Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 29 Sept 2019

Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard during your Mass of Sunday Obligation? Let us know.

For my part, I spoke about angels and St. Michael.

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8 Comments

  1. FrAnt says:

    Rather than focusing solely on care for the poor, I focused on our choices of Heaven or Hell. Amos scolded the people for forgetting God and anointing themselves with rich oils, thinking they write songs like David, and not having a clue or care about Joseph. The rich man did the same and like Amos’ listeners have been exiled never to, or capable of returning to God. It’s too late. Not even if someone was to rise from the dead would the listen.

  2. Fr. Kelly says:

    St. Luke does not say that this is a parable. Our Lord, rather, is giving a very real warning of what is to come. The fact that he does not say the rich man’s name does not mean that he isn’t real.
    Very soon after this, a Lazarus does rise from the dead — and the priests seek to kill him lest anyone repent and turn to Our Lord.

    I pointed out that Dives is an example of the envious man. He never asks to be released from torment. He only asks (twice) that Lazarus be sent away from heavenly beatitude.

    If I feel bad at the good of another, but would feel better if I had some of what he has, then I am jealous. But if the only thing that would make me feel better is for the other to lose what he has, this is envy and it is destructive of me, him, and everyone.

    We are put on this earth to know God, to love Him and to serve Him so well that we become the kind of person who will be happy with Him in heaven. Dives has lived his life so that now he would not be happy in heaven even if he could cross that chasm. His envy won’t let him.

  3. JonPatrick says:

    Father made a few points about the readings. The first was that we are all going to die and we don’t know when that is so we need to be prepared. The second was that the rich man’s fault was not that he was rich, it was that Lazarus was at his door step and he never saw him or recognized his needs. There may be Lazaruses in our lives that we don’t see. Thirdly we don’t get to heaven just for being a good person i.e. “I didn’t murder anyone” we have to show our love of God through our actions.

  4. BrionyB says:

    I can’t remember much of the content of the sermon (except that it was about the angels), but I do remember it ended with an invitation for us all to recite the prayer to St Michael together.

  5. Cafea Fruor says:

    Father reminded us that we’re all going to either heaven or hell, with the choice being up to us. Then he talked about how massive a support St. Michael is in making the right choice.

  6. Interesting point that the ongoing battle between St. Michael and the envious devil is about us, mankind, our souls.
    St. Michael, our advocate, is fighting for us. He is so focused on our personal final end that he accompanies us to heaven at death, – and why he is portrayed with the scales of justice in his hand.

  7. Discerning Altar Boy says:

    Fr. started with “How often do you think about heaven?” The basic gist was that Heaven is where we should all end up, but our choices can keep us out.

  8. My homily was pretty simple and straightforward: “Do more for the poor.” I pointed out how the unborn are the Lazaruses of our time, completely abandoned. I invited people to think about immigration issues in the context of this Gospel, without getting into the particulars of policy. And I gave a list of local organizations and opportunities in our area for people to do more. I made the point that God does not expect us to solve all the world’s problems, only to pay attention to the Lazaruses near us, and to provide help.

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