Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard this Sunday?

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19 Comments

  1. andia says:

    Father Dave talked about the feast of Divine Mercy and it’s importance to us. It was very healing to hear.

  2. Bea says:

    Being Mercy Sunday, our celebrant spoke on Mercy.
    Christ died for our sins without our deserving it.
    He loves us without our deserving it.
    We must imitate Christ in being merciful, forgiving and loving and doing good for others.
    Love is not in the emotions but in our deeds.
    He then gave examples of fathers and mothers loving and doing good for their children even when they are tired, discouraged etc.
    He also gave us a question: what would we do if we came across a man who had done us wrong, betrayed us, maligned us or spoken ill of us, if we came across him on an abandoned road and he had a car breakdown. Would we drive on by or would we stop and help him?
    We must be merciful not because somebody deserves it but because he is in need of our mercy.

  3. NancyP says:

    At our “second home” parish (formerly our emergency backup parish, but now more than that), the pastor talked about how poorly informed many Americans are about the Catholic faith, even basic things like the meaning of Easter and Christmas. He was very persuasive when he stated that we sound like the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons (“Blah-blah-blah”) if we talk about more complex issues to people who have never been given the opportunity to learn about the basics of Christianity. As we celebrate the Easter season, he said, we should bear in mind that there are many levels of understanding out there – and we should be ready to meet people where they are. This ties into Divine Mercy and the upcoming Holy Year – God’s message of mercy can be lost in the squabbling amongst Catholics, at times, but it’s up to us to bear that important message to others.

    Also, said parish is planning a big Corpus Christi celebration, with a procession. Lovely!

  4. bartlep says:

    Divine Mercy and confession: how to and frequently!

  5. guans says:

    Jesus, I trust in you.

  6. Andreas says:

    It was Weiße Sonntag (Dominica in albis) and during his homily (Predict), our much beloved Father Simon reminded the four children taking their first communion about the meaning of the Eucharist and that Christ is always with them. Turning to the parents, he strongly urged them to remember their roles and responsibilities as Catholic parents and that they and their children should attend Mass together each Sunday.

  7. Persistant says:

    Our priest talked how it was not only Thomas who was unfaithful, all the aposttoles had their doubts, but they found faith. The same is with us today. We have Living Christ in front of us in each and every Mass, when bread and wine become his body and blood, and like Thomas, we can see him, and say to him: “my Lord and my God”.

  8. iPadre says:

    Based my OF homily on the Gospel. Jesus burst through the locked doors of the Apostles & disciples two times. He burst through during their fears and doubt. Jesus wants to burst through the door of our hearts to break down our fears of living/ proclaiming our Catholic Faith in today’s hostile world. He wants to burst through the door of our hearts to wipe out all doubt in the truth of the Real Presence, the physical Resurrection of Our Lord, and any other doubt we/ our people may have. We need to take every advantage of the Year of Mercy to fortify our faith and bring it to the world around us. Because as Jesus said to St. Faustina, “after the time of mercy will come my hour of justice.” Be prepared, be ready!

  9. I talked about the Divine Mercy message, pointing out it echoed the 1600s’ Sacred Heart revelation — both to religious sisters. So I made the case for the need the Church has for men and women to enter religious life, pointing out how much impact Faustina (and the Little Flower and Mother Theresa) had by “merely” giving her life to intense prayer.

    I also made the point that in order to give mercy, that is, to be able to forgive (something many struggle to do), we must see ourselves as having been generously forgiven.

    Along the way I also made the point that mercy doesn’t mean much if we don’t honestly confess we are sinners.

  10. MikeToo says:

    Father started with an etymology of the word misericordia being sure to point out that the beginning of mercy is a pity for those who are suffering. He spoke about the source of our suffering which is our sin. Forgiveness of sin is the way we start to alleviate suffering. He mentioned the authority to forgive sins which was given to the apostles and passed down to the bishops through apostolic succession. He explained the delegation of the bishop’s authority to priests and the difference between ordained priests and the general priesthood of the laity. He was sure to mention the importance of having faithful dedicated priests for reconciliations. For the general priesthood of the laity we exercise our priesthood by an imitation if Christ which brings Christ’s mercy to the world. When we love with a divine love it is proof that God is acting in the world for it would be impossible for us to love this way without grace.

  11. momoften says:

    In a nutshell how insane it is for people NOT to go to confession frequently and not
    occasionally if even that. God is so merciful, yet we don’t acknowledge it by lack of confession.

  12. Crbtre says:

    I would say I had a homily that veered pretty close to scandal. The good Deacon mentioned how Vatican II was an opening to God’s mercy and the Council of Trent was a time of condemnation. He also mentioned how Christian bakers should not bake cakes for remarrying heterosexual couples in order to be fair if they don’t want to bake cakes for same-sex weddings. His real solution however was that the bakers should bake two cakes rather than none to show that they are being”merciful” towards the scandalous sinful “wedding”, rather than stand up against sin as we are called to. Pretty disappointed.

  13. truthfinder says:

    Father’s homily was good (EF) and since my memory is failing me a bit right now, I’ll say the part that stood out to me was his telling us that we should not fool ourselves into thinking we do not need God, the Church, and the sacraments (and particularly Sunday Mass). He clearly stated that we need to go to confession. I know he linked the Gospel in some way to showing the presence of the church. I was actually surprised there was no mention at all of Divine mercy, but it was a good homily.

  14. Tim in Dixie says:

    The deacon gave a homily on faith. Then immediately after that, father call him and his wife forward and renewed their 35th wedding vows! One of the few times I’ve clapped during Mass.

  15. Polycarpio says:

    In depth discussion of St. Faustina’s vision of Hell, presented to show how the backbone of “mercy” is the good-old salvation of souls. Unfortunately, Fr. ran out of time and did not get to all the points he wanted to hit, but the basic point was starkly laid out.

  16. JuliB says:

    Father made many good points, talking about St. Sister Faustina, and how God revealed himself to uneducated, simple people. I wish I could have taken notes, but he ended with talking about how when he was younger, the lines for the confessionals would be very long (except for the priest who would yell at people).

    But then confession was forgotten as a Sacrament and now people don’t confess. He ended by saying ‘God have mercy on us’ immediately. I feel that he was asking God for mercy especially for priests and bishops who don’t stress confession. I was a little choked up.

  17. TxBSonnier says:

    Our Deacon talked about indulgences- what they are and are not, how and why to get them and for people to GO TO CONFESSION as that is the normal way of us receiving God’s great mercy.

  18. David says:

    Father made two good points 1) asking us if we were being “Jesus” to the people in our lives, that is, are we being generous in our forgiveness? 2) For the first time ever in 21 years as a (convert) Catholic, father, immediately before distributing communion, admonished the faithful to NOT leave immediately after receiving the body and blood of our Lord. He was a visiting priest and said that the last time he was at this parish he made the same statement and a parishoner came up to him and said, “Who are you to tell me what to do after receiving communion?” He responded to her (and obviously, to everhone at mass) that he “…is a priest, a minister, a shepherd and a brother.” He said it all with such gentle passion that it was very touching to hear. I’m sure he ruffled a few feathers again, but it’s something that needs to be said. He is also preaching a mission at the same parish this week and made a point of telling the standing room only crowd (which was impressive to see) that it is also unfathomable that people arrive late to mass. (Of course, there are extenuating circumstances and Ed Peters had a great post recently about when is it ‘too late’ for mass to ‘count’. This was very helpful to me as I can’t always get my 7 kids to mass right on time). But, he was obviously speaking to those who have the ability to be on time but don’t make it a priority. It was great to hear father speak with such commitment and passion about such fundamental issues!

  19. cdnpriest says:

    In my homily (Ordinary Form), I spoke about the importance of St. Faustina’s message in reviving (not inventing!) the Church’s constant belief in the Mercy of God, and how it is erroneous to see (as some do) the God of the Old Testament as a God of justice and the God of the New Testament as a God of Mercy. There is only one God, who is infinitely merciful and infinitely just at the same time. I spoke about the difference between justice and mercy, and how the two are not mutually exclusive in God.

    We had special Divine Mercy prayers at our parish at 3 pm on Sunday, so I didn’t repeat all that I was going to say then. The talk that I gave then focused on Divine Mercy more directly. In the homily at Mass, I brought out one particular aspect of God’s Mercy as it pertains to the Gospel (“doubting Thomas”). I showed how leading someone from darkness into Light, from error into Truth, and ultimately from disbelief into Faith, is a tremendous act of mercy (and part of the spiritual acts of mercy, in fact), and how Our Lord did just that with the Apostle Thomas — and how He desires that we do the same with others.

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