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Christian hope. And how Christian hope is different from all of the other things one hopes for in life. And how Hope must coexist (my word not his) with Faith and Love and how none of these have any life without the other two.
The sermon (indeed the entire Mass) moved me in an unexpected way at yesterday’s vigil. Unexpected, since I could barely hear a word of it. The older priest did not navigate the microphones very well, and sitting near the back of the beautiful cathedral-like church, I couldn’t hear anything. It may as well have been in Chinese, or Latin, or …
However, I found it remarkable how little it mattered. I was there in a beautiful setting with my family and fellow Christians, singing hymns to the wonderful pipe organ, and, behold, the Lord appeared there among us! I knew generally what was happening just from the context, and since the context was the sacrifice of the Mass, that’s all that was needed. I was joined in communion with the millions of souls who never heard or understood a word during the Masses in which they participated on earth, yet were drawn to God nonetheless. And, I marveled at how much this perspective differed from what I would have thought (not that long ago) sitting in a Lutheran worship service had I not been able to hear the pastor. All-in-all, a wonderful experience of Christ in the Mass.
We at Our Lady of Walsingham, the principal church of the Anglican Use Ordinariate in the US and Canada, have been honored to lead the implementation of the new liturgical changes approved by Rome, for the Anglican Use liturgy (in many respects coming closer to the Ordinary Form, But, as I understand it, with the old offertory prayers available as options). Our Sunday homily, by our dynamic young Rector, Fr. Charles Hough IV, was pointed at this development, as the changed liturgy went into effect for us today, for which we had new pew missals to follow closely.
As I recall, Fr. Hough started by noting that the Elizabethan compromise within Anglicanism had resulted in a liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer that had various inconsistent elements such that when he became an Anglican priest in 2007, he found that the Anglican clergy, even in the conservative (Episcopal) diocese of Fort Worth, spent much time arguing about what was the right way to celebrate, to the extent he said, that even some friendships were destroyed. It was a scene of chaos, in effect. With that as background, then, he said that we have such a great privilege to have a firm authority in Rome to tell us what to do in this area, and we can be very thankful for the love and pastoral care that we in the Ordinariate are receiving from Rome. From there he covered some of the major changes, which, as noted, tend to bring the AU liturgy closer to the Ordinary Form (although still with Elizabethan English, and the Roman Canon as the eucharistic prayer always on Sundays and holy days, EP II being allowed as an option for weekdays). One notable change is that we now stand, sit and kneel, the same as in the OF, and the peace has been moved to the same position. Also there are entrance and communion antiphons, and a final collect, said after the usual concluding prayer said by all. In a couple of places, some of the traditional BCP prayers, especially e.g. in the Prayer of Humble Access, have been restored to their older (presumably 1928) forms. On the whole it all went very well.
I will leave it to others if they wish to comment on this all at length, but there seem to be a couple of things that come to mind quickly: one is that now the AU liturgy will look more familiar to a regular Latin Catholic, so y’all come on over and check it out. It clearly makes us more closely united to the Latin Church as a whole, which is, as Fr. Hough said, a very good thing. The text was obviously very much vetted by the Ordinariates’ commissioners an Rome, and so, as our rector said, lex orandi, lex credendi, we have a theologically correct liturgy, which is helpful in so many ways.
Fantastic sermon, the best I have heard in Dublin this year, on living the life of faith. The priest from Clarendon Street Carmelite Church said we were living in horrid times where evil is seeming to get the upper hand in all aspects of life. He said that the only way we can navigate these perilous times was to live not by what we see, but by what we believe.
He noted that the virtue of faith was a necessity of being a Catholic in today’s world, as things are going to get worse. If we live by faith, the good father said, we shall obtain our goal, which is heaven. This was no pie-in-the-sky sermon, but a serious evaluation of what is key to being a Catholic in the world. The priest’s face was full of light and hope when he spoke and one could tell he was living this life of faith himself. The entire sermon was both intellectual and heartfelt. Truly great…I think I was listening to a saint, actually. His faith in Christ and his love for the Church was moving.
I was at a different parish for the EF this Sunday as I’m visiting home. The priest there is diocesean, but was trained in the EF by the FSSP in Germany. He’s still pretty new to the parish. The previous priest was in his late 80s and decided to retire and return to Poland. I was quite impressed by this priest.
I’m not entirely sure what the theme of his sermon was. He alternated between confession, mortal sin and sanctifying grace and committees and Satan ( I can’t help but to wonder if there was a meeting with the Latin Mass Committee recently…)
He mentioned that on the parish level there seems to be a lot of committees for different things, and that the committee doesn’t really tell the priest what what to do or to decide things for him.
He finished with an interesting story about a priest studying to become an exorcist in Europe. When he returned to his home diocese there was an exorcism issue. When he went to where the issue was he was informed that he wasn’t needed because they already formed a committee to deal with the situation. He left us with the point that Satan isn’t scared of a five person committee, but rather the priest and Bishop.
Our priest discussed the lack of good catechesis, and the problems it is causing. He gave a good bit of advice that I had never thought of before: parents should check often with their children to find out if they are struggling with believing anything the Church teaches. If they are having trouble, help them seek the answers. Man, I wish I had that kind of support growing up!
I often find Roger Karban’s commentaries to be unhelpful. (Pat Sanchez is much better, and better qualified.). But today Roger was pretty good.
http://www.fosilonline.com/pdf/roger/2013/karban_20130811_20130818.pdf
I received a number of positive comments. To those who complimented the homily I referred them to Roger and credited my source.
CElebration is slipping with Pat writing much less often. We are going to archive several years of Celebration and stop the subscription.
Also finding a great resource in http://www.buildingontheword.org, recommended to me highly by some NAC friends.
This was an EF Mass, so the gospel was about the Good Samaritan. He told us that the parable is an invitation to us to participate in the divine love of God, which is boundless. He then went on to stress the importance of the Mass in our faith, and quoted from Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Spirit of the Liturgy. ” He said that Christ’s words to the lawyer in the gospel, “Go and do likewise” are similar to the “Ite, missa est,” at the end of Mass.
I suppose I should mention that the celebrant was none other than his eminence Cardinal Burke! There was a reception afterwards, and I had chance to speak with him for a few minutes. What a humble, holy man!
From the pastor at Cincinnati’s St. Cecilia Church this morning:
“I’m in the confessional here every day. Do you know why I do it? It’s not because I’m looking for something to do. It’s because you need it. Come!”
We went to a different parish this week. Father spoke about a wedding party of a couple soon to be married of which three of the men were atheists. Atheists with children! The bride and groom had experienced a re-conversion to the faith during their pre-Cana classes. He linked the rise in atheism to our lack of evangelization. Not sure I agree with his analysis but at least he spoke openly about this issue. Personally, I think we lose people to worldly cares and pleasures because we do not teach and preach as we ought. If we rely on everyone learning the faith by reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it won’t happen! Hence adults have to be hooked by the sermon to want to voluntarily learn more. And children have to be forced to go to catechism class. Had I been given the choice of catechism class or the beach, the beach would have won out every time! Education is the key and sometimes mandated education! Pre-Cana classes inspired the soon to be married! Why do you think the federal government wants to control education, health care, taxation, and the EPA?!? They can and will control EVERY aspect of our life. But they cannot control our spiritual life if we are fortunate enough to have one!
I heard a truly inspiring homily on proper liturgical posture; sitting, standing and kneeling.
Father focused on the second epistle, since, as he said, Jesus was pretty straightforward in the Gospel, but the second epistle talking of faith and reason is often not grasped in today’s society. He said that often people think or claim that faith is opposed to reason, but that it is not so, that they work together to know things that we can’t fully see or understand. He said that many claim that faith is about how we feel, as if it is merely emotional and not rational, but it isn’t. It is a true way of knowing things just as much as reason is, but we know things by faith that we don’t fully see or understand. He used Mother Teresa as an example to show that faith isn’t about feelings, since it was revealed that she went for years without feeling the presence of God and yet, through her faith, she knew He was there and kept going out of love for Him and His creation. I’m not expressing it nearly so clearly and beautifully as Father did. I need to remember to check and see if he has it written down. It was very good.
It was, as always, uniformly excellent, from an inspired Benedictine Abbot. “Catholics are joyful, but do not simply party [hugely funny thing to say, and said with more than deliberate perfect timing], for there is always something to do, a mission.” In line with the Gospel reading, Father enjoined us, in his warm, mellow tones, to keep wide awake for the Bridegroom.
Was in a Columbus Ohio, not my normal parish as seems the norm this week, and the priest talked about confesion and the importance of being in a state of grace when you meet Christ. He said you WILL meet him one of two ways, either it is His second comming or he taps you on the shoulder and says your time on earth is done. So be prepared.
Seems like I’ve read that somewhere else on someone’s blog. Kind of like a familiar theme. Hmmmmm.
Fr. Teddy Martin filling in at St. Basil’s in South Haven, MI tied in Faith, addiction and confession to a beyond full capacity crowd. He said faith can get rid of any addiction. He said “Examine your conscience.” “Go to confession.”
Fr. will offer the Extraordinary Form at 7:00 p.m. for the Feast of the Assumption at St. Basil’s. (Sorry, Fr. just had to get that brick by brick plug into this comment.) That will be in addition to Sacred Heart of Jesus 7:00 pm Solemn High Mass in Grand Rapids offered by Fr. Sirico or Fr. Damien.
Father talked about faith and what a beautiful witness Abraham is with his faith; he talked about questioning being normal but doubting not so normal and further told us what a blessing the Catechism is for us and that people who read the Catechism, bit by bit, every day, experience increases in their faith.
I’m on my second round with the Catechism; I’m the uncatechized and first read it in RCIA a few years ago, lacking a religious education past 2nd grade CCD. I’ll be going into the second year of the Catechetical Institute in which we read the Catechism. No idea whether I’ll follow Father’s advice and read it again after this; it’s good to know that if I need information, I can either find it in the paper copy or online.
We had a fantastic sermon by a visiting young, orthodox, on-fire-for-the-Faith Jesuit.
(Yes, I’m serious. Perhaps there might actually be hope for the Jesuits yet?)
He explained that a priest’s job is to make sure that his flock’s hearts are turned to God and His will, that we will find fulfillment only in God and that no human person or institution can offer true fulfillment, and then tied those ideas into a discussion on how to turn one’s heart to God through the practice of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love/charity. He mentioned that one can and should do this in whichever vocation we’re called to, whether as a lay person or as a priest or religious. He explained that these virtues are the foundation of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s papacy, as seen in the subject matter of his encyclicals “Deus Caritas Est,” “Spes Salvi,” and the last encyclical on faith co-authored by Popes Benedict and Francis. He read a passage from either “Deus Caritas Est” or “Spes Salvi” (can’t remember which, sorry) about the story of a modern saint for our times, Josephine Bakhita, and tied that story into the virtue of mercy, and how important it is for us to remember that God is a merciful God, but that we don’t know the day or the hour when He will return (again referencing the Gospel), thus the importance of practicing the Faith, the virtues of faith, hope and charity, and to practice mercy ourselves as well as to hope for it from God.
This, I might add, on top of saying a very beautiful and reverent Mass.
And yes, I told him afterwards that both the sermon and the lovely Mass were much appreciated. :)
My homily focused on the 2nd reading, the Letter to the Hebrews. Faith is essential in our lives. We are in a crisis of faith. Benedict sought to help by giving us a Year of Faith. Francis has followed on this. Lumen Fidei is a gift from two Popes. In this document, we read: “Once man has lost the fundamental orientation which unifies his existence, he breaks down into the multiplicity of his desires.” Correct “orientation” in Liturgy helps the orientation of our lives. “We go to the Lord who comes to us.”
Donate to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
It was a mission appeal from Africa today. Wonderful priest from the Democratic Republic of Congo who is parish priest of a parish with no Church building, but 22,000 Catholics. He has to walk to three different villages a weekend, with the longest being a fifteen mile walk, and then back to his rectory. If everyone reading this could say a prayer for him.
I listened to a visiting diocesan transitional deacon give the homily at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral in Spokane WA. The Mass was celebrated by the new Rector at Bishop White Seminary located on Gonzaga University’s campus. The new Rector is a experienced diocesan priest and he celebrated the Mass wonderfully, given he was working with altar servers he had never celebrated with.
The deacon focused on the second reading, and related to us his own testimony on how, after much spiritual struggle trying to discern his own vocation, that his call to the priesthood, the Gift of Faith in spades if you will, happened at the very same cathedral we were all sitting in, 11 years previously, at a Sunday Mass. He was sitting on the east side about 11 rows back.
Praise be Jesus Christ!
We all must remember to always pray for our deacons, priests and bishops.
Peace and God Bless
Diocesan EF. The Good Samaritan parable. According to some of the early Church Fathers the Good Samaritan represented Christ himself and the robbed man Adam who was fallen due to his original sin. An interesting perspective for me, well worth the long drive.
We had a wonderful Filipino priest visiting our parish today. He was making an appeal for contributions to support seminarians in the Phillipines.
Before he got started he cracked a pretty good – well, corny – joke. Here goes:
“There was a priest having trouble adjusting the microphone before he read the Gospel, and as he fumbled with it, he said into the mic, ‘There’s something wrong with this microphone.’ ”
“And the congregation responded, ‘And with your spirit!’ ”
Get it? I was funny at the time!
The priest went on to express the deep gratitude of the Filipino Church for the critical support of Americans in not only helping them to gain their freedom in WWII, but for sending so many American missionaries, to whom the vibrant state of Filipino Catholicism today can be attributed. What I found most striking was that the fact that although the US no longer supplies missionaries to the Philipines, we now have over 900 Filipino priests here in the US! I see God’s merciful providence for a struggling American Church in these solid Filipino priests, who are the fruit of the efforts of this very same American Church in years past.
Natural faith and supernatural faith. Trust and hope. The Gospel was pulled apart and analysed.
I wish I could remember the rest as I was guled to the seat.
Given by my temporary Prior, Fr. Columba Macbeth-Green OSPPE, Prior of the Marian Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians, Queensland.
11 o’clock mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool. Nice, reverent NO mass, real hymns that I, poor American that I am, had never sung before, and a thoughtful sermon. Then the celebrant announced that Thursday is the Feast of the Assumption, “a Holy Day of Obligation, if you can make it.” He sounded serious. Only about two of us in the congregation saw anything contradictory in his statement.
Fr. C. at my local Maronite parish gave the homily, based upon Luke 8: 1-15 (Jesus’ parable of the sewer and the seeds) wherein the four different seed scenarios were unpacked and we were called to examine the category we actually fit into (as opposed to that which we think/would like to fit into). I reached the confessional about this time and Fr. who was serving called me to consider what sort of ‘seed’ my faith is; am I the seed that allows the cares of this world and my life to shadow and choke out Christ’s work in and through me? (e.g. attachment to the habitual sins that we so easily fall into; not just the ‘big ticket’ sins, but those centering around pride, cowardice, lack of trust in God, pushing God to abide by our own timetable (re anger at atheist family who will not see reason/convert/whom God will not seem to shake out of their stupor – even when such anger is not actually voiced to them but when one rails at God for apparent inactivity) etc. in other words, blaming God for the devil’s work.Reminded that I need to stop ‘talking at’ God but actually still myself and start listening to Him – during the liturgy, in private prayer, remember to read the Bible every day and plumb the depths of the Word, and build my faith – faith, trust, not demands
Am I too busy pining for Christ’s theocracy advanced by a militant and orthodox Church wherein Catholic Christians are ‘real Catholic’ and the laws of the land harmonise with the teachings of the Church/Bible etc., where the post revolutionary life brings all of the good of the pre revolutionary days back into focus rather than trusting in Christ’s will, purpose and way?
Just a few thoughts….
Blessings,
Maronite Soul (Aussie Maronite).
Visited the Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Illinois this weekend – my first time at an Eastern Catholic parish. I noticed that their deacons have a much larger role in the liturgy than ours do. Father spoke about how both the Transfiguration and the Dormition coming up showed us what it meant to be authentically human and how the idea of an ‘inclusive church’ is an oxymoron.
Monsignor made a rather good point about the parable of the Good Samaratan. The Samaratans were regarded basically as heretics by the Jews and Jesus himself kept that distinction. While he did interact with the Samaratan woman at the well he let her know that God was displeased with their mode of worshipping Him.
It’s not a distinction some would like to think of, that there are certain ways God prefers to have us worship Him. Form does matter!
Dont be a “Check box Christian” and who is the Samaritan in our life that we need to go “above and beyond for?
At our traditional Mass, Fr. spoke about our inordinate love of kitty cats, puppies, and small endangered animals seems more important than human life. How people walk past a person in need of help and they do nothing. How saying “I’ll pray for you” isn’t enough. If it’s in your power to do something for a person, do it.
Funny points, well made.
EF 12th after Pentecost
1) God makes covenants with His people, gradually revealing aspects of Himself. Covenants have signs to remind us of them. With Noah, the covenant sign was the Rainbow. (He pointed out that this symbol has been hijacked, of late. – We live not far from San Francisco.)
2) The good Samaritan wasn’t one of the traveller’s “own”, but this is the point: be generous in charity.
This same priest led a camp during the week, preaching on the feast of St. Lawrence, among other days. He quoted (St. Francis de Sales?) to the effect that we are, in the spiritual life, like chickens, but we need to be like eagles.
Father gave a rousing sermon on Purity and Dressing with Dignity. Sin enters through the senses and adultery takes up residence in the heart. Women are the guardians of chastity. (See we have plenty to do in the Church!) . How would we feel if he showed up in shorts or ratty vestments ?
Fr. Cipolla gave this sermon at Holy Mass on Sunday: http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-church-is-not-just-another-religion.html
Father said:
“Our new bishop, Bishop Caggiano, in an interview in Ireland discussing the collapse of faith in that country, said that no one could ever get excited by or give himself over to a watered down and mediocre presentation of the Catholic faith. And no one would ever die for such a faith. And why would anyone die for a faith where everyone goes to heaven as a matter of course if you follow the rules of that Catholic train company guaranteed to get you there, a faith that has little to do with the great intellectual questions and problems that must engage the human spirit. Why would anyone die for a faith that reduces worship to a banal and earthbound reflection of the surrounding culture that can never manifest the Sacrifice that lies at the heart of the God we worship. Why would anyone die for a faith that relies merely on pronouncements from Rome to define what this faith is and then conversely trashes those pronouncements in an existential sense since they appear to be just more arbitrary decisions by those in charge of the law machine of the Church, a faith that sees itself as just one possible reality among many?”
The Legendary (for the Diocese of Charlotte) Monsignor Showfety had – as usual – an awesome sermon. The essence was:
1) Reflecting on the Act of Faith, remember that there is no way to be halfway Catholic. By definition, being Catholic means being “all in” (my term, not his).
2) An essential part of being Catholic is to Pray. Pray ALWAYS, not just for an hour every Sunday. So, pray privately, pray the rosary, especially pray together as a family, but Pray!
3) Things are rough, and going to get a whole lot rougher for the Church. We will need more good, faithful, strong priests and sisters. Vocations usually come from families that pray together, so PRAY!
There was an anecdote about a Saint. Unfortunately I can’t remember which Saint, but she prayed, “Lord, how can I love my neighbor when I burn with love for Thee alone?” God answered her, “Anyone who loves Me loves all that is loved by Me.”
Not a surprising idea, but a thought well expressed.
Good Afternoon everyone, I’m a new poster. I visited my uncle this weekend along with my parents. At the parish we went to, the pastor, a Monsignor gave an excellent homily. He started by talking about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, as an example of the reading from Wisdom. He also spoke about faith and the need for us to bear witness to our faith in everyday life.
The homily was about the need for all adults to have a Medical Power of Attorney naming someone who will uphold Catholic ethics for us on end-of-life issues. Father laid great emphasis on how the Church and the medical profession define “extraordinary measures” differently and warned us to be aware of pertinent state laws. Anyone 18 and over needs one- just because someone may be on your insurance, it doesn’t mean that you have access to their medical records, or can make decisions for them.