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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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One point made in today’s homily was that when “our personal Jerusalem”, something we hold dear, is destroyed, we should keep going and make the best of it, just as the early Christians in Jerusalem were then forced to go out into the world and evangelise. :)
We believe that Jesus will come again, but we don’t know when. Are we ready to meet him? As a way to start, here is a brief examination of conscience, based on the two commandments to love God and our neighbour: how loving are my thoughts? how loving are my words? how loving are my actions? [with discussion and examples] Our hearts need to be prepared for Jesus’ coming, whenever it happens.
Fr. M. said: you can only claim to be a witness to Christ if you partake in the Holy Eucharist; if you are here on a Sunday, by the altar, during Mass and witness the Holy Sacrifice.
Father suggested that the reason we see Christmas displays in stores earlier every year is because we have a constant need for celebration in our secularized society. Rather our focus should be on God who is the source of all joy. He asked us to keep the upcoming Lenten season in proper perspective and to try to hold off on too much celebration until Christmas day when our joy will be all the greater. Admittedly, that is also hard to do in our present age.
Interestingly. Holy Church does give us several feast days during Lent in which to celebrate, such as the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Gualdalupe. And of course St. Nicholas!
Father told us that doing the corporal works of mercy only become fruitful for our salvation if they are based in the practice of the spiritual works of mercy. (And really, how many of us in our day and time go out and admonish sinners? I confess I don’t know how to do it and the words are usually lacking to me.)
Father stated that the Church has passed the threshold of persecution, and that this persecution, in time, will turn red.
Did I say Lenten! Ugh! I meant Advent, of course.
If you do not work, you do not eat. Father’s focus was on doing one’s share of work in the parish. However, this has many applications today in a world where many want/expect something for nothing. He also pointed out that prayer was a significant part of the work required. God bless our priests!
We will all face particular judgment and final judgment. Heaven, hell & purgatory.
Go to Confession!
Fr Z’s brief sermon (prior to the pastor giving an explanation about giving to the parish–which in my opinion TLM attendees should do particularly generously) was that we should go to confession for all our mortal sins. And our venial sins, which place us in danger of falling into more serious sin. Go to confession!
That the pope should be more careful in what he says so that the media doesn’t take it out of context and use it for their liberal causes. Evidently, the pope was quoted in the House just before Illinois passed the same sex marriage law.
Father took the “Bat-Kid” story (San Francisco sometime in the last week or so – Make A Wish for a young boy with leukemia, I believe) and tied it in to the Gospel. Point being that our End Times are coming (individually or collectively, sooner or later, some of us sooner than we’d care to believe) – and we should not forestall, delay or otherwise put off answering our higher calling.
On the need to be leaven for the world. The observations of the way the early Christians lived as set forth in the Letter to Diognetus.
Msgr. Frank Lane, spiritual director at Mt. St. Mary of the West seminary in Cincinnati, often serves as a guest celebrant a local “authentically Catholic” parish, St. Cecilia of the Oakley neighborhood. He is a marvelous homilist, and this weekend’s homily focused on the themes of sacrifice, materialism, and holiness. And by “materialism,” he didn’t mean consumerism, an easy target that’s been overdone. Essentially, any ideology or created thing that takes the place of God is a form of materialism; one example he cited was Jihadism. It was erudite, articulate — my son remarked at his “soothing” voice — and delivered without notes.
Today was the 25th Su after Pentecost in the Byzantine Liturgy. Father extolled us to not be selfish and to worry about spiritual treasures in heaven. The things of this world do not carry over to the next. He also mentioned that the foolish rich man was called a fool not because he was rich, but rather because of his selfishness, and that we need to avoid this.
Ot, but good news: no EMHCs today. The bishop, the parish administrator, the PV, the MC and two deacons.
+JMJ+ Having been repeatedly asked over the years “what’s going on during Mass?” by those who are relatively new to the TLM , Father’s homily addressed specifically the ‘what to do’s’ during Holy Mass offered in the Extraordinary Form. As is customary of our Pastor’s homilies, he succinctly and charitably explained (emphasizing and reading from Pope Pius XII’s encyclical “Mediator Dei”) that what Holy Mother Church has always taught and exhorted is that the ‘active’ participation by the faithful at Holy Mass be an interior participation. Father reviewed how the Extraordinary Form especially provides for, with great liberality, the faithful to assist, to participate interiorly, to meditate upon and understand that Holy Mass is, first and foremost, the Sacrifice of Christ re-presented, as opposed to simply an occasion wherein one has an opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Whether one chooses to pray Holy Mass with the Priest (i.e. using one’s Missal) or simply to meditate upon the awsomeness of the Sacrifice of the High Priest, our Blessed Lord, Father reminded us of the four ends of the Sacrifice of the Mass – Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation/Atonement, and Supplication. Father very graciously acknowledged that those who have asked him over the years the “what’s going on” question were many who were accustomed to the Ordinary Form, where the active participation of the faithful emphasized is, alas, exterior. +AMDG+
Before beginning his homily, Father mentioned that there would be the obligatory collection next week for CCHD. He then explained how CCHD still supports many pro-abortion groups, and exhorted us not to embarrass ourselves or our parish by giving money to this cause. Hoorah!
Father’s homily focused on the Gospel of the mustard seed and the leaven, pointing out how our faith is supposed to grow, and not be lukewarm. He raised the issue of people coming into church late, all the way through the homily. Saying he was often asked what was Church law regarding how late one could arrive and still be considered as having attended Mass, he stated we must follow the spirit of the law, and to do otherwise was to show contempt for God. Father kindly raised exceptions, such as family emergencies with children, but made his points very clear. Loved it! Such incredible, honest, charitable preaching is one strong reason I attend TLM with the FSSPs. God bless our priests!
I “cheated.” I used Cardinal Dolan’s farewell address to the USCCB, and how the Church is suffering throughout the world, and how we are called to be ONE Church, the Church Universal, in union with all our brothers and sisters whose situation mirrors those of the first-century Jews, and the various ways we can help.
My addition to his idea was that we should join in prayer and interior mortification, that we may be worthy to be truly their brothers and sisters.
At our EF Mass Father preached on being imitators of Christ. In advertising we sometimes see the phrase “Genuine Imitation” e.g. genuine imitation leather, which seems silly. However we are called to be a genuine imitation of Christ. We think of imitation as being artificial, however since we are created in God’s image, being an imitation of Christ is actually being closer to our true selves. He mentioned Thomas a Kempis’ little book “Imitation of Christ”, which has lots of helpful meditations on how to become more Christ like in our behavior.
I preached on nihilism and our cultural attraction to apocalyptic literature.
http://www.hancaquam.blogspot.com/2013/11/who-will-i-be-at-end.html
Fr. Philip Neri, OP
Rev’d dear @Fr Philip Neri,
thanks for the link!
I guess this is why the Order of Preachers is called Order of Preachers.
Father pointed out the origins of the readings and apocrypha. He didn’t seem to make the connection well with the readings, which I thought were set to lay out a nice homily on divine judgement. He did point out that we would take time to pray for the victims of the Philippines, and I thought “wonderful sacred silence!”. Then the overzealous choir director broke the silence with her incessant need to provide musical commentary. That is about as close as we get at that church to silence.
Father (who is the diocesan exorcist) mentioned the Papal Nuncio’s recent address to the U.S. bishops, where the papal nuncio said:
“At this point, I would like to call your attention to the words the then-Cardinal Wojtyla is reported to have given in an address during the Eucharistic Congress in 1976 for the Bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of independence. It seems to be so profoundly prophetic:
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously…”