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I was wondering how my local priest was going to get around the gospels obvious application this week in the Ordinary Rite.
‘You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practice what they preach.’
A rare irony to be sure, but no he actually got in the local right to life group and they did a very good speech, during the homily not sure about that bit, on the 80,000 or so abortions in Australia this year. It was great to see a real Catholic issue be brought to the for and made very obvious and clear.
At the Divine Liturgy I attended today, the pastor’s homily focused on the raising of the daughter of Jairus, today’s Gospel. It also happened to be the day when the children of the congregation sit together up front and are addressed more particularly by the homilist. Our pastor spoke of other miraculous accounts of healing in the Gospel as well as ones we know of in which ill persons, children even, are prayed for by others and are made well, or even as in the case of Jairus’ daughter, restored to life from having died. What do those who ask Jesus for healing have in common, what is needed to ask, as in the woman who touched his garment? The common element is that the pray-ers for others and those who ask have faith. But, how do we get faith? Is it like, “poof” something sudden and then we have it? It’s not like that, but we get it from receiving the sacraments of the Church regularly, week after week, growing in holiness, from the practice of faith we receive faith. I am grateful for the edifying sermons of this pastor.
Well let me think, nope, don/t even need to! 3 good points from Fr.:
Today everyone are doing hypocrites double standards, do as I say but not as I do. He spoke against bad parenting, bad priests, and against people living their faith apart from the rest of their lives.
Today Fr. read a letter from the Bishops Conference of Alberta and the North-West Territories, which is supposed to be read in all parishes of those provinces-territories. In it, our Bishops told that they will bring the government of Alberta to court if the government goes stupid and deny our Constitutional right to publicly funded (aka government funded) Catholic schools. (Canada only, sorry USA)
And Fr. said that this Christmas, all who do not go to mass both in the morning and in the evening will be hypocrites who have not fulfilled their Sunday and holy day of obligation.
“Render . . . to God the things that are God’s”: Being made in God’s image, we are told by Our Lord that what we are to render to God is nothing less than our very selves.
There’s a bit of the hypocrite and the Pharisee in all of us, including priests and bishops.
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!
For whatever reason, Fr. has been knocking them out of the park this week. (I had to explain that expression to him, as he’s not a native English speaker.) I like to pat him on the back when I can.
Like Mike above, our wonderful priest said, “Really. what does not belong to God: Our hearts, minds, souls, our very selves! Offer all that is yours to him: sins, possessions, hopes, needs.
The Saturday evening (anticipatory) Mass in our local Dominican church was the launch of the annual St. Martin de Porres novena. It was packed, many young people. Father, ordained only a year ago and a former professional soccer player at the highest level, preached beautifully on the life of St. Martin, in particular on his humble life of manual service (he was a Dominican Brother, not a priest). My hearing is not the best, so I didn’t get all the points. But I can say… the Dominican Order in Ireland is in good hands with this latest generation. Laudare, benedicere, praedicare. Ita sic!
The title of my homily — based on the readings for 31st Sunday, i.e., “call no man father,” etc. — was, “Power corrupts, but service saves.” I also talked about priesthood, as it is “Vocation Awareness Week,” and I talked about the parish sharing my task, as a priest, of nourishing the faith of others.
Must be Providence. I walked out of Mass today thinking what a great sermon. It was not my normal parish, and he preached on…wait for it… Purgatory and the month of November! How important it was to pray for the souls in Purgatory, the Church Miltant, and so forth. That heaven was opened here at the Mass and we are surrounded by angels and the saints praying with us. And this was your ordinary run of the mill upper class Novus Ordo parish. I was impressed and spoke with my teenage son after about it. Solid.
Bad priests are a curse, but their actions do not negate the fact Holy Mother Church is the spouse of Christ.
Father began his series on the Four Last Things by preaching on death and the need to be ready, and that a properly-prepared Catholic has no need to be afraid of death because of God’s love for us. hHe mentioned that the greatest blessing of his priestly ministry is to be with the faithful when they pass into eternity.
Father reminded the congregation of the importance of praying for our priests, quoting St Jean Vianney: “There are no bad priests, only priests for whom there has not been enough prayer.”
A call to prayer, especially for priests two specific things struck me.
“There are no bad priests, only priests for whom there is not enough prayer.” –St John Vianney
And St. Therese of the Child Jesus – Prayer for priests
“O Almighty Eternal God, Look upon the face of Thy Christ, and for the love of Him, Who is the Eternal High Priest, have pity on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the Bishop’s hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.
O Jesus, I pray to Thee, for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests, for Thy lonely and desolate priests; for Thy young priests; for Thy aged priests; for Thy sick priests; for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in purgatory.
But above all, I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me or helped and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly [name a particular priest of your choosing here]. O Jesus, keep them all close to Thy heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.”
We printed this prayer to put on our fridge to recite often. It is so needed right now. I know that I, to my great shame, have not used as many words of prayer for the likes of Fr. James Martin and Cardinal Cupich as I have words of criticism.
The challenged priests need our prayers to return to a faithful interpretation of the Churches teachings.
The faithful, and persecuted priests need our prayers to stay strong and not back down to pressure.
At this time of year, the diocesan church where I hear Mass, there is preached a series of homilies on the Last Four Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. The homily adverted to the Gospel of the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, but our inevitable death was the topic. The highlight was a point where he contrasted the common error that God is so merciful that somehow everyone is saved, that at worst some might suffer a little delay, with the harder truth. Instead, it is clear that we have until death. When it happens there is no second chance. God extends so many chances to cooperate with His Grace. We should take those chances. There are none after.