Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard for your Mass of Sunday obligation? Let us know.

In the EF, in reference to the effectiveness of God’s blessings, I spoke of Holy Water.

In the OF, I also spoke of Holy Water, but I tied in the prophet Elisha, for obvious reasons.

And, wow, is 2 Kings 2 a cool chapter or what?

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24 Comments

  1. Prayerful says:

    The Parish Administrator spoke on preparation for death. What stood out was his statement this begins at baptism. What struck me too is how much more majestic the Traditional green vestments are compared to the plain, fire hazard efforts seen at a New Mass (I know many NOM only priests make an effort on this, but a fair few do not). Good vestments give the priests and his words a greater authority.

  2. Adaquano says:

    A visiting priest asked us whether we really feel like God is calling us and what are we doing to learn about God to live that call? Particularly, do we love ourselves? Do we truly believe that we are created in God’s image? We must attend Mass on Sundays and do other daily devotionals to increase our understanding standing of this.

  3. Farmer0831 says:

    (The homily was in spanish which is not my first language, so God willing I am translating correctly.)

    Christ’s road leads to death on the cross. We might say we want to follow him, but there are a lot of excuses we can come up with. “Let me go first and bury my father.” That’s just an excuse. Jesus says, “Come follow me,” and the man responds, “let me first bury my father.” When did Christ say to ignore funerals? His Church has a profoundly powerful and meaningful liturgy for funerals and times of mourning. It’s an excuse not to follow Him. Wouldn’t Christ allow a man time to bury his dead parents, if such time were available? So what is it to say that “I’ll follow you but first I have to honor my father.” That’s not a reason, that’s an excuse. What’s more, there isn’t even any indication that the man’s father was dead yet! Really this is even more of a lame excuse. “Come follow me.” “OK, Jesus, but first let me wait until my father is dead and I get my inheritance and all my affairs are in order and then absolutely I’ll follow you anywhere.” That “commitment” is a lie. We can all fall into the same trap, of coming up with excuses not to follow Christ, excuses which sound good but really are lies.

    Where does Christ’s path take us? To freedom, as St. Paul says. But this is not a freedom to do whatever we want, all those little things that we think will make us happy but never do. It’s a freedom to love God and love each other unconditionally, with no room for hatred or anger. Even in the aftermath of events like the shooting at the nightclub in Orlando a little while ago, Christ calls us to respond with love, without hatred or anger. That unconditional love is Christ’s response to anger, hatred, sin – and it is what He calls us to do as well.

  4. jameeka says:

    2 Kings 2—hmm, salt into water to heal it, is that where the old ritual for Holy Water came from? —and don’t make fun of bald prophets!

    I am still thinking about today’s sermon for 6th Sunday after Pentecost. The first reading was St Paul to the Romans, 6. The reading starts: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
    St Thomas Aquinas, who wrote commentary on St Paul’s letters, points out that it is not the natural order of things to return from death to life. But Christ Jesus died so that we, from the moment of baptism, are no longer slaves to sin—it IS possible, with the sacraments and staying close to God, to live a new life where death has no dominion.
    Also, Fr said we are baptized only once and God does it.

    And then Father reviewed how, at the re-presentation of Christ’s death at Mass, the gestures of the priest signify the crucifixion, death, and then resurrection of Jesus (especially evident in the EF).
    When I first learned this last fall, the second part of the Mass made a lot more beautiful sense!

  5. Philomena Mary says:

    EF sung Mass. Father spoke about the difference between Christ’s compassion and false compassion, and also on uniting our suffering to the Cross – that Christ did not just tell people to follow Him but that He said to take up our crosses as well. Father spoke of using suffering to become closer to God as well. It was an excellent and detailed homily and I’m only paraphrasing the main points but it was a great comfort after the week I’ve had.

  6. Rob83 says:

    I am in the middle of reading 2 Kings right now. The 4th chapter ties in rather nicely with today’s EF readings.

    Today’s sermon was a reminder not to get hung up on ourselves and the small day-to-day problems.

  7. Elizabeth D says:

    ordinary form… it was about how, whatever our particular vocation may be, God asks everything of us, our whole heart. If the priest newly ordained Friday who had his Mass of Thanksgiving at our parish yesterday now said to himself “I can use my days off and vacation to keep pursuing my longtime dream to become a millionaire by age 40” then he has not really given himself completely. Or if one of the young couple married yesterday at the parish by Bishop Morlino with two priests concelebrating, who were present at this Sunday Mass the day after they were married were to say to the other “my dear I love you and look forward to being with you all my days, but you must understand my political activity comes first” then he has not really given himself completely. The homilist went on to say that some people think that whatever it is they want to do, even if not in conformity with natural or divine law, God probably would say to them that it is okay for them to follow their desire. But he said the Gospel shows that Jesus, although He is merciful, is not flexible. Some employers today complain that the younger generation have been raised to be affirmed in everything they do and get a trophy for everything, and when they get into the real world they continue to expect that they will receive praise whatever they do, but in the workplace it cannot be like that. And the spiritual life is not like that.

  8. 1jacobo5 says:

    OF in St. Louis as we were in town for a wedding:

    The priest said that he had a bone to pick with Jesus about the Gospel because of his line about the dead burying the dead and insinuated that Jesus was wrong to say such a thing. He also said ended his homily with there are no such things as absolutes.

    He also used a Eucharistic Prayer that I think he composed, as it didn’t share any resemblance with the four or five approved by the Roman Missal.

  9. GrumpyYoungMan says:

    Following Jesus isn’t about “let’s try this and what happens.”

  10. Elizabeth D says:

    1jacobo5, you are only supposed to post GOOD POINTS. :-)

    But actually in the homily I heard the priest, who is not a heretic and doesn’t make up Eucharistic Prayers, also commented that if it was not the only begotten Son of God saying it then he would have thought that was a wrong thing to say. But, it WAS the only begotten Son of God.

  11. kiwiinamerica says:

    As predicted….major “incoming” as a result of papal press conference.

    Sorry to change subject……carry on……

  12. PhilipNeri says:

    What’s your excuse for not following Christ. . .?

    http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2016/06/excuses-excuses-excuses.html

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  13. MikeToo says:

    Father spoke about the choice of following Jesus as a primary example of our free will. God gives us free will, he proposes he never imposes. True love is never forced. We have the freedom to be wrong but we do not have the freedom to do wrong.

  14. mwa says:

    At the Cathedral parish in our diocese, the rector compared Elisha’s response to that of young men these days who may have a vocation to the priesthood. He explained that it is so hard for them to answer the call because our society has no tolerance for suffering. This he connected to married couples failing to live out their vocation which he fearlessly named as the raising of children to God. If in family life husband and wife would remember that their first job is to be holy by putting God first, the lack of vocations would be solved, as well as much of the problems in the world, as their children would also learn to embrace suffering in the service of love.

  15. sirmaab says:

    Father Jackson FSSP spoke on modesty as a “theology of the body” He noted that, by modesty, we reveal to others what we are, who we are, and what we are for. Immodesty tries to tell others that our bodies are, at one extreme, oriented toward sex and bestial pleasure; on the other end, immodesty tries to tell others that the body is evil, gross, and to be ignored. There is also the immodesty that sees the body as worthy of commercialization: the saucy woman trying to sell you a can do soda.

    His main point, however, was the immodesty that lies behind dying the hair an unnatural color, and tattooing the body. He noted: “There are occasions where we want to dye our brown hair a little browner, to even the color and give ourselves a little more refinement. And I suppose there’s not too much one could say about that; though, personally, I would never do it.” However, to dye the hair neon pink or a flashy blue is to distract completely from the body as the manifestation of one’s soul — especially of one’s Christian soul. Here, we say through the presentation of our body, “I am to be noticed; I am for flippancy; I am for rebellion; I am for irresponsibility. We say to ourselves and to the world around us that we shun discipline and want to live only in the excitement of the moment.

  16. Grumpy Beggar says:

    OF , with our long-term & palliative care patients. . . also in French (not my first language) – was able to tune in at several intervals on Father’s homilies in both the morning and afternoon Masses. He tries to keep it simple for the patients:

    Focusing on the second reading, Father began by speaking about the freedom God gives us. He said that in actuality what this true freedom is, is power . . . God gives us the power to love, and/or the power not to love – if we so chose (sometimes a terrible freedom depending on what we do with it).

    He duly carried the theme of love on to the Gospel-related part of the homily. He drew a round of smiles out of the patients by asking them several questions :

    “When we love someone, do we only half-love them ? . . . Do we say to them, ‘I only love you from the morning until the afternoon, but I don’t love you in the evening’ . . .or do we tell them, ‘I only love you from your head down to your waist, but I don’t love the rest of you’ (bear in mind most of these patients are in wheelchairs) ? No .We either love someone, or we don’t.

    “If God asks us to follow him, he is inviting us to love Him. Let us ask Him during this Mass, for the grace we need to love Him, and to love one another. . . “

  17. AnnTherese says:

    In light of recent (ongoing…) events in our nation and world, the homily focused on the all-consuming power of hate– which is often expressed in words and statements of self-righteous judgment; and the call to exercise love as a reflection of God and a force that heals: “…serve one another through love.
    For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
    namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
    But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
    beware that you are not consumed by one another.”

  18. Gregg the Obscure says:

    OF. Our pastor was out of town at a family reunion – good for him! – so we had a familiar visiting priest. This particular fellow grew up in the parish and took early retirement due to health problems. He is exceptionally joyful.

    He spoke about prayer and our need for silence. Silence is essential, though not sufficient, for any progress in our spiritual lives.

  19. robtbrown says:

    1jacobo5 says:

    The priest said that he had a bone to pick with Jesus about the Gospel because of his line about the dead burying the dead and insinuated that Jesus was wrong to say such a thing. He also ended his homily BY STATING ABSOLUTELY there are no such things as absolutes.

    FYP

  20. JesusFreak84 says:

    The Ukrainian Catholic calendar, Gregorian, that is, had us reading about a paralytic healed by the Lord. This was the second homily I’ve heard from our new priest, (older guy, just new to us,) and the first time I’ve actually understood his English ^_^;;; Kind of wish I hadn’t, though…he basically said that the man was merely paralyzed by his sins, rather than actual medical paralysis, which pretty much negates the miracle the Lord performs. I really hope that this wasn’t indicative of what we can expect from now on…

  21. Was invited to sing at my college parish, where they had an early external solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul (the parish is named St. Peter the Apostle Parish).

    The permanent Deacon’s homily had some corny St. Peter jokes that made me cringe, but he also spoke of the persecution of Christians not only in the Middle East, but also in the Western World, especially when it comes to respecting the dignity of life from conception to natural death. Then he said to look to Sts. Peter and Paul for inspiration in following the Christian life, even to the point of death, in preparation of imminent persecution. Honestly, everything outside the jokes sent chills down my spine, especially since I’ve never heard a permanent Deacon speak like that.

    Afterwards, the priest (who is also my alma mater’s campus ministry chaplain) used the Roman Canon. I have something of a reputation within campus ministry as that guy who loves chant and goes to the EF at least once a month, so when I shook hands with the priest and told him I loved hearing the Canon, he laughed and said “After 5 sentences in, I thought to myself, you know what, I probably made MagisterCaesar’s day.” I do love the EF and look forward to its growth, but I do have a soft spot for the OF when the Roman Canon is spoken or chanted out loud.

  22. JonPatrick says:

    OF Mass, away from our usual parish. This happened to be the last Mass for a priest that was retiring so “put your hand on the plow and don’t look back” has a special meaning for him. He is an older liberal priest who is being replaced by someone who by reputation I know to be a bit more traditional, so a good thing for the parish although I suspect he may have a rough going initially as the retiring priest was very popular. I will continue top pray for him and especially the new priest.

    He started out speaking on Galatians – the call to discipleship is a call to rise above our times and not accept the yoke of the world around us.

    When Paul talks about “flesh” this is not literal flesh but things in us that are contrary to faith.

    The constant struggle of Christianity is to love your neighbor as yourself at the same time as living in this world.

    He also spoke a bit about Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia and the genocide by the Turks back in the early 20th century.

  23. The Mad Sicilian Geek says:

    My recollection of Fr. George’s excellent homily (yesterday, at 7:30 AM Mass)

    He started out by talking about TRUTH and that there is no such thing as Subjective Truth. (The Truth is still true even if nobody believes it)

    He mentioned that Elijah was the only real prophet in his time to speak the Truth about the Kingdom of God – urging people to turn from sin and to return to the true God. Similarly, Elisha had come to realize that there is only one Truth – God and His laws and that he must take up Elisha’s mantle and move forward.

    Fr. George also talked about St. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Spendor (The Splendor of the Truth) and why the Church must always preach the Truth of the Gospel – and not be influenced by popular feelings and opinions of the moment. The Truth is timeless!

    He mentioned that Armenia was the first nation in the world to make Christianity its official religion. Fr. George also remarked that Pope Francis was absolutely correct to call the slaughter of millions of Armenians by its proper name – GENOCIDE. Men, women and children were slaughtered simply because they were Christian.

    We must not be afraid of the Truth because it will set us FREE.

  24. mattjd215 says:

    St Peter Church in Merchantville, NJ saw the last Mass of Father Anthony Manuppella at the parish. Father is moving to St. Gianna Beretta Molle in Northfield, NJ on July 1. It has been a sad month for the the parishoners of St Peter since Father announced the new assignment. Father Manuppella has been at St. Anthony for over 16 years and greatly improved the parish, the school, the buildings, brought 40-hours devotion, TLM, St Anthony Novena, multiple Eucharistic processions, and much, much more. Our loss is St. Gianna’s gain. (I have pictures if you want to include in the post.)

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