Your Sunday Sermon Notes and a ‘Laetare’ Sunday ROSE POLL

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard at the Mass to fulfill your Sunday obligation?  Let us know.

For my part, for the TLM this morning, I spoke of how we must have deprivation before we appreciate abundance.  Taking on voluntary penances and mortifications is helpful for us.

We had a Solemn Mass today, with our newly completed rose set.  Yesterday I received – finally – a shipment with silver appliques I ordered for this set.  We spent a good share of yesterday putting them on the vestments, which were deeply spiffy once completed.  I think they turned out well.

For more on the liturgical color rosacea, HERE

PLEASE SEND TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS!  HERE  We are really doing our best here to raise the tide and all boats with it.

And in action… alas, from a mobile phone camera.  We may get better ones in a while.

From the Live Stream:

And now, since this is Laetare Sunday, what vestments did you who belong to the Roman Rite see for Mass?  Let’s have a POLL.

Anyone can vote but you have to be registered and approved to use the combox.

For 'Laetare' Sunday 2018, at my Roman Rite Mass I saw...

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About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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27 Comments

  1. My homily was a continuation of a series on the Mass, and I talked about the offertory. I made the point that there is drama in this part of the Mass, as we prepare for the “coming” and the lifting up of the Son of Man, described in the Gospel (Novus Ordo). I also pointed out that, as awesome as it is that our offerings of bread and wine will be changed into Christ, that is not the most important point; rather, it is our own transformation into Christ.

  2. Some observations on the photos.

    In the sixth one, the Thurifer is incensing the other servers, presumedly after he has done so with the Master of Ceremonies, and before the faithful. It is a misconception among some that not even the MC receives this unless he is tonsured. This is completely false, as every server on the altar is a surrogate for a minor cleric. They receive one double, as would any tonsured minor cleric.

    Also, and in some places, the MC can be found lifting the end of the chasuble alongside the Deacon of the Mass, and in other places, he is kneeling off to the side.

    I attended a Byzantine Divine Liturgy this morning, where they wear “bright” vestments (as opposed to “dark”) on most Sundays of the year, including most Sundays in Lent. But at the Roman parish where I usually attend, they never wear rose vestments for the TLM. I’ve been told it’s a matter of the priest’s preference, but I suspect it’s more a case of lacking a proper benefactor. One more reason to try and win the lottery.

    All in all, an interesting display, and definitely not pink.

  3. TonyO says:

    My NO pastor wore a mostly violet vestment but it had a wide rose stripe down the middle of it. Not sure if the combination really “works” liturgically (or aesthetically) but they weren’t either one of them weird colors. He also reminded us (for the 20th time in 10 years) that the vestments were “rose”, not “pink”, but we all knew that was coming and laughed at it with him.

  4. Chris in Maryland 2 says:

    Yes – our pastor – a superb elderly man, a Monsignor, to whom the Church entrusted the formation of many seminarians, gave a sublime homily. He drew our attention to the crucified Jesus, and told us over and over what St. John spoke in today’s Gospel, that the Father gave up His only Son to die His saving death, because the Father “so loved the world.”. And atheists good Msgr reminded us – that we – in following Jesus, and obeying Our Father – must love the world as the Father loved it – to the point of dying for others – even those who hate us – because we follow Jesus.

  5. Mike says:

    The point of picking up the twelve baskets of leftovers was not because Our Lord could not have reproduced the miracle again if needed. The point is not to allow gifts to go to waste, particularly divine ones—especially, for us today, the spiritual freedom to offer our lives completely and unconditionally to God.

  6. Chris in Maryland 2 says:

    the mischievous “auto-spell-correct” changed my words “and as the” to “atheists.”

  7. Nan says:

    I didn’t take the survey as Byzantine Church doesn’t have Laetere Sunday. Today instead was the Feast of St John Climacus. I hadn’t realized he was the Abbott of St Catherine’s Monastery on Mt Sinai.

    Liturgical colors are different, blue is legal, at least for Marian Feast days. Father wore a bronze today.

    My current form of active participation in the liturgy is to sit in the Sacristy, where women, like vampires can enter only if invited, and polish the cover of the Gospel book so Father can focus on the Tabernacle. We have some sorely neglected metal objects and are slowly polishing them so they need only periodic maintenance. Yesterday Father locked me in the Sacristy and left town. True story.

  8. maternalView says:

    Father had a lovely homily about Nicodemus explaining the three times he encounters Jesus. He encouraged us to think about how we approach Jesus.

  9. frjim4321 says:

    Address various layers of meaning in the fourth gospel, and a deeper meaning of Nicodemus coming to Jesus out of the dark and moving toward the light.

  10. Benedict Joseph says:

    Last week a visiting priest popped out of the sacristy in Laetare vestments.
    That was just the beginning of the disorientation. We endured the worst mass I have ever witnessed. Our pastor returned this week.
    All is well.

  11. jaykay says:

    In our N.O. Mass the Priest wore the rose chasuble purchased about 3 years ago, Gothic-style. Not bad, but not the beautiful rose colour of your vestments, a bit too near pink, i.m.o. The Deacon, as I thought he was, wore a violet vestment. At least, I thought he was a Deacon (hard to tell in the N.O. anyway, and we’re up in the choir gallery in a big church – and I forgot my glasses!). But it turned out he was a Priest when he joined-in in part of the E.P. after the Consecration. We don’t have a rose dalmatic (but then, we rarely have a Deacon anyway). We do have a violet dalmatic, but with very narrow bars, and that’s what I thought he was wearing, as it looks very like the chasuble in the same, not too bad, modern style.

    The altar frontal with Gaudete and Laetare is beautiful. What a teaching moment that will provide!

  12. e.e. says:

    Father told the story of the Habsburg royal family’s funeral custom… (found here and here: https://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/whos-there-a-poor-sinner-habsburger-funeral-ritual/ http://people.com/archive/europes-heads-crowned-and-otherwise-bury-zita-the-last-habsburg-empress-vol-31-no-15/ ) Twice the guard knocks, and the priest asks who is there, receiving in reply a list of the deceased’s titles. The priest replies, we do not know him/her. A third time a knock, and the question who is there. The answer this time: A poor sinner / sinning mortal man/woman. Then he discussed how we all, like the Habsburgs, are in the end only poor sinners, regardless of how many titles or fortunes we might have acquired on earth. And during Lent in a special way we ought to be striving to become more aware of our sinfulness and striving to become more holy.

    I found the homily very interesting. I’d never heard of this custom before, so I went home and read more about it! So true, that in the end we are all equal before God at the final judgment.

  13. billy15 says:

    We were out of town and visited a nice little parish in the Illinois valley. Father gave an excellent homily and talked about why it was so important for us to fast. As there are three pillars to Lent in general, he gave us three reasons we should fast. The first reason was that we fast so that we can curb our appetites, and that by giving up something small we can more easily say no to sinful things in the future. Second, he told us that we fast so we can unite our sufferings to Jesus on the cross. He quoted a few of St. Paul’s Letters, specifically where the Apostle mentions that he completes what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, and gave a really great explanation of that particular verse.

    Third, he mentioned that the final reason was so that we could combat the devil, as our Lord said some demons can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. He encouraged all of us to keep going strong in our Lenten observances, and to keep these three “pillars” of fasting in mind.

    I also wanted to mention a couple things about the Mass itself though, because it was really GOOD. The Mass was said in the OF, and was ad orientem, but the priest (pastor of the parish) definitely had some “mutual enrichment” going on. He wore beautiful rose vestments, and he actually “tied one on”! I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen a priest wear a maniple in the OF! I knew right away I’d be in for a beautiful Mass.

    The mutual enrichment continued when he said the Roman Canon, and didn’t truncate it when it came to listing the saints. Other things I noticed were that he also kept the canonical digits throughout, struck his breast at “to us sinners also”, dispensed with the sign of peace, crossed himself with the Host and the Precious Blood before he received them, gave the Eucharist to the altar servers kneeling and on the tongue, and had them hold the paten while everyone came up for Holy Communion. It was great to find such a wonderful parish while away from home. I later found out he was the author of a book put out by Catholic Answers Press on exorcisms a couple years back. He told me he’s used to saying the EF of the Mass, but only does it publicly once a month currently at a nearby hospital. In any case, I was very thankful for his witness.

  14. billy15 says:

    Oops, I meant to say the Mass was NOT ad orientem, but despite this the Mass was very beautiful and reverent. Again, a lot of mutual enrichment going on, and it was very inspiring to see.

  15. veritas vincit says:

    Our priest wore what I’m reasonably sure is rose — a muted off-color pink, almost salmon. The deacon wore violet.

    e.e., Zita’s husband Otto, the son of Charles the last Habsburg emperor, died and was buried several years ago. I heard and saw videos about his burial, which went through the same ceremony. Very appropriate. No matter our accomplishments in life, we are all equal, sinners in need of God’s mercy.

  16. CatholicNerdGirl says:

    A deacon spoke about God as “all mercy and all love”, who “never condemns or punishes”. I understand where he was trying to go, but, in the end, it seemed pretty wishy-washy, unCatholic, and incorrect. Justice demands that sometimes we are punished, like when we don’t repent and ask for forgiveness. “God is my buddy, everyone gets to Heaven without even trying, I’m OK-You’re OK”…yuck.

  17. RichR says:

    Our new-to-the-parish priest put out a “Father’s Christmas Wish List” in December for new vestments. He set the bar pretty high for gorgeous vestments (chasubles and dalmatics), chalices, and candelabra only a year after being installed in our parish. Many eyebrows were raised when they saw the $35,000 price tag. However, the younger families were ready for it, and they ended up raising a total of $78,000 for amazing, inspiring accessories for Mass. Included among the vestments were some brand new, exquisitely made rose vestments: Matching chasuble, dalmatic, MANIPLES, and CHALICE VEIL. And this for a NO parish.

    Yeah, at our parish we young adults are “anti-70’s” all the way. We want our kids knowing Jesus, but we want them to see heavenly glory at Mass, too.

    Oh yeah, and Fr. offers a monthly TLM, too.

    No, you can’t have him. He’s ours.

  18. Nan says:

    e.e., thanks for the link. I missed it as I was just coming back to church at about that time. I’m descended from his family’s subjects and the archdukes assassination was a terrible event that my great grandfather never forgot. My other great grandparents had been in the US and decided to go home in 1904 but were able to return between the assassination and beginning of the war.

  19. Absit invidia says:

    I can’t believe that many priests were still wearing violet today. Attended a Military Archdiocese mass which is usually pretty attentively faithful to the calendar.

    [They can’t wear what they don’t have.]

  20. La Serenissima says:

    No problems re: the mobile ‘phone camera, Father; the photos are BEAUTIFUL! Keep up the good work; God bless your efforts.

  21. JonPatrick says:

    Rose vestments at our Sunday TLM.

    One little detail in St. John’s version of the feeding of the 5000 is “barley loaves” shows a connection to the Old Testament Elisha who multiplies 20 barley loaves. The 5 loaves Jesus starts with can symbolize the 5 books of the Torah. Just as Jesus transforms the loaves He also transforms the 5 books into something greater. Then in John chapter 6 Jesus becomes the bread which leads to the upper room and the feeding of the disciples with His body before His passion. The men sit down on lush grass which reminds us of Psalm 23’s verdant pasture. The cup runneth over just as in this feeding there are 12 baskets of leftover pieces.

  22. Giuseppe says:

    Having spent yesterday afternoon rendering unto Caesar what is his, I, for a hot second, thought that the vestments said IRS.

    (Of course, donations for the vestments are tax deductible…)

    [To get the deduction, you have to make the donation!]

  23. Roy Hobbes says:

    Attended a Personal Ordinariate parish yesterday (not sure if that is considered a part of the Roman Rite or not). Priest was wearing Rose vestments, as was the tabernacle draped in Rose as well.

    [I think it is, technically, the Anglican Use, but it is part of the Roman Rite with it’s variations brought in from the Book of Common Prayer.]

  24. bushboar says:

    I also happened to be at an Anglican Use Mass yesterday. The priest wore a rose fiddleback chasuble and maniple, but everything else in the church (which is a NO parish primarily) was draped in violet.

  25. zag4christ says:

    Our NO Mass was celebrated by the Cathedral rector, but the homily was given by our parochial vicar. His homily was centered on Christ being the Light of the world, and he made a wonderful analogy about how the darkness of sin permeates the world, and how we make little warming fires (our favorite sins), all the while we can see off in the distance a larger light, maybe like the light coming from a large banquet hall where a joyous celebration is taking place, but we do not want to leave our little warming fires to travel through the darkness to the Light of Christ. He called upon us to leave our little fires.
    Peace and God bless

  26. Nan says:

    We were told God wants us to go big or go home. The example was that Byzantine priests must request ordination date with handwritten letter stating they need this or will lose their soul.

  27. TimFinnegan says:

    I was a visitor at a parish in a Houston suburb and the priest gave, what I thought, was a superb homily. We were at the mass of the Catechumens and so had the readings from year A. He talked about the Jewish understanding of sickness being due to sin and then said whether or not this was true, sin does infect our soul, but that Christ offers us healing in the Sacraments of Baptism (for the Catechumens) and confession (for the Baptized). He compared these Sacraments to washing ourselves in the pool of Silo’am and that when we scrutinize ourselves and worthily receive these Sacraments we heal ourselves of the sickness of our souls, just as Christ gave sight to the blind man.

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