Your Sunday Sermon Notes ( #Amorislaetitia Edition)

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

Let us know.

Side note: Was Amoris laetitia mentioned?

 

 

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33 Comments

  1. Precentrix says:

    Not necessarily “a good point”, but it amused me…

    From celebrant (retired priest stepping in, not our usual): “Pope Francis is the first person in the history of the Church to say officially that the body is a good thing and that sexual love is good.”
    [this is obviously complete rubbish].

    Followed by: sermon from visiting Dominican, featuring St. Dominic vs the Albigensians, who denied the goodness of material creation including the body.

    I don’t think anyone else found the juxtaposition funny, but there we go.

    Fr. OP was here to drum up support for the missions, although he did actually manage to connect it to the Gospel of the day.

  2. dbonneville says:

    Our priest made the following points from the only weekly EF mass in our diocese:

    1) The Pope is the Pope. He is our unity.
    2) We have had many anti-popes
    3) The Pope or anyone cannot teach anything that is incongruous with prior received teaching
    4) We have had many anti-popes
    5) Pray

    No specific mention of this or that but it was not necessary.

  3. Mary of Carmel says:

    Unfortunately, nothing was said about Amoris Laetitia, although in a meeting with the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, it was spoken of briefly, once or twice, and in a positive manner. No one argued it. (Novus Ordo)

    We have a pope who is concerned over the trees, but as for the sanctity and indissolubility of marriage and the discernment of the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Communion…meh.

  4. Given the readings in the OF, in which Peter and his primacy figured prominently, and the issuance of the Holy Father’s much anticipated exhortation, I focused on this juxtaposition. I talked a good deal about the letter, and the progressives’ agenda, the media spin, and the criticisms of the letter being ambiguous. I explained what primacy and infallibility do, do not, mean. I emphasized the positive in the pope’s exhortation.

  5. Toan says:

    Our pastor invited the kids to sit up towards the sanctuary and he did a dialog-style homily.

    As for good points, Father said that Jesus, in his threefold “Do you love me?”, gave Peter his absolution for the previous threefold denial of Christ. Then Father asked the kids, “and where do we get our absolution?” And the kids responded, “Confession!” And Father said, “Right! Confession.” Whatever I might think of dialog homilies and kids sitting around the sanctuary (St. Junipero Serra’s whipping himself in his homilies might be preferable), I thought that that was a good moment.

    No mention of AL.

  6. majuscule says:

    AL was not mentioned. Father focused on the readings.

  7. mburn16 says:

    Father gave a sermon on parenthood and related it to the concept of being led where you did not want to go, and being consecrated/conscripted for a specific purpose.

    Much to my surprise, AL was not mentioned until just before the dismissal, and even there it was limited to “this has been published, go read it”

  8. Sacred1 says:

    The walls of political correctness were burst asunder by clear language. With compassion and a Christian desire to save souls, Father covered the following points:

    1) Abortion is always wrong.
    2) Contraception is always wrong.
    3) Homosexual marriage is always wrong.
    4) Gender identity ideology is always wrong.
    5) The LGBT agenda in America is seeking to eliminate all traces of the country’s Judeo-Christian roots.

  9. Mary of Carmel says:

    To dbonneville:
    Great points. I go to an EF, too, but no word was said on AL.

    to Sacred1:
    Really great reminders by your priest! Reminders are more of what we need now.

  10. Mike says:

    The faith of Christ’s disciples came to full fruition only in His Resurrection—and even then Thomas needed the evidence of his own eyes.

    (Father’s reference to last week’s Gospel reminded me of how my childhood pastor’s sermons used to allude to those of previous weeks. That technique may not win a preacher any earthly prizes for Best Speech, but it does help the message to sink into thick heads like mine.)

  11. Elizabeth D says:

    Bishop Morlino praised the first 7 chapters of Amoris Laetitia especially chapter 4, and said he wanted to have time to read it more slowly before commenting. He did not say anything negative about chapter 8 but warned that there was no chance that the media would present it in a good way.

  12. Gregg the Obscure says:

    The homily was shortened as Father read the announcement letter for the annual Archbishop’s fund appeal at the outset.

    Father emphasized that not only do others need our help, financial or otherwise, each Christian needs the help of others in sundry ways and the help of clergy in very particular ways. He specifically mentioned the many volunteers who help at the parish as well as several examples of the works of mercy. No mention was made of AL. I expect a mention will be made on some Sunday to come.

  13. LarryW2LJ says:

    Our Deacon gave the homily and stuck to the readings. He reminded everyone how the “breakfast on the shore” countermanded the three denials of Jesus by Peter on Good Friday morning. Then he went on to explain the difference between Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial – that Peter embraced God’s merciful forgiveness while Judas denied that God’s mercy existed by his act of suicide.

  14. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. No mention of Amoris Laetitia. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who knows each of his sheep individually, by name. He leads us out into the world to spread the Gospel. Many voices compete for our attention. We need discernment to stay focused on Christ so we can bring the good news to the world around us.

  15. Colette says:

    My husband and I attended Mass in the EF by the FSSP. Our Priest began his homily by talking about the history of the church with all of the bad popes, bishops, priests, etc… He then went on to talk about AL and did not have much good to say about it. He then reminded us that Christ is the church and no one can change that…no one. He said bad priests, bishops and popes will come and go, but Jesus Christ and his church would remain.

    He talked about how we live in a world where everyone wants to feel good, everyone wants everything to be easy and to be handed to them. How no one wants to work for anything, even their spiritual life. I have to say, he brought tears to my eyes. He was quite moving. He didn’t necessarily say Pope Francis was a bad pope, he just said, “unfortunately, he has decided to release the AL as it is.”

    He also told us we need to pray!

  16. Supertradmum says:

    Excellent sermon at a TLM wherein the priest said that the Church will not end nor fall apart, as Christ promised that God would be with the Church until the end of time, and that it would exist until Christ’s Second Coming.

    The priest said that the Good Shepherd, in spite of confusion on earth, will never abandon His sheep.

  17. Supertradmum says:

    Excellent sermon at a TLM wherein the priest said that the Church will not end nor fall apart, as Christ promised that God would be with the Church until the end of time, and that it would exist until Christ’s Second Coming.

    The priest said that the Good Shepherd, in spite of confusion on earth, will never abandon His sheep.

  18. “We must obey God rather than men” was commented along the lines of “Law and rules” vs. “Mercy & Conscience”. Guess which is which, automatically…

    And he claimed that Pope Francis denied that divorced people living in second unions are in grave sin.

    Vatican 2 was mentioned, too, while he was at it.

    Intercessions:

    For Pope Francis, for his closest advisers who stand by him and support him.

    For all those who have the dream that God shows New Ways(TM). And for all those who no longer expext it to happen.

    For all those who are seeking a New Beginning(TM) after a divorce. For all those who live their faith and their love in families, in whatever composition.

  19. Raymond says:

    O.T. in Latin, St John Cantius, Chicago: Father focused on Peter’s triple affirmation of his love for Christ and how this relates to our popes and bishops, whomever they might be. And how we must always pray for them even if we don’t like them. No mention of A.L. whatsoever.

  20. momoften says:

    Actually yes! I was really surprised. Quite frankly though, I don’t think most of the congregation if maybe but a handful even knew what or that AL had been released. Father basically said about 90% was good, and 10% not so much. He dwelt on the fact that doctrine had not been changed, and alluded to the fact that there are not good Shepherds or good priests who will not use AL properly~ and alluded to parts that regarded Marriage.

  21. Joseph-Mary says:

    On Saturday the associate priest said he will be speaking about the AL this week. At the TLM on Sunday the visiting priest did not mention it. This morning, the feast of the martyr St. Stanislaus, the associate priest spoke about martyrdom and the need to stand up for the truths of Christ and His Gospel.

  22. frjim4321 says:

    Spoke about the significance of the number 153 as a triangular number, the sum of integers from 1 to 17, and the sum of the first five positive factorials. It is also a hexagonal number, and it is the smallest three-digit number which can be expressed as the sum of cubes of its digits. [I’ll bet that had them taking notes.] It is also a 3-narcissistic number, but I did not bring that up because I figured that is common knowledge.

    [That means that 351 (as in Footnote 351) is also a narcissistic number.]

  23. Erlenmeyer says:

    Our pastor started his sermon with a discussion of the gospel reading. He then spoke briefly about AL, mainly to say how some in the media had already begun to spin it, picking the points that fit their agenda. For them, the key take-away was “follow your conscience”. But Father made the key distinction of having a well-formed conscience, one aligned with the mind of the Church.

    He used the example of “cafeteria Catholics”, those who want to do things their way and choose their beliefs as if from a buffet. He reminded us of what Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”. And Jesus invites us to a supper, not a buffet.

  24. wmeyer says:

    A sort excerpt from the excellent sermon we heard:

    “Priest, prophet, and king, is the threefold mission and office of Christ and His Church. The carrying out of this mission is independent of all human authority; and therefore St. Peter solemnly affirmed before the Sanhedrin: “We must obey God rather than men.””

  25. frjim4321 says:

    Thank you, dear and reverend host! Somebody is paying attention, that was a little joke.

    351 = 33 × 13, triangular number, sum of five consecutive primes (61 + 67 + 71 + 73 + 79), member of Padovan sequence, Harshad number. But I don’t think it’s 3-narcissistic.

  26. zag4christ says:

    Our homilist (Fr. Darren Connall) focused on the first reading, emphasizing the Apostle’s witness of the Truth of Jesus and their willingness, even joy, in suffering while evangelizing. Fr. Connall then spoke of the many ways we as a community and individuals could and do witness to Jesus and challenged us to bring more people to Jesus, using the example of our daily lives, realizing there will a cost.
    There was no mention of Amoris letitia.
    Peace and God bless,

  27. frjim4321 says:

    The real homily:

    John 21 as the epilogue of John’s gospel testimony and as such a summary of sorts in which we find:

    (1) The universality of the proclamation of the good news (the net overflowing with fish, and the sometimes-disputed idea of “153 known species of fish” in the First Century).
    (2) The forgiveness/reconciliation/rehabilitation of Peter.
    (3) The notion of sacrifice, which for the disciple is the true definition of “love.”

    The idea of John’s gospel hinging more on the relationship of the Father and the Son, and the Son with the apostles/disciples/church; a particularly sacramental gospel … to what extent is our proclamation of the good news universal, extended to all? Do we fully comprehend the extent of God’s love and forgiveness, his rehabilitation of our lives in spite of our denial? To what extend has our appreciation of love been co-opted by the popular culture; do we understand that true love requires sacrifice?

  28. frjim4321 says:

    No, I am pretty sure, unlike 153, 351 is not narcissistic:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aMtJ-V26Z4

    (I think she’s pretty cute!)

    [So that’s your homiletic source!]

  29. medievalist says:

    Father said he was excited to read and in weeks to come preach on “the Pope’s new encyclical.” Seems AL will have a higher level of authority in my parish.

  30. frjim4321 says:

    [So that’s your homiletic source!]

    LOL, no … though I find numbers fascinating and can spend quite a while reading about them.

    The real homily is above …

    Best…

  31. OK_doc says:

    EF Mass so the Gospel was the Good Shepherd. Father reflected on Jesus saying He knows His own and His own know Him even as He knows the Father, ie the relationship between Father and Son reflected in the relationship between Son and the Church. The Pope, as the successor to Peter, being the earthly embodiment of Good Shepherd, and even though we may not agree or understand what the Pope says we need to trust that it’s in God’s plan. Pray for the Pope.
    AL never directly mentioned but anyone aware of it would make the connection.

  32. andia says:

    Saturday Vigil Mass N.O. Mass- new parish, the priest made no mention of it. He spoke about the catch of fish and tried to relate to everyday life.

  33. seashoreknits says:

    homily main point: we are the ones hanging out on the beach and need to listen to the call to quit loafing around fishing and get to work for the Kingdom.

    Absolutely no mention of AL whatsoever.

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