meeting of the group I went to the World Youth Days in Madrid with, and I saw a great desire to learn among the 16- to 25-year-olds. They wanted to be properly catechised, they want the Church to help them understand the things they see and hear around them, they want to be able to explain why and what they believe, to understand the liturgy and the Church’s social teachings. We’ve been talking about setting up all kinds of (online) initiatives to help these youth in their desires, and I am very keen to get involved with that. There is surely hope for the Church in the Netherlands!
A friend has an appointment to make a reentry into the Church, and will go to Confession for the first time in three decades. This is fantastic news!
On a lesser note, I completed a troublesome writing assignment before the publishing deadline. I squeaked to the finish with the Lord’s help.
Our priest spoke of using the Rosary as means to attain the Kingdom. I think of the Rosary as the best Spiritual weapon in my arsenal.
Good news: our 11-person polyphony choir is tackling — and conquering! — Victoria’s 6-part Requiem. We’re rehearsing to sing it at the Feast of All Souls mass.
Homily: the Rosary, the history behind it, the mysteries, the importance of praying it every day.
We got a new pastor in August. His homilies have left me feeling moe like I was in a comedy club than in Mass. However, his homily on Sunday was on the wonderful new translation we are getting, and the very good reasons behind it. Later, he answered my 5 year old’s question, “Why is Mass the most important thing we do all week?” Both my son and I were quite satisfied with the answer. (Sometimes, hearing mom tell you answers just does not suffice.)
I wish I had some good news. Just found out we’re getting the Third Edition of the Gather “Hymnal” in time for Advent. And they want us to “adopt” (my word) a book to help pay for them. Not pleased.
Joan M , regarding the Prayer Shawls. Our parish does this but includes a knotted twine rosary that I and one other person makes. One person says that the knots make it easy to hold on to the rosary when she falls asleep. She said she still has hold of the knot when she awakes.
Good news: There still isn’t snow in the mountain pass, and so, I can still make it to the once per month Extraordinary Form 35-miles away.
Bad news: Fr. Erik Richtsteig had to take the Sunday off so that we could have a California Province Jesuit Fundraiser.
Good news: The Mass was Ordinary and an effect Sacrament was confected.
Bad news: We got a homily on how we tend the Vineyard of the Lord by being good people, instead of a homily on how great Mary is and how she is the Tree of Life.
Good news: I had a homily-in-my-head (as I often have) about the Mary as the Tree of Life stained glass window at the Trappist monastery on top of the mountain.
Bad news: I shopped at Walmart on a Sunday.
Good news: I finally found a descent non-mushy loaf of bread and a cured white-mold encrusted salami in this heathen wasteland.
Our sermon was entirely in Latin!
(It was part of our Latin Immersion Weekend experience at Wyoming Catholic College.)
Our new priest wears a cassock & zucchetto after Mass. (Fr Z, I sent you a Brick by Brick email about him.)
Sunday sermon – the importance of wine in Catholic life, both liturgical and social.
[friarpark says:
Joan M , regarding the Prayer Shawls. Our parish does this but includes a knotted twine rosary that I and one other person makes. One person says that the knots make it easy to hold on to the rosary when she falls asleep. She said she still has hold of the knot when she awakes.]
At our next meeting I will bring this up – it should be easy to obtain rosaries, as I know a parishioner who makes them by the hundreds……
Thanks.
This weekend I had the blessed opportunity to assist at Mass offered by Fr. George Rutler. The homily was so multi-layered and rich in references to the Scriptures and Church Fathers, well, I was blown away. It was truly an un-packing of a very dense reading. One thing I learned quickly was that even when it seemed like he had gone off on a tangent he was really leading us to a something both deep and important and suddenly you would find yourself right back at a quote from one of the readings. I feel a touch of jealousy for those blessed enough to be led by such an erudite man.
I already mentioned it, but this is an ‘update’: I went to hear Father Wade Menezes of the Fathers of Mercy last night (it was the first night of a parish mission he was doing, ‘Sin, Conversion and The Call To Holiness’).
WOW! What a preacher he is! I’ve heard him on EWTN many times, but to hear him in person is AWESOME! He spoke about sin, and he didn’t pull any punches! More than once the congregation responded with loud ‘AMENs’!
He loaded his talk with quotes from Scripture, the CCC, various Doctors of the Church, and St. Faustina’s Diary. In fact, he threw out the question to us, ‘Who is the newest Doctor of the Church?’ I immediately raised my hand (I was sitting in a front pew, but off to the side facing the pulpit) and answered, ‘St. John of Avila’. (Well, I found that out while watching EWTN’s coverage of WYD in Madrid!)
I went to confession to him beforehand, but I couldn’t spend much time there because of other penitents waiting in line. So I went out feeling frustrated, as I usually do when going to confession.
When everything was over, I stuck around talking with several people I knew. And after Father heard more confessions, he came out to the vestibule to visit with us briefly! He had to find out how the CDs of his past talks were selling! I got to shake his hand and say to him, ‘Hope you didn’t think I was being a wise-guy in knowing the newest Doctor of the Church!’
I’m going back tonight, as well to tomorrow’s closing Mass. There will be a ‘meet and greet’ afterwards in the parish hall—maybe I can get a picture taken with him!
Oh, if only our priests could preach like the Fathers of Mercy! They’d be like St. John the Baptist before King Herod! WOO HOO!
This weekend I attended the 50th anniversary reunion of my high school graduation class. Out of 104, eleven have died, two are in the convent and couldn’t attend, but about 60 did come. I had not seen or kept in touch with any of my classmates for 50 years. Imagine our joy at renewing friendships, reliving memories, and sharing fascinating stories. Sad to say, too many had been divorced TWICE, are no longer practicing Catholics, and/or have had difficult life experiences without uniting them to the sufferings of Christ. Still, when we were all together, what mattered was the shared experience of being teenage girls together for four years. I had not known, having just moved from another part of the country before high school classes began, that this institution was the first private girls’ school to integrate in the D.C. area. Hearing the stories of what nine black young women were thinking, feeling, and putting up with was edifying, to say the least.
There’s more! This weekend was the first wedding anniversary of our youngest. She called me to say, “Guess what we got for our anniversary?” Since we had sent them a check I expected the answer to be something like “An ipad!” but she said, “A baby!” God blesses us all the time.
I’m afraid the Sunday homily didn’t make a lasting impression on me. What did was a reminder that it was the 75th anniversary of the execution of Blessed Bartolomé Blanco. You may remember his last letter to his girlfriend (translation from zenit.org):
Regarding his reference to “many priests” who assisted him: there were 15 priests locked up with him at the time, most awaiting their turn.