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FROM THE PASTOR
October 6, 2013
by Fr. George W. Rutler
Feasts are reminders that we are invited to the eternal Feast in Heaven. October 7 is the Feast of the Holy Rosary, instituted to celebrate the victory of Pope St. Pius’ alliance of naval forces against the Islamic Ottomans. Even some English Protestants joined the effort in realization that everything Christianity had given us was at stake. The Pope attributed the victory of the sea battle at Lepanto to the prayers of the Rosary. Had events gone otherwise, our world would be bereft of respect for human life, universities, plastic and musical arts, the sacredness of marriage, the equality of women, and the use of reason.
These gifts of Christian culture are vanishing today by default of nominal Christians who have abandoned the faith that shaped their culture. Our cultural struggle is wider and longer than Lepanto. Young men preparing for the priesthood now are enlisting in history’s greatest spiritual struggle. Happily, more men are now enrolled in seminaries in the United States than in nearly two decades: a sixteen percent increase since 1995 and ten per cent more than in 2005. As priests, they will support the faithful laity as the faithful support them.
Attacks on Christianity are drawn in blood in places like Pakistan, Syria and Nigeria. We may be blindsided if we think the dangers are any less in our own country now. The enemy uses cynicism and social pressure rather than weapons of steel.
The prayers of Our Lady are our great defense. Pope Francis’ formal announcement in sonorous Latin that the popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be canonized as saints next April, affirms their desire that we enlist the Rosary in the crusade against Satan and all his evil works. In 1961 John XXIII signed the Apostolic Letter Il Religioso Convegno, along with his personal meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary, which he perpetually recited in between the duties of his daily schedule. In 2002, John Paul II signed the Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, as his “favorite prayer” and gave us the Luminous Mysteries to guide us in the darkness of these new days.
Our Lord warned against the “vain repetition” of the Pharisees, who thought that the number of prayers apart from the devotion of the will could bend the ear of God. But vain repetition does not invalidate repetition altogether: the repetitious breathing of the lungs and beating of the heart give physical life; so too does the repeating of the words of Gabriel, Elizabeth, and Our Lord’s own prayer open the gates of eternity. We often bury our beloved dead with Rosaries. My own mother had in her hands a Rosary that John Paul II had given her. But we who are alive must make the Rosary a living prayer, and by so praying we may live forever.
From Fr. Sirico’s homily:
When the Disciples asked of Jesus to increase their faith it means two things: The disciples realized that there was something lacking in their life; that their faith was deficient. Jesus seems to be telling them (and us) that it’s not about the quantity but rather the quality of our faith that is important.
Fr. Sirico connected the first part with the importance of the words of the act of contrition, and the importance of examining our conscience daily.
Finally he gave us bad news and good news. The bad news: God owes us nothing. The good news: God gives us everything abundantly whether we deserve it or not. He Was careful to point out that this is not the happy clappy cheerfulness preached by many celebrity evangelists, but rather a very down-to-earth understanding of our faith.
I celebrate both forms this weekend.
Ordinary Form: Faith leads to a living encounter with God. We are transformed and He uses us to transform the world.
Extraordinary Form: The Rosary has the power to change the world around us. We can end wars, convert people and restore the life of the Church, if only we prayed the Rosary daily.
I am an American residing in South Korea. Today in South Korea is Armed Forces Sunday. A nationwide second collection was held to raise money for the Military Ordinariate in Korea. So, as I donated for the second collection for the Korean Military Ordinariate, I was well aware that priests working for the American Military Archdiocese are being forbidden, under pain of arrest, from functioning as priests.
Rite: Latin Rite
Form: Extraordinary Form, 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Level of Mass: Missa Lecta/Low Mass
Content: The priest opened up with briefly mentioning in English a line of Scripture from the Epistle about the world being “evil” in Paul’s letter. He then did something I was really happy to hear at a Latin Mass, because the Trad world, generally, seems to have a more serious outlook, to the point of doom, gloom, damnation, and Trads Behaving Badly. He talked about how despite the world being evil with its many vices, to have hope, and to be the light in it and thrive as Catholics despite it [really bad paraphrasing, but the general gist is here]. He then went on to talk about our eternal salvation at the end, about the wasting of time. He used various examples of how people waste time, spiritually and physically, and even sexually, such as those who flitter away their temporal time, but also their salvation. on drugs, alcohol, and even pornography. Yes, he said porno by name in the homily! He then wanted us to consider this waste of time, in the context of eternal salvation. How are we using our time effectively? Are we wasting our time when we could be preparing ourselves to make us fit for the Lord when we die? He also tied this into an annual event of peaceful demonstration in our Archdiocese, the “Life Chain” where people stand at various intersections in a chain and hold pro-life signs and do silent witness/prayer. All in all, a good sermon. Though as a little caveat, the priest didn’t have a biretta for the Mass and the homily. But so what! It’s great to have been back in the EF since my end of summer pilgrimage of Marie Reine du Canada.
God gives us graces and armor with which to fight, not sit and wait for things to happen. He created us to work, not merely take up space. Historically proven, Mary and the Rosary are our best and most reliable weapons against the advances of the Mohammedans. Let’s not wait until we are faced with another Lepanto or Vienna.
Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite:
“The person who doesn’t know and doesn’t know that he doesn’t know is a fool, but the person who doesn’t know and knows he doesn’t know may be a wise man.” Likewise, the Apostles knew that they did not have enough faith, so they asked Christ to increase their faith.
Father highlighted all of the positive developments in the war against abortion–clinics shut down, Americans increasingly opposed to third trimester abortions, stricter laws in many states, etc. We can’t let ourselves become discouraged. He said if we keep fighting and making strides, the politics will eventually follow. He acknowledged that Pope Francis’ remarks really hurt people who have been working so hard, but we need to keep going.
iPadre wrote, “Extraordinary Form: The Rosary has the power to change the world around us. We can end wars, convert people and restore the life of the Church, if only we prayed the Rosary daily.”
I concur with those sentiments. And it’s a nice prelude to tomorrow’s feast on both the new and old liturgical calendars: “Our Lady of the Holy Rosary”.
NO Mass. The pastor stated that we are living in dangerous times, as in the times of the Battle of Lepanto and that we need to go to Mary for help and protection. The rosary is a powerful weapon and Mary is the most powerful protector of the Church.
Four adults behind me talked through the entire Mass….as I am not a regular here, I felt I could not do anything, but kept praying and thought of St. Therese and the sister who sat next to her rattling rosary beads. Much rather have rattling beads than chit-chat.
Church mikes working better this weekend. At last I was able to actually hear the sermon without feed-back.
BE NOT AFRAID
People are afraid of:
Trusting in God
Not being politically correct
Offending others
of “what will people think?”
of the world as we see it today.
Instead we should be afraid of:
Offending God
Not Trusting in God
God said (paraphrasing) “If we have the Faith the size of a mustard seed, we can say ‘…….(a plant) uproot thyself and go into the middle of the sea’ It will do that if we have the Faith.”
Instead, we are afraid to Trust
BE NOT AFRAID
Put your Trust in God
@MattH
Your post reminded me of a saying (of unknown source) I learned long ago:
“There are those who know and don’t know that they know, Wake them.
There are those who don’t know and know that they don’t know, Teach them.
There are those who don’t know and don’t know that they don’t know, Shun them.
There are those who know and know that they know, Follow them.”
Challenging and comprehensive homily today in the Diocese of Albany in the Extraordinary Form expounding on the epistle and Christian morality. How young adults tend to be locating a sense of the beautiful, as reflected in a hit tv show. Aristotelian concept of the need for education in the beautiful to help form a moral sense. The traits of virtue found in the characters of the works of Jane Austin. The letter to the Ephesians offers a Christ-centered moral sensibility as well as an exhortation to encourage fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, appreciating and honoring what is beautiful in one another.
Good news here in Buffalo. A young whipper-snapper fresh from seminary just said his first EF Mass at our parish today. He spoke well in his homily about abortion and the culture of death.
Father started by pointing out that October is respect life month so I thought he was going to preach about abortion. (we do hear about it quite often) Then he said that that means respect all life, including being grateful for our own lives, and I started feeling anxious that he was going to preach about loving ourselves or something instead of about abortion. Then he amazed me by saying that he was talking about the sacramental life inside of us and how we need to respect it. He said many of us hadn’t gone to confession in years and that we need to go to confession because we are all sinners. He said we all need confession and need to realize that we do sin, and that Jesus came for sinners, not for the self-righteous. Next he said that many people went to communion who shouldn’t, or who should only come up for a blessing, because it was disrespectful to receive if you weren’t in the proper state. He spoke of people who aren’t married in the Church and that they should not come to communion, but should contact the parish instead and try to have their situation straightened out. He spoke of people who don’t come regularly to Mass too, and said they come right up to communion when they do come, without going to confession first, and this was more disrespect for Jesus. Then he did go on to speak of abortion at the end, and talk about how we should be politically active against it and also volunteer for troubled pregnancy centers etc, and how we have to contribute to charity and show love and respect for others too. I was in seventh heaven and so was my husband. This is a quiet priest who has been here a long time. He is kind and likable but never before has he said anything like that! In fact, I’ve never heard a sermon on those subjects before. Wow! I’m loving it! I wanted to hug him after Mass but contented myself with shaking his hand and praising his sermon.
If you want to be faith-filled you must be faithful (in the living your faith sense).
Fr. used the recent interview between Pope Francis and the atheists as a springboard to speak about the struggle between belief and unbelief in our culture, and in each of us individually. He made mention of the “gift of faith” and that being how some explained why some believe and others don’t, but said he doesn’t like to talk about it that way because he knows there is a part of himself that at times doesn’t believe, and that in today’s world it would often be easier to not believe than it is to believe. It was a homily that had me a bit worried with starting with the atheist interview as the first thing mentioned, but it was very thought provoking and inspired a good bit of individual reflection, and a bit more sympathy for those who are caught in the spirit of the age. It was also very brief. And we got at least a moment of silent reflection after. Not bad, not bad at all (which for me is high praise).
We also celebrated priesthood Sunday, though no mention was made of this until near after the post-communion, when one of those odd “let’s all extend our hands and bless father”, “(insert world’s longest blessing prayer ever, that went on and on and on, with people still holding their hands up looking like some fascist gathering, and still going on, here)…” Yet at least priesthood Sunday (normally last Sunday of October in the US) was marked in some noticeable way, and the blessing prayer actually was a real prayer asking God to do something and thanking God, not one of those Palegian litanies of wishes and positive thoughts, it even resembled the basic structure of a Roman oration in a certain way (but did involve the dodgy notion of the faithful invoking a blessing, and the iffy hand gesture bit).
The highlight of the past year. Things will get better in God’s time.
Fr. used this opportunity to talk about the priesthood. The priest brings the presence of Christ to the world via the sacraments. He spoke of the importance of families creating the environment in their homes for children to hear the call of God to a vocation.
During the Vigil Mass on Sat evening at my local NO (there is only one EF in Sydney) parish church, Fr. G. spoke on faith and made several very thought-provoking observations;
Life lived that is not lived through the lens of faith in God only scratches the merest surface of reality.
Faith is at once a gift and our own responsibility to cultivate not just through prayer alone, (prayer is only a tiny portion of our faith life) but action that permeates all of life. If our faith is not shaping everything about us – the way we interact with God, others and self in every sphere, it is next to useless (we are called to be Christ to the world in every sense).
Faith and trust – even if our faith is the size of a mustard seed, God can work with this through and in us to accomplish much.
At the conclusion of the sermon, Fr. reminded us that this Sunday just gone (it is now Monday Morning in Australia) was respect for life Sunday and that life begins at conception (with a short biological reminder to the parishioners of exactly when this is re Church teaching on reproductive matters)…with brochures freely available for all to take re concerning RLS).
however,
At the Maronite service yesterday morning, Fr. spoke of the vital importance of prayer as a central pillar of all of life. If Fr. G. could have collaborated with his Maronite confrares up the street he’d have had the whole topic covered seamelessly!! :-)
Blessings,
Soon to be South Coast Catholic (Aussie Maronite)
Today was the 20th Su after Pentecost in the Byzantine Calender, Father’s sermon focused on Thomas (it was also Thomas Sunday) and is our Faith strong? We are blessed because we have not seen Christ yet believe.
Though the homilist is always very good, I remember less than usual of the homily from 7am TLM. The sound is not as good in the choirloft but mainly I was preoccupied about trying to sing chant well. We made a game effort and I can think of some different choices that could improve our musical results.
The other Mass I attended was the Vicar General substituting for the pastor. He said that the Gospel reading is about faith today but this entirely contrasts with the subject matter of Respect Life Sunday because the sanctity of life has nothing to do with faith but is something anyone can know by reason. The rest of the homily was very good on the pro-life topic, including a full range of issues including capital punishment. He mentioned a group of former death row inmates he had met when they visited the chancery, who had been exonerated of the crimes they were accused of.
@Scott W. Who? Where? When? Don’t worry, I’m on the good side of the Force, and am just looking for support in linking the EF and the Culture of Life.
At our TLM for the 20th Sunday in Pentecost, Father preached on the Epistle to the Ephesians. The theme was – we should not be “dead men walking” but “wise men walking”. Dead men walking is a phrase used to describe a condemned person on death row and many people today are spiritually dead, especially because we live in an evil world and give in to it, living a life of sensuality as Paul refers to in the phrase about not being drunk with wine. We need to be discriminating about everything we do, thinking about whether we are doing God’s will.
I used a portion of the Holy Father’s homily in Assisi to talk about returning to the crucifixion when our faith is weak. . .
http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2013/10/seeing-with-faith.html
Fr. Philip Neri, OP
Dear @Bea,
wouldn’t that be, depending on occasion, more a “rebuke them” or perhaps even a “disprove them” instead of “shun them”?
Good saying, though.
At Mass, our recently assigned assistant priest, preached on the unity between the mysteries of the Rosary and the Mass of the Faithful. He drew our attention to how the epiclesis during the offertory is like the Annunciation and Incarnation of Christ and how the other mysteries, specifically the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, are present in the Canon. He ended by saying how the Holy Sacrifice is not only the sacrifice of Calvary, but also the worship of the lamb slain once for all and the participation in that lamb’s victory over death and sin; Christ pours out on us all of the graces and merits of his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension into the heavens during the Mass.
NO form. Father has been preaching the last few weeks about VCII and what did the documents really say, today was about Gregorian Chant and how music is really prayer and that we should not be “praying at Mass” but rather that we “should pray the Mass.” He also announced that the Oct 20 Mass will be in the form the Council really intended, I am thinking ad orientem and lots of Latin.
May God Bless Fr. P, Fr. Z and all priests.
Ordinary Form.
The homily was on the pro-life theme. Father tied it into all three readings.
His homily illustrated what I think is the point behind Pope Francis’ saying we need to preach against abortion in context, and not make a so-called ‘obsession’ of it.
The fact is, from my point of view, when you preach against abortion in context, it’s pretty obvious it is the primary injustice of our day. Father preached about all of the vulnerable, and put numbers to some of them, for example, murders. When he mentioned abortion, he spoke of one million children killed through abortion every year. Compared to everything else, that “one million” really stood out, and he didn’t have to say abortion was an important issue.
Father is also fond of quoting Pope Francis, and in this case, his quote was something Pope Francis had said about the evil of abortion (I don’t remember which quote it was). Remember, we can actually quote Pope Francis these days, and people don’t automatically shut down. Of course, we don’t have to stick to the MSM quotes, or the quotes that got the most coverage.
Then, towards the end of the Mass, where we have the announcements, a member of the choir chanted a long litany, asking us to pray to our Lord for many pro-life intentions. After each intention, the congregation answered “Lord hear our prayer”. Three of the last four intentions were related to protection for the unborn. And I believe that in a long prayer, what we remember best are the last things said.
Our parish often has inserts in the prayer of the faithful for the unborn, but Father made a good job, in my opinion, of connecting it to other real social justice issues.
I was thinking as I left the church, if we could get social justice and pro-life on the same page, and convince the social justice people that the answer to every problem isn’t a government program, we Catholics would be unstoppable.
@ maryh .. You said….I was thinking as I left the church, if we could get social justice and pro-life on the same page, and convince the social justice people that the answer to every problem isn’t a government program, we Catholics would be unstoppable.
I wholeheartedly agree.
And as our progressive pastor and promoter of social justice issues closes every MASS by saying, “Let the church say AMEN!”
Nonis Octobris Luna secunda Anno MMXIII Domini
Festum beatae Mariae Virginis a Rosario; itemque sanctae Mariae de Victoria commemoratio, quam sanctus Pius Quintus, Pontifex Maximus, ob insignem victoriam a Christianis bello navali, eiusdem sanctissimae Dei Genitricis auxilio, hac ipsa die de Turcis reportatam, quotannis fieri instituit.
Hay que morir o triunfar
que nos enseña la historia:
en Lepanto la victoria
y la muerte en Trafalgar.
Fr. Darren Connall here at the Cathedral preached in reference to it being Right to Life Sunday. He spoke of the millions of unborn who have been killed, and his personal experience of counseling a 19 year old single woman who found herself 5 months pregnant, who, when her physician broke the news to her, offered her a “fix”, and when she finished sobbing, told the physician that she wanted a new doctor. Fr. Connall has since held the resultant baby girl in his arms. It has been rare that our priests have spoken about abortion. It seems to be a generational thing. The younger ones preach against it, the older do not. Anyways, Fr. Connall quoted Pope Francis about each aborted child having the face of Christ, which I think is a very beautiful and profound statement.
Peace and God Bless.
Pray for our priests!
Emilio: A beatiful and interesting poem. May I ask who wrote it?
Hay que morir o triunfar
que nos enseña la historia:
en Lepanto la victoria
y la muerte en Trafalgar.
I spoke on true compassion, and how the Church shows it, especially for the victims of abortion. True compassion calls for us to fight for life, from conception until natural death, although we may be tempted to despair, as the first reading reminded us, shouting “Violence!” and wondering why God does nothing. Well, God wants US to do something.
VexillaRegis, it’s actually from Himno de la Armada Española (formerly Himno de la Academia Naval). I believe the lyrics are by José María Pemán.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSa_xCK8VY
Emilio III: ! Muchas gracias señor!
@SuperTradMum, re the chatty spectators behind you:
-Take advantage of the anonymity of being a “visitor” in those situations, and just get up and move to another pew. I have moved on occasion of being behind or next to well-meaning-but-olfactory-challenged folks who chose to take a bath in a gallon or two of perfume or cologne before Mass!