Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point you gleaned from the sermon you heard as you fulfilled your Sunday obligation?

Let us know.

Meanwhile… for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost… whether there are good points in it or not…

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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44 Comments

  1. Imrahil says:

    1. The multiplication of the bread was an actual miracle (as opposed to those who think this is about sharing, etc.). First, the evangelist says that “they had nothing with themselves” and he did not lie; second, if it were only about sharing, then there wouldn’t, at least, have been seven baskets remaining. [Because – my words now – people would at least have kept that part of their own to themselves what was not needed.]

    2. Christ, when multiplying the breads, was doing a work of charity, not justice. One might think he “had to because he could”, but that is not true as God is the Lord of live and death and does not owe anything to his creatures.

    3. Why did He do it? To fill us with trust in his abundant goodness. (Fr. added some nice reflections about there being a “More” of goodness, which actually is a “Sea” of abundance – the two words are homophones in German.)

  2. jltuttle says:

    The homily focused on how we are strong in our weakness and that this is good now because the Church’s teachings are unpopular. I think he mistakes cowardice for weakness though, because I have yet to hear a word about the Obergefell decision or so called “gay marriage” generally.

  3. Siculum says:

    Yes, good points today. We heard the visiting/substitute priest deliver an extremely moving and fantastic homily on marriage, also citing extensively the bishop of Savannah, GA, a high school classmate of his, who had responded to the SCOTUS decision quite eloquently himself. Like you had, Father Z, he reminded us how this changes nothing about the anthropological, natural, and moral realities, from which none of us can escape. The priest followed up, however, with his personal experiences of his own mother and father while he was growing up, and shared rich stories of how they would interact with each other in the day-to-day, clearly demonstrating the unvarnished love and loyalty they had for each other, even when things were far from perfect. And, as he pointed out, they weren’t even that pious. At times, he had the congregation laughing, and at other times, irresistably tearing up. The priest also told the congregation he had had a heart attack a month ago and to please forgive him for maybe not doing as well as he could have, after not having said Mass publicly for weeks, and to pray for him as he wasn’t very steady on his feet. Well, he did an excellent job, and you could have heard a pin drop during his homily. The pastor of this parish, while a nice man, normally doesn’t touch anything this in-depth.

    Note to priests who haven’t unabashedly defended marriage from the pulpit yet: We’re waiting. Some of us may disagree and make you be white martyrs, and others aren’t very tuned in to the deeper theology and politics of everything, but we’re listening to you nonetheless.

  4. pj_houston says:

    God will not be mocked (e.g. lighting of the White House in rainbow colors). It will be up to the faithful Catholic pewsitter to start making voluntary reparations for what is happening in our country, in order to hold back the wrath of God (referenced COL 1:24). Good stuff!

  5. Gail F says:

    Nobody believes prophets in their home towns, so don’t be surprised if no one believes you. The important thing is that they know a prophet has been in their midst, so you should speak about what is true. He specifically mentioned marriage, religious liberty, and pro-life causes (abortion, euthanasia, and the worth of the lives of the disabled). He also said that Paul wrote his letter from jail, and that prophets often suffer but the Word of God can’t be chained. GREAT homily.

  6. maryh says:

    Father said that all the faithful are called to be prophets, which means saying things God wants us to say, even if they’re not popular. Being a prophet isn’t something where we can just sigh in relief that we weren’t called to do THAT, because in our baptism we were consecrated as priests (which means we offer prayers), prophets (which means we tell people what God wants them to hear, like Ezekiel, even if people are rebellious and stiff necked), and royal (I forgot what he said, but it seemed correct to me). Father tries to use gender neutral terms, or use terms like “brothers and sisters” when referring to people. In other words, he doesn’t refuse to call God “Father”, etc.

    Then he quoted VII about Mass being the summit of Catholic practice, and about how only thirty-some per cent of Catholics go to Mass. Then he pointed out how little difference there is between Catholics and the American population at large on matters where the Church’s teachings conflict with society. His examples included abortion, contraception, marriage and the environment.

    We need to be ready to call people we know who have fallen away back to Mass, and talk about the other things, or whatever God is calling us to do.

    He said that of his duties as a priest (implying the ordained kind) that he found this one of the hardest ones.

    He didn’t go so far as to directly tell us to oppose same sex “marriage”, but I kind of like keeping it open to ALL the redefinitions we’ve had of marriage, most of which were not imposed by the scotus.

    I know this was hard for Father, (not because he doesn’t believe what he says but because he doesn’t like to upset people), so I was sure to tell him that I liked his sermon, and that we need to bring people back together. We’re a fairly (by some standards very) liberal parish, so I think this took a great deal of courage.

  7. PA mom says:

    Having also heard a “be a prophetic people” sermon, where we were encouraged to not simply beat people over the head with how right we are but to ‘listen’, I realized that I was being called to be prophetic right then and there.

    I briefly introduced myself as a rel. ed teacher of junior high students, then mentioned how much listening I find that they truly do.

    Of course, only the secular world is speaking, WHILE OUR PRIESTS REMAIN SILENT on the beauty of true marriage , so… the youth are ‘listening’ their way right OUT OF THE CHURCH.

    Then I told him that I hoped his next sermon would cover THAT so as to give them the choice of who to listen to.

  8. djc says:

    The Deacon summarized his homily by saying to remember these five words: Don’t be afraid & Have faith.

  9. oldconvert says:

    Another cracking homily [“cracking”is English for “great”] on the duty of all Catholics to be a prophet, also why not witness our faith by simple actions, such as signing oneself and saying Grace before a meal in a restaurant.

  10. The Masked Chicken says:

    “The Deacon summarized his homily by saying to remember these five words: Don’t be afraid & Have faith.”

    That’s six words :)

    The Chicken

  11. Elizabeth D says:

    The Cathedral Rector started off about how the 4th of July is a celebration of Americans as rebels–against despotic, incompetent King George III! But although their beliefs varied (the Declaration of Independence was signed by Protestants, Deists, and one Catholic) they explicitly did not intend to rebel against God, as he showed by quoting from the Declaration of Independence, which refers to the laws of nature and of nature’s God, and appeals “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.” America has long been a very good environment for the Church because of her principles of religious freedom, indeed the Church has wound up better here than in Europe where in many places (one automatically thought of Germany) there was a complicated enmeshment of Church and state that affected people’s relationship with the Church; in the United States the Church existed and thrived because the faithful themselves chose to be part of it and build it up. However, America’s record of supporting religion while remaining neutral to particular religions and their free exercise is rapidly being left behind. Our message is increasingly unwelcome. But the Church has shone brightly in times of persecution.

    He then spoke about the first reading in which Ezekiel is called to be a prophet to the rebellious house of Israel, and the Gospel, in which the people of Jesus’ native place say “is this not the carpenter’s son?” and He is not able to do many mighty deeds because of people’s lack of faith. God asked Ezekiel to be a prophet but did not promise that he would be listened to. And even Jesus is disrespected, casually dismissed out of over-familiarity as His Church often is in the increasingly post-Christian age. Monsignor quoted St Teresa of Calcutta as saying that “God does not require that we be successful but only that we be faithful.” And this is a call to us today.

  12. Emilio III says:

    It was a NO Mass, so for Sunday of the 14th week of ordinary time. Gospel reading was Mark 6:1-6 “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country.” Our youngest parochial vicar (ordained last year) spoke about prophets, their office and their difficulty in getting the world to accept the word of God.
    I thought he went just a bit too long, and as he transitioned into “modern day prophets” I’m afraid that I dreaded what was coming. But no, his great but dishonored modern prophet was Paul VI with Humanae Vitae, whose wisdom on that subject is becoming clearer each day.

  13. Terentia says:

    The priest spoke about Jesus being rejected by the people who knew him and took the time to explain that “brothers and sisters” meant any relative not just what we would call siblings. Mary was and remained a virgin. He also spoke about the Declaration of Independence being on display under glass and we can walk right up to it. But what if it wasn’t under glass but was a very long scroll that we could sign, adding our names right under the pledge of ‘our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” How would that change our relationship and responsibility to the Declaration? Would we sign? He then asked, “What about the Gospel? Would we be willing to publicly sign the Gospel? All of it?”
    The first Sunday after Obergefell, he announced that he would not address this from the pulpit but was in the process of producing a written statement. That statement was in today’s bulletin. It was 2 full pages of the clear teaching of the Church on homosexuality in general and same sex “marriage” in particular. Other than his complete certainty that our freedom of religion will never be violated, I was very happy with it. I just don’t share his trust in the government.

  14. Bea says:

    Multiplication of the loaves:
    Noted that it was 7 items (5 loaves and 2 fish): the number of perfection.
    He personally did not distribute the loaves and fish.
    He blessed them and then sent His apostles to do it.

    Like with Moses in the desert:
    “And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you: let the people go forth, and gather what is sufficient for every day” Exodus 16:4
    Note that the Lord said to Moses: “I will rain bread from heaven FOR YOU” and then the people were to go forth and gather.
    A precursor of what a priest would do. Bring down the bread of heaven (God, Himself) in Holy Communion (Our daily Bread) and distributed by those God sent (Priests and Bishops).

    This the celebrant explained in a very short sermon at a private Mass but expounded further over a group of us at breakfast.

    I, myself, gathered that when the people approach and gather it would/could be as when people approach the communion rail to receive our Lord.

  15. Sliwka says:

    Father used St Paul’s thorn as an example of what can befall us when we do clearly speak the Truth in our society that has such animosity to the Church but we must bear those wrongs with joy.

  16. Warren says:

    “Priests can be prone to acting like entertainers. … ‘we want to be popular’. The situation has been exacerbated since the 1970s when Mass started to be celebrated facing the people. Though that orientation was never intended by the Council, it has become widespread. The focus must always be on Christ.”

    Comments made in the context of a homily about holding fast to Church teaching, that we must be ready to be called bigots for defending the teaching of Christ. It’s “Pride” week in our town, and our good rector spoke eloquently about the Catholic witness in the midst of such a “celebration”.

    Also, due to several regional forest fires, the sky is an ominous coppery hue and the sun is darkened, facts the rector alluded to in his homily. The moon will likely be (blood) red tonight.

  17. Vincent says:

    OF: a similar sermon to those already mentioned about being a ‘prophetic people’: Father developed this by quoting from Humanae Vitae, then exploring how and why the collapse of the Catholic family has happened since the 1960s; he talked about how the father is the king of his household, of the need for mothers to be queens, backing up their husbands, of the need to discipline children.

    The central theme was that rebellion, in all forms, against legitimate authority (parents, church, government) is something that comes directly from the devil, an opposition to God’s will. He backed this up with evidence from more or less every part of current social mores. He was on fire! I’ve never ever heard a sermon so clearly about the errors of contemporary culture. It covered sin, heaven, hell, death, judgement, sex, pornography, soft Catholicism, etc.

    He finished Mass (not part of the sermon, but important none-the-less) by advising taking St Thomas More for our model in every day dealings with homosexual persons – silence and discretion. Here in England employment law does not protect one’s right to free speech, so it is advisable to be careful.

    On a related note, I have increasingly felt that in the Church over the past year, the battle-lines have been drawn. People are choosing sides – orthodoxy v liberalism. This is my local parish although only the second time I’ve been (there’s an EF relatively nearby, but the car is… dying), and although not *really* liberal, the Mass is only Canon II, etc. I suspect that we are in the final act of whatever play we’ve been part of for the last fifty years. Where we will go, who knows. But interesting times!

  18. Charivari Rob says:

    Excellent job from Father today.

    He spoke of a recent visit with friends whose wedding Mass he celebrated ~40 years ago, and the woman’s disagreement with the recent SCOTUS gay marriage ruling and her concern over her adult children’s agreement with the ruling. Father pointed out the parallels of her being someone speaking the Truth who is not honored in her own land (in particular, in her own family).

  19. Br. Augustine of Nubia says:

    A great Sermon from a visiting Salesian Missionary priest.
    He was very happy to have a Latin Mass. He was visiting from Tanzania.
    His message was that we should be detached from worldly things in order to come closer to God. We must trust in God’s providence and be not afraid.

    We are very lucky to have such a great visitor. His last posting was as a Latin teacher in a Seminary in Tanzania.

  20. Skeinster says:

    As a follow-up to last week’s sermon on becoming holy via prayer, penance and not giving place to the devil, Fr.’s topic was suffering: Why We Suffer and How to Profit by It.
    God permits us to suffer to imitate Christ and to perfect our love for Him. How we accept, or reject, suffering will make a difference in our eternal life.

  21. Elizabeth R says:

    Father started by reading Archbishop Kurtz’s statement on the SCOTUS decision, then went on to discuss the situation in more detail. (We had a visiting Priest last week, who did not mention the subject.) He ended by reminding us that Jesus, for his love, was crucified.

  22. Kathleen10 says:

    Hell has apparently frozen over. Our visiting deacon gave an unabashed homily on the SCOTUS decision. He hit all the important points, and if I hadn’t been so stunned I might recall more of it. He spoke for about ten or fifteen minutes, and affirmed marriage as between one man and one woman, that homosexuality is gravely disordered, that people believe they are in love but are misled, and so on and so forth. He was just awesome. About three or four people got up and left during the homily, but after Mass the deacon was thanked profusely by a number of people, so he got good feedback which I am sure got back to the pastor, who also was present.
    Oh, for authentic Catholic teaching each week. What must that be like! We had a little bit of that today and we want more.

  23. djc says:

    @The Masked Chicken,

    Don’t be afraid-have faith.

    LOL.

    djc

  24. PhilipNeri says:

    We are a nation in rebellion against God. Time to fulfill our vows to be prophets!

    http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2015/07/when-i-am-weak-then-i-am-strong.html

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  25. Bethany says:

    Father spoke about the loss of Catholic vocabulary in recent years. He referred to the collect (“grant us an increase of true religion”) and the virtue of religion and how most practicing Catholics would not know what that means along with many other Catholic terms we have lost.

  26. Well, in today’s homily, Father managed to condemn, abortion, gay marriage, and co-habitation all in the same homily. We should not be afraid to be prophets for the Faith. A nice change of pace from a normally liberal parish.

  27. zag4christ says:

    Today at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, the homilist was Fr. Curtis Seidel. He is a new parochial vicar. The rector, Fr. Darren Connall, welcomed him to the Cathedral by having him preach all the homilies today.
    He began by contrasting today’s Gospel with last week’s. He noted that last week every one wanted to be near Jesus, but this week, when He went to visit the people He grew up with, no one wanted anything to do with Him, in fact, they criticized Him. His main point was to caution us to not take our faith for granted. He then introduced himself to the parish by sharing with us his path to the priesthood. Born in Billings Mt. to a Catholic family, his mother asked him to attend college for 1 year, and he happened to land at Gonzaga University when Fr. Spitzer was president. He allowed that he was never knocked off his horse by the Holy Spirit, but he learned to be open and to listen for God’s knocking on his window. He appears to have a devotion to the Eucharist, and has dedicated his life to bringing people to Christ.

  28. Nightcrawler says:

    We got a new priest today. He reminded us that we will be persecuted for speaking the truth. That we are pro life and for marriage as God intended. For the first mass, he hit a home run!

  29. JayDeee says:

    We also got an excellent homily on speaking the truth about men and women and their differences being part of God’s design of creation. He also said that nature and biology also make it plain to those who aren’t interested in the Bible what the order of things is. He urged care and respect for every human being, but that we are to speak the truth. However, he said, it is not up to us to convince, but to give testimony.

    He also addressed clearly the case of “what about aged people who marry, or people who simply cannot have children, etc.” as an objection to one woman/one man as marriage. He said in those cases the married couples are still “expressing procreation,” even though children do not result. I think that phrasing is a little more understandable to those who would hear the “ordered to” explanation but find that language too abstract.

    This is a young-ish priest, just under 40. He celebrates Mass in the N.O. but with much care and precision. I went to two of the three Masses this weekend and didn’t see anyone walk out. :-)

    This is in the Diocese of Richmond, Va., where I am glad to say our bishop (DiLorenzo) together with Bishop Loverde very promptly put out a good statement when the court decision came down. That statement was printed and included in our bulletin this week.

  30. Mike says:

    The feeding of the four thousand not only echoes our daily bread provided by God our Father, but Christ’s mercy and merits through the providence of the Holy Cross — particularly as received in a good Confession (no matter how slender our contrition, so long as it be genuine) and in the Holy Eucharist.

  31. capchoirgirl says:

    Father talked about freedom in an excellent homily, using the first reading and the Gospel (Jesus preaching in his hometown, from Mark) as his starting points. He said we are always free to turn away from God, like the people in the readings, but God created us to turn toward Him. He wants us to use our freedom to become more like Him, more like Christ. We can choose to abuse that freedom, of course–but that’s a detriment to what we were created to be.

  32. Toan says:

    From a newly ordained priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, we got an awesome homily on being prophets, particularly related to the nature of marriage. He called the supreme court ruling tragic, said governments are incapable of re-defining it, highlighted the right of kids’ to have a mother and father by quoting Pope Francis saying the difference and complementarity of marriage is important, encouraged us to set an example by living out good marriages, and more. Great stuff.

  33. benedetta says:

    Our erudite homilist spoke of the need to get out of what seems comfortable in realizing the Way, the Truth, and the Life. How our comfortable ways of thinking may not be best for us. As he spoke of the response of some to the “We know this man — isn’t he the carpenter’s son”, suddenly affixed in my brain with little escape was that old popular song of some time ago, essentially now for me just an earworm, that went along the lines of this in the refrain: “What if God was one of us, just a slob like one of us?”

    Sometimes I think that to live in a state of fearful vigilance, anxiety about the future, and over defended preparation is to live according to a certain well defined parameter and comfort zone. True, we get that without that vigilance we could feel more free, more at liberty, more able to go forward and live the way we ought. At the same time in these days I often consider the extent to which our preparations and defendedness actually restricts our ability to interact meaningfully with one another as Christians.

    I know that we often recall how St. Peter betrayed the Lord in his fear, that nearly all but the Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene and St. John the Beloved Apostle all pretty much fled and betrayed in the grip of totally understandable human fear. It is certainly a comfort to comprehend that in the grip of that situation, no one stood by Him, no one was true to their call, virtually, and so then we take some comfort in the idea that however we behave in the grip of fear that we could technically be absolved of that. I do not have any quarrel with that notion whatsoever.

    At the same time however, with the 20/20 hindsight as it were, that the Gospel affords us today, we understand that we have the benefit of something greater that St. Peter and the others did not have. We understand the power that compels us onward to be a different power, something far greater than even the called 12 would have known well and which animated their going out from town to town over a certain period of time when He walked with them.

    Rightly so, some may identify the spirit of St. Paul’s is perhaps more the one we should look for during these times for guidance as to how to behave and comport one’s self as a Christian and with reference to the larger Christian community, which is always at the same time both local and universal, wherein one lives and makes their life.

    I don’t disagree with so many much more qualified than I am to speak to the matter that St. Paul was tough, there were few tougher, ever, undoubtedly. And yet. In his visits and friendship with the various local communities which he helped to develop and called upon, and even, or perhaps even particularly when, he had a message to convey which contained a nugget of a hard truth, which generally did not touch upon how one should be prepared to deal with the occupying state, but rather had to do with how they were to interact with one another, in liturgy, and in the concrete details of living together, he really favored a tone, from his salutation to his farewell, more in line with, solicitude, tenderness, love. No, I am not referring to “luv” or whatever it is that the kids these days use as a word referring to other things and it is even with them rarely “love” or even “luv”.

    I think that it is very tempting indeed when one feels very persecuted or put upon by circumstances which try the patience to attempt to show the world and one another the very toughest face possible, to talk glibly of “hate” and what it’s all about, to show our material and spiritual preparedness, and in short to draw the shades and attend only to the matters in immediate reach.

    But of course that is inconsistent with the commission that we have received. If we were eternally living in Holy Saturday, then, such a way of proceeding as a believer among believers could be understood. But, praise God, we are not living there. I do not think what I am saying is at all at odds with the whole of the Gospel, or with a great number of things Christ said and taught.

    Perhaps though we are still waiting for that call in order to know that it is safe to check on an old friend, to inquire as to how one is doing, to be the first to ask for forgiveness and reconcile, to check on the members of our faith community, even if they are not exactly to our own personal preferences in every single way imaginable, and to show some small action in solidarity, with that tenderness of the toughest. I think that “they will know by this that you are my disciples” and Letter to Diognetes still apply. They apply now as ever and perhaps in these particular times on the Earth even more so.

    I think of Luke 7:23 when I consider yesterday’s Gospel. “Blessed is anyone who is not scandalized because of me.” We have very comfortable expectations as to how things are to play out. Our enemy(ies) similarly have some expectations, and surprise, a confident, gratuitously loving, bold as love shocking through the stupor surprise agape caritas is our very best and most reliable weapon against what these times are about. It won’t be our material or other preparedness. Indeed I will even go so far as to assert that a spiritual preparedness that forgets how to love one’s neighbor truly within one’s own simultaneously local and universal Catholic church is deeply flawed and only makes us that much more vulnerable to what we know is here and is increasingly coming.

    I cannot take credit for “discovering” it out of the blue, but last Advent I was edified and encouraged to read something that I think states my point here much better and much more beautifully and according to a profound Christian witness more than I could ever hope to do. I happened to be listening to a homily from a social media feed of a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, one of the founding members actually, who had posted a weekday homily wherein he referenced this book: This War is the Passion by Caryll Houselander. Recognizing that the times are indeed evil, I can only say with every core of my being with GK Chesterton and Caryll Houselander that we are to make of our faith an oblation of love. We should be prudent and go through the steps to secure home and livelihood and needs of others, but the fact of registering what is happening should then not deter us from going out as Bl. Mother Teresa to reverence others in whatever ways we find them, one friend in Christ at a time.

  34. Boots says:

    The sermon at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Baker City Oregon was good. Many points the same as above, and focusing on the pride of doing things ourselves instead of relying on God.

    The GREAT THING though was the letter that Bishop Liam Cary had read at every Mass in the diocese. I’m still tracking it down but it was probably the strongest message that I’ve yet heard about the Supreme Court redefining marriage.

    Will post a link when I come across one.

  35. Del says:

    Sermon for “Independence Day weekend”:

    Prepare for persecution. Prepare for white martyrdom. Prepare to open your hearts and wallets to help a family who loses their income for daring to speak the truth.

    Prepare for persecution. It is coming. Indeed, it is already upon us. Decide now if you are going to stand up for the trial.

  36. MrsMacD says:

    Sermon on how Our Lord’s feeding the 5000 was a similitude to spiritual food and that we should pray our morning prayers every morning. We get up and want to serve ourselves first. What did you do first thing this morning? I had a shower. Ah! Then there is your problem! If you start like that then you will get dressed and have a cup of coffee and before you know it, I have to go to work! I have no time to pray. That is your problem! The saints, and especially Saint Teresa of Avila said when I get up in the morning I pray one hour and when I have too much to do I pray two! I promise you, if you get up in the morning and kneel down at the side of your bed and pray your whole life will change and everything around you!

  37. Geometricus says:

    Fr. Bauknecht FSSP riffed (in a rather Father Z-like manner) on the word insere found in the EF collect, telling us that the Church is like a garden in which God plants the love of his name, and paitiently grows virtues in us when we avail ourselves of his grace throught the sacraments. Father B. emphasized God’s ability to turn everything to good for us, even our sins, even the sins of others. This invokes Romans 8:28, not a part of the Epistle for Dominica VI Post Pent., but coming up in 3 weeks or so (I looked ahead in the missal). I was very convicted and encouraged by what he said while I waited in a long line to go to confession.

    Also in reading Matins in the trad. office, I came across words of St. Ambrose (Bk. vi. on Luke ix) that seems to anticipate Dostoyevsky’s discussion in Brothers K. about Jesus feeding the multitude: “…consider who they were unto whom He gave [food]. He gave it not to such as dwell at ease, not to men in cities, not to such as sit in places of worldly splendour, but to men seeking Christ in a desert place.” In other words, Christ was not merely feeding the hungry as part of some earthly welfare program, or to gain political favor from the multitude, but only to sustain their seeking Christ under conditions of physical, emotional or mental hardship. Ambrose concludes: “And if any bear in them the running sores of fleshly passion, He healeth them.” May it ever be so!

  38. Clinton R. says:

    The priest at my parish gave a rousing homily on how we as Catholics must preach the Gospel and be strong in our faith no matter how contrary the laws of the nation are to the teachings of the Catholic Church. He said just as God commanded Ezekiel to proclaim His Word, we must in our time faithfully proclaim His Word as well. Father concluded his homily by stating we must do so even if it is to the point of death. He urged us to follow the example set by the glorious Martyrs throughout the history of the Church.

  39. LarryW2LJ says:

    Once again, our young “on fire” priest hit a home run. This time it was Grand Slam. He used his homily as a prayer for a country “where something has gone awry” and for those of us “who have had enough” and are saying “enough is enough”. He mentioned how as Catholics we have to stand up for what is right before God, even if that means going against the tide, appearing unpopular and facing ridicule and persecution. And Fr. bemoaned the fact that people in this country have deemed themselves equal to God and have perverted the natural definition of the family. He also intimated that anyone in the Church who may side with Obergfell should take the time to assess where they are in their walk with Jesus and either make things right, or perhaps not offer themselves for Communion, as they are not in communion with the Church.

  40. Erik Bootsma says:

    Read from the pulpit in every parish of the diocese of Baker Oregon this weekend:

    http://www.dioceseofbaker.org/DIOCESAN_DOCUMENTS/marriage_pulpit_letter_07_05_2015.pdf

  41. iPadre says:

    I gave three points for dealing with the same-sex marriage decision. In a nutshell.

    – Admit – it is the Lord’s work. We can’t change minds and heart. We must pray, and remember we a sinners among sinners.
    – Love – Our enemy is sin. Satan would destroy us all if he could.
    – Fidelity – we must be a sign of contradiction, even if we were the only person left. We can swim up the Niagara with God’s grace.

  42. AnnTherese says:

    Rant on gay marriage. Would like to hear the Church talk about racism and growing hate in America, coupled with Americans’ love of guns.

  43. michelekc says:

    Homily was on humility and the need for humility in our respective works of evangelization.

  44. PlanetJuggler says:

    One of our deacons gave the homily for the 8AM Mass – the one before the Mass I usually attend – but I had a heads-up about the content, so I went to the 8 with a camcorder (forgive me, Father, for any inappropriateness of using a camera at Mass).

    This link is his homily, with fully transcribed closed-captioning by yours truly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZg8ZQy1y0E

    I learned that I know have a great conversation-starter with my friends and family who are “less-than-evangelized” about the Catholic view on marriage.

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