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A Future Cardinal had his Mother for His Nanny,for he was Sickly and He asked his other Nanny why She Was willing to Prepare His Food,Clothes Etc…..
“Because You are Her Favorite among your Siblings!”.
The Priest goes On to Explain that A Mother’s Love,mirrors the Greater Friendship and Love that Jesus Offers to Us.
That Little boy later became the Great Filipino: Jaime Cardinal Sin(+) of Blessed Memory.
We had a generic “love” homily.
We had an awesome Love sermon, with the Good Deacon! If your just living dogma without Love which is its force and meaning and fulfillment then your missing the point. He did a good job tying God is Love as an action vs a touchy feely feeling.
The downside was when we prayed for HIV research (solution: abstinence)
It was a call to self-sacrificial love, and that a mother’s love is an important example of this. We can learn from the example of the Blessed Mother. He reminded us that love is an action. It was great that I made all these external connections…Love is an action led me to think of Thomas Aquinas’s definition of love. The sacrifice of a mother reminded me of St Gianna Molla.
Our dear young priest spoke about true marriage and how homosexual ‘unions’ can never be true marriage and how damaging it is for children who are given to same sex couples.
And he spoke about our wonderful heavenly mother, Mary, who is the mediatrix of all grace and who gave us Jesus because she said yes to her motherhood.
Father reminded the congregation that not only was it Mother’s Day here in USA, but that THE mother, Mary, appeared on this date at Fatima in 1917. He then briefly reviewed several Marian apparitions up to Fatima and the message of Fatima – especially to pray the rosary!
Dear Fr.Z,
Our Assistant priest gave a very appropriate homily on what real love is namely being obedient to Our Lord, and following Him alone. He also said something to the effect that ‘real love costs you something – if it does not, it is not real love, because you are just living like the rest of the world is doing.’ To the point particularly if one is dicerning religious life too…
maryclare :-)
The Tridentine EF Gospel today mentions Jesus telling us that all that we ask for in His Name shall be granted.
Saint James: “you ask and you do not receive because you ask poorly”. Saint Augustine’s three word-summary of our prayers’ defects: petimus mali, mala, male;
1. we pray with bad dispositions or state of sin,
2. we ask of God things that are bad or not good for us,
3. we pray badly or as overly routine, not humbly, without confidence, without perseverance.
Why do we expect God to hear us, when we never listen to Him? “… God abhors the prayer of he who covers his ears so as to not listen to His Law.”
We laughed when Father mentioned our unheard prayers over the loss of the Capitals [the final big hockey match] last night, as an example of a less worthy type of prayer.
Pray for the important things, God will take care of the details, the little things.
Always pray through Jesus Christ and His merits, in Him [He is our brother], with Him [He is the head, we the members].
Young Fr Stein, Institute of Christ the King, is visiting from Africa to raise funds to build a church.
What a wonderful sermon, and a personable priest.
Father reminded us of eight points required by Lenin for the communist worker’s paradise:
1. Women must be allowed to work in factories on an equal basis with me
2. Divorce must be made free and easy.
3. Differing roles for the sexes must be eliminated.
4. The notion of woman as housekeeper must be eliminated. Housework must be an industry.
5. Child care must be turned over to the community.
6. The stigma and even the concept of illegitimacy must be eliminated.
7. The definition of the family must be made “flexible and open”.
8. Sexual activity must be unrestrained.
Who pays for all this “freedom”? The children. The most important question God ever asked a human being was the question put to Mary: “Will you be a mother?”
MEN, of course, not “me” in #1… (sigh)
Among other things, Fr. told the fascinating story of May Lemke and here son Leslie.
Not Mothering Sunday here, but an excellent sermon on the fact that the Church is universal, that is, truly catholic. The sermon was poignant in that the wife of the Ordinariate priest giving the sermon converted when she realized the Catholic Church was the one, true Church for this reason…not like the Anglican church
The Deacon (NO) gave a great homily at our EF Mass on the Rogation Days. He explained that they are the three days of asking prior to the Solemnity of the Ascension. He commented in the Gospel reading how Jesus, just prior to His Ascension, is teaching the disciples how to pray in a spiritual manner. While on earth, the Lord answered their prayers directly (calming the winds etc.) .
He then continued to speak about prayer in a balanced and beautiful way, without the usual sentimentality fare of most homilies in the NO. Truth really lifts the spirit with peace and a lightness.
What a blessing.
That the Church has been beset by troubles and challenges from the very beginning, even in times when there was not outright persecution. But, if as St. Therese of Lisieux, we insert love wherever we are placed and with whomever God has led us to, we can overcome myriad trials.
Father gave one of his best homilies.
On mothers day he almost ranted on the condition of our society.
Some of the themes he used:
“Culture of death”
“Our society is sick”
“There can be no future without children”
“Christian Complacency”
Very powerful homily, Pope John Paul II would be proud.
I found out later that it was triggered by this article in a local paper:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/95186-lowe-a-day-to-be-thankful-for-abortion-access
You might want to say a prayer after reading the above article.
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host –
by the Divine Power of God –
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Bruce
We had a guest celebrant, the national superior (SSPX) who went through a lot of the Rome/Society history, making two main points: the faithful ought to trust and obey Bishop Fellay who acts with legitimate authority and 2) it is Rome who initiated the move to regularize the SSPX, and not the Society who asked for it.
The Mass has been rendered to almost a Protestant church service and I had thought I’d seen and heard it all, until today. The former Jesuit decided to have a water fight using an aspergillum with the deacon using his on the altar, after the Rite for the Blessing an Sprinkling of Water. They had great fun it seemed. If this wasn’t bad enough, when the priest had washed his hands, he decided to flick the two altar servers with the water before he dried his hands. At Communion, the priest decided to add that, “Jesus was our friend” which I don’t remember hearing before. This Mass was the second time that I recall being told to sit for the Prayer after Communion.
The Protestant songs, drums, choir members who seem to be trying out for their own record contracts, a huge video display next to the altar, people who don’t know how to dress for Mass, a large number of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist who surround the altar at the preparation of the gifts, the priest not raising the Body and Blood during the Elevation and now this are just too much.
[Okayyyy… and this was about the… sermon?]
Our priest spoke of Love being in the Will.
Can’t remember the particulars.
Went to breakfast with friends and our pastor, then some of the “children” called, by the time I got on the computer my mind went blank and that’s all I remember.
Our sermon was about Jesus commanding us to love one another. I’m afraid I’ve failed miserably. How do you love those who seek to destroy the country and faith you love? What will be left for our children and grandchildren to cling to? I fear for their future.
@lydia
We have to love our enemies. We do not have to stop fighting them.
Our pastor spoke of the Roman centurian Cornelius and how he was the first Christian gentile, “our” first Christian ancestor ( I guess it didn’t matter if there were any Jewish converts at Mass). He spoke of how the Holy Spirit is working to this day to change our hearts toward those unlike us. He segued into “and our vice-president and president just spoke out in favor of gay marriage this week”. He qualified this, saying, “this is just Father_____speaking, not where we are at today” . Anyone with one neuron should have extrapolated that in Father’s estimation the Church in Her Wisdom will truly follow…He then went on to say that truly the Holy Spirit will lead us, and noted that there are two diocesan priests currently hospitalized leaving two parishes without a priest and the Spirit will lead us to the ordination of women. In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to fulfill the progressive agenda. It was a horrifying slap in the face to this mother at Mass today. I came right home and wrote a letter to our Bishop, but cc’d him a copy. It should be noted that I wrote to this priest before complimenting him when he fed us the merest crumbs of truth about faith and or morals.
This priest has proclaimed his allegiance to the Democratic party before at Mass. He mingles among the pews during his sermons, takes big swigs of water before speaking, incorporates the names of those he is palsy-walsy with into his sermons, and during the football season prefaces his sermons always with Green Bay Packers updates, minutae, jokes, etc. The parishioners, for the most part, seem to love this “cult of personality”.
I do give him credit for going with the new Novus Ordo rubrics. I guess he feels if he is compliant there it gives him license to say whatever he wants in his sermons.
I sometimes attend one of the three Tridentine Masses offered in our diocese, one of which is at a magnificent baroque church in the heart of the city. It’s a historically Italian parish which offers two masses every Sunday. The 9:00am Mass is the Tridentine Mass, and the 11:00am Mass is the Italian Mass (Ordinary Form). Unbelievably, there is no English language Mass at this church on Sunday.
I have long wanted to go to the Italian Mass, and this morning I did. What I did not expect was that the entire Mass, including the (lengthy) sermon, would be in Italian! So, Irish-American that I am, I didn’t understand a blessed word of it.
Nevertheless, I was greatly charmed by the Italian children in my pew responding in Italian to the celebrant. “E con il tuo spirito.” “Rendiamo grazie a Dio.” Too cute.
I think I literally heard the best homily ever today — our priest covered fidelity to the Lord, spiritual blindness, resurrection, participation in the divine life — and all while quoting from Theophilus of Antioch! It was brilliant.
A major part of this morning’s homily consisted of the priest reading this classic Erma Bombeck column, which was easily located by punching “‘Erma Bombeck’ creating mom” into Google. What resources a homilist has at his fingertips these days!
I had a bit of trouble following the rest as an usher had asked me to assist in taking the collection, which would probably not have been a big deal for someone who went to that church every week, but for an itinerant worshipper was a cause for concern and a distraction as I have observed almost every possible method of taking collections short of using a vacuum cleaner to pull all the money out of everyone’s pockets. But fortunately I was able to adapt rather quickly to a fairly conventional method as soon as I spotted the long handle on the wicker basket.
Father constantly exhorts us to deepen our lives through daily prayer, especially prayer when waking and prayer before going to bed. Today, on Mother’s Day, he exhorted us also to perform a daily Examination of Conscience, perhaps twice-daily, so that we might uncover words, thoughts and actions that are not in harmony with the mandatum given by Jesus Christ in today’s Gospel.
Father noted that, even though it is the Eastern season, this gospel comes from a time right before Jesus was condemned to die, and Father explained that everyone remembers well the last words of a loved one before their death, and so we should remember especially Jesus’s last words on Earth, and that an Examination of Conscience is the perfect way to evaluate how we are doing on a daily basis.
“Young people enter into high school knowing everything of what they should not (violence, sex, etc.) and nothing or little of what they should (reading, writing, good manners, etc.).” Priceless.
1. We are comanded to love. (We’re called to love one another)
2. Love is a sacrifice. (Most obvious and ultimate example: Jesus)
3. Life = love. (Life and everything we do means nothing without love)
I know I’m oversimplifying it, and that there was much more that spoke to me… however these seemed to be the main points.
Went to Mass in the EF, so the Gospel included Jesus saying at the Last Supper, “if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” So the priest talked about prayer. He said drily, “My views on prayer have been evolving. And I’ve come to believe it is a good thing. Just thought you’d like to know that.”
About a minute and a half later, I got the reference and started to crack up. Unfortunately by then he had moved to a more serious part of his sermon.
The visiting preacher spoke on the following reading from today (regarding Cornelius/the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit):
Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.”
The priest said this means that, although everyone who is saved, is saved through Christ, God’s grace can work through other, non-Christian, religions. I find it a huge leap from God accepting Godfearing upright men from any nation, to God’s grace working through a pagan religion. Therefore, I don’t know if this is a good point from a sermon, or if it is a bad teaching. How did he make this intellectual leap? Is this Catholic teaching?
This Sunday we had a guest priest so the deacon gave the homily. It was a very good mothers day homily as they usually are…. then he told a story about priests working in a depressed area of a big city. Part of the ministry was educating children in the faith. The children could not grasp the concept of the sign of the cross… because they had no fathers? So the priest taught them to pray like this, “In the name of the grandmother, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” the priests were not able to teach them about our heavenly Father?????? Am I being hyper critical? A group of priests that could find no way to explain God the Father? I found it offensive and we are a grandparents raising that are raising a grandson.
+
SegoLily says:
“The parishioners, for the most part, seem to love this “cult of personality”.
PERFECT!! I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe our local priest! You’ve hit it directly on the head. Our pastor has such a gift, he draws people to him, it’s almost impossible to not like him, but it’s like a steady diet of candy. Tastes good but not good for you….
We greated the bishop with a song entitled Canticle of the Sun and it occurred to me as I was singing how strange such song would have seemed among formerly pagan Christians.
The good Dominican padre at my new home parish preached an excellent sermon on a quotation from the Epistle: “How can you love God whom you have not seen and hate your neighbor whom you do see?” He basically stated that supernatural love for our neighbors, our friends, and our families is the only way that we can move forward as a society.
It was a very powerful, challenging, and convicting sermon. I cried hard because I realized how far I was from the goal and how much I still had to do.
These days the knee-jerk applause response of the congregation and the choir that seems to mug for the applause have become for me near occasions of sin. On the other hand, one of the young ladies in the choir did an angelic a capella rendition of the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria before Mass, and we had a good pro-life homily from the permanent Deacon.
For Mother’s Day we set my mother up with a pair of audiophile headphones and made her a German dinner, both well-received.
I used your notes about the 2nd miracle used for the canonization of St. Gianna Molla along with an account of St. Gianna’s life and death to highlight both mother’s day and the call to authentic love which will include sacrifice and may include laying down one’s life. Thanks for the story.
Father spoke many about the importance of prayer, conversing with God, tying it in with Mothers Day and the idea that if we neglect our mother, we shouldn’t expect anything from her, same too is true with God. Probably most insightful tidbit would be that we must plan to pray to make it into a habit, and that we must look at how we’re spending our free time and plan ways to add prayer to our daily schedule.
Father spoke about love, and how love always includes sacrifice. He tied this into mother’s day by reminding us how much our mothers sacrifice for us. He is from Poland, and he told of how growing up in a communist country his mother would sometimes stand in line all day waiting for food, but would instead be given toilet paper, yet she was always somehow able to provide meals for the family.
Nothing. The priest was foreign, over-miked and for the most part unintelligible. [And so that is a good point about the sermon….?]
I opened my Graduale and sang the Propers for the day in my head. Needless to say, they were not sung at the Mass.
May 13, the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima. The gist of the sermon was about Fatima, the prophetic words, the warnings and what is happening in these times – and why. Father minced no words. He made an important observation. Our Lady said to pray the rosary every day – every day – and on October 13 held out the brown scapular, appearing as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. She will save the world by these two items. If only we will heed her, not only by praying the rosary and wearing the scapular, but by repentance and sacrifices.
“The truth about marriage is not a declaration of war; it is a declaration of what is.”
My Delaware, EF Pastor let me post his timely sermon on What Marriage Is.
http://totustuusfamily.blogspot.com/2012/05/fr-leonard-klein-on-what-marriage-is.html
“Marriage is a covenant, ordained by God, necessary for the continuation of the human project. If marriage is based only on affection, it ends when the feelings change. But that is not what Catholics believe. Nor is it what most human societies have believed throughout history. Marriage was, after all, not invented; it is a reality of the natural law that humanity has with much difficulty and meandering discovered. It was not created by the state and cannot be changed by the state.”
Where do I start?
My husband and I were visiting a parish near my parents and the deacon did the homily. The homily was kind of in 3 different parts. He started out with trivia questions about love (from questions about TV shows to Bible verses to literature). He got people chuckling.
Then the homily turned more somber as he rattled off several statistics about poverty in the US and throughout the world as well as major diseases like malaria, measles, etc. that are killing populations in 3rd world nations.
And finally he tries to wrap it up with tying it into how the Eucharist is the love we need to eradicate poverty and these diseases in the world. To his credit he did emphasize that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Christ. Other than that I was confused.
The thing that really puzzled me was how love was going to rid the world of malaria. Actually DDT helped to rid the world of malaria about 50 years ago. Since the world (or many nations) banned it from use, malaria has made a comeback. It seems to me that less gov’t regulation on some things would help more than love. Love is not really relevant in some of things he was talking about.
I kind of got the picture that we need to love our fellow man to rid the world of bad things. But I walked away scratching my head. *sigh*
In my Episcopal (Anglo-Catholic) parish we had our “May Festival”, which we always have on the second Sunday of May, to coincide with the secular Mothers’ Day. It is a day when we sing every marian hymn imaginable during Mass and at the Procession that follows. The Rector preached on how our image of Our Lady of Walsingham, and most other icons of Our Lady show her pointing to her Son. He said that every mother, from the moment of conception, has a sacred duty. He stressed how, like Saint Mary, every mother should say “yes” to God , so that she brings the child to full term and after birth always points toward Jesus, asking Our Lady and the saints to intercede for her and the child. He actually wove this theme very skillfully with the lessons appointed in the lectionary. I was impressed!
The priest emphasized that we must love even people we strongly dislike and that this is possible. He also pointed out that , if God stopped loving us for even an instant, then we would cease to exist.
I heard an interesting homily in a church away from home this weekend where the Priest likened evangelisation to taking a cork out of a wine bottle. It certainly brought ones attention back! He explained that one person tries unsuccessfully to remove a cork, then a second and it is only the third who finally manages to remove it. He then asked which person had succeeded in opening the bottle? The third seemed to be the obvious answer. However he went on to explain that it was in fact all three and that this was similar to evangelisation. Food for thought indeed.