Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point or two made during the sermon you heard for your Sunday Mass of obligation?

Let us know!

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24 Comments

  1. MrsMacD says:

    …It’s really simple. We’re like a family. A much bigger family with many different personalities but we want to complicate things with jealousy and with looking at the faults of others, ‘he doesn’t pray enough,’ or something. We need to help each other. If someone is sad, that’s my problem, if someone needs help, that’s my problem too, it’s all our problem because we’re a family, what effects one of us affects us all…

  2. Elizabeth D says:

    Bishop Morlino talked about the sheep and the goats. He made the point that the “sheep” weren’t conscious of having fed, clothed and visited the Lord; they said “when did we see You hungry?” They were not really aware of being praiseworthy. Bishop Morlino said we need to HABITUALLY care for others (ie it should be a virtue, a habit) so we do not even think about it much, we just do it. Whereas the goats were vicious and thought only of themselves, they did not have habits of caring for others.

  3. Dr. Edward Peters says:

    El mundo siempre nosdice Tomar! Tomar! Tomar!, pero Iesus nosdice Dar! Dar! Dar!

  4. MattH says:

    Attended OF, so Christ the King.
    The priest noted that since our country (the USA) had its start by separating from a monarchy, we sometimes tend to focus on negative images of kingship – a tyrant, an unaccountable ruler who acts in his own interests, and so on. Father argued that this was exception rather than the norm, and should not color our image of Christ as King.

  5. Mike says:

    On both the Last Sunday after Pentecost and the First Sunday of Advent, the liturgy exhorts us to be “stirred up” (excita) out of sin and slothfulness in preparation for the coming of the Lord as Savior and Judge.

  6. AngelGuarded says:

    The good thing I learned was not to ever again attend the Masses at my parish celebrated by the “young” 75-year-old liberal retired priest who says incessantly, “you know what I think…” during his Masses, does not follow the Rubrics, and yesterday was no exception. He said he doesn’t like the term king but did not say why. He said he heard “someone on the radio” say Pope Francis is a marxist and “if so, then I am too” sayeth Father. After the homily, I sinfully whispered in my husband’s ear, “this message brought to you by the Democrat National Committee.” Watched the Sunday Mass on EWTN later to wash it away. You know what I think? The term King is a wonderful term when it applies to our beloved Lord and Redeemer. I am happily subject to Him as my King in all things. Have to work with my King on my tolerance of the young white-haired liberal retired priest. St. Michael pray for us!

  7. Fuquay Steve says:

    EF. Father asked us pivotal questions in terms of closing out the Liturgical year. Do we truly believe in the Last Four Things? and also…Who or what do we truly follow? Are we striving for greater power, more privilege or greater prestige? Or, are we seeking a virtuous life with eternity in mind? Our core beliefs must be reflected in our life’s actions. Inspirational. If indeed we claim to attach ourselves to the deposit of Faith, we must act accordingly, with faith, hope and charity.

  8. eymard says:

    Our young Fillipino priest began by asking the origin of about half a dozen slogans of commercial establishments. Then he asked: I?sus Nazar?nus, R?x I?dae?rum. He said: This is our identity. I appreciate this because Pope Benedict has long pointed out our crisis is one of identity.

  9. AnnTherese says:

    None of us hit the mark of being sheep all the time. And probably we’re not so bad that we’re goats all the time, either. We’re most likely to be “good goats,” at best– ie, we generally go about our lives wrapped up in ourselves, our problems, our work, our relationships, our wants, etc. and often miss the presence of Christ in the person right in front of us, or in our neighborhood, or our local prison–especially those in need. When we are unaware, Christ is absent to us– this is hell in its purest form (the fire is extra!). Jesus calls us to keep our eyes, ears, minds, hearts, and hands open to Christ’s presence around us all the time, everywhere– especially in the least among us and in our enemies (furthermore–we should be searching those out so as to bring nourishment, mercy, and compassion to them). That was the good news I heard!

  10. Chris Garton-Zavesky says:

    1) False prophets are everywhere: don’t listen to them.
    2) Only God the Father knows the appointed time for the end of the world. People claiming otherwise are false prophets. See point 1.

  11. johnson2380 says:

    Christ the King Sunday was established during the inter-war period when Germany was falling apart and radical regimes were replacing stable and sensible governments. In declaring this day, we celebrate that amid all the evil, suffering, calamity we are resolved with hope, resilient in danger, and reassured by the faith-that he shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

  12. Mike says:

    Also, it bears rejoicing that, in his exegesis on excita, our young celebrant invoked the scholarly names of Lewis and Short, Deo gratias!

  13. Suzanne Carl says:

    Father Cook gave a deeply moving sermon on the need to serve others. It is an inner-city parish attended by many from outside the parish boundaries. He told us to go beyond our politics, tithing and taxes, to serve the homeless, the poor, the lonely, the elderly, the imprisoned. He also encouraged us to attend at least one non-English Mass during advent to get to know the other half of our parish family. (Masses are in English/Latin, Spanish, and Vietnamese.) He spoke of a young 11 year old in the parish who was helping distribute coats to the poor. a boy his age arrived after all of the boys’ coats were gone. The young man took off his own coat and gave it to the stranger.

    That is setting the bar pretty high for the rest of us!

  14. Supertradmum says:

    The Canon of St. Augustine said that we must daily meet the needs of those who are thirsty, hungry and so on, noting that too many Catholics have fallen into a false idea of “charity” instead of a personal caring of individuals.

    I wonder how many people listened to him carefully enough to stop and think that maybe, just maybe, Catholics in Malta should stop being socialists.

    Father said that we will not get to heaven without personal love of those in need. And, he said it should not be a one-off thing which happens merely at Christmas, like the businesses do to get tax breaks, but a day to day commitment.

    Sigh, would that this were true….there would be no homeless, no hungry, no lonely people.

  15. timfout says:

    We heard a good sermon about the two saints from India who were canonised yesterday by Pope Francis. One, the male, was the founder of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the Blessed Mother, and the Holy Family. Our associate pastor is from India and is a CMI.

  16. zag4christ says:

    Last evening’s Mass was one to remember. The sermon, unfortunately, was not. It was not because of Fr.’s inability, or lack of preparation, but due to the arrival on bicycle (which he parked just south of St. Joseph at the west end of the transept, inside the Cathedral) of a somewhat inebriated ?, mentally unstable?, extremely colorfully attired soul who placed himself in the first pew, center aisle and proceeded to give his own occasional commentary, unique and exaggerated posturing somewhat in concordance with the liturgy. Simultaneously, a loud jackhammer noise reverberated through the Cathedral, and the sound system died. Fr. is somewhat soft spoken to begin with, but with determination continued onward. Needless to say, I was in a quandary about what to do. I was trying like everyone else to concentrate on what was happening in the sanctuary, but our visitor was distracting me. Should I and several others escort him to the nearest exit? The day’s Gospel exhorts us to care for the least among us. Surely Fr. will indicate what should be done, but is he allowed to stop during the liturgy and address such a “problem”? What about that young mother with 4 young children sitting in the second pew? The children must be terrified! So I did what I have done in the previous times when similar circumstances arose. I prayed. I prayed for the man, I prayed for Fr., I prayed that I would know what to do and when to do it. The Offertory came, and the gentleman searched his clothes and jacket pockets and even the bicycle for something to contribute. During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, during the “Holy, Holy, Holy”, the visitor actually utilized “fist pumps” synchronous with the Holy’s. Kind of like being at a Charismatic celebration of the Mass. Tension was building. I must say I was not looking forward to the “Sign of Peace”. When it came, a young man strode directly up to the visitor and greeted him, and I made eye contact with the visitor. He rushed back to where I was sitting and firmly grasped my hand and said “Shalom”, which he vigorously repeated as he headed back to his seat. He then put on his jacket, walked directly to the baptismal fount sitting in front of the altar, leaned down and placed his head under the flowing water, went to the end of the transept, grabbed his bicycle and out the door he went. Fr., all altar servers, music minsters never missed a beat. After the Mass, I asked Fr. what he would like us to do in those circumstances in the future. He said,” After the week that I have had, I almost had enough of him. It is alright to be crazy during Mass, but not disruptive. If things get out of hand, call the police.”
    Peace and God bless. And always pray for our priests.

  17. Verygrateful1 says:

    Heard 4 homilies because I was using yesterday’s gospel as a test to see if the priests believe in hell. Three of them avoided the topic and didn’t have anything else interesting, but Father Simon of relevant radio was hard-hitting. His most interesting point was that the difference between sheep and goats is that goats will not follow a Shepard. They do as they please. You can listen to his homilies by going to the st lambert parish website in Skokie.

  18. Tamara T. says:

    There were two really good points at our church. The first :
    We have a newly ordained priest who knocks it out of the ball park every time.
    http://fathergerber.blogspot.com/2014/11/ferguson-homily-for-solemnity-of-jesus.html

    The second:
    My six year old grandson, who despite appearances , is really paying close attention at mass. He may look like he is fielding imaginary ground balls, catching a football pass or other sport moves crossing his busy brain but he also listens. He turned to my daughter at mass and said ” when Father talks about the goats and the rams I think “GO RAMS!”

  19. SaintJude6 says:

    Another amazing homily from Fr. W (FSSP). Chastisement, apostasy, heresy, schism, false prophets, San Francisco behaviors, etc… The whole time he was speaking, I was just thinking, “I’m so glad these get posted to audiosancto, so I can hear them again.”
    And what I love is seeing how inspired my boys are by these men (not effeminate), who are on fire for Christ and not afraid to preach the truth.

  20. medievalist says:

    In the Ordinary Form for Christ The King, Father preached on social justice. And how it was intimately connected to our worship and the Eucharist, the “source and summit” of our Catholic life. And on how we will face judgment based on how we treated the least among us. Just as Christ is veiled in the Blessed Sacrament, so He is veiled in the face of the poor.

  21. Elizabeth D says:

    “San Francisco behaviors”… that is a phrase worth remembering.

  22. Denis Crnkovic says:

    In spite of Mass being celebrated in the Ordinary form, I was quite” stirred up” (excitus in a good way) by the sermon this Sunday. Fr C—–, the young Hispanic assistant at our parish, talked about the necessity for us, as Catholics, to be public about our Faith. He noted that we have a right and an obligation to engage our faith in the public square even if our secular society makes us uncomfortable about it. In defense of this he quoted the famous campaign speech from Hilaire Belloc (Belloc had been taunted for being Catholic and having the audacity to run for Parliament):

    Gentlemen, I am a Catholic. As far as possible, I go to Mass every day. This [taking a rosary out of his pocket] is a rosary. As far as possible, I kneel down and tell these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that He has spared me the indignity of being your representative.” [Speech to voters of South Salford (1906), in Robert Speaight, “The Life of Hilaire Belloc” (London: Hollis & Carter, 1957), p. 204].

    It has been a long while since I’ve heard a priest exhort his flock to accept the graces of their sacramental Confirmation and be Catholic even when no one else is.

  23. MikeToo says:

    On the feast of Christ the King we should all be able to say Christ My King.

    Father also gave a parish report update. In the past five years we have:

    1. Expanded out outreach o the poor in our parish
    2. Started weekly adoration
    3. reintroduced in the OF Latin, bells and incense during feast days, advent and lent.
    4. Expanded adult Bible study

    Our parish has seen a 26% increase in registration and 30% increase in Mass attendance.

  24. mcdawson says:

    Main point from the sermon: Christ’s words do not mean think nice thoughts. They mean do good things.

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