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Father talked about how our work, no matter what it is, is a way to praise and connect with God. Even Adam was given work to do in the Garden of Eden as a way to share in God’s creation. Father said we can think of our work tools (even a diaper changing table) as our altar. If we work outside the home, that is an opportunity to meet other people who need our prayers, and we can pray for their intentions at mass. There should not be a disconnect between our spiritual life and our work life.
Our excellent, (young) priest-in-residence (who just finished his JCD in Rome) gave an excellent homily. The takeaway for me was that we need to look to Holy Mother Church and her sacraments–esp. confession–for the graces we need, rather than just praying to God for the ones we want.
Father Michael Warren OMV at Holy Ghost in Denver told us that the foundation of humility is reverence and without the proper reverence we cannot truly be humble. He stressed several times that a lack of proper reverence and humility made one oblivious to one’s immodesty in the way they dressed for Mass and that also manifested itself in many other facets of one’s life. Unfortunately I think the point sailed over the heads of most, particularly the gum chewing, flip flops/cutoffs/t-shirt attired members of the congregation who were planning on attending the Rockies vs. Reds game at Coors Field following Mass.
Father started out by saying, “I love to give sermons about humility, because I’m so darned good at it.”
Father said how the widow from today’s Gospel (Extraordinary Form) reflects the Church today, who has no one left–her spiritual children abandon her and those who are supposed to be spiritual fathers do not exercise their office properly (because they fail to preach about Catholic doctrine and morals and they fail to put an end to things like liturgical abuse). An excellent homily overall.
He also spoke of Our Lord’s words, “Weep not”, by saying that there is reason to hope, since newly ordained priests seem to be much more faithful to the Magisterium and liturgical abuse is slowing down. He concluded with an exhortation to spread the Faith vigilantly and to have confidence that Christ will not abandon His Church.
Well, at Holy Rosary in Portland or Father Eric Andersen began by noting that yesterday’s Roman Martyrology spoke of Sts. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. He noted and explained the iconography of St. Joseph, and iconography in general, then delved into the legend of St. Joseph of Arimathea traveling to England and planting the faith. He then went into the legend of King Arthur in detail, particularly noting the contrast between two descendants of Joseph of Arimathea: Sir Lancelot and his son, Sir Galahad He contrasted the divided heart of Sir Lancelot with the pure heart of Sir Galahad. And there was much more in the same vein.
He made the connection with today’s gospel by dilating on the humility of Sir Galahad
He then noted that such was the Catholic culture to which the faith gives rise.
Then in the stunning close to the sermon, he indicated the altar and said that this is our Mt. Zion, and that as Sir Galahad saw the magnificence of the Holy Grail filled with the blood of Christ, we see that every time we come to Mass
I am not at all doing justice to the beauty of this sermon, especially its close. I have never heard the like.
We had a visiting priest from another city today. I really liked that just before the homily he introduced himself and spent a minute or so telling us a little bit about himself.
I also like it when a regular priest before the homily spends a minute to welcome visitors and introduce himself.
Our previous pastor that just left a month ago used to do that. Some of our visiting priests have done this which makes it nice to at least know who they are. We get a new pastor in a few weeks so I hope he will do the same.
We had news that the son of a parishioner was in a very bad accident, is in the hospital, and a miracle is needed. As a parish we began a novena for the intercession of Blessed Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad, O.Ss.S (1870-1957), declared blessed in 2000. She established the Roman branch of the Brigittine nuns to which our resident nun is attached. We pray for her canonization and a miracle through her in this case would be advantageous. Father took the opportunity, with the week’s Epistle, Paul to the Galatians v.25, 26; vi 1- 10 and the call to “bear one another’s burdens,” to explain the Communion of Saints – militant, suffering, triumphant. Our turning to God’s friends in Heaven, the Saints, in whose company we aspire to one day reside, our prayers for the poor souls, who, when they attain their heavenly home will remember those who prayed for them, and our prayers as Church Militant for the salvation of our own souls and prayers for temporal favors as well – all define the Communion of Saints.
We don’t go to heaven alone: if we’re not looking out for the needs of our fellow man (spriritual and temporal) we’re preparing ourselves for Hell.
It’s nice to hear about how wonderful we are, but that’s not the whole story. We are, all, poor sinners.
In a world which is like the funeral procession (EF) we need to spread the healing of the Gospel.
(He didn’t say, but reading this Gospel I thought, that this procession prefigures Christ’s own death.)
Father talked about Jesus’s compassion in the Gospel reading (Luke 7:11-16, Extraordinary Form), which He had for the woman because of her love for her son. Jesus has compassion for all mothers: their love for their children is a reflection of God’s love for all.
As Jesus restored the man from bodily death, He also can restore us from spiritual death. Spiritual death from the loss of grace due to commission of mortal sin is worse than bodily death. When no longer in the state of grace, although the person is alive in the physical sense, his body is no longer a temple of the Holy Spirit. When a branch is cut off from the tree, its leaves will stay green for some time, but it will eventually wither and die.
This lead to a discussion of the sacrament of reconciliation. When we are in a state of mortal sin, the devil tries to keep us away from confession and lure us into the reasoning that, “Well, I’m already in a state of mortal sin, so I might as well wallow in it.” The correct response to grave sin is to repent immediately with firm intention to go to confession at the first available opportunity.
Humility is not seeking places of honor… True humility is recognizing the value of other people.
That was the good point of the homily.
Fraternal correction Do’s and Don’ts. (Mostly Don’ts.)
From the EF Epistle.
Fraternal correction of mortal sins is an act of charity ( I want you to go to Heaven), not fortitude (See how tough I can be towards sinners). Our intentions must be pure, our behavior must be humble, as we are also sinners. Sinners can be inculpable or culpable, and the correction changes depending on which- the first to be counseled, the latter to be rebuked.
EF, the priest said that St. Augustine interprets the raising of the widow of Naim as Christ raising the sinners in the Church and restoring them to Mother Church so that those forgiven and renewed members can work for the Church. Just as it was a necessity for the widow to have someone take care of her and work for her, so too we revived sinners do so for the Church.
We are to pray for each other, for the members of the Church, all the sinners, especially the clergy. Excellent thoughts.
Father gave a very nice homily, referencing a story about the last high king of Ireland, Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig. King Brian, upon being informed by a servant that a lord he was visiting wasn’t showing him proper respect by not putting him at the head if the table replied, “Be at ease. Any seat I am in IS the head of the table.”
He tied it in nicely with quiet confidence through humility before God.
The Homily ended with a nice visit from The Little Sisters of the Poor.
Father agreed that humility was difficult to practice, but noted it was essential in order to be able to receive graces from God. When we are full of our inflated sense of self-worth we leave no room in which the Holy Spirit can work within us.
I especially appreciate the Sunday Sermon Notes portion of this blog, always insightful. Thank you.
Humility is necessary in thechristian’s pursuit of holiness.
Today our pastor gave another memorable homily on humility !! But, it was something that I noticed upon first entering our Church that struck me … the l o n g line for confession prior to Mass.
Thank you Lord for a pastor who lives his faith and vocation.
pax et bonum
We were out of town this weekend and the pastor of the church we were at spoke of the opposite of humility: pride. He spoke about healthy pride versus unhealthy pride. Refreshing!
I attended the Anglican Use liturgy at our Parish in Indianapolis immediately following my 24 hour call shift at the hospital. Our good pastor commented upon the diverging responses of Yves Congar & Edward Schillebeeckx to the paternal correction issued by the Holy Office/CDF over concern of their theological positions. It was a contemporary commentary on the message of the day’s Gospel reading.
Our Priest spoke on Humility. Know thyself, if you think you are someone important, most likely your are deceiving yourself. Be Humble 1st, always. Follow the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Her example of humility. The Homily was excellent, as always. We are so very blessed at my parish.
Deo Gratias
Fr. talked about St. Augustine and how our hearts really are restless until they rest in God.
The chaplain at the Greenbelt Mall chapel in Manila noted that Humility is the virtue for which when you think to yourself you have it, you don’t.
Father’s primary point was on the 3rd Commandment, to keep holy the Sabbath. He mentioned once preaching on it when the now defunct blue laws were under threat, and how an old lady called him out for only emphasizing the need for rest but not mentioning worship. He said that while the students he once taught thought that adultery or taking the Lord’s name in vain were the most commonly breached, he had come to believe that it was the failure to treat the Lord’s Day with due reverence and to truly worship rather than merely resting. He went on to suggest that just as our liturgical calendar takes a cue from the Jewish tradition by starting the day at sundown, that we likewise need to begin our preparations for Sunday on the evening before.
(While he said nothing of it, this calls to mind SC “100. Pastors of souls should see to it that the chief hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and the more solemn feasts. And the laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.” with the important understanding that Vespers on Saturday evening is in fact liturgically part of the Sunday, thus both the first and second vespers should in be celebrated in common in church on Sundays, a practice long kept in many eastern rite churches, even in humble little parishes.)
We were blessed to have a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church visit our parish and celebrate Mass. He spoke of humility, which must be cultivated, as we inherit the opposite of humility from our first parents: pride. His Eminence referred to the Devil and his temptation of “you will be like God”.
Supertradmum: EF, the priest said that St. Augustine interprets the raising of the widow of Naim as Christ raising the sinners in the Church and restoring them to Mother Church so that those forgiven and renewed members can work for the Church…
I have also heard people reference 2 Cor 4:6-7 with regard to sinners being restored to Mother Church – we may be cracked vessels but at the same time, through these cracks we allow God’s light to shine through and reach others:
“For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us”.
EF at Lewiston basilica Fr. preached about sin. Sin will always take you further than you planned to go. Used the example of David and Bathsheba. One lustful look, he could have just turned away but instead followed through and it led to adultery and murder. Sin will also have a higher cost than you expected (same example).
Point of order: There were nine High Kings after my esteemed ancestor Brian met his demise at the Battle of Clontarf. Four were without opposition, and five with opposition (including the three other O’Brian ones).
False humility is sitting smugly in the lowest place, obviously waiting to be asked to go higher. A host with any sense will just leave you there!
That the Almighty God is humble. That sometimes it makes it hard for people to accept Him, because they could worship a mighty all powerful forceful god, but while He is all powerful, He does not force Himself upon us. In His humility, He lets us chose to love Him or not. His humility brought Him, the Almighty Creator of all things, to take our lowly human nature, to suffer and even die the most undignified death for us. In His humility, He allowed Himself to be stripped of even His human dignity at the hands of men. St. John says God is love, which He is, but He is also the prime example of humility for us to follow, since we often don’t know what true humility is. Look to Jesus.
Pannw, I hope you don’t mind, but I totally took the idea of that and turned it into a Facebook status. :)
In the TLM, Father talked about how Christ’s raising of the widow’s son was a rare event in that no act of faith preceded it–he just saw her sorrow, knew what would become of her under Jewish law, and was moved, so he acted. Father also suggested that Christ may have been thinking of his own mother, who would also be left alone after his crucifixion, which of course is why he gave her John.
Mike…
Wonderful! I wish you could have heard the whole sermon. I am very blessed to have a priest who gives really wonderful ones. Can you share the facebook status? :)
Sermon inspired us to keep praying for relatives that are lapsed Catholics. St. Monica prayed for years and years without seeing any fruit to her prayers. It took 30 years before St. Augustine finally converted. Sometimes we don’t see any improvement for a long time but God always acts in his own time. So our job is to just keep praying.
Attended Mass at the Basilica of Sts Peter and Paul in Lewiston ME as we always do when we are on vacation – since we found out about it last year (what an astounding church – it towers over the city as you are driving down the hill toward it!) The priest gave a sermon that should be printed out and mailed to every parish in the US to be read from the pulpit. He said sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay, using the story of David and Bathsheba that was mentioned above. And on a side note, the altar cards that are used on the altar for the EF Mass are absolutely stunning…amazing that they survived all the innovations :) Would love to fnd that there is a Latin Mass within reasonable driving distance from N. Conway NH (yes, Manchester is too far)…anyone here aware of one???