Your Sunday Sermon notices

Do you have any good points from the Sunday sermon you heard?

Share the with the readers.

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46 Comments

  1. APX says:

    Father reminder us that we could die at any moment and preached on frequent confession and rooting out all our sins. He also told us that if we try to root out all our sins at once we will fail, so we should work on one or two at a time. He said a lot more, but that was the most important part.

  2. ddoyle1220 says:

    I was lucky enough to attend the EF, and Father had an amazing sermon. It is tough to sum up in a few words, but essentially, we are failing as the Church Militant if we are not praying to the Church Triumphant on behalf of the Church Suffering, and related this to the readings by using our armor (prayer and confession) to achieve our goal of offering prayers on behalf of the Church Suffering. He, of course, offered his sermon much more elegantly than that, but that is it in a nutshell.

  3. James Joseph says:

    Can’t remember much about the homily except that it was about the door getting slammed shut for all eternity, and that it’s not good to be on the wrong side of the door.

    I kept thinking about the souls in the Gehenna of Purgatory and the Lake of Fire pouring out of Cor Iesu Sacratissimum, and how there must be poor souls so far out repaying debts so great that they know not even their pre-saved state, possibily thinking themselves damned in the Gehenna of Hell for all eternity.

    The thought of punishment is weighing on me.

    I thought today was 21st Sunday after Pentecost in EF calendar.

    I was hoping to get the Gospel of the Wicked Servant. I guess I had the wrong impression.

  4. poetgrl says:

    Fr talked about being prepared… that even when we stumble (and as humans, we do that from time to time) we get back up and strive to be more vigilant against the things that cause us to stumble.

  5. Incaelo says:

    I was at an EF Mass offered by Cardinal Burke in Amsterdam, with the local bishop, Msgr. Joseph Punt, giving the homily. He spoke about the purification of the faithful that he sees going on in the world today, and urged us to see the hand of God in all that happens in our lives. He ended by emphasising that we must always remember that God, in the first place, is Love and Mercy.

    It was also the first time that a Dutch bishop (and a bishop-elect) attended an EF Mass, albeit in choir.

  6. Michael Floyd says:

    Father spoke about the new liturgy, and how some of the wording may jar a little. He was referring to the word “Hell” introduced into the Creed. It was good in that he spoke about how these changes can wake us up to the liturgy, and that we may become more aware of what we are saying as we participate.
    I liked it. My pastor – whom I have been feeling out for a while – went up a notch in my orthodoxy indicator measurement thingy today.

  7. melotte says:

    Father reminded us that a growing flock does not start with complaining sheep.

  8. SusanBVarenne says:

    In his sermon on the Five Wise Virgins, our priest linked being prepared for the coming of Christ, both in death and at the end of time, with the virgins who had sufficient oil to light their lamps at the arrival of the bridegroom. He said that turning down the foolish virgins’ request for some of their oil had nothing to do with sharing or being nice. The oil symbolizes our own personal preparedness and cannot be shared. Each one must prepare for heaven by following Christ with charity and compassion. These are good deeds we must each do. We can’t give our good deeds to someone else. We each have an individual responsibility to take our faith seriously and prepare for the coming of the Lord. I never thought of this parable in this way before. and I think it is a great insight.

  9. KAS says:

    sigh, I didn’t get a thing from the homily this Sunday because I took my two year old to Mass with me and this time, rather than be simply a monkey who would not be curbed, we got to deal with a wild monkey who would not stop moving, and when curbed yelled, bit and hit.

    Sometimes I wonder WHY is this child so BAD at Mass and mostly good other times?

    Anyway, I got to listen to mass from the atrium…. but nobody brings Eucharist to the mothers with children out there and nobody lets us know when we can go in, and there is no window…. so I gave up on any hope of receiving Christ in the Eucharist, offered up a spiritual communion while wrestling the little monster and gave up.

    I guess I get credit for being there physically but really, it hardly feels like I get anything good from a Mass in which I spend the whole time wrestling a small child.

  10. benedetta says:

    It was an extraordinary and multifaceted homily which I am still considering, but what struck me was the need for Christ to recognize us as well as us Him, clothed with what grace has enabled us to wear, to put on Christ, as it were, and also to fight against the temptation to acedia.

  11. bookworm says:

    The priest at the Mass I attended pointed out that while the Gospel of the wise and foolish virgins is often presented as a warning to be prepared for a threatening event (the last judgment) it is better interpreted as a reminder to be prepared for a really wonderful event that we don’t want to miss (the Second Coming). After all, the women in question were not hunkering down for a hurricane or tornado warning or terrorist attack, they were getting ready to go to a party (wedding feast). Also, the priest said the foolish virgins could have used the delay in the bridegroom’s arrival as an opportunity to go out and get more oil, but didn’t take advantage of it. His point was that we have many opportunities to take advantage of God’s grace in the sacraments and should not miss out on them.

  12. OtherMary says:

    Funny you should ask! Our pastor, a somewhat elderly good soul who originates from Sri Lanka, took some time from his homily to educate his parishioners about the Mass by explaining some of the changes that are about to take place. He had a whiteboard all filled out, with “Dynamic Equivalence” on top, and below it, “Formal Equivalence.” He then wrote the Latin “Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo.” And below this, he wrote the translations in German, Italian, French, Spanish and English. He smiled and said, “Guess which countries got it wrong for the past 47 years?!” He talked about the ICEL. He explained the big difference between the present “And also with you.” and “And with your spirit.” I only hope that the congregation “got it!” He commented how beautiful the Latin language is – how precise and direct. “Veni, vedi, vici!” he said. He told us that with Vatican II, he was only able to say one Latin Mass after his ordination before everything changed. He’ll be continuing his liturgical catechism the next couple of weeks. He is also having our music director explain the changes. I am only hopeful that there won’t be a whole new Glory and Praise version of all the new prayers!

  13. Peter G says:

    Greetings from Melbourne.
    Last Saturday (Nov 5) was a significant day in the history of our parish.Our Archbishop,Dennis Hart was in attendance to formally open and bless a new seminary building in our parish grounds.
    The history of this goes back to 1993 when our then parish priest,the late Fr.Bill Durkin offered the vacant convent in our parish to the Missionaries of God’s Love for use as a seminary.
    The MGL’s are a new order of priests that was founded in Canberra in 1986 and they needed a suitable premises to house their steadily growing number of seminarians here in Melbourne who were training for the priesthood.Numbers have continued to grow and in 2006,pastoral care of our parish was handed over the MGL’s.Presently they have approx 20 priests,several deacons and about 30 seminarians and are in the process of being formally recognised as an order by the Vatican.Their seminarians spend a novitiate year in Canberra then come to our parish in
    Melbourne.At this point ,it looks at though they may have as many as 10 new recruits in 2012.
    So next year St Benedict’s will look like this-25 or 26 seminarians occupying both the new building and the existing convent with 3 priests attending to their formation and pastoral care.These priests offer masses in our parish and other parishes in the archdiocese as well as giving retreats.Our parish will have our parish priest Fr Dave,together with a newly ordained assistant priest and deacon.The MGL’s are a very orthodox order and are sticklers for good liturgy.Say the Black Do the Red is followed to the letter.We are blessed to have them.
    So it is onwards and upwards for St.Benedict’s and for that we say a huge DEO GRATIAS.

  14. Gail F says:

    KAS: Don’t worry, it seems interminable but he will not be two for long. My son was almost impossible to control during Mass for YEARS, to my great chagrin, not really calming down on a regular basis until about first grade. And no, I am not an indulgent parent. In 4th grade he was diagnosed with ADHD, and things we had dealt with unsuccessfully for ages suddenly became clear. You don’t always know what you’re dealing with! Anyway, most two year olds are like that, God understands.
    The priest at mass yesterday said people always ask why the wise virgins didn’t help the foolish ones. The reason, he said, was that if they had no one would have had enough oil. Hmmm. He also said that they didn’t need help, exactly, they were simply unprepared because they had been careless and doing other things than getting ready, and the wise ones didn’t refuse them something they needed, they just told them to go buy their oil, which they did. But it was too late. Sometimes, it really is too late. That is not a message our culture likes to hear; maybe no culture likes to hear it.

  15. New Sister says:

    Our pastor noted that the servant’s debt, forgiven by his master, was equivalent to ten thousand years of wages. (and the amount the servant throttled the other for, one hundred pennies) Mea culpa.

  16. Permanent deacon pointed out that our salvation is something uniquely personal–thus the foolish virgins couldn’t get their oil. Went over points about acquiring spirituality, including reception of the Eucharist. Quoted St. Therese of Lisieux who said that she believed God was pleased with her efforts despite her weaknesses (like falling asleep after communion and during prayer times) because she thought of how pleased a mother is when watching a sleeping child. In other words, wherever you are, begin again and rededicate yourself with confidence in God’s grace, and try to bring some of what you acquire into the world.

  17. krisvog says:

    Paul had spoke of a thorn. Even though we don’t know what it was, it could have been any sin. God said he would not remove the thorn, but His grace would be sufficient to deal with it.

    The Devil studies us and presents temptations, especially when we are tired, worn out, and the most vunerable. Also, as the Angel have 9 chiors, so the demons, who are fallen angels have a heirarchy.

    All good reminders!

  18. Wendy says:

    A visiting priest equated the Wise and Foolish Virgins with OWS and Global Warming… well, he never quite got to Global Warming, but we did hear about the inequalities of income and how the banks are robbing us and how the Occupiers are like the Wise Virgins who studied the circumstances and were ready to do what was necessary. And a lot more.

  19. ronconte says:

    In a recent sermon, a parish priest spoke against many different sins, including: contraception, IVF, human cloning, pornography, and various sexual sins. There are not many sermons like this in the Church today.

  20. krisvog says:

    @KAS – I am right where you are. Might I offer the suggestion to offer that pain of missing Mass up? It helps me greatly when I have to leave with little ones. This is your vocation and God will give graces for being faithful to Mass attendance. God bless you.

  21. Philangelus says:

    Our priest used last week’s fluke snowstorm and the subsequent power outages as a concrete example of what it means not to be prepared for something. He said that if you know a snowstorm is coming and you’re likely to lose power, you stock up on food, water, and you gas up your car. You put batteries in the flashlights, and so on.

    He said we need to do the same with our spiritual lives, because judgment/death is coming at some point to all of us, so we need to be prepared.

    I liked how practical that was, especially because I assume most of us hadn’t really prepared for the Halloween snow, and also because snow on Halloween is completely unexpected, like a thief in the night. :-) So if we say, “I’m young yet, I won’t die, there’s time” or “It’s October, we won’t get snow, there’s time,” it hit home nicely.

    It was cute because this priest comes to our parish from a great distance, and he had almost no gas in his car but all the gas stations were closed due to no power, so he had some worries on the turnpike as to whether he’d actually make it. So he said, “I’m not a great example of that, by the way.” I giggled.

  22. Philangelus says:

    @ KAS, can you speak to the parish office about instructing the ushers to let the folks in the atrium know they should come in for Communion? Surely you aren’t the only one who would like to receive the Eucharist if only you could. :-( I’m sorry your child acted up so much. :-(

  23. Ohio Organist says:

    There were no sermons preached in my diocese this past weekend. Every parish was instead required to show a video of the bishop talking about the new translation of the Mass.

  24. ipadre says:

    I talked about the New Translation, pew cards, showed them my new Magnificat Missal and demonstrated the beauty of the new translation compared to the old. Also suggested they purchase a hand Missal. Great response from my people.

  25. Legisperitus says:

    Our priest, discussing “sola scriptura,” said it’s great to have a Book, but isn’t it even better to know the Author of the Book, whom we encounter so closely and frequently in the Sacraments of the Church?

  26. SemiSpook says:

    Our homily was similar to a couple of others already mentioned: that of the meaning behind the foolish and wise virgins. Brought up a good point when it got to the question of why the wise ones didn’t share their oil with the fools. Father’s answer was simple: nobody can believe FOR someone, which is essentially what Christ was trying to imply. With a lot of people that have fallen away from the Church, Father said it’s natural for those that care for them to want to believe for them in order to bring them back, but that defeats the whole concept behind being a believer. The best we can do is to pray that those who have left will allow their hearts to unharden, but that’s about it.

  27. acroat says:

    Fr R was distracted as was the entire church because a member if the choir passed out. Reminder to all: if the blood mobile is at church-donate after Mass so you can drink the orange juice!

  28. Gregg the Obscure says:

    Our transitional deacon focused on the theme of wisdom that threaded through the OF readings and noted that, as long as we’re alive, there’s still hope for us to grow in wisdom and holiness. He concluded with a fitting excerpt from St. Augustine’s Confessions.

  29. Jbuntin says:

    A visiting priest spoke on eternity, and the reality of hell. Hell is eternal as heaven is eternal. Go to confession while you are alive, because when you are dead you cannot. He quoted a lot of saints, but I couldn’t take notes fast enough to keep up with Father as he spoke. It was one of those sermons that makes you think about your own state in life, and how you can possiably remedy your faults once and for all. Then he reminded us that “A just man sins 7 times a day”

  30. Andy Milam says:

    Father preached on pariticipatio actuosa and the misinterpretation of it after Vatican Council II. He mentions that the word “active” is a deficient word to translated actuosa is. Also, he goes on to say that first the Mass should be internal and only then may it be external. As part of the homily, he chastized those who think that the little old lady who prays her rosary, meditating on the life of Christ is not participating properly. Father goes on to say that most probably (since we cannot read souls), she is participating in a more perfect way than those who are “going through the motions” because her meditations on the life of Christ are of the most important aspects of what we are to meditate upon during our worship of Holy Mass.

  31. Supertradmum says:

    The sermon in the C0-Cathedral was very short and on welcoming the tourists, which was very awkward, as the first three rows were taken up by Asian tourists with sophisticated cameras videoing the entire Mass. I cannot remember any reference to the Gospel, but there was some reference to the Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck, on Feb. 10th, which I thought was interesting, but strange, and the upcoming feast of the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Rome on November 18th. The priest seemed to be telling the tourists why Malta was Catholic and about St. Paul’s influence here. I guess tourists are “gentiles” and as St. Paul is the Patron of the Gentiles, there was some sort of connection.

  32. paterpetri says:

    Father dispensed with a homliy per se for the second week in a row in order to prepare us for the upcoming changes to the English translation of the missal. He emphasized that the changes are not really changes at all, but are rather an attempt to be more faithful to the Latin text. He went on to explain how many of the reforms to the Mass that we automatically associate with the Second Vatican Council, such as the entire mass being in the vernacular, the priest facing the people, etc., were not mandated by the Council at all. He made the case for a need to “reform the reform” in order to put our liturgical celebrations more in line with the “gentle reforms” recommended by the Council, and in order to maintain continuity with tradition.

  33. whynobeards says:

    Father made two useful comparisons to oils and lamps.
    Firstly, the lamps can be said the be the structured role of institutionalized religion (Church) and the oil thought of as the personal faith of individuals.
    Secondly, the lamps can be related to Faith and the oil to Good Works.
    [I must point out that his explanations were much more elegant and the made many other useful points.]
    He also mentioned the possibility of losing your soul and the need to not fall lukewarm.
    It was good to see people informing the parish priest/provincial of his good homily, as well as several people thanking him personally.
    PRAY FOR PRIESTS!

  34. thereseb says:

    KAS – I had a wanderer and a drama queen. Both settled down once they could talk properly. The terrible twos comes about because they can’t communicate verbally.Sorry your atrium is not glass. there had to be big notices in my then church to remind people that there was Mass – so the adults wouldn’t talk to each other.

    Sermon – visiting priest (ours has broken shoulder) on Four Last Things – very good indeed.

  35. Nan says:

    Since the Apostles died, while they were waiting for Christ to return, we’ve lost our faith and most people don’t live their lives remembering that the bridegroom could come at any time as the prospect seems so remote to us after 2000 years. We need to live our lives in such a way that we’ll be prepared when he arrives so that we’re allowed in to the banquet hall.

  36. Fr Martin Fox says:

    I preached on the new translation, focusing on several changes in the Creed: “We” to “I”; “was born” to “was incarnate,” and “one in being” to consubstantial”; with the majority of my time on the lattermost point. Attempted to connect the first reading, with its anticipation of the incarnation and the revelation of God being tri-personal, and how the early Church wrestled with the revelation of the Trinity, to the Creed. Also made the point that consubstantial has this practical application: if Jesus is merely “near” God, if he is not God, how is our hope, as the second reading emphasizes? But when Jesus is consubstantial with the Father, our future home address is the heart of the Son, which is consubstantial–one and the same to the nth degree–with the Father.

  37. Father told us that we ought to be merciful to each other, because we have been shown great mercy.

  38. Melody says:

    I was feeling ill and had to go to the super liberal parish down the street for its evening mass.

    To my joyous surprise the pastor and just returned from pilgrimage to Spain acting surprisingly devout and spoke about the new translation, comparing it to the Latin and Spanish texts and rehearsing the responses with us.

  39. Charivari Rob says:

    Homily was mostly on updated Missal.

    A bit of a tie-in: the Deacon noted that while we know neither the day nor the hour when it comes to facing Judgment, this [implementing the updated Missal] is decidedly less of a challenge than preparing to face Judgment and we do know the day and the hour.

  40. old_sage says:

    We had a very thought-provoking sermon from a visiting priest about plenary indulgences for the Holy Souls. You made a posting about this subject on October 26th, Father Z, but I didn’t realise the indulgence would apply to a particular deceased person. Father also spoke of how the hour of our death is the summit of the struggle between the good Angels and the fallen Angels. He said we need to continually develop our inclination towards holiness – we’re not suddenly going to do that on our deathbed. If we are accustomed to praying and receiving the sacraments, we are more likely to have a happy death. St Joseph, pray for us.

  41. Dave N. says:

    At our parish, we had All Saints redivivus, including the readings. (That’s right; no virgins for us–either wise or foolish.) Despite all that, we did have a pretty wonderful homily on the role sacred music plays, and will continue to play, uniting past generations with the present and uniting the present generation with the future.

    At least the homily wasn’t a repeat from Tuesday’s liturgy.

  42. kiwitrad says:

    No homily at our church as our priest decided to attend a fund raising gala at a nearby parish school instead and forgot to arrange for another priest to say Mass for him. So we got a hastily assembled ‘paralitugy’ led by rather traumatised laity. I regret to say I’m still shaking with rage and incredulity!

  43. AnAmericanMother says:

    Our new parochial vicar (iirc this is his first assignment) gave a splendidly learned homily on the Wise and Foolish Virgins.
    He quoted liberally from St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome, etc. I was taking notes in the margins of my music notebook . . . .
    But . . . somebody forgot to tell him it was Latin Sunday! (it’s not really an N.O. Latin Mass, but we do chant all the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin). Father dashed upstairs to confer with the choirmaster to find out what he was supposed to be doing . . . . he handled it extremely well and chanted his parts with aplomb (I would say for a young priest he qualifies as “unflappable”). We even did the “Mysterium Fidei” and response in Latin, as well as the Doxology (that is new, we keep adding more and better Latin).
    And as we were chanting along, we heard somebody behind the choir singing out with enthusiasm . . . after Mass it turned out to be a seminarian friend of Father’s from Rome (Italy, not Georgia. I asked to make sure). He knew all the chant without prompting and without a script (somebody also forgot to hand out the Latin ‘cheat sheets’ for the congregation, it was just one of those days).
    And my doctor turned up — they just moved to our parish. He’s a great guy and has a very nice wife and two lovely children. Glad to welcome him aboard!
    I love our parish.

  44. KFT says:

    Ours was similar to some of the others posted. It was attention-getting that the wise did not share with the foolish. Why didn’t they share…because there are some things that can not be shared or borrowed or loaned or stolen, and a relationship with Jesus is one of those things. In Bible language, “I don’t know you” means that there is no relationship. A relationship involves more than attending Mass on Sunday and going through the motions. And some things – like a relationship with Jesus – should not be put off. He asked if we were to die today (and it CAN happen, he added) if we would be ready to meet Jesus face-to-face. He connected it with the First Reading and Wisdom. Wisdom is not just acquired knowledge, but the right ordering of things with the end (heaven) in mind.

    KAS – There was a reason you were at Mass. You may never know what it was. Perhaps it was to encourage another young mother – just by your presence. Hang in there. My 2 once stopped a homily in mid-sentence. I just wanted to crawl out under the pews.

  45. pm125 says:

    First we were reminded us that All Saints Day is one of few Holy Days of Obligation. (Maybe the power outages and storm problems from Sunday went on through Tuesday?) Then, he explained the importance of the presence of the Saints around us and how we are so well reminded by those depicted in the windows and statues. He referred to the First Reading from Nov. 1st about the curiousity of the vision of 144,000, explained that the number represents perfection, and urged us to take heart because the next thing John described was the ‘great multitude, which no one could count … ‘. All Saints being shortly followed by All Souls Day, which is our hope – and a reason to be ready and waiting.

  46. Justin_Kolodziej says:

    Went to the monthly EF Mass at the cathedral. Father preached on the Epistle, the devil being always ready to gain access to everyone’s hearts and corrupt them bit by bit if we do not constantly resist them, especially with the Sacraments. He made special mention of priests letting this happen, even though they start off with a sincere love for God little by little the devil corrupts them if they are not vigilant. Also drew a parallel to “Wherever two or three are gathered in My name”, saying that wherever they are not gathered in His name someone else is there in their midst.

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