Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point or two from the sermon you heard for your Mass of Sunday obligation?

Let us know.

For the EF, I spoke of the move I am currently enduring and sorting and getting rid of things.  I used this as a metaphor of our Lenten discipline.  When we move we have an opportunity to get rid of things, to get rid of impedimenta, the Latin word for the ancient Roman military baggage train.  We struggle sometimes to get rid of stuff we haven’t seen for a long time and really don’t need.  We have to detach from sins and not feel affection for them.  We can use Lent to help detach from sins and from material things.

For the OF, I touched also the point about moving, but I also spoke of how Christ used the technology of the boat and line to speak to more people as they stood on shore and listened.  That was the first instance of “on-line ministry”.  Christ is the Perfect Communicator.  He communicated in words and actions.  We are members of Christ, the Communicator, the Word.  Christ should be reflected in our words and actions.   We have to know our Faith and be ready to communicate it, even when we risk blow back and problems. Then I touched on the role of the Sacrament of Confirmation in our lives when we face challenges as Christians.

 

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24 Comments

  1. acardnal says:

    Great sermon! Father started by mentioning mercy. Mercy, mercy, mercy. We are hearing a lot now about God’s mercy. Yes. God is all-merciful BUT what we don’t hear about is God’s justice. God is both. Both/And. There is no mercy without repentance and contrition. No repentance, no mercy. He mentioned something the Cure of Ars said, “God will not pardon you if you have already pardoned yourself . . . for everything!”

    He then transitioned into how the Church, priests and bishops in the 1960s became infected with the “positivity movement.” Sin? No such thing. . . or at least very difficult to commit. The clergy and the Church became overwhelmed with caring about an individual’s self-esteem, self-actualization, self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction, SELF, SELF, SELF! This attitude has deformed marriage, too. When it becomes uncomfortable, unsatisfying, we move on.

    He mentioned defective catechisms, e.g. Benzinger, which only had ONE image of a crucified Christ on the cross in the entire book!

  2. Sliwka says:

    Visiting at old parish, Fr spoke about how we respond to Christ’s call, but on His terms.

    Also used s story from his discernment to the OFM to demonstrate the theme in the readings of unworthiness. His director or mentor told him “of course you aren’t worthy of the religious vocation, none of us are”

  3. Adaquano says:

    OF Mass with sermon by our Transitional Deacon. He spoke of how sometimes calls us in the ordinary moments of our lives, and that we must respond to that call by abandoning our past selves. He also took time to remind everyone that Lent begins on Wednesday and that when considering our sacrifices that we should replace those things with prayer and offer those sacrifices for personal intentions.

  4. torch621 says:

    EF Mass with sermon by one ofour two parish priests (one is out visiting a parishioner who has entered into a convent, please pray for her) focusing on the epistle and Saint Paul’s emphasis that charity is the greatest of the three theological virtues. He nicely mentioned that believing mere intellectual assent to faith is not enough and that said faith must lived by loving God and loving our neighbor out of love for Him.

  5. acardnal says:

    Addendum to above: Father also said that today’s Church and clerics are still infected with this error of “positivity” and this why there are no lines for Confession and why we see confessionals used too often as closets to store brooms and mops.

  6. Andrew says:

    The blind man on the road to Jericho represents humanity. All the children of Adam, blinded by sin, are in need of the redeeming light of Christ. Presently, we see indistinctly, as in a mirror. We are in a constant need of turning to Christ with: “Jesus, have pity on me”.

  7. iPadre says:

    I celebrated in both forms this Sunday.

    OF – I based my homily on 1st reading. We are giving a taste of the heavenly Liturgy, and it’s a model for our earthly Liturgy. All is centered on the Lord, not us, not the priest. Good Liturgy is transforming. It leads us to great love of God and love of neighbor. Like Isaiah, we are all sent forth to transform the world by His grace.

    EF – I borrowed some of your Sunday Sermon notes – preparing for battle against the devil, the flesh and the world. “Why is it I do the things I don’t want to do and can’t do the things I know I should.” With God’s grace and using our spiritual weapons, He wins the battle for us.

  8. JerrytheYTPer says:

    I attended the Byzantine Rite liturgy today and today was Cheesefare Sunday. Tomorrow, we are supposed to abstain from meat and dairy products for that day and Good Friday, then abstain from meat every Wednesday and Friday. The priest delivered a homily on why we fast. He brought up Adam and Eve and how because they ate the forbidden fruit, they were banished. We, as Catholics, should choose to fast so we can regain what man lost in his fall. He also mentioned how we in the US are much better off than most people in the world and how we can afford to go without something for Lent. Notably, he also stated that we do not have to give up a food product of some sort (which is what I find a lot of people do, ie: “give up Pepsi”), but we may give up certain other things to bring us closer to God. I could not help but chuckle inside when he complained about people who leave the restaurant with so much food left over that they could have taken home instead of just throwing away.
    I have decided, myself, that for Lent, I am moderating (or giving up) excessive use of dipping sauces. I have a bad habit of dipping almost everything in either ranch, honey mustard, bbq sauce, ketchup, etc. In addition, I am a scooper, so I could probably go through an entire bottle of ranch within two weeks. I have decided any dipping sauce I need will be simply dipped and not scooped and to only use dipping sauce when needed. I hope to not only succeed in this challenge but to also lose some weight since I am on the overweight side of things (my doctor says I probably consume on average 500 calories a day just on condiments)

  9. Nan says:

    For the second week in a row, the Catholic Services Appeal. Last week audio at a different parish, this week the video.

    @acardnal, I live in a diocese with many long confession lines. One of my favorite places is an anonymous church basement on Sat. evening. Yes. Evening.

    @JerrytheYTPer, I join you in fasting. Tomorrow is the first day of my Monday fast from meat; I stopped eating meat on Friday during Lent of 2009 and in 2014 stopped eating meat on Wed. beginning with Ash. Wed.

  10. julieculshaw says:

    Our priest gave a lot of stats about the SuperBowl today, and related how everyone knows what Sunday this is, but has no idea of what day it is in the church.
    He said a lot more than that too, but he concluded with a gentle word of advice which he said he wanted to give with love: “do not watch the half-time show, this is stuff that should not be in your heads and certainly should not be entering your children’s heads”. Good man.

  11. Elizabeth D says:

    Sunday Mass was the last in a series of homilies on suggestions for practicing the various works of mercy. We were encouraged to pray for the living and the dead and to bury the dead.

    Yesterday though I was able to attend a parish pilgrimage to the Byzantine rite monastery in St Nazianz WI, Holy Resurrection Monastery. There we were able to attend a beautiful Divine Liturgy of St John Crysostom. I had never been to one of those before so I was eager about that. This was in English and there were booklets like for visitors at the TLM so you could follow along and there was musical notation so you could sing if you wanted at appropriate places. In the homily by Abbot Nicholas the full humanity and full divinity of Christ were discussed with an argument made that the eastern Churches emphasize more the divinity of Christ while the western Churches emphasize more His humanity. I thought his perspective was interesting but I would debate whether that is precisely what is going on in western Christianity–as I would also debate some other opinions of the same priest about the western Church. He also discussed happily the news about the Russian Patriarch meeting Pope Francis in Cuba soon, and that the statements made by the Russians about it are also good. I was interested and glad to hear him talk about that because I also think that is tremendous news.

    I said the filioque by the way because I was not looking at my booklet at the moment but saying the Creed our way. I am not sorry either. I did mostly remember to make the sign of the Cross backward.

  12. Chris Garton-Zavesky says:

    Quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, Father commented on St Paul’s epistle (EF) to the effect that the most forgotten words in his definition of love are “as other” : we must wish and work for the good of another, AS OTHER, not because we expect/hope for/anticipate/demand some recompense.

  13. MarkJ says:

    Your priest was right… The halftime show was not fit for Christian eyes or ears, from the quick glimpses I gave it. You can’t even argue anymore that a show like that is not appropriate for families, since our society has rejected the family as a place to cultivate goodness. The culture sinks lower with each passing year… at least in the deepening darkness, the Light shines ever more brightly. Be a courageous witness to the Light of Christ!

  14. Nan says:

    Elizabeth D, you may not realize that Slavs, generally, are opinionated. The priest from my Byzantine Rite parish is highly opinionated about how “legalistic” the Latin Rite is, so it comes with the territory. If you were on pilgrimage, Father was no doubt interested in sharing what’s wrong with the Latin Rite. No worries on crossing yourself the wrong way; Catholic is Catholic. It’s a beautiful rite. My parish is much smaller than the smallest of the Latin Rite parishes I’ve gone to so the incense can be a bit much but I love it.

  15. andia says:

    Fr Bryan gave a beautiful sermon about how Christ left the crowd physically by asking Peter to push out first into the shallows and then out into the deep, yet was still with the people, just in a different way. He related this first to his leaving the parish for a new one, saying he was just in a different boat yet still journeying with us due to our familial ties through baptism. Then he spoke of the five folks who were buried this week and that they still were with us but in yet another boat and likened it to Jesus asking Peter to go out into the deep. It brought comfort to a very hurting parish.

    @JerrytheYTPerm I also join you in fasting, We have always done meeatless Fridays in our family and two years ago we gave up meat on Wednesdays for Lent, that continues and then last year for Lent I gave up meat on Mondays. and that went year around. I offer the fasts for various intentions (Fridays is usually in union with the Bishops’ Call to Prayer Fast.)

  16. mpolo says:

    OF: I spoke about recovering our sense of being sinners (Leave me for I am a sinful man/I am a man with unclean lips/I am the last of all disciples, the miscarriage) to be able to take advantage of God’s mercy. (This in Germany, where confession rate is very near zero. Unsurprisingly, at neither Mass did anyone ask for confession.)

  17. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. Lent is all about going up with Jesus to Jerusalem, to be transformed by His act of divine love. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so he will be lifted up and we are to gaze on his passion and thus our souls will be healed.

    The disciples (and us) are blind like the man at Jericho. We journey in faith. Vision is the renewal of faith.

    Divine charity – He gives in return for nothing.

    Once we get to heaven there is no more need for faith or hope, but there is only charity.

    The journey of Lent is a time to grow in love and get closer to God. We need spiritual fasting – more time for prayer less for empty chatter.

  18. benedetta says:

    Divine Liturgy, Forgiveness Sunday. With the crucifixion the disciples scattered in fear, aware they betrayed Him. Yet the Lord’s appearance to them in love and fidelity represented the forgiveness of God, and He told them “whose sins you forgive they are forgiven”. There is no Christian action more powerful than that motivated by this forgiveness of God.

  19. Prayerful says:

    The operation of sin in history and life. He opened with David Lloyd George explaining his praise for Hitler by noting Hitler was anti clerical. Next four Free Masons (Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George a and Orlando) at Versailles tore up the Catholic Austria Hungary. Although I missed a bit while in Confession, he next related the workings of sin to ordinary life.

  20. Elizabeth D says:

    Nan, that Abbot is not a Slav, he is an Australian with an Australian accent, they are of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church but they state that none of the monks has a drop of Romanian blood. Well Australians can be opinionated too. :-)

    (by the way I visit an old Slavic Roman Catholic lady every day and know her to be opinionated.)

  21. Manducat in the hat says:

    The priest who celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass yesterday is 70+ from Vietnam. He related the Gospel (cast your nets on the other side) to the experience of his family in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. He said anyone captured could be imprisoned for 1-25 years, but those who fled didn’t know their future either. He continued that you may make the right decision or the wrong decision, but it doesn’t matter if you trust that God has a plan and will always take care of you.

    After the final prayer and blessing, he remarked that he would bet his money on whichever Super Bowl team was humble and scored low in the first half, because they would come back to score abundantly in the second. :)

  22. HeatherPA says:

    Our priest quoted from Cardinal Sarah’s book and went on to say that people are a lot like they were when Christ was moved with pity and taught from the boat. That they act like scattered sheep with no shepherd, seeking out causes and activism to try and fill the emptiness inside (or to get angry and judgmental over) when what they need the most is God alone and an increased personal prayer life.

    He said the world great problems would easily be solved by fervent prayer and penance if everyone was willing to set aside self to do so.
    It was a good homily.

  23. Bthompson says:

    I preached on vocations and how to encourage them: encourage kids and ask them what God’s plan for them is, not what they want to be when they grow up; adults should live and love their own vocations faithfully and well (including getting married sacramentally in the first place); and recommit ourselves to reverence and good liturgy.

    I’m also in a cluster with to few priests, so I also made it clear that if some thing doesn’t change vocations wise, Parishes may one day close.

  24. Gail F says:

    I really liked the readings yesterday and kept thinking about them so I lost the thread of the homily several times. It was about other things than struck me, ha ha. But it was a good homily from a visiting priest/msgr. The part that really stood out, though, was that he said that when people say we should never kneel during Mass, we should always stand before God, they are not emulating the Apostles. (No, he wasn’t talking about the ancient practices of the Orthodox or Eastern Catholics, but about changing the Western tradition.) I haven’t ever heard a priest say this before and was glad to hear it at Mass, although our particular parish isn’t the sort that maintains that view. It’s just good to hear sensible Catholics things one rarely or never hears.

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