Your Holy Day of Obligation Sermon Notes

In most places today, All Saints, is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Was there a sermon at your Mass to satisfy your obligation?  Was there a good point in it?

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30 Comments

  1. LDP says:

    At our evening Ordinary Form Mass today, Fr. spoke about sainthood as the ultimate vocation. He said that although saints may all have different charisms (Fr. then proceeded to contrast certain saints), what really sets them all apart from others is their intimate relationship with Christ. This linked to what Fr. mentioned during a previous sermon, namely that one could speak of two conversions: one to the Church and one to Christ. Certainly I would argue that the latter is the more challenging and gradual of the two. Anyway, Fr. also lamented the apparent lack of desire nowadays to be counted amongst the ranks of the saints, somewhat supported by the fact that only a handful of people were at Mass tonight, though perhaps some attended the earlier Mass.

    Mass was additionally available in the Extraordinary Form at our church today, however not at a time that was viable for me to attend. Tonight’s Mass actually had a certain charm though. The lack of attendees created an unusually intimate atmosphere, and the use of the Roman Canon – as opposed to the usual Eucharistic Prayer III – coupled with the absence of a lay reader and hymns, was rather refreshing.

  2. ChesterFrank says:

    I was unable to satisfy that obligation because my US government employer would not recognize that All Saints Day is a holy day of obligation; even though the majority of my supervisory staff are Catholic. Catholic, but of the left wing liberal type following the likes of Pelosi, Biden, and Cuomo. I will remember day this next Tuesday for sure. Outrage.

  3. zag4christ says:

    Our priest preached on how important his patron saints (St. Phillip Neri, St. Pius X, and St. Therese of Lisieux) are in his priestly life. St. Phillip Neri provides the example of making sure he remembers to include levity in conjunction with humility in his life. St. Pius X reminds him to be firm in the teachings of the Church, and St. Therese of Lisieux reminds him to keep it simple.
    Peace and God bless

  4. Adorista says:

    There was a nice turnout at the local Catholic college this evening, all ages represented, and the young men near me outdoing everyone with their reverent attitudes. There were a couple of nuns, wearing habits. The priest compared Heaven to a chorus, with the saints all collaborating in praising God. He noted that in a chorus, not everyone sings every word, and they don’t sing all the time. Likewise, we don’t all have strong faith 100% of the time, and depend on others to carry us along from time to time, and that’s okay. The saints even do that, like St. Clare helped counsel St. Francis.

  5. James in Perth says:

    I attended a new parish for me today. The priest was both funny and inspiring. He told us about when he was newly ordained and his little sister asked him accompany her on her trick or treat rounds. Everyone was admiring his “costume,” but when he told them he really was a priest, no one believed him.

    On the inspirational side, he used a few well-known comments on the call to holiness and gently encouraged us to do the same. A very effective homily and one of my very favorite feast days.

  6. ASPM Sem says:

    The Bishop of Great-Falls/Billings, Montana said Mass at the seminary today. ’twas a good homily, made your normal points about saints who are not declared but still in Heaven nonetheless.

  7. Andrew says:

    I wasn’t burdened with holy Mass as I live in Canada. Sigh. We did our best to celebrate with young kids at home and had a great day anyway. In mother Kanada, day of obligation attends you!

  8. Andrew D says:

    Traditional Latin Mass this evening at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul here in Philadelphia. The priest told a story of when Cardinal Bevalaqua, our former deceased Archbishop, went to a local parish for first communion. After the gospel, he spoke to the children for his homily and asked them if they knew who the saints were. One child pointed to the stained glass windows of the saints which, at that time, were illuminated by the late afternoon sun, casting colors across the church. The child said that the saints were the ones the light shines through.

  9. un-ionized says:

    I was sick yesterday and today but prayed a lot. Lots of my friends have died lately. I think two of them are in heaven already.

  10. CPT TOM says:

    I made the poor decision to take my two homeschooled children to the “school” Mass at my parish. Shorten readings (they even “simplified” the Beatitudes during the Gospel), marginal music (The processional and recessional were “Oh when the Saints come Marching in”) and the Homily was replaced by each of the 3rd graders, who were dressed as saints, explaining their Saint, and Father kibitzing and joking around with each kid. Ugh. I turned it into a teaching moment for my 6 and 10 year old who both had gotten that things were not as they should be.

  11. Nan says:

    CPT TOM, to misquote Crocodile Dundee, “That’s not Mass, this is Mass.”

  12. LeeF says:

    @CPT TOM:
    I wanted to go to Mass today around noon but I went to a different parish precisely to avoid the school Mass. I’ve learned my lesson. However the priest at the Mass I attended felt it necessary to say repeatedly that the saints being celebrated today included all of us in attendance who are trying to become saints. That priest is however a very hard worker and much more generous in offering confession times than surrounding parishes. I always try to remember that most priests never get it all right, but neither do they get it all wrong.

  13. More Incense Please says:

    Interestingly, Fr Wade Menezes of the Fathers of Mercy and EWTN fame celebrated mass this evening at my small parish. He is doing a mission all week. I wish all priests celebrating mass in the ordinary form would take notes from Father Wade, as other than versus populum, his mass is what I believe the Council intended. Mostly sung, Canon I, Kyrie, and some Latin. Incense used throughout. Incredibly reverent. He also seems to have insisted on a traditional altar with 6 huge candles and a crucifix, that are not usually present. His 45 minute homily was an extension of the broader week long parish mission on mercy. We prayed the angelus before mass began and last night benediction was offered totally in Latin. Two words… Big Time. We have one of the only extraordinary form communities in our diocese, so we are blessed with a very reverent parish priest whose Latin mass spirituality “rubs off” on his ordinary form masses. Tonight Fr Wade spoke at length about the seven deadly sins, their opposites , and then the middle ground where virtue is found and how some of the great saints managed to battle vice. And striving for sanctity in our station of life. i didn’t know what to expect as I have only known Fr Wade from some apperences on EWTN but I have been incredibly impressed with his preaching, straightforward and blunt teaching on sin and mercy, and his obvious love for liturgy and Holy Mother Church.

  14. exNOAAman says:

    Attended an early (read “30 min”) mass. Father’s 1 minute homily was quite memorable to me. It’s easy to become a saint if you follow the instructions of the
    BVM at the Cana miracle…do whatever He tells you.

  15. Denis Crnkovic says:

    The entire sermon, delivered by the pastor, just returned from Rome with 16 of the minor seminarians who attended the canonization of St Jose Sanchez del Rio – a fitting prep for an All Saints sermon – was, as usual, full of good points.

  16. stephen c says:

    The sermon was excellent as always. Father talked about how God loves us, and said we are here to become saints. He said it is not easy for anyone (and as much as I admire him, God bless his soul, I think he is wrong about that – it is hard for me, but there are quite a few natural saints who, unlike sinners like me, immediately understood what Jesus meant when he said “my burden is light”). Because it was the first Mass after the end of the workday it was full, and by coincidence it was one of those masses that begin with “In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.” I have gone to church (English vernacular) and I have attended Mass (accurate English phrase) for six decades now: the quiet – and, I hope, prayerful way – the hundreds of people walked back toward home after Mass (after the Mass that began with “In Nomine Patris” as it has for so many centuries) was amazing and fantastic, and something any Christian would have loved to see. I am glad I was there. Sometimes I hear a good heartfelt sermon and I wonder if other people heard the same sermon: tonight I did not wonder.

  17. Rob83 says:

    Evening EF Mass. The priest has a bit of an accent so I have trouble understanding well, luckily this is only an issue at the sermon in the EF. I was more interested by the readings being almost the same in the OF and EF Masses, just that the OF cuts out the enumeration of the 12,000 from each tribe.

  18. TWF says:

    Not a holy day of obligation in Canada. I did fully intend to attend the 5 pm daily mass at the cathedral but ended up being preoccupied with our one year old son. I did sing “For All the Saints” while holding him.

  19. clarinetist04 says:

    Wish I could tell you. I spent All Saints Day in Tbilisi, Georgia at the Neocatechumenal Way Church (the other is the cathedral – there’s 2 Latin Rite Catholic Churches in this city, also a Chaldean Church and the Armenian Catholics also use this church) and the homily was in Georgian. I said a rosary instead.

    All Souls day tonight in Baku, Azerbaijan (90-95% Muslim). Hoping for black vestments!

  20. The recently ordained deacon gave the homily, his first in the parish. He did a nice job emphasizing that every one of us is called and destined to be saints, if we cooperate with grace; that we should aim for, and hope, and expect to be saints. He explained that first we must believe this can and will happen; that opens us to the grace that will change us, leading us to heroic virtue.

  21. Gregg the Obscure says:

    As many others have mentioned: we all can be and should strive to be saints, the saints in heaven intercede for us and serve as examples, with different saints being more fitting examples for each of us. The unique wrinkle: concentrate on obeying the first commandment really well and the others will fall in line with less difficulty.

  22. APX says:

    Generally speaking, All Saints Day isn’t a Holy Day of Obligation in Canada with the exception of the Our Lady of Walsingham Anglican Use Ordinariate.

    Our Latin Mass community only had a 7:00 am low Mass for All Saints Day (in years past it was an evening High Mass) and there was no sermon or fervorino.

    However, over at the Anglican Use Ordinariate, they had a solemn high Mass with a most riveting sermon about our vocation to holiness and that we like to talk about the saints and their holiness, but when it comes to us, we don’t really dive into it and let it get under our skin. We just go to Mass, pray our Rosaries, and go to confession sometimes, but don’t really strive for holiness and virtue and perfection. He also quoted Blessed Henry Cardinal Newman on what what it means to be strive for holiness (doing our daily duties with perfection). He also spoke at length on how we in the 21st Century have to contend with many things that weren’t issues for the saints in years past (ie: careers, Internet, tv, cell phones, etc), so we have to navigate the proper use of them, knowing when to use them and when to shut them off, avoiding the spiritual peril that they can bring us, etc.

  23. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. We tend to put saints on a pedestal (literally in the case of statues) but saints were sinners – he gave the example of St. Peter who denied the Lord 3 times after pridefully proclaiming he would stand by him. The difference is that he and other saints turned their lives around and followed Christ. Any of us that were baptized into the Church can become saints.

    I also went to All Souls today. Black vestments! One good point from that homily is that our true home is heaven and life on earth is like being in a hotel, not our real home. One thing that troubles me though is how the NO Mass downplays the whole concept of Purgatory and that we are praying for those souls who need our prayers to complete their journey. The emphasis seems to be on remembering the dead. But if they are in Heaven or Hell they don’t need our prayers. That point seems to be missed.

  24. CPT TOM says:

    @Lee F
    Oh I prayed for Father, and I do take into account Father outside of Mass. However, I also had two children with me who are old enough to notice what was going on and it was definitely a distraction from what the Mass should be about. The silliness at Mass is an example of what is wrong with how we engage children… We distract rather than engage them in the Mass and the Church’s teaching.

  25. hwriggles4 says:

    Went to the late 7:00 pm Mass after work at the Catholic Church down the street from my office. The priest is from India and has a thick accent, but he is always on course and forces me to listen attentively. The Church was about 70% capacity, and most people seemed pleased to be there, taking the obligation seriously.

    Father mentioned the examples set by Saint Therese of Avila, St. Therese of Liseaux, and St. Therese of Calcutta. He also mentioned that all of us are called to be Saints and we can ask for their intercession.

    By the way, I don’t know how Catholics can skip Mass on a Holy Day. Many parishes today intentionally schedule Masses early in the morning (I sometimes attend a 6:30 or 7:00 am Mass on Holy Days before work), around lunch time (particularly in downtown areas), or between 5 pm and 8 pm when the majority of Catholics are off work. Years ago, I had a job that required travel and I could usually find a place to attend Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation.

  26. Polycarpio says:

    @CPT TOM

    You will be glad to hear that not all is lost. I was at a children’s Mass that went much better!

  27. iamlucky13 says:

    We have a tendency to think of the saints as different from us – almost a separate species.

    We have to remember they were every bit as fallible as we are. Many of them had their own difficult struggles with sin. What made them saints was consistently living out their desire to be close to God.

    This is not an impossible ideal, but starts with us being willing to change ourselves.

  28. Traductora says:

    The poor newly-ordained priest at my cathedral (left in charge while his boss is in Rome) actually gave a decent homily, used the Roman Canon and appears to believe something approaching orthodox Catholic belief. I say “poor” because I think he’s under a lot of pressure or probably will be soon. Prayers for him and all good priests.

  29. frjim4321 says:

    Used a “Year of Mercy” frame.

    Salvation is from the Lord … it is not earned.

    It is an act of divine mercy.

  30. SundaySilence says:

    If Abp Cupich had attended, he would have been proud.

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