Your Sunday Sermon Notes

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

Let us know.

I, for one, did not preach!

However, I did meditate during Mass on how silly differences tend to keep conservatives and traditional Catholics apart and, thus divided, weaker than they could be, while libs, dissenters and heretics work together to tear everything down.  Petty problems shouldn’t part us.  Paul was wise to admonish people never to let the sun go down on their anger.

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17 Comments

  1. slainewe says:

    Really well done election-motivated sermon emphasizing that we are in this mess because we Catholics are not who we should be. We have all taken “the wide path.” For instance, we are pro-life towards abstract babies in the womb, but not “pro-living” towards our concrete neighbors. We look to the government or church to take care of people we should be helping day in and day out as part of our Catholic identity; that identity that separates us from the worldly. We want to keep one foot in the world in a time when the Church needs us to have both feet firmly rooted in the reign of Christ.

    Father reassured us that pro-life activism is good work; rosaries and novenas are very good things; but we have to start doing the hard work of committed Catholics; that personal pouring of self, for love of Christ, into work that we do not want to do. This is the “narrow way” that leads to salvation, not only for ourselves, but for the whole culture. This is what will bring the reign of Christ back to our land.

  2. CaliCatholicGuy says:

    30th Sunday in Ordinary time. Father challenged us to reflect on the gospel and ask ourselves if we consider ourselves similar to the Pharisee or the tax collector. Likely we would all say the tax collector but said unless we remain humble every day and consign ourselves to God’s mercy we are likely just like the Pharisee in some way as we are all sinners. He said we have to constantly work to humble ourselves up until the moment of our death when we will be judged and never assume we get a free ticket to heaven just because we go to mass or volunteer around the parish.

  3. LadyMedievalist says:

    23rd Sunday after Pentecost. Father preached on the 4 Last Things, underscoring how earthly suffering is inevitable, but eternal suffering is avoidable. A good reminder as we draw close to All Saints and All Souls

  4. stephen c says:

    “Paul was wise to admonish people to never let the sun go down on their anger.” That is so true. Of all the regrets I have in life some of the most baleful are nasty things I said to normally decent people who had been unkind to me. I had hoped to retaliate for unkind things they had said about me or to me. Sometimes the next day, sometimes years later, I understood with sad conviction that I had misused the gift of language, that we are all suffering in a vale of tears, et cetera. Not that it is wrong to passionately argue with one’s friends on subjects worth arguing over, or wrong to admonish evildoers; but that is not what Saint Paul (or you, Fr. Z) are talking about. Paul is one of my heroes because he explained this so well.

  5. iPadre says:

    Based my Ordinary Form homily on the Gospel. Talked about postures in the Sacred Liturgy and Mass. The Pharisee “took up his position” standing. The Tax collector “would not even raise his eyes to heaven” and he “beat his breast.” Posture affects our attitude during prayer. We must allow our posture to lead us to union with God.

    In my Extraordinary Form sermon, I talked about sin, bondage, slavery and freedom in Christ. He gives us the ability to break the bonds, but depends on our free will to repent. Confession gives us the ability to experience the “freedom of the sons of God.”

  6. MikeToo says:

    We had a visiting Dominican OP. He spoke about the need for humility in prayer and for mercy. He related a story of a general who was going to pass judgement on a wayward soldier. The solder’s mother begged for mercy. The general said he did not deserve mercy. The mother replied, if he deserved mercy it would not be mercy. In the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector it was the Tax collector that knew he needed mercy.

    He then went on the stress the positions of the two men. “The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself.” Father stressed that this prayers was a closed circle. Even though the Tax Collector would “not even raise his eyes to heaven” his demeanor and prayer shows his prayer was directed outward to the Lord. The words reminded me of Ratzinger so much, I though he would mention ad orientem worship. Unfortunately no. After the homily we went back to our closed circle.

  7. KateD says:

    A soldier goes into a barber shop, gets his hair cut, but when he went to pay the barber said, ‘No, no. Thank you for your service, this is the least I can do to express my gratitude.”

    The next morning, when he comes to work the barber finds a bottle of wine with a thank you card.

    He opens up the shop and a police officer comes in. When the barber is finished cutting the officer’s hair, the policeman goes to pay, but the barber refuses to allow the officer to pay. The barber thanks the police officer for his service and tells him it is the least he can do to show his appreciation.

    The next morning as the barber opens his shop he finds a box of candy and a thank you card.

    Later that day a priest comes in for a hair cut. When the barber finishes the priest’s hair cut, the priest goes to pay, but the barber declines saying, “Father, this is the least I can do to express my heartfelt gratitude for your service and all that you do for our parish and the community as a whole. Thank you.”

    The next day the barber arrives at his shop and finds five priests in line at his door.

    :)

  8. JimP says:

    One of our associate pastors emphasized the need for humility to access God’s mercy. We tend to judge ourselves by man’s standards, as the Pharisee did, not by God’s. We need to examine our conscience against God’s standards, without trying to justify our actions by claiming that we are not really bad, and using the excuse that there are others who are greater sinners than we. We should make frequent use of confession with humility and a true purpose of amendment. He presented Our Lady as our best example of humility to the Lord.

  9. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. The 3 people (the official publicly and the woman privately) approach Jesus in different ways but both have deep faith. Is our faith as strong as these two? Do we approach Jesus? Are we willing to risk embarrassment to ask for God’s help?

  10. JonPatrick says:

    That should be “The 2 people”. Can’t blame that on auto-correct :)

  11. Gregg the Obscure says:

    OF Mass. One of the best I’ve heard from our pastor.

    Many people are upset about this election. These candidates are representative of our society. We will get better candidates only when we Catholics consistently practice virtue in all areas of our lives. A life of virtue is impossible without prayer. Then some practical nuts-and-bolts advice about prayer, such as using posture to help focus one’s attention.

  12. Beau says:

    Father preached about the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ robe. Many good reflections on the need for faith to be long and enduring (i.e. her 12 years of suffering before being healed). Also on the nature of healing and allowing God to heal us in the way He deems best, rather than telling God how we want to be healed.

  13. Pedro Froes says:

    New Rite,

    Good sermon. Father preached on what St. Thomas says about haughtiness being a more-than-capital sin. He spoke about the need for us to humiliate ourselves and to be contrite. He said that the liturgy is a good place for that, as the first thing you do in Mass is to confess publicly you are a sinner and that you have sinned. He even said that in the Old Rite the priest would pray a whole psalm on humiliation and contrition and asking for God’s help, before entering the altar. Good preaching. Most people don’t know about the Vetus Ordo.

  14. truthfinder says:

    EF. Father spoke about imitatio Christi – that we are called to imitate Christ and His saints. We are called to Christian perfection, and not merely to be nice or sincere. I’m missing quite a few of his points, but a very good sermon.

  15. John F. says:

    We had a newly ordained priest who explained how voting for candidates from the party of death is a mortal sin. Please pray for him that he continues to preach the truth and that we have more priests like him ordained in the future.

  16. frjim4321 says:

    Paul the Athlete.

  17. joan ellen says:

    Vigil Mass…Father talked about how easy it is to point out others sins & not our own. He then spoke about abortion for a good amount of time, especially mentioning how women & men & their suffering for so many years after the abortion, & the suffering of family & friends as well.

    Sunday OF Mass…different parish & diocese…Father talked of the times he is a pharisee & of the times he is a tax collector. He also took time to talk about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

    Thank be to God!

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