Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard during your Mass of Sunday Obligation?

Let us know what it was.

 

For my part, on this 5th Sunday after Pentecost, I spoke about how dangerous anger is, what is does to you (endangers your soul), how the Enemy (who is filled with rage) can provoke us and spur us on, how hard it is for others, and what to do about it.

And even though I didn’t talk about it during my sermon, I mention here…

… Mystic Monk Coffee!

You know you want to!

Think of this as your bloggy coffee after Mass moment, when you are all, no doubt, talking about how wonderful Father’s sermon was, over steaming hot mugs of …

… Mystic Monk Coffee!

If you are doing the ordering for your parish coffee hour, order …

… Mystic Monk Coffee!

Not only do the Carmelites in Wyoming get the boost from the sale – and they are building their monastery – I, the one and only Fr. Z – also get a taste of each sale.  So, you are helping me too.  And I need help.  Wait… that’s didn’t come out quite as I wanted, but you get the general idea.

And when you get home from church, because you have regularly used my link to order…

… Mystic Monk Coffee!..

… you can make iced coffee.   Mmmmmm…. iced coffee….

Finally, just for fun I will just add …

ACTON INSTITUTE!

Not that I want to provoke anyone to anger, or anything like that.

Mystic Monk Coffee!

It’s swell.

(They also have TEA.)

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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

  1. MikeToo says:

    Father focused on the second reading today. He spoke about a young man who had an alcohol problem. The man’s family and our pastor tried to get him to admit his problem but it was not until after he hit rock bottom that he did. When he did, he confessed “I am an alcoholic” but our pastor disagreed. As it says in the 2nd reading – he is a child of God. He has the dignity of a person made in the image of God and baptized into his family. This dignity will always comes first. He told the man he is a child of God with an alcohol problem. We are not defined by our sins, our possessions, our jobs or our sexual identity. As Catholics we know this truth and we are called to live this truth in our daily lives.

  2. Adaquano says:

    OF, the priest referenced CS Lewis. Do we say Jesus is a liar, lunatic or Lord. It is easy Jesus is Lord but we have understand what they means before we proclaim that. If we say Jesus is Lord we must be willing to sacrifice, suffer, be ridiculed and give up our lives.

  3. Vincent says:

    Our sermon was about the Kingship of Christ in relation to the upcoming EU referendum on Thursday. Father said that we have a duty to hold our parliament accountable for the laws they enact on our behalf, and that every political decision we make should be framed in reference to bringing about the Kingship of Our Lord.

  4. andia says:

    Fr Bryan spoke about how dangerous it is to have an ” Us and them mentality” and that it does not not matter who the person is when we reduce people to “other” we are ceasing to see God in them. She mentioned a young man of his acquaintance who told jokes about Auschwitz and how horrified Father was to hear this child had no idea what Auschwitz was. –that Nazis are an extreme of “Us and them mentality, but in this particular parish it could also be seen in the separation of the two merged sites. How we need to stop separating and start working together as a parish family and then as a human family to change the world.

  5. Mike says:

    Christ, through His Word, calls us to become more like Him by keeping His commands. He challenges us in our weakness to accept His strength, of which the Holy Sacrifice is the tangible evidence. We must persevere toward our goal of union with God.

  6. benedetta says:

    One time I sent some Mystic Monk (secularly lauded) coffee to a rectory chock full of priests who one would have thought would have appreciated same. However, my gift was received with only a cold, stony silence. I thought, what’s not to like, Carmelites, chant, amazing coffee. But, later on, when my child and I ran into a fight for our lives, my parish priests were pastorally similarly nowhere to be found, apparently, ungrateful that we even existed. I had appreciated them, such as they were, gratefully, and expressed same in my gifts of time, talent, and treasure, and was compassionate and supportive of them in their various pursuits and commitments and partnerships, I was truly on record for this. So let the record reflect, sometimes one protests too much.

  7. iPadre says:

    How do we come to know Jesus? We can know the Catechism, the Fathers, saints and the best theologians, but that doesn’t mean we know Jesus. Evan an atheist can know what the Church teaches about Jesus. They can have all the knowledge, but they don’t really know Him. Knowledge is of vital importance during these times of confusion. But, Our Lord gives us the answer in today’s Gospel. He took the Apostles off by Himself to a place of “solitude.” We need to break away from the noise of the world to meet the Lord in silence and solitude. In silence and solitude, the truths of our faith are implanted in the depths of our souls, and there, we come to “know” Jesus.

  8. benedetta says:

    Lest anyone think that being terrified, betrayed, and abandoned spells the end, think again:

    “The star of the unconquered will,
    He rises in my breast,
    Serene, and resolute, and still,
    And calm, and self-possessed.

    And thou, too, whosoe’er thou art,
    That readest this brief psalm,
    As one by one thy hopes depart,
    Be resolute and calm.

    Oh, fear not in a world like this,
    And thou shalt know erelong,
    Know how sublime a thing it is
    To suffer and be strong.”

  9. TDPelletier says:

    Our visiting FSSP priest talked about the emotion of anger not being a sin in itself. Anger is a response to an injustice. The ”sin of anger” is when, free will being involved, we choose to get angry for no right motive (unreasonableness of the anger) and/or we react in a disproportionate manner, compared to the actual injustice being suffered.

  10. joan ellen says:

    Father spoke about the differences vs. the sameness of men & women…& that an egalitarian society exists in hell…since all are deprived of God. He emphasized the Body of Christ with hands, feet, etc. & all with different talents & abilities, & that the highest is not any better than the lowest. His homilies keep getting better & better. Sadly…he is being transferred out of the parish July 1.

  11. ndmom says:

    The CSC priest at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame spoke about prayer — what was the content of Jesus’ prayer in the Gospel reading? He said that, though the text does not tell us, he likes to imagine that Jesus was praying that Peter would know who Jesus is. That he would be able to answer the “But you, who do YOU say that I am?” question as he did.

  12. TDPelletier says:

    I wanted to add : Father also gave us two ways to correct our sinful anger problems : humility and detachment from earthly things.

  13. Matilda P says:

    The 5pm vigil at the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis. (I’m travelling.) Msgr related a story from Scott Hahn about an Armenian father who tells his son he will always love him, only for his son’s school to collapse in an earthquake. So the father digs and digs and digs, and eventually finds his son, and two other children. His son says, ‘See? I told you my father would come for me.’ So too does our Heavenly Father pursue us, so much so that He sent His own Son to save us. But we cannot sit on our laurels; we must keep working to realise God’s kingdom. This may involve, in these times, sweat, tears, and even blood. What our age needs is courageous Catholics who will witness to the truth of Christ, for, as Friday’s gospel tells us, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also — where are our efforts directed?

    I was very pleased, having very relaxed expectations after assisting at a mass with no kneelers and pita bread in another city, to have visited the Cathedral here and to have the opportunity to assist at very beautiful OF masses, with good homilies to boot.

  14. Sliwka says:

    Fr spoke about how it is a blessing not a curse to have to face the consequences of our sins and that often can be what draws us to repentance and “conversion of heart” and Confession. He gave an example from his own life (he said only a few years ago) when his gossip about a friend got back around and he had to confront those consequences.

  15. Elizabeth D says:

    We had two seminarians becoming Candidates at this Mass, and Bishop Morlino gave a very touching homily about the fatherhood of a priest and the relationship to God’s fatherhood including how God corrects His children. And of course how glad he is to be a father to the seminarians. I am not succeeding at describing all of what he said but it was moving and tender.

  16. jameeka says:

    12th Sunday Ordinary Time: Gospel was Luke — Peter’s answer to “Who do you say I am?” “You are the Christ of God.” In this version, Jesus rebukes them all, tells them not to talk about it (knowing that their idea of Messiah was very different) and then tells them what the Son of Man will endure.
    The disciples must suspect that something will change now. Jesus speaks of taking up one’s cross daily and following him.

    We all know that the world is really “off-kilter”, especially hearing the news lately. Why? ( Fr. didn’t say Original Sin, but I will). We will leave Mass and still mostly follow along the things of the World, and go with the flow, it’s easier.
    Taking up the cross is difficult, it requires love which involves suffering. Who wants to suffer? And self-preservation is in our DNA.

    Why would we want to take up our cross?
    —he ended with Paul’s letter to Corinth:
    “For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God.”

  17. Chris Garton-Zavesky says:

    Several good points, even though I was not at my home parish.

    Fr. Perry FSSP preached. He noted that “justice” in the Epistle doesn’t mean “that which is legally right”, but “holiness”: unless your holiness exceeds that of the Pharisees…… He also noted that the word Gospel doesn’t mean “Good News” if the intended sense is “warm fuzzies only”, but rather “that which you need to hear”, which sometimes includes “you have cancer”, “that man is not good enough for you” and such like. He also noted that during highly structured time, remembering God is easy, but during the less structured summer months, we would do well to remember that idle hands make the Devil’s workshop.

  18. Rob83 says:

    We had a missionary hailing from the Philippines. He spoke mainly about the work he was involved with, an orphanage/protectory for children. There was mention of the problems faced there (communism, Islam, and poverty were the 3 mentioned), along with some of the work they’re doing.

    On a sidenote, the Mass was made a bit unusual since the priest was a last minute substitution who didn’t know the TLM, requiring a hasty switch back to an NO Mass setup, although obviously it was better to have Mass than not. Father was a good sport about it, accommodating for some things in the process. Father realized about 5 seconds after going to sit following the Collect that he had to do the readings and Psalm response since there isn’t a lector at this Mass. Similarly, there were no General Intercessions to read and no presentation of the gifts, meaning Father had to pause before the Orate Fratres to wait for the second collection to be completed (at a glance, it seemed he received a good response to his solicitation). The altar rail remained closed for communion, and Father distributed from behind the railing by himself (and most seemed to do the usual reception on the tongue while kneeling). While the Roman Canon would have been better than the dewfall, it’s hard to complain over an NO that was far better than the usual expectations for it.

  19. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. Reconciliation must come before sacrifice. This is why in the Gospel if you remember you harbor thoughts against your bother, you leave your offering before the altar, go be reconciled with your brother, then make your offering. In the beginning of Mass we say the Confiteor, asking for forgiveness from our brothers, and only then do we continue with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

  20. Gregg the Obscure says:

    OF. Focus was on the Gospel reading’s “Who do you say that I am?”

    First point was that we say quite a bit at Mass, particularly during the Creed. Do we say this as a matter of routine, or do we give it due consideration?

    If we think about what we say and truly mean what we say, how does that show itself in what we do?

  21. Sonshine135 says:

    OF-Father discussed the reading from Zachariah and how this and many other things foreshadowed Christ. He wrapped it up with discussing how we like to convince ourselves that we only caused a small scratch on Christ’s body, but in reality, our sin caused all of Christ’s punishment. We caused every lash. He did a fine job of showing how the cross as well as being a sign of salvation is one of true judgement, and that during the Eucharist, we again call on the innocent victim to take the punishment for our sins.

  22. ray from mn says:

    For the first time in my life, I heard a homily by a visiting priest on pornography and its evils. Long overdue. Although he did not mention it, I assume he was thinking of the reading from Zecharaiah and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness.”

  23. NomenDeiAdmirabileEst says:

    I sat through the usual reductionist pep talk on how Jesus wants us to all get along… At least nothing the deacon said on his stroll around the sanctuary was questionable. The last time I visited that parish the new pastor announced that they would no longer be doing general absolution. That was 2013.

  24. dholwell says:

    The Abbot Emeritus (semel abbas, semper abbas) gave a long and thoughtful homily about the central question in the Gospel and in our lives: who do we say Jesus is? And do our lives conform to what we answer to that question?

  25. iamlucky13 says:

    Ordinary Form, permanent deacon giving the homily.

    Regarding Peter’s profession of faith, he pointed out that Peter had come to realize Jesus was the Messiah gradually, as through his discipleship he progressively “turned more towards Christ.” Even after this moment, however, he still had more formation in his path towards holiness, as we know from his denial at the Crucifixion, but ultimately he was even willing to die for Christ.

    So we should not be discouraged when we’re aware we aren’t perfect, but to keep gradually turning towards Christ, as Peter did.

    Separately, for father’s day, I received a combat rosary. I’m not a service member, but its quality really impresses me as an engineer. I’m thrilled with it. Now I just need to set aside more time to actually use it…and make sure I’m at least gradually progressing and not stagnating!

  26. One of our deacons gave a lovely homily about the necessity for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

  27. crownvic says:

    A rousing sermon about how we need to confront our own racist, sexist and homophobic views within ourselves. No word on confession or sacraments mind you, just a chastising at our own “unaccepting” ways. No instruction as church teaching on each one of these points. For the announcements we were all invited to the local protestant church for a men’s choir performance later that night. The tickets were only $25 a piece.

  28. PhilipNeri says:

    Who you say Jesus is. . .says everything about who you are.

    http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2016/06/you-are-who-you-say-he-is.html

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  29. MattH says:

    Our Deacon opened by noting that as language changes, the force of certain expressions changes, and that “Gospel” is one of those. He said that the Greek word translated into English as “Gospel” or “good news” originally had a military connotation. He referenced the origin story of the marathon – the guy who ran 26.2 miles to deliver news of the outcome of the battle. In other words, it wasn’t “news” in a general sense, but news of a victory.

    He connected this to the Sunday’s OF Gospel (Peter’s confession), noting that the parallel passage in other Gospels contains that phrase that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church – and made the outstanding point that “gates are not offensive weapons.” The image is not of the Church surviving the assaults of all the forces of the ages (although that is true too) but of the Church on the offensive, attacking the gates of hell and winning.

    The Gospel, then, is the news that Jesus won the decisive battle, and wants us to join Him in the “mop-up” operations, clearing the remaining pockets of evil.

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