Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point in the homily you heard for your Mass of Sunday obligation?

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15 Comments

  1. HobokenZephyr says:

    Sunday I attended an OF Mass in the hotel room of our Pastor after spending Saturday with a fellow parishioner after we all hiked 28.3 miles in the Trailblaze Challenge supporting Make-A-Wish of Central and Western North Carolina. I don’t think we received a homily, but I may have nodded off.

  2. Gil Garza says:

    I assisted at Missa Cantata OF with a wonderful Gregorian Schola. The homily was on the importance of reading Holy Scriptures with the mind of the Church. “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” Father said, quoting St. Jerome. Father gave practical ways to begin and announced that he was leading a weekly Scripture study.

  3. Veritatis Splendor says:

    I was at the NH Scouting Jamboree, so Mass was outside. About 1/5 of the 5000 Scouts there went to Mass. The priest was extremely young and very traditional. I asked him after Mass whether he knew the EF and he said he is working on it. He is also being deployed with the National Guard in February, so please keep him in your prayers.

    As for the Homily, he spoke of how in the spiritual life, we need to strive to do our best, not just do the minimum. He made a lot of connections about how Scouting and the Faith are compatible. Given it was a group of 1000 young men, he would have been remiss if he hadn’t mentioned Vocation, so he spoke of it for a while.

    The makeshift, but beautiful, sanctuary was set up with a railing in front of it because of some of the other uses of the space, so for communion a spontaneous Communion rail formed. A few of the older scoutmasters were a bit peeved, but the Priest and the Scouts were fine with it, if a bit confused at first.

  4. andia says:

    One of our priests talked about how we really can’t sell everything and give it to the poor these days ( as that would just add us to the ranks of the poor) but that we are called to find a way to help others, everyday of our lives. And that that help can take many forms.

    Something to think about.

  5. Hans says:

    That ‘faith alone’ is not enough to inherit eternal life; that Jesus is saying we can lose what we have been promised both by our evil actions or by our failure to do good. (And this wasn’t even my homily, but that of our under-appreciated parish priest!)

  6. Mike says:

    To support one another in faith, hope, and charity, we need to be healed — liberated from the anxieties of this world. Especially when, as now, the days are evil, we need to be mindful that it is Christ Who brings this liberation.

  7. Mike says:

    . . . for communion a spontaneous Communion rail formed. A few of the older scoutmasters were a bit peeved . . .

    Gentlemen, with regret we must inform you that the spirit of the age to which you were wed is in extremis.

  8. trespinos says:

    From the Epistle, Ephesians 5, 15-21, Father highlighted “making the most of your time, because the days are evil”. How evil? Our governor, in whose shoes I would not wish to be standing on the Last Day, just signed the physician-assisted suicide bill. It will be our duty to resist with all the means at our disposal, to make it known to everyone that we will have nothing to do with this evil, and if, examining our conscience, we find we have contributed to the formation of a 60% majority Catholic opinion in favor of this horror, to amend our ways and our words without fail.

  9. MGL says:

    Our young assistant pastor (ordained last year) spoke fearlessly on the responsibility of Catholics to vote according to the mind of the Church. Here in Canada, two of the three major political parties (left and center-left) have adopted policies forbidding pro-life candidates from running for parliament. Thanks to our Supreme Court, Canada has no laws regulating abortion, but euthanasia is still a live issue, so to speak, and only the Conservatives oppose it. Our priest didn’t tell parishioners who to vote for, of course, but he made his meaning as clear as possible.

    The best part of the homily was how he tied the Gospel reading into his theme: in the case of the rich young man, his wealth stood between him and a true relationship with Christ, and he turned his back on Jesus rather than take the necessary steps toward true discipleship. Father encouraged us to discern those things in our lives which serve as such barriers; in this case, our cherished political preconceptions.

    I was near the front, so I didn’t see, but Father later told me that several people walked out–turning their backs on Christ, in effect, rather than contemplate going against the grain of their ideological biases (my words, not his). Up here in Outer North Portlandia, the political currents run strongly to the left, so it’s disappointing but not surprising that they responded in this way.

  10. TopSully says:

    OF Mass. Our priest had a great sermon on the meaning of the Gospel story. Jesus knew what that man’s particular problem with attachment, namely his possessions. If Jesus were to approach each of us individually what would he tell us we needed to give up? It wasn’t the wealth itself Jesus wanted the man to leave behind. He then challenged us all directly to examine what in our lives are each of us attached to that interferes with us following Jesus? Is it gossip? An addiction? Do we spend so much time at work we don’t have time for our families?

    Probably the best sermon we have had in a long time.

  11. Persistant says:

    This Sunday I was in a pretty nice latin OF Mass in St. Peter’s in Vatican, with a great choir chanting. The homily was in Italian which I don’t understand enough to share a good point, unfortunately.

  12. frjim4321 says:

    Actually I’ll be the first to admit it was not very good this weekend, so better luck next weekend I guess.

  13. Ultramontane says:

    It’s been a couple of years since I’ve gone to a Mass in English (Latin being completely unavailable). As such, my comprehension of the homily is limited at best. I tried the English Mass for the first couple of weeks, but they were playing guitars and holding hands with the priest around the altar during the Our Father, so I ran and haven’t returned.

  14. Bea says:

    He said the 10 Commandments written on 2 tablets were :
    The first 3 pertaining to God, Himself
    and on the other tablet, those pertaining to our neighbor.

    The rich young man kept the Commandments from the second tablet but could not give up his worldly goods in order to follow the first 3 pertaining to God. God loved him because the young man kept the commandments but was saddened that he could not keep what pertained to God.

    People think they are successful if they attain money, prestige, power, etc., worldly achievements.
    What they should be most happily successful for, is the seeking and attaining of Wisdom.
    The Wisdom that comes from keeping God first, above all things.

  15. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. Father spoke about the recent loss of the freighter in the Caribbean which hit home here in Maine as several of those lost at sea were graduates of the Maine Maritime Academy. He used it as an analogy to speak about Paul’s epistle. For a ship to be able to navigate safely in dangerous seas it needs 2 things – a means of steering and a means of propulsion. The Christian life is the same as the Devil throws up rocks and reefs for us to founder on. St. Paul lists 3 things that are key: Use our time wisely, understand the will of God, be filled and be guided by the Holy Spirit.

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