Today’s liturgy, on this feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist, perhaps has something to say about what we are witnessing in another sphere.
From the Office of Readings a selection from Ven. Bede in which we read:
His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
on WDTPRS: 4th Sunday of Easter (Novus Ordo) – Mighty humble Shepherd, humble mighty flock: “I’m off to Mass so I shall come back and reread this for further reflection. Whenever I see or hear…” on ROME 24/4– Day 30: Let there be LIGHT!: “Why, if life was the result of random events, is there such order in everything that exists? And why, if…” on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “In this day & age, religious rituals are quaint and unnecessary. But the secular rituals people have for sports games…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 30: Let there be LIGHT!: “Linguine Marinara con Gambieri tonight. In your charity please pray for me. it appears that i will likely be fired…”
on ROME 24/4– Day 30: Let there be LIGHT!: “Father, may I ask in which church is venerated the beautiful image of St. Joseph in the holy card that…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “remember this?: …The Pope turned to the beggar and said, “Would you hear my confession?” The beggar replied, “but I…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Thank you Fr. Z. kissing the hands that serve me my Lord. Not that I would ever be Pope (God…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: ““monstrance says: 19 April 2024 at 1:31 PM Thank you Fr Z. Then there’s the scene of Pope Francis violently…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Wonderfully done, Father. Thank you.”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Fr Z I have three things to write about here. First, Ss.Trinita looks stunning. I have, when in Rome, many…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “It isn’t a humiliation for us to behave with decorum. It also isn’t humiliation for us to behave with humility.…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Here in Vancouver, Filipinos are the heart and soul of the archdiocese. We would not have full churches without them.…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Dear Father, thank you for addressing this question and bringing in the additional context! Your line “It is wrong for…”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “How paradoxical that the Judas liturgical mindset isn’t the one WITH the kissing, given how Jesus was arrested!”
on ASK FATHER: Kissing the priest’s hand in the Latin Mass v. the liturgical spirit of Judas. Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Thank you Fr Z. Then there’s the scene of Pope Francis violently ripping his hand away from the faithful attempting…”
Loading ...
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
Loading ...If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Loading ...
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Use my code for a discount
Visits tracked by Statcounter
since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
Isn’t it the same today! They don’t demand we deny Christ, “only” His teaching. In fact, many who “stand” for Christ reject the truth, separating the Truth from Christ.
Isn’t it the same in Boston, MA today? We see the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston along with his clergy clearly violating Canon Law by being silent, not by actively endorsing abortion.
At least the Cardinal did not help distribute Holy Communion.
Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but it’s odd the cameras didn’t once focus on the lines for Holy Communion other than a brief glance at the Kennedy side of the Church. I can’t help but wonder if the last few minutes of the priest’s homily were attempting to convince us that Ted Kennedy had repented of his convictions against Church teaching on the non-negotiable life issues…I don’t know. I’m afraid that if he had, it may or may not have been incumbent upon him to let everyone know as the subsequent Prayers of the Faithful seemed to pick up right back on the Democractic party platform. I guess we can only still continue to pray for his soul, and God’s mercy upon it.
Cardinal O’Malley had a nice comment about death with dignity at the end.
Amen, iPadre! Again, I say Amen! He is the Good, the Beautiful, and the True.
Our priest gave his homily today partly from the Ven. Bede’s Office reading, and keeping silent about the truth. He mentioned Isaiah’s description of other prophets as dogs that don’t bark, allowing wolves to sneak in and savage the flock. But instead of focusing on the public sphere he brought it home to us that if we have children who are cohabiting (for example) it’s our job to speak up and warn them that they’re endangering their own salvation.
The feast certainly brought to my mind the events in Scranton.
I’ll say this about the big funeral this morning: They sure said more than the black and alternately did more or less of the red. The omitted alleluia bugged me especially. On the other hand, it was good to see the Little Brothers of St. Francis serving so devoutly. They are one of the joys of Franciscan Boston.
John the Baptist was not afraid to speak the truth and he lost his head for his effort. He reminds of a certain woman of God who was asked to speak at a national prayer breakfast in 1994 which was also attended by then President Clinton. She was told not to say anything controversial.
Some of her words at the prayer breakfast:
But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself.
And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.
By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.
And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.
Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Like all good disciples of Jesus she was more concerned with what God thought then what men thought. I do not presume to judge the events and the words which have transpired today but I suspect that we are in great need for all of us to strive to become Saints so that our lives will shout the Truth.
I wonder what Mother Teresa would have said today. I wonder what Ted Kennedy would have said today? Some private revelation concerning the poor souls in purgatory has stated that they want people to know their faults so that people will pray for them.
Lord have Mercy on all of us.
Wasn’t it St. Catherine of Siena who said: “Let us speak as if we had a million voices, for it is silence that kills the world!”
And as to the cameras’ absence during Holy Communion, I feel sure that Kennedy orchestrated even that. He was well aware of the controversy that would be surrounding it.
May his soul be granted mercy, but this entire show was “all about me (the Kennedy clan).” Where was Christ? I heard about “Ted’s faith,” “Ted’s Catholicism…” What about the Church’s teachings and his adherence, or lack thereof, to those?
As one of Cardinal O’Malley’s religious brothers who knows him a little bit, I am certain that much of today was difficult for him. I have no doubt that he prayed for the conversion of our culture–both Catholic and American–while sitting in choro this morning.
I watched the funeral Mass for Ted Kennedy on TV this morning and it made me very proud to be Catholic.
It also, for me, showed me how rich a life steeped in faith can be. The Catholic Church has so much to offer our time.
I was also proud of Cardinal O’Malley for I understand he was under some pressure to not allow the Mass to take place, and to not attend.
As one of Cardinal O’Malley’s religious brothers who knows him a little bit, I am certain that much of today was difficult for him. I have no doubt that he prayed for the conversion of our culture—both Catholic and American—while sitting in choro this morning.
Comment by FrCharles
On the one hand, I realize that priests and bishops often have to do things with which they disagree.
On the other, the “he didn’t want to do it but felt he had to” line is a bit moldy–it is usually used to justify some aspect of liberalism. In fact, when I was in Rome, that was what I heard about JPII and altar girls.
shoofoolatte,
How could it make you proud to be a Catholic? Even those who argue that Ted Kennedy was able to have a Catholic funeral agree that President Obama speaking during Mass was violating so many aspects of Canon Law.
I believe that President Obama, as well as Ted Kennedy’s sons, spoke after the Mass.
Speaking of laws, have you read the Gospel for tomorrow yet?
A few years ago Cardinal O’Malley was my bishop in a Florida diocese. I loved the way, being Franciscan, he took a vow of poverty and wore sandals all the time. Any cleric who wears sandals all the time has just a bit of “cool” going for him, in my book. I knew that he would be at that Mass:-)
Dear shoofoolatte: Sandals are more a sign of a reform, not poverty, per se. Not all who take vows of poverty have worn sandals. However, many reformed congregations had shifted to sandals as a sign of that reform (why Dominicans never historically wore sandals… we were never “reformed” — at least majorly).
Also, I live in California, and most of the sandals here cost more than my “sensible black” shoes. I see a religious with Birks here, and I think “Man, THAT’S the high life!” ;) So speaking of the Gospel, it is not what the man wears outside, but how he rends his heart inside, that makes him clean or unclean, right? ;)
Pray for shoo fool atte, also for the soul of Theodore Kennedy, so sorrowful that the Requim Mass was not prayed.
Re: the gospel, exactly! Random Friar, it’s the inside that counts. Also, reformed or not, I hope that you get to try sandals sometime.
I wore sandals in college sometimes. However, the feet are older and flatter, and it would be a greater source of scandal to wear nice Birks that don’t kill my feet than my orthopaedic shoes. :)
shoofoolatte,
How many Canon law classes have you taken? (Hint:0) The Mass was not over. Have you read the Canon Lawyers’ take?
I am with ssoldie.
Quote: “As one of Cardinal O’Malley’s religious brothers who knows him a little bit, I am certain that much of today was difficult for him. I have no doubt that he prayed for the conversion of our culture—both Catholic and American—while sitting in choro this morning.”
Question?. Then why did he show up?!. His priests could have had the Mass without him!. Why did he show up to a pro-abortionist’s funeral??. Please answer me!.
Here is a great summary of todays events. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33315
Here is video of the final commendation I was talking about earlier. At about 1:25, the Cardinal says the following:
Quote: “On the one hand, I realize that priests and bishops often have to do things with which they disagree.”
So the good Cardinal was forced into being there. By Who?.
becket1: To be fair, you need to ask the Cardinal. I would encourage you to write (I mean this seriously and respectfully), and he may respond. It may have to be a form letter, but who knows?