I spent the day cutting down… cutting cutting… the sermon for tonight’s solemn Mass with the usus antiquior in the Cathedral in Camden for the Assumption. Thanks to the help of a wise friend via skype, I was able to bring it down to manageable dimensions and still make my points.
We’ll take off pretty soon to make sure everything is copacetic at the Cathedral, have an early light supper, and then proceed to the sacred synaxis.
Perhaps some WDTPRS readers will be there!
As my homiletic professor told the punch line, “If you don’t strike oil after ten minutes… QUIT BORING!” May the Holy Spirit give you the grace and wisdom to bring His Word alive in the hearts of your hearers!
Heading up to NY from DC this afternoon, I may just stop in.
I’ll be there, Fr. My wife and I are bringing my mother and 2 traditionalist Episcopalians and their 86 year old mother. I hope they (and we all) get to see the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass prayed as well as possible this side of Glory! That’s ecumenism.
Whole bunch of us coming down from the Trenton/Morrisville area. Can’t wait.
Very much enjoyed your latest Wanderer post! Great! Thanks.
That’s my last e-edition, oh well.
I hope you will be recording this homily and posting it for those of us who live far away! :-)
I second Geoffrey’s request to post your homily!
You are in my thoughts tonight as our visit was cancelled by my
unexpected pneumonia. God must need me here instead. Please come back
next year!
Dear Father,
It a wonderful Mass and your sermon was excellent, despite the problems with the sound system, which made it difficult to hear you and Father Pasley. And to perfectly top it off, my wife and I happened to be on the side where we received the Eucharist from you! Alleluia! Thank you so much for being there.
What I heard, and I feel it was a great privilege to experience it, was a robust, faithful, and no-quarter-given sermon by our good Father that clearly explained the real significance of our Blessed Mother in the economy of salvation history, how she relates to her Son, and her true place of honor in our Faith.
Boy, what I would give to be able to hear homiletics like that on a weekly basis. For those who attended, I’m sure you will agree that besides the incredible beauty of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered on this holy day, taking the whole package together, what we heard and saw tonight was the True Catholic Faith in all its splendor.
Father, thank you for coming out to the arid land of NJ and watering, just a little, the parched garden that is most of our parishes.
(And folks…he managed to weave in the ‘ineffable’ word…I just smiled…but, considering that crowd, I’m sure NO ONE had any problems with understanding what it meant in the context of Fr. Z’s soaring command of the language.)
I’m still in awe of what I just witnessed.
God bless you, and thanks!
I was there. I’ve heard better, but not much better.
Thank you, John H. That certainly was an edifying and most necessary comment. Sheesh!
Fr. Zuhlsdorf,
You have received excellent reviews here for your sermon. Will we–who live far away in the Etoile du nord–be honoured to see it in (electronic) print or hear it via the electronic ether?
Please Fr, if it is possible, do post your sermon! I’d love to hear it also. I love your blog and you do wonderful work for the Church.
God bless you.
Dermot
It was a magnificent Mass. The setting, music, sermon, and celebration were meticulous. It was a truly transcendent experience. Sadly, however, it reminded me of what we don’t get in regular worship. I have no objection to the NO, reverently celebrated. But we get so little of it done right.
(Every time I looked at the stained glass over the altar, the face of St. John was glowing. Obviously, there was a streetlight outside, but it was a rather startling effect)
I’m in awe too…and i wasn’t even there…only in my
spirit! Great comments…I’m blessed just to know that
everyone who prayed and received at this special Mass was so BLESSED!
Go see the beautiful blog, THE CRESCAT, wonderful art of
THE ASSUMPTION!
I believe I spied Fr. Z setting up some recording apparatus at the pulpit.
Did anyone else notice how tall the seminarian was who was acting as the subdeacon?
bryan, “the arid land of NJ”
Perhaps you don’t know that NJ has three (!) personal parishes dedicated to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. There is Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, St. Anthony of Padua Chapel in West Orange (ICKSP), and Our Lady of Fatima in Pequannock (FSSP). In addition, there are many locations that offer the EF daily, weekly or monthly all around the state.
While there are still problem parishes in NJ, I would venture to say that there is much for which we should be grateful. There are still entire states, much larger than NJ, which have only one or two (if that many) regular weekly Masses in the entire state.
The end of the last sentence in my previous post should read,”which have only one or two (if that many) regular weekly TLMs in the entire state.”
dcs: Yes, indeed you did. That is how I got the recording of the Mass, of course. “Chi fa per se, fa per tre”, after all.
Father Z,
I was there (though I usually only read and learn and never ever comment). It was a truly beautiful Mass and a wonderful homily that I look forward to listening to again.
Thanks!