Was there a good point in the sermon you heard for your Mass of Sunday obligation?
Let us know.
NB: If it isn’t a good point, don’t even think of posting it. Keep it positive and constructive, please. Thanks in advance.
Among other things, during Mass in the Extraordinary Form this foggy morning, I pointed out that what the Lord said of John, who was in Christ’s words the greatest man born of woman, can be reminders for our own lives. Christ asks His audience what they came out into the desert to see? Someone shaky? No, John is strong and unshakable. Someone pampered? No, John is austere. We too need to be firm in our own calling, as John was, and not swayed from the truth by pressure or fear. We, too, need to take stock of our use of material goods and, especially in this time of penitential preparation, mortify ourselves.
Furthermore, the examples which Christ sends back to John in prison as signs of who He is so that John my make his act of Faith (the blind see, the lame walk, etc.), should be the signs that others see in us (through works of mercy) so that, by our dicta et facta, people might be themselves drawn to the Faith and to Christ through them.
Loading ...
No Sunday sermon at all. Instead there was a pastoral letter that was read out at all masses in the archdiocese. It was regarding the need for the faithful to go to confession during advent and throughout the upcoming Year of Mercy. Our archbishop in the letter urged every single catholic to return to confession in order to purify our souls in preparation of the Lord’s coming, both in observing the Nativity and with the Lord’s final return as well. It was such a breath of fresh air to hear this coming from the top! God bless our archbishop!
Mass in OF. Father reminded us that in these busy and distracting days to be attentive to the voice calling us to the Lord. That John the Baptist is pointing us towards salvation, and that once we hear that voice Lord we must act on what the Lord instructs us to do.
Father developed a theme from Ratzinger that we, the faithful, are those through whom Christ chooses to be present now. Our Lord is brought to us through the priest at Holy Mass; in turn we are charged to bring Christ to the world by word and example. (Such as: “Say, I haven’t been to Confession in awhile. Would you like to come along?”)
Mass in OF. Deacon preached on several things, but one thing that caught my attention in particular was the reference in Baruch:
“Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you
borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.”
Deacon tied this to Jesus being led away from the city of Jerusalem by his enemies to the crucifixion, but coming back at his Resurrection and ascending to Heaven in glory to his royal throne.
Jesus fills the valleys and levels the hills (with our cooperation) so that we can participate in his life and his glory.
OF. The key point for me was Father’s appeal to prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. I.e. to bring order to our lives, fix something wrong. Very simple but to the point |
EF. Remove the obstructions that block the way toward holiness.
m
We attended Divine Liturgy at the St. Louis (MO) Byzantine Mission. They had a combincd celebration of St. Nicholas Day and their 30th Anniversary. The primary celebrant was Bishop John Kudrick of the Eparchy of Parma, OH. In his homily, the Bishop pointed out that the Year of Mercy commences December 8. He reminded us of God’s mercy to each of us, and that we must be merciful to one another. He also reminded us that we should all go to confession to prepare for Christmas.
Divine Liturgy in St. Louis is always very reverant and inspiring. We also had the pleasure of attending the NO Mass at St. Mary’s in Pine Bluff, WI last summer while on vacation. The celebrant was Father Z. That Mass was also very reverant and inspiring.
Attended NO while visiting relatives out of town. Solid homily about the need for confession this Advent and a reminder of how suddenly we can die (reference to CA shootings). Some practical considerations for those who don’t remember the exact formula (“Bless me Father…”) or aren’t sure of the exact material for confession. Reassurances that priests can’t break the seal and don’t hold against you what you say; rather, they rejoice that you’ve been restored to fellowship. Reminder that Tuesday is a day of obligation.
Sounds like the good homily from our Parochial Vicar was similar to some others above. He talked of repentance and repeatedly invited us to ‘Go to Confession’ during Advent. An interesting point he made was that, while those who have habits of mortal sin should confess weekly, those who don’t have continual temptations to mortal sin should 1) thank the Lord heartily, humbly and often that they don’t experience those temptations; 2) Go to Confession regularly to root out deliberate venial sins.
#1 is seldom-heard and an excellent bit of spiritual advice, I think.
Crossed over the border to the OF parish which we often attend. The assistant pastor gave a good homily in which he addressed the readings of “every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low.” He said that in the 70s when he was in the novitiate for Holy Cross they spent a year in Colorado in the ‘foothills’ and that one thing he noticed was that there was, at most, maybe 4 hours of ‘direct sunlight’ but that the mountains made it so that most of the day was spent’ in the shadow hours’. . . and that both mountains with their overshadowing, and valleys, which kept out the light as well, would need to be ‘leveled’ so that the Light of Christ could shine on all of us for all time. He then reminded us of the penance service that afternoon, spoke of the coming Year of Mercy to start on Tuesday, reminded us that December 8 was a holy day of obligation, told us of the several masses offered for same on Monday evening and Tuesday, reminded us to check the bulletins and blog for upcoming events FOR the year of mercy, and finished with prayers for all who had lost their lives in San Bernardino and elsewhere.
Father told of being accosted by a woman, last week (in a different parish), who wanted to know why there weren’t any Christmas carols at Church, since they were already at Walmart, (etc). When Father replied that it was Advent, not Christmas, his interlocutor was having none of it. So he posed the question to us: if Advent is a time of preparation, for what are we preparing? He answered that we needed to know why God sent his Son: because we are a people in need of redemption.
How many of us thank our priests when they preach solid doctrine and defense of traditional practice?
As a musician, I really appreciated his comment that since it’s not Christmas yet, we’re not singing Christmas carols, independent of the rest of his sermon.
Formal recognition of the Catechumens (as well as those adults in the RCIA who will be receiving first communion and/or confirmation at Easter) today, so Father directed the homily towards the idea of being a witness to them, and tied it in with the fact that Christmas is followed immediately in the church calendar by celebration of St. Stephen and St. John. For a Priest who normally likes to give detailed, almost academic homilies, it was quite brief.
I did not preach this weekend.
We had a visitor preaching the annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious.
It was quite good. It was a nice break for me and the assembly had someone different for a change.
$4,800.00 and change … best ever here!
And the regular offertory was up …
Fr Bryan( Saturday Vigil Mass) had a nice sermon on not rushing Christmas and how we need a “God with Flesh on” and that is Who is coming at Christmas. He spoke of needing to prepare for Christmas and gave several ways he is doing that–and the opportunities the parish is offering to parishioners for preparation.
Travelling so attended OF Mass at Annunciation parish Gardner MA. Good homily by the deacon who spoke about the light of Christ that came into the world. However many of us are focused on the light from our smartphones, people are walking around looking down at their phones for everything and ignoring what is going on around them and especially Christ. For Advent we need to begin to open ourselves up and let Christ in.
I was not at my parish this Sunday. We were in +Bp. Cunningham territory for a hockey tournament.
Father appealed to his congregants on the need for repentance. And it just so happens that he will have confession at such and such a time during Advent. Not a penitential service mind you, but honest to goodness, get behind the screen confession!
Certainly the parishoners will take him up on it. Excellent suggestion. I may have to go myself this week.
Attended Mass in the EF for Second Sunday of Advent.
Main emphasis: Do not judge lest you be damned for judging! One may only judge oneself.
Funny line: Only the Vicar of Christ has the power and right to judge on earth.
As I’ve posted before, DS and I attend the TLM where we aren’t fluent in the local language. I often look online for orthodox homilies from solid priests. Audio Sancto was our go-to site, but they’ve been divested into three different sites, only one of which is regularly updated. Anyone else in this situation have recommendations for good homily sites? Thank you in advance!
JonPatrick-
Next time visiting in Gardner – there’s a great little TLM chapel 1/2 hr to the east in Still River, the St. Benedict Center. Beautiful all around.
I did not preach this weekend.
We had a visitor preaching the annual appeal for the Retirement Fund for Religious.
It was quite good. It was a nice break for me and the assembly had someone different for a change.
$4,800.00 and change … best ever here!
And the regular offertory was up …
Furthermore, it was an excellent opportunity for the youth of the parish to see a beautiful example of religious life.
This one might belong in the Just Too Cool file…. I attended Sunday a.m. mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield IL. Bp. Paprocki was presiding and announced at the start of Mass that five young ladies from a local Catholic school were to be confirmed at the Mass — and that he would explain why during the homily.
The girls in question were on their school’s 8th grade girls’ basketball team, which had advanced to the regional playoffs. A playoff game was scheduled for the same night that Confirmation was scheduled to take place at their parish. The school tried unsuccessfully to get the game scheduled for a different night. So now the girls had to decide whether to participate in the game or participate in their Confirmation Mass. After discussing the situation with their coaches and parents, and taking time to pray together as a group, the girls decided that Confirmation took precedence and they would sit out the playoff game.
The Bishop found out about the situation in an e-mail from a diocesan schools official, and was impressed by the sacrifice the girls were willing to make — so he gave them a way out of their dilemma by offering to confirm them at the Cathedral’s regular Sunday Mass the following weekend. The rest of their class were confirmed as scheduled, and the girls got to play in their tournament game (although they lost). Needless to say the Bishop lauded their example and yes, they got a couple of rounds of applause — I know some of you don’t like applause in church but in this case I think it was well deserved. :-)