Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a GOOD point made during the homily you heard for your 7th Sunday of Easter or Sunday After Ascension (I hope) or for Ascension Thursday Sunday?

 

Let us know!

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27 Comments

  1. DianeKor says:

    Fr. Perrone discussed an angle on the period after the Ascension that wasn’t on my radar.

    I have launched a new site aimed at bringing his homilies to the web weekly in audio format, called GrottoCast. Yesterday’s homily is uploaded and he packs a lot in to 10 minutes.

    http://grottocast.com/2015/05/17/homily-of-fr-eduard-perrone-sunday-after-ascension-ef/

  2. akp1 says:

    Actually had an excellent homily about Jesus not just being true but being The Truth, he alluded to objective truth without actually saying the term. (7th Sunday of Easter)

  3. iPadre says:

    We celebrated Ascension Thursday on Ascension Thursday, so I celebrated the 7th Sunday Of Easter.

    I based my homily on the first reading and the Gospel. Through prayer, the Apostles chose the replacement of Judas and ordained him a priest of Jesus Christ. We returned to the 1st Mass, where Jesus prayed for His priests. I have seen so many priests abandon their vocations, fall away in sin and disgrace during my 23 years as a priest. What are our people doing about it? Are you praying for your priests and for all priests? No priest, no Mass, no Mass no Jesus. The lay faithful ought to be praying for their priest (s) and every priest daily. We all need to pray for even those who have been removed from active ministry, since they will also be held to a higher account.

    Pray for us priests!!!

  4. LarryW2LJ says:

    We have a dynamic, rather recently ordained priest who is “in residence” at our Church. He is chaplain at a nearby Catholic High School for boys and he assists our parish by taking on some of the Sunday Masses. Yesterday, he gave a sermon about Truth – that Jesus is the Truth, the One Truth and everything in our lives must be centered around Jesus. What was amazing about his homily was that he outright stated (and I’m paraphrasing here, because I don’t have his exact words),”And the Truth doesn’t change. 2015 years later, the Truth hasn’t changed. I know things have gotten confusing since ’64, things have been watered down and people have agendas. But I teach high school juniors everyday that there IS right and wrong, and that not everything “is OK”, that sex without marriage is wrong, and why it’s wrong and that abortion is a sin and that while we live in this world -we’re not of this world, and that someday we’re all going to have to answer to that Truth – and there is no mercy without justice”.

    It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever heard a sermon applauded. And I think for him too, because Fr. said, “Wow! This sure is a different reaction than what I got at 5:00 PM Mass yesterday.”

    Fathers, contrary to what you may have been told, or what you may think – people ARE hungering for these kind of sermons!

  5. magistercaesar says:

    The celebrant at my Novus Ordo parish was a young priest (ordained in 2013) and used the Gospel to extol us to go around and spread the truth of the love of Jesus Christ. He then lamented that since ’64 (he told me that in the Saturday Mass, he said “since Vatican II” and the congregation glared at him) Catholics haven’t been taught the truth, which is why pews are emptying (we are the largest church in the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ, even larger than the Cathedral, but we only have 2 resident priests and our Masses are never filled), and there is irreverence to the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He said that we need to learn our faith and if we have questions, ask the proper people because the world hates us. He also said to look to the faith of the disciples and Apostles. who were doubting and fearful because they went out to preach the Gospel. We, who are also doubting and fearful, must have the faith that God is with us and we must continue to learn so that we may continue to love. It was honestly the best homily I’ve ever heard in the Ordinary Form so far.

  6. LarryW2LJ says:

    magistercaesar – it appears we attend the same parish!

  7. magistercaesar says:

    LarryW2LJ, Sacred Heart, South Plainfield?

  8. MattH says:

    We celebrated the Ascension. A line that stuck with me from the homily was that those “stuck in their damnable self-sufficiency” will be unable to ascend with Jesus, but those who are willing to humbly ask for God’s help can unite themselves to Christ’s ascension.

  9. LarryW2LJ says:

    magisterceasar – Yes! And Fr. James is a breath of fresh air.

  10. Imrahil says:

    That we’re very quick to think of the other confessions when the talk is about “unity of Christians”, but this applies also (and, my addition, chiefly; though not solely) to the unity within the Catholic Church. That there are many factions within the Catholic Church: right and left, Conservatives and Progressives (he mentioned one other differentiation which I now fail to recall). (He did not speak about this factionalizing as if he liked it, but he didn’t expressly forbid it to us listeners.) But then there’s the unity which is in the Truth, and it is about being inside truth and not outside it. (The thought that by and large, though indeed not 100%, from these factions one is simply right and the other one isn’t, was, of course, merely my thought.)

    That was my second Mass (7th Sunday of Easter, OF). The first Mass used the Gospel of the Ascension (for which there isn’t reason in Germany, but… well) and quite emotionally underlined the point that the Lord is with us for all days until fulfillment. I consider this, per se, a good point and so I mentioned it here.

  11. q7swallows says:

    Well, between those two dates, we had the pleasure of Bishop Etienne of Cheyenne offering the Baccalaureate Mass for the 5th graduating class at Wyoming Catholic College. As well as his wonderful commencement address.

    In his homily, he stressed the point that truth in the Gospels never has an “s.” It’s always singular.

    When he said that, I was immediately provoked to recall one of the rather fascinating lines of the last Gospel (Jn. 1: 1-14) in the EF:

    “. . . et lux in ténebris lucet, et ténebræ eam non comprehendérunt” [“and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”] Jn. 1:5

    The nuance is not clear in English but it’s very clear in the Latin: darkness is plural. [ténebræ eam non comprehendérunt.] Evil is plural. Evil is always a hydra.

    And yet, as the bishop pointed out, the Light Who conquers it all by Himself is above and beyond it all and more powerful than any and all evil. So, the take-away: concentrate more on Him Who Is the Way, the Truth, and the Light!

    It was a great consolation in this evil-ravaged vale of tears!

    Thank you, Bishop Etienne!

  12. magistercaesar says:

    LarryW2LJ – That’s my home parish! I was Confirmed there in 2007, and I was a lector from 8th grade til I graduated from SPHS. My parents are really active with the Filipino Association. I lectored from time to time while in college since I commuted to Rutgers and I was part of the parish choir from 2013-2014. Senior year of Rutgers though (class of 2015) I started getting really active with the Catholic Student Association so I haven’t been going to Sacred Heart during the school year (went to daily Mass and sang at the Masses at St. Peter’s, New Brunswick while also bringing other students to the Traditional Latin Mass at St. John’s, Allentown). Now that my time in Rutgers is done, I have to figure out what parish I should register for lol.

  13. Mike says:

    TLM for Sunday after the Ascension at St. Martin de Porres in Taylorsville, Utah: What do we offer Our Lord beyond the hour of Holy Mass on Sunday? Consider the example of those who at some difficulty and / or peril attend daily Mass and devotions out of love for Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

  14. LarryW2LJ says:

    magistercaesar – your Mom and I were on the Pastoral council together. Congratulations on your graduation. I saw the pictures on Facebook.

  15. I preached on the coming persecution, trying to lay out some of the shocks the faithful are likely to experience in the near future. This was a homily for the Ascension. The connection was, admittedly, thin, but with a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court due soon, time is short. I pointed out, vis-a-vis the Ascension, that our call is to make Jesus, known, not make this world our home; and the Lord remains with us, especially in a suffering Church.

  16. pray4truth says:

    Dear Fr. Z, iPadre, Fr. Martin Fox, and all priests! Please be assured of our daily prayers and sacrifices for you! We love and appreciate you :-)
    Our Sunday sermon, given by the deacon, was basically, that we, as Jesus’ disciples, are to finish what He started… to keep building the Kingdom of God.

  17. magistercaesar says:

    LarryW2LJ – Thank you! Honestly, I never expected someone else from SP to be reading Fr. Z’s blog, not to mention someone who knows my mother. I think this should interest you. Fr. Jason Pavich, the director of the Diocese of Metuchen Discernment House, was ordained together with Fr. James and not only does he help out with those discerning, but he also assists with the campus ministry at Rutgers. I’m not kidding when I say that the homilies I hear from both him and Fr. James can be interchangeable. Over at Rutgers, when we hear an inspiring homily or talk, we say that person is “throwing fireballs” and I can say that so far, both Fr. Jason and Fr. James have a 100% fireball rate.

  18. Auggie says:

    q7, thank you for yet another reason to learn Latin. The nuance you mention is profound and important, and the imagery is very helpful in discussing the cultural landscape.

  19. Cafea Fruor says:

    I went to a church that’s not my parish, but I really liked the homily. Among other good points, the priest took one of the habits from “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, the habit of never beginning any endeavor without having the end goal in mind, and gave it a Catholic spin. He said that we Catholics always need to keep heaven in mind as our end or goal for everything we do, and keeping it as our goal will help us get there. He also talked about the Ascension and the existence of the Saints as being signs that heaven really is possible.

  20. Gregg the Obscure says:

    It was Ascension Thursday Sunday – and late afternoon at that – but it worked out well. It was the first Mass for a priest who had been ordained the day before. The homilist was a priest ordained two years ago – a man with great oratorical skill. He opined that there was an apparent disconnect that the Ascension is counted among the glorious mysteries of the Rosary, as it signaled Jesus’ bodily departure from us. He then quoted the Gospel which mentioned how the Lord worked with the disciples after the Ascension. He described how that occurs in the Sacraments, Jesus as the Word, the presence of the Lord in the Church and then tied it together when he expounded on the priest’s role in persona Christi.

    I had the joyous privilege of chanting the simple English propers alongside two dozen seminarians from the usually-vacant choir loft. The pastor, the usual music director and many other parishioners noticed my participation. Here’s hoping this can lead to, at the least, use of the propers for particularly solemn events at the parish.

  21. baymedlevel says:

    We had no sermon on Sunday. Father was quite I’ll, but said Mass, despite how he felt. No other priest was available to say Mass for the TLM community.
    This is very loud reminder to pray for our Pastors and chaplains.
    Thank you Rev Frs for all you do for us.

  22. truthfinder says:

    EF – a really wonderful little homily focusing on the fact that Faith is a grace, and that acknowledging Jesus as Lord is not a natural but a supernatural knowledge. Father further exhorted us to pray for the graces we might be ashamed of: to have more faith, to be willing to have more faith, graces to overcome moral weakness. He stated that we are wrong in thinking that holy people do not pray for these graces.

  23. SaintJude6 says:

    We’re very blessed to attend an FSSP parish, where every Sunday the Gospel ends, we take our seats, and the priests knock our socks off with their homilies. The homily yesterday was about the virgin martyrs, especially St. Agnes, and the importance of purity. Father used Pope Pius XII line about souls being lost due to sins against purity. He reminded everyone about iPhones and iPads being a special danger to the purity of boys. One of the other priests recently mentioned during a homily that these phones are a miniature porn theater in a pocket.
    I love the fact that our priests take the attitude that a parent must safeguard their children’s virtue, while the rest of society (even many, many Catholics) are of the view that children are going to encounter these things eventually, so parents should let them encounter it now.

  24. Aquinas Gal says:

    For 7th Sunday of Easter: Father made a good point that in electing Matthias, the apostles made the best of a bad situation. Yes, Judas had betrayed Jesus. But we live in a world of sin, and that continues today. Sometimes all we can do is make the best of a bad situation. We may not be able to change the sins of others, but we can keep on renewing the faith, passing it on to others, etc. Life on earth will never be ideal. If we expect that we are doomed to disappointment.

  25. SummerMarigold says:

    We had our judicial vicar as guest celebrant and he delivered a powerful homily on the goodness of the human body. He ended with commentary on a Fulton Sheen quote about the antichrist coming as a priest but with a perfect body, whereas the true Christ, the true priest, bears with him the scars of our sins and his sacrifice. I was firmly opposed to celebrating the Ascension on Sunday until I heard his homily and was thoroughly impressed by how many people needed to hear the Ascension message.

  26. Gail F says:

    The visiting priest said that it is wrong to think that because Jesus ascended, He is no longer with us, and that many Christians in various denominations believe it does mean that. That’s the part I remember most.

  27. Gratias says:

    Something along the lines that the Holy Spirit communicated the will of the Father to Christ and after Ascension to the Church. Regardless of what was said, a Missa Cantata is worth the 100 kilometer Sunday drive; makes one feel close to Heaven. Fortunately the road is paved all the way.

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