Your Sunday Sermon Notes

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

For my part, I spoke about the Roman ‘genius’ (mindset, worldview, identity rolled into one) and threefold component in the absolution form after the Confiteor in the prayers at the foot of the altar and before Communion.

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

  1. Joseph-Mary says:

    There is a priest who is making podcasts of his homilies and they are excellent! He spoke about the moral issues that can be deduced from the Cleansing of the Temple. He taught about what makes an act a moral one and the three conditions necessary. Question: can we murder one person in order to save others? He extrapolated from there.

  2. Sandy says:

    We heard, at the Novus Ordo, about Abraham and Sarah and the angelic visitors, then the Martha and Mary story. I hoped we would hear about the significance of the angel’s prophecy to Sarah and the lineage from Abraham and Sarah, etc. I also hoped to hear about Mary and her desire to just gaze on the Lord, be in prayer, etc. (I realize we all balance our “Martha and Mary” activities, but oh, to gaze on the Lord Himself.) We heard it all boiled down to “hospitality”. Am I wrong, Father, to want more meat and not pablum? Is this “dumbing down” the Word of God? Sorry to bring this up, but I really want to know if I’m mistaken.

  3. GAK says:

    Off topic, but worthwhile, this comes from a Protestant pastor I heard on the radio on the way into mass today:

    “What if you woke up today with only those blessings that yesterday you gave thanks to God for? What would you have left in your life?”

  4. Andrew says:

    From a priest in New Orleans: sin has consequences both on a personal level and on a wider social level. We must offer prayers and reparation to counter the ever growing deterioration of our social fabric.

    Gospel: Jesus cries over Jerusalem

  5. Prayerful says:

    For the first time in a long time, I went to a Memorial New Mass rather than a Mass of all Time. I have to confess myself not disappointment. It corresponded to my low expectations. Martha was a great woman about the house. I have to say I tuned out after about a paragraph or two of the homily.

  6. Mike says:

    The time of our visitation is now: the Holy Ghost moves among us. Will we allow ourselves to be reshaped by Him, to accept His peace, to turn our attention to the things of God, and to be brought to glory?

  7. One of those TNCs says:

    It struck me, as I read along as the OT reading was being read, that hospitality is not only about charity, but also about humility – which Abraham showed.

    Our priest also took the time to teach us what the “terebinth of Mamre” was – and what that phrase meant to the readers/hearers of that time. Interesting!

    Abraham didn’t doubt God and His angels. He was attentive and attuned – and so was Mary in the second reading. Show up, open your heart, and receive the gift!

  8. JonPatrick says:

    We have to strike a balance between being “Martha” (being caught up with doing stuff but without stopping and listening to God) and “Mary” (receiving the word of God but not acting upon it).

  9. Supertradmum says:

    Feast Day celebration of St. Cunegunda at the Latin Mass in Luxembourg City today. Sermon was on the possible holiness of all laity–even emperors and empresses. Holiness, said the priest, is in doing daily duties in an excellent manner and praying throughout the day.

    St. Cunegunda is the patron of this City and country and of the ancient church I attended today. Good sermon, good singing, good company, good intellectual discussion over a picnic with about 10 people afterwards. A little glimpse of heaven……..

  10. MikeyShanks says:

    Lk 19:41-42 – “And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes.”
    Sermon focused on how we take for granted the peace that the world cannot give and how we may think we have bigger fish to fry when it comes to living the virtuous life and/or fighting vices but without peace as a foundation, we will labor with maximum effort and minimum results. It also explained how to go about attaining that peace. As he referred to 1st reading from 1 Corinthians 10:6-13, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able:” One of the ways we find that peace is when we recognize this from St. Paul and are aware that we are not self-sufficient and are always in need of his help.
    Much more than this was discussed, but wanted to keep it short and sweet, if this was even possible.

  11. Adaquano says:

    Father looked to the life of St. Bonaventure as an example of someone that while very active still gazed upon Christ. He also encouraged that while we spend so much time trying to fill empty spaces in our calendar that we should also make time to spend some time with the Lord in adoration.

  12. CaliCatholicGuy says:

    In the midst of keeping my fidgety 3 yr old quiet (who had woken up too early this morning and was getting ready for nap by 11) I remembered one point from our Deacon’s homily… That traditionally the church looked on Martha and Mary as the difference in the active secular life (either lay or clerical) versus contemplative cloistered life. The thought now is that both are important examples for us all- it is important to not only be active and busy helping and serving others no matter our vocation but also to take time to simply listen to the Our Lord speaking to us.

  13. Hello Father Z,

    I began my Sunday by celebrating my move from a part time to full time job in a few weeks, by going with him to the Latin Mass at Holy Family Parish in my Archdiocese of Toronto. It was a Solemn Level, and it had a full complement of servers. The priests of the parish are part of the Oratory of St. Phillip Neri, who trains seminarians who don’t have the basic philosophical/theological requirements to begin the path to ordinary (apparently you need a bachelors in theology and/or philosphy, or a requisite number of courses to fulfill your “background” before going in the 5 year stream). Regardless, these Oratorians are quite orthodox and do both forms of the Roman Rite.

    My celebrant did an excellent and PROLIFIC homily today, absolutely relevant to Latin Mass goers. He touched on the fact that we here, we practicing Catholics, [he likely meant us that go to the Latin Mass,] are those who practice their faith in accordance with the Church, respect God’s Moral and Natural Law, and are those who dislike and rightfully so, what is going on around us and in the Church. We are right to be dismayed at liturgical abuse, power and corruption, the abuse of young men by ordained clerics, etc.

    However, as those who are faithful to the Lord [and Latin Mass attendees] we must be extra vigilant. In our world, we are apt and susceptible that in being who we are, we can become prideful in a way, and even hyper-attracted to justice in being who we are, that we will become people who attack, destroy, and even relish and illfully express joy [like, as in schadenfreude] when we slam a wayward prelate or person committing these abuses or immoralities or not being as pious and holy in practice as we are.

    Further, if you think that by being all holy will protect you from sin, think again. The priest used an example of a father or a teacher who did all the above, and taught either his children or youth a parish course according to the sexual teachings of the Church. However, this is when the temptations of sins in such an area will hit you harder. All the rationality or rational arguments you have taught your students or against opponents to your practice, will melt away at our temptation because of our concupiscence. Now, the priest didn’t say it in a way to mean you are helpless against temptation, he meant it as a point that hypocrisy is often the trap that the holy and righteous are led to fall into.

    Finally, knowing that people would challenge him on proper fraternal correction. he decided to bring up the saints of St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Vincent De Paul. These two saints were actually a good tie in, because St. VDP was heavily tempted by doubt of the Faith, and St. Catherine was heavily tempted by her over concern for immorality and deep love of the Church. At that time of St. Catherine, the Papacy had moved to Avignon, for purely political/human reasons. Father, knowing that his audience, especially the technologically savvy likely tune into to Fr. Z’s blog … and more radical dissident ones with “quasi-schismatics,” made a very clear point about St. Catharine. How did she react to the eccelastical and political chaos in the Church in her time, including the Pope? She did not react to this by being ambivalent or hiding in her convent/prayer alone [faith without works] nor in spreading negative gossip and public defamation of the Pope with media of the time [despite the famous story of her correcting the pope, but Fr. knew this is a common Rad Trad argument to defend their calumny and slander. So to counter this …] She held fast to the faith, prayed, fasted, and did everything she could to remain a stalwart to the Church in obedience to Her and the Holy Father.

    What a blessing! A priest who knows of the problems with the “holier than thou” crowd and the temptations of those who lead a Trad life. Deo Gratias for the Oratorians of St. Phillip Neri!

  14. PhilipNeri says:

    Does your “Christian busyness” reveal God’s mercy?

    http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2016/07/take-better-part.html

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  15. un-ionized says:

    We are not to be anxious like Martha. Afterward I shook the hand of the priest and he was nice to me. All this and kneeling at the rail too. It’s a start.

  16. Royse87 says:

    Our Pastor at Sacred Heart in Dunn, NC compared Martha and Mary to the holy father Benedict’s Rule of Ora et Labora. Its easy to interpret the text as our Lord praising Mary and chastening Martha, but there’s a much deeper truth. I should note it was Father’s birthday and yet he labored still in the confessional and at the altar. We are very blessed here.

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