Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point from the sermon you heard at Mass this weekend?

Let us know what it was.

 

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29 Comments

  1. Supertradmum says:

    I heard a fantastic sermon. 9.5 out of 10.

    First of all, the priest talked against the civil marriage law coming up in Parliament and encouraged all to write to their minister. Cards were made available.

    He said that this bill would change everyone’s life, grandparents, parents, and children.

    Second, he had a long explanation on the first reading from Nehemiah regarding the chant. He said that it is the Will of God that we sing the Mass, not hymns, but the Mass. It was great. I asked the pastor to advertise for a Gregorian Chant men’s schola in the bulletin. He said that was a great idea! We shall see.

  2. Timothy Mulligan says:

    At Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, NJ, Fr. Pasley preached about mortification. One point he made is that our culture is very willful — we want what we want when we want it. Mortification serves to control this willfulness. It is an essential aspect of the spiritual life.

  3. Darren says:

    Father stressed, to parents, the need for Catholic education to begin at home, with them. Do not just leave it to the schools and to the CCD classes… …it sounds so simple, but it is something probably many just do not get (probably because they do not care or do not want to be bothered – or just do not know it themselves!). He also described a father and little girl leaving the church from the previous mass, who when she dipped her fingers in the holy water, he made the sign of the cross with her, letting her say the words – and mentioned what a beautiful scene it was.

  4. APX says:

    Death–> Dying is the most important thing we will ever do in our life, so we have to make sure we get it right.

    No one can escape death, and regardless of one’s class, status, race, etc in the end it makes us all equal–>smelly, decomposing food for the worms, and then we turn back into dust from where we came.

    We don’t know when we will die or how we will die. We could live a long life or a very short life and die in a car accident. God only warns us that we don’t know when we’ll die, so that we must always be prepared.

    He also mentioned the need to do mortification, and that we should use the pre-Lenten season to think and pray over what we plan on doing during Lent, and that we could run them past him for his input and whether or not he will permit it.

  5. poorlady says:

    Our priest spoke of the meaning of the word “inalienable” as from the Declaration of Independence.
    He made a note to say that the founding fathers used a Catholic theology to say that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is an inalienable right, and he went on to explain what the word “inalienable” really means: that even the possessor of the item (life, especially) does not have the right to sell ownership to another. That life is only given to us by God as stewards; and that murder and suicide are sins. He then proceeded to speak to us about abortion and the arguments that are given about a women having a “right” to her body.
    He said a great deal more things that were very detailed…excellent homily.

  6. wanda says:

    Yes, great points in the homily from a temporarily assigned priest. Rebuild the walls of the Church (rebuild our Catholic Identity) as did the Jews rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This priest has alluded before of the things that went haywire after VII. May God bless him, I thanked him for his good homily and told him I agreed that we needed the spackle bucket and some elbow grease.

  7. I heard a sermon about the fact that we are Catholics, not because the Catholic Church is the neatest, but because it was established by Christ and is the True Church. And since this is the True Church, the prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus read from in yesterday’s Gospel is still being fulfilled in our hearing.

    Also, since it was the eve of the feast of Thomas Aquinas on the new calendar, I listened online (on the Audio Sancto site) to a sermon about the Angelic Doctor. The priest made the point that being well-grounded in Aquinas is a sure safeguard against heresy; whereas the hatred and denigration of Aquinas is an unmistakable sign of a modernist. He said that modernism being the heresy of obfuscation, one modernist was heard to complain that Aquinas is “too clear.”

  8. Jeannie_C says:

    Our priest was away, we were supposed to have someone fill in. 25 minutes after the Mass was supposed to start a no show so we went home.

  9. iPadre says:

    I talked about the great reverence the people of God had for the scroll of the Law that they “bowed down and prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground”. The scroll or a Bible is only a book and we owe it great reverence because it is the inspired Word of God. Yet, what kind of reverence do we show for our Blessed Lord in receiving Holy Communion. I went on to give and apologia for the altar rail in my parish, talked about Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s research in “Dominus Est” and the Holy Father’s demand that all who receive from him do so kneeling and on the tongue. The Holy Father is our example of where the Church is moving into the future. We must have the greatest reverence in however we receive. And yes, my preference when I am not celebrating the Holy Sacrifice is kneeling and on the tongue.

  10. Justin_Kolodziej says:

    Father preached that the Gospel, the glad tidings or good news, has to be NEWS to us, otherwise it’s not the Gospel. Literally news, like the bad news in the paper and on TV, only GOOD. We can’t fall into the temptation that, unlike the Israelites at Jerusalem or at Nazareth, we have heard it over and over and “know” it already. Each one of us might be the poor, or the blind, or the captive, or the oppressed that Our Lord comes to announce the year of favor to.

  11. fvhale says:

    Most of homily based on second reading from 1 Cor 12, “…Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it….”
    – The journey to God is a journey of making connections
    – The only way you can sin is to disconnect yourself from your heart
    – Cloistered religious are connected to the whole world in their heart and prayer
    And from the Gospel: We are all anointed by the Spirit, in baptism and confirmation, to convey the Good News.

  12. LaxMom25 says:

    (At a parish that offers one Sunday EF Mass and 4 OF Masses). We heard yet another superb homily on the changes to the calendar, the beauty and thoughtfulness of the traditional calendar, what was lost when the pre-lenten period was eliminated from the calendar. The holy and wise priest has addressed this theme/issue a few times with us as he highlights the differences in the calendars and the value and tradition we have lost in the new calendar. Appreciate how he shares it clearly yet without anger or divisiveness. I cannot do justice to his homily but it’s a topic worth researching. He did note that he believes the Church will one day revise the calendar and return the pre-lenten period to its necessary place.

  13. LaxMom25 says:

    …should clarify that that this was at the EF Mass.

  14. Cricket says:

    I heard a very fine sermon, at beautiful old Holy Redeemer Church in Madison, WI. Father made a connection between Septuagesima Sunday & the other “preparatory” Sundays before Lent, & used that to stress the need to develop a spiritual PLAN for Lent. Before Lent! He also gave concrete suggestions for identifying attitudes & patterns that inevitably lead to other, destructive behaviors.

  15. HyacinthClare says:

    The Extraordinary Form gospel yesterday for Septuagesima was the generous vineyard owner with his complaining employees. Father said that the proud and self-approved see evil (injustice) where there actually is good (generosity, care for individual needs, the right to do as one wills with one’s property). The concupiscent see good (entertainment, pleasure) where there actually is evil (TV, movies, homosexuality, extra-marital sex, gluttony). I’m still working that one around in my head and it keeps sprouting more meanings.

  16. ocleirbj says:

    Just as the Jewish people had two places to gather and worship God, the synagogue and the Temple, so our liturgy has two parts, liturgy of the word and of the Eucharist. The synagogue, as we see in the first reading and the Gospel, is the place where people heard the word of God proclaimed and explained, and meditated on it and applied it to their daily lives. This is what we do in the liturgy of the word and in our private scripture reading, and we should always be receptive to those moments when a verse or a phrase leaps out at us [with anecdotal example]. The Temple is where they came to offer sacrifice, to pray and to worship. For us, as for them, this sanctuary [with descriptive gesture] is the holy of holies, where we see and experience the great mystery of Christ’s sacrifice for us and His continuing presence here.

    P.S., unusually, we went to our parish’s earliest Mass, and found a different organist, teaching us a chant setting!! :-)

  17. Goldfinch says:

    FSSP… The workers at the eleventh hour who are us the Gentiles, will receive the same reward as those who worked in the vineyard all day.

  18. MattnSue says:

    Father focused on the old testament reading, how the law had to be reintroduced, and that we must do the same for our own identity. He mentioned the fact that the Protective walls of Jerusalem became pourous, just as the church’s theological walls became pourous when they tried to be more “open” after the council, and that the church also was forced into the exile of secularism.

  19. Dad of Six says:

    Yesterday’s Holy Mass was the closing session of a 3 day Spiritual Exercises put forth by Miles Christi. The whole weekend was sublime.

  20. Gail F says:

    I know this is supposed to be about good preaching but I want to make a different point. We went to an OF Mass in Latin yesterday — there was no choir (there often is) only a woman singing and chanting. It was SO NICE NOT TO HEAR ROTTEN MUSIC FOR A CHANGE. My husband said afterward what a relief it was. And our regular parish has a really talented young music director — it’s just BAD MUSIC. The pastor we heard has a heavy accent and the acoustics at the beautiful old church meant were a little echoey, so it was a little hard (but not too hard) to hear the homily. I don’t remember it at all although I remember thinking at the time it was good. I would far rather have a good but not particularly memorable homily than something that makes me upset, ANY DAY! Priests, the homily doesn’t have to be amazing! Just make it not terrible and have a Mass that doesn’t relentlessly hound people to sing and “participate” — a Mass that’s about worshiping God. That is sadly too uncommon!

  21. Fuquay Steve says:

    Fr. P explained how these next three weeks are a time to think deeply about our sins – a time of examination of our conscience, in preparation for Lent which, in turn, prepares us for the Passion and Resurrection. It seems to me that it is NOT a good time for me to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year.

    : ).

  22. Wayward Lamb says:

    Our Associate Pastor received a new assignment this past week and was giving his last homily at our parish. He used it as an opportunity to throw the “liturgical kitchen sink” at us and hit almost all the highlights, including reverence and quiet in the sanctuary, proper roles for women in the church, ad orientum worship, and so forth. He’s an excellent homilist and he successfully tied all these points together under a common theme of sacrifice.

    Father discussed our Jewish heritage and how worship was conducted in the temple then and at the altar now. He encouraged boys to serve at the altar, so they can see for themselves and up close what our Lord’s sacrifice was all about. Of course not all altar boys will go on to become priests; most will become dads. But where better for husbands and fathers to learn about loving and sacrificing for their wives and children? And how better to foster vocations to the priesthood?

    Following up on how the Jews worshipped, Father compared our Catholic sanctuary with the Temple, the presence of God, and the power of prayer in such a holy place. He then admonished us to save chit chat for outside the sanctuary and allow those who are praying before and after Mass to do so in peace. He emphasized that the devil has great power in using noise to disrupt prayer. We should guard against allowing that to happen in the sanctuary!

    As to women, Father discussed how pagan priestesses were common in Jesus’s time but that the Jews were strictly an all male priesthood. Women frequently traveled with Christ or were part of His entourage, yet our Lord still insisted on an all male priesthood when establishing the Church. And of course the Church has no authority to change that.

    There were other wonderful points, but you get the idea.

  23. moosix1974 says:

    We went to a parish closer to our home yesterday, due to children coming home late from various camping excursions on Sunday. It is a parish run by the Rossminians. Mostly Irish priests, but pretty solid for the most part. Not a big fan of the Mass there, but it could be worse. I was pleased to hear this particular priest was doing his homily “series” on the CCC. The Holy Father has asked us to study it during the YOF and I think this priest is doing a bang up job with that. Bravo for the good old fashioned “series” type of catechetical instruction from the pulpit. This week’s topic was “Creation”. I am happy to report that Father stayed away from a crazy militant environmentalist diatribe and instead gave a simple and straightforward explanation of the dignity of the human person and Man’s dominion OVER creation; NOT the other way around.

  24. Supertradmum says:

    I just read all of these and I do not know about anyone else, but I am SO encouraged by all this excellent teaching coming from the pulpit. Great meditations here.

  25. Bea says:

    “Today this scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing” Luke 4:21

    Our pastor expounded on it, saying that Christ was announcing Himself and His Mission, making public just who He was.
    So, too, we must look into ourselves and acknowledge who we are to ourselves.
    Eye is not an ear, ear is not the nose, hand is not the leg etc.
    We all have a Mission and we must not look with envy with those who we think are doing more than we are capable of doing. We have all some kind of talent: Some for doing great things, some for doing small things in a simple manner.
    We must acknowledge who we are and what we can do and not shirk from doing it.

  26. Mamma B says:

    The Gospel reading was the story of the prodigal son. Fr. talked about the fact that the father and elder brother did not change but the only one who changed was the son who left home and then returned. He tied it in to the upcoming Great Lent and how we all called upon to change.

  27. Del says:

    We visited a little country church LAST weekend. The pastor was suffering an injury to his ankle/foot, so we enjoyed having a guest-priest to celebrate. That priest was Fr. Z.

    This week…. pastor was back on his feet (even the injured one). He talked about appreciating and enjoying this little break of Ordinary Time. He urged us to start thinking now about what sorts of prayer and penance we would undertake during Lent, which he likes to call “Catholic Boot Camp” for our souls.

  28. meunke says:

    St. Andrew’s in Pleasant Valley, MO. Full sermon on what we mean when we say that the Church is “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic”.

    Very well done by a young priest of the diocese.

  29. inara says:

    I agree with SuperT ~ I actually got out a notebook to write down all the good stuff here this week! Thanks everyone for remembering & sharing with the rest of us.

    Our pastor was in fine form this Sunday as well ~ my favorite part was when he talked about what happened next in the Gospel of Luke: how the hearers of Jesus’ words wanted to help him off the nearest cliff! He said often people would like to throw the priest off a cliff as well and (I’m paraphrasing) “especially when I say, for example, that missing Mass on Sundays or Holy Days is a mortal sin…or that marriage is possible exclusively between one man & one woman. But I’m going to keep saying it anyway.” :o)

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