Was there a good point from the Sunday sermon you heard for this 4th Sunday of Advent.
Advent, I say. It is not yet Christmas!
Let us know the good points!
PS: Yes, I am trying to get you to pay closer attention so that you can post about them here each week.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Dear Masked Chicken, thank you for pointing me to your post of 22 March, which which I largely agree. My…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Yes. Let all the poisons come out! After seeing it on TV many years ago and reading the two volumes,…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Perhaps world events are making some nervous international travelers. Personally, I would have loved to go to Poland on a…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “The bit about Claudius thinking that a return to the republic was likely or even possible may take its inspiration…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Pray for Derek Jacobi! Such a talented actor, but sadly, an irregular life.”
on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “I was wrong. It’s not a Cramnerian table. It’s a……. Ikea coffee table made to resemble a half Easter egg,…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “The BBC “radio play” of I,Claudius is also rather good. https://share.libbyapp.com/title/505092”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “To MB: THE BEST TIME was a long time ago before Paul VI and Bergoglio and their hand-chosen sycophants decided…”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “I don’t know where MB lives, but it’s objectively false to assert that the FSSP “now have a virtual monopoly…”
on 15 April 2019 – Notre-Dame de Paris: “Looking at the pictures, one can be grateful that the artist at least didn’t use this as an opportunity to…”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “@MB “When a man feels like he has something no one else can give, something essential, and no one to…”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “There was a time when if you wanted to know the miracles of the Church, the great teachings, the stories…”
on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Out of my wife and my siblings & spouses, half are not RC anymore but are probably still on the…”
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A Daily Prayer for Priests
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since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
Father shared his own experience with the overwhelming love of Mary, relating it to the concern and care she expresses for each of us through her apparitions. He called us to a personal relationship with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Interesting argument…Christmas really is about receiving…receiving God into our life.
As St Elizabeth and her infant were infused with the knowledge of just who Mary was and whom she was carrying by her fiat without ever seeing Him, so too should we hold tight with the same faith in joy at receiving our Savior.
The “Hail Mary” and the “Our Father” are, next to the Mass, the greatest individual prayers we can say, having come from both the acknowledgment by St. Elizabeth, as well as directly from Jesus, so interwoven, as they are, in the Rosary, it’s the war-hammer with which to beat back the forces of evil.
When we recite the Rosary, the choirs of angels join with us, as some mystics have seen.
The last Sunday of Advent is a time of uniting ourselves more closely with the Blessed Mother in awaiting the birth of her Son, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in absolute purity, which is the cornerstone by which we should conduct our lives.
A lot more…but this is what stuck out.
I felt like I was listening to Bernard of Clairvaux. A fantastic sermon on Christ dwelling within our hearts from baptism and if we get rid of distractions, sin and follow Mary, we shall bring Christ to others as she did. The world would change, recognizing Chrst in us as Elizabeth did. Bravo, Fr. Anthony Doe for such loving inspiration.
You know, there are a lot of holy priests out in the world….thank you God, and for Fr. Z.
Our pastor talked about what the Gospel meant to the Jewish people at the time. God had promised, through Nathan, to David that his line would be everlasting and that a Messiah would come from his descendants to return the kingdom to peace and unity.
Micah predicted the Messiah would come from Bethlehem.
When David placed the Ark of the Covenant in the temple, he danced for joy in front of it.
John, similarly danced for joy when Mary visited Elizabeth.
God’s promise to David and to the Jews was fulfilled.
Our priest spoke of the difference between shopping for and giving “presents” at Christmas, and giving “Presence”, allowing Christ to shine through us to reach others. He went on to say that the best gift the Church could give is the Liturgy with all the accoutrements together with the Sacraments.
On another note, my husband and I were involved in a serious intersection collision three weeks ago, our compact car totaled by a large SUV, hit, pushed, spun. I saw a flash of light inside the car, above the visor clip of Our Lady and then then everything came to a standstill. The car was so badly damaged that EMS responders wanted to know where the occupants of the car were? They did not believe we could have walked away from the accident with minor injuries, now healing. Our lives were spared, no doubt about that, God’s hand was upon us – the best Christmas gift we could have hoped for!
Father preached today about the Christmas tree. He said we may see that it represents the tree in the garden of Eden (hence the traditional apple decorations), but also the tree of the cross upon which Christ merited the salvation of the world, and the tree of life which St John mentions in revelation. So as the tree is at the center of our family celebration of Christmas, so is there a tree central to salvation history, beginning, middle, and end.
My homily was titled, “Too little–but not too late.” I keyed off the “too little” idea from the first reading, and Elizabeth being “too old,” and everyone being “too poor,” to talk about a contrast between the way God works and the way we think.
Then I spoke about how what Christianity is really about contrasts both with what people think we are about, and what the world is about: our values are cattywampus to the values of the world. Instead of seeing non-church people as misfits, we ourselves are the misfits.
You can read it for yourself here.
Jeannie C — so glad you are all ok after the accident.
Our priest today had a little “introduction” before the homily to express the sorrow all felt over the Connecticut shootings while reminding us all that every day thousands of children whose beautiful faces are never seen like those at Sandy Hook have been in the media and who are not buried with appropriate dignity and funeral rites like those in Newton perish at abortion clinics.
FSSP. Message?
“Go to confession, and go often, not just at Christmas to make Baby Jesus happy.”
Our priest drew attention to the fact that Mary pronounced her Fiat not fully knowing what this ‘yes’ would entail – she trusted God completely. He encouraged us to ask for the grace to be able to pronounce our own Fiat, and like Mary, allow God’s plan for our lives to unfold.
‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word’
Father Fox,
Just read your homily and enjoyed it! Good food for thought/meditation!
happyCatholic,
Thank you for your sentiments. My husband and I wondered, too, why we were spared when those innocent children and adults were not. Our priest said God must not be finished with us on earth yet, still more to work on in His name.
So, we offer the joy of our personal miracle in union with the miracle of Christ’s birth, will try harder to spread the Gospel message, definitely speak out in a louder voice against abortion and other evils, borrowing from Mary’s own words “our souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior”.
Although there are have been battles about the singing of Christmas carols in schools this year, and other marked omissions of references to God in many places and at significant times, overwhelmingly in the wake of the events in CT people begged for prayers and went to church to pray, and over and over ‘Silent Night’ was sung.
And also, when we think of biographies of important people we rarely touch upon the circumstances of their infancy. However every one of us was brought into the world willed so by God from the start from our conception. The Old Testament and the Gospels there is an historical reference to the circumstances of the conception and interaction by God with the lives created. For example Samuel, John the Baptist and most importantly Our Lord.
Dominican rite: Christmas is about the incarnation in three words, “God became man” and how over time all three simple words were distorted or denied by heresies in the past Arian, Nestorian and others; how various denials and rejections of the truth were made, but how the one truth comes through, what the importance of that it. Also how a mystery is not a rejection of reality or logic but something which we are incapable of understanding or unwilling to accept and how we should and must accept what God does and trust in it and apply it properly to our spiritual lives.
It’s wonderful to see our houses and our churches decorated, and our shops full — but do we know Whom we welcome? Christ wants to come into your soul.
The Deacon preached at our Sunday TLM/MEF. He said that when the angel announced to Mary, all in Heaven held their breath. Had she said “no”, there would be no Christmas.
We heard about prophecy, connecting the world not ending this week to those who foretold the coming of Jesus 1,000 years before he came. Father also emphasized the Visitation as a good example for Pro-Life issues as John lept in the the presence of Our Lord, even though both of them were in the wombs of their mothers.
At the parish named after St Mary we had a sermon on Mary being our teacher during the season of Advent. I can’t give this sermon justice, but the summary was to keep close to Our Lady and St Joseph to prepare ourselves for Christmas. I thanked Father Clemens for the sermon after Mass. As a bonus Father will be hearing Confessions an hour before Christmas Mass at Midnight.
I connected the “delivery” of God’s word to Micah to Mary’s delivery of The Word to the world. Focused on the fact that Micah’s prophecy was delivered 800 yrs before the birth of Christ and what a wait that was for God’s people! Talked about bit the “Where was God?” question that arises in times in crisis and answered (in part) that we can’t be both free to choose good/evil and free from the consequences of that freedom.
Read it here: http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2012/12/awaiting-his-coming-in-peace.html
Fr. Philip Neri, OP
Happy Catholic:
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it! I hope it did some good.
We are not yet ready for Christmas. John the Baptist invites us into the desert to complete our Advent. When Christmas comes, it is the octave. That is, every day of the octave is just as much Christmas as December 25.
Father mentioned that the Holy Spirit always accompanies our Blessed Mother everywhere hence if you pray to one you’re praying to the other one as well – sort of a two-for-one deal. Thus, “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
My homily today was a reminder that we can’t look at Christmas with some over pietistic, sugar coated Jesus lying in a manger. The shadow of the cross falls upon Him. He said: “a body you prepared for me” to become the Perfect Sacrifice. His Sacrifice is re-presented, not like in some movie. The Mass is the perfect time machine, that takes us back to Calvary, we stand with Mary, John and the holy women before the cross. This is Christmas and with out the Mass, Christmas is not complete. It is truly Christ’s Mass.
” Yes, I am trying to get you to pay closer attention so that you can post about them here each week.”
Fr. Z,
I laughed when I saw this as we used to “dangle” treats in front of our kids by giving a piece of chocolate for each point they could remember from the Sunday homily and readings, although the youngest only had to remember the liturgical color or perhaps a song which was sung.
Our Dominican friars just finished a 4 week meditation on the 4 last things. The final word was “shoot for heaven and hope to make purgatory, cause if you shoot for purgatory and don’t make it, well…”
From my urban parish in the Diocese of Worcester the Sunday homily was about making a sacrifice to God of something dear to us. And, it was…
Since we as Americans lovingly gave up our right to freedom of religion in order to ensure the poor are served, we should likewise willingly give up the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. And, God will ensure massacres will never happening again.
— We need a Worcester Oratory badly! — St. Philip Neri, Apostle to Rome, pray for us.
Fr focused on the words “Mary went in haste”. He stressed that if she went in ‘haste’, then it could not have been long after the Annunciation and Jesus would have only been conceived a few days before Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s. Thus, a 6 month old unborn baby, John, recognized a few day old unborn baby, Jesus. He tied this in with respecting life at all stages and a good pro-life message.
Father Ubel talked about Micah, how he’s a minor prophet, more rural focused, the population of Bethlehem when Joseph and Mary were there, the fact that it wasn’t a coincidence the census/taxes were called for at that time, David’s birthplace and related it to the number of Christians in Bethlehem, which has greatly diminished in the last 60 years.
Father preached about being a Christmas gift to someone else by being “God with us” to someone who otherwise wouldn’t have an experience of God’s love this Christmas. He tied it in to the way that Mary went and visited Elizabeth in her time of need rather than focusing on her own problems and her own changed plans.
The Gospel in the Byzantine Church was the Genealogy of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Our priest talked about why this Genealogy is important and the foundation the early christian martyrs laid for all of us.
Father focused on Mary as the ark of the new and living covenant, drawing several parallels to the OT ark (the Word of God, manna/Bread of Life, etc.), and the Biblical basis of the Hail Mary, including Gabriel’s greeting at the Annunciation and Elizabeth’s greeting during the Visitation. Father spoke of how the Israelites would take the Ark of the Covenant with them into battle and they always won, and that we should do the same by praying the Rosary. We won’t survive but a few rounds against Satan on our own in the ongoing spiritual battle, but with our own ark in the form of the Blessed Mother, how can we lose? We already know the outcome, but we must still do our part and bring the ark into battle. Father then debunked an assortment of reasons people use to not say the Rosary.