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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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- on Daily Rome Shot 1223 – “Sluggish schizophrenia”: “I have been considering two interpretations for that phrase “fascination for what is not understood.” If it is referring to…”
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Today we heard about the sea being compared to the devil. As long as Peter kept his eye on Jesus, he was able to walk on the water.
Father made reference to (not yet) Pope Benedict’s homily at the funeral of St. John Paul II: be not afraid. Trust in The Lord.
Today’s Gospel in the Byzantine Catholic Churches was Matt. 14:25-27. Jesus walked on water and rescued Peter when he attempted to do so but began to sink due to lack of faith. Father’s sermon focused instead on St. Lawrence of Rome, whose feast day it is.
Lawrence was the archdeacon of Rome, a man of great faith an panache. After the martyrdom of Pope Sixtus, Lawrence as required to give up the treasure of the Church. Instead, he produced a crowd of poor people, asserting that they were the Church’s greatest treasure. For this he was condemned to die by roasting on a grill. The story is familiar to all, and I won’t repeat it. Lawrence’s faith was warmer than the flames, and his intense martyrdom caused many conversions. It was also the beginning of the end for idol and emperor worship.
Lawrence is a great intercessor in times of temptation because of his great faith in the Lord Jesus.
Father reminded us that chaos, in all its forms, is a given, a part of daily life. It is not unusual or surprising; it is loud and intrusive and frightening. But, keeping our focus on Jesus, we need not let chaos and fear control our lives. HE is the calm in our storms, come into our midst, and we can trust Him.
Our Lord felt genuine heartache at the impending destruction of Jerusalem, but His gentle nature did not stop Him from forcefully employing the means to purify the Temple.
Father did a marvelous job of tying his homily to Aquinas’s writing that “Peace is the tranquility of order” and then went on at length (GOOD length, mind you!) about the need for us to have the tranquility of order in our interior lives. Very good and something that I need to practice. I don’t remember Father’s name, but he was an FSSP priest who was celebrating Mass here at Holy Innocents for the first time.
Father — if you see this, I was the man with the baby in the back; I hope you weren’t taken aback by my back being turned from you during the homily; it’s hard to keep the baby tranquil for the entire Mass.
PS: If anyone was at that Mass, Father mentioned a (living) spiritual writer that he would recommend. We had to leave right after Mass, so I didn’t get a chance to ask him…but what was the name of this writer? Thank you and God bless and see you next week!
We are now living in a “fourth watch” or the 3 am hour. It is an hour of darkness and the storms are swelling. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and remain in the bark of Peter if we want to make it through the storm.
[In the older, traditional Roman Rite today, our Lord weeps over Jerusalem, which does not recognize the day of visitation. Visitation, such a charged word! Then He drives the miscreants from the Temple.]
In reference to a well done requiem Mass, Father stated, “I’d rather cut my eyes out with a spoon than to ever hear “On Eagles Wings” at a funeral!” [LOL! And yet, ironically, that wouldn’t solve the problem.]
Because most of us are refugees from liberal novus ordo masses, we cracked up with tearful laughter. Father prayed and restarted the homily…
EF Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, with a commemoration of St. Lawrence. Wish we could have had a barbecue this afternoon in his honor, would have been a nice day for it here. Father preached on the Epistle from 1st Corinthians. Do not be idolaters like the Pagans. We become idolaters when our worship stops being about the one God and becomes about us and what makes us feel good, as the idolaters in the first part of the reading were doing. This is a danger also in contemporary Christian worship. Do not murmur as the Israelites did who even though they received the manna from heaven every day, wanted more. Instead we need to appreciate what God has done for us.
A visiting Dominican priest offered Mass and gave the homily. He compared the waves to the trials and difficulties we face in life. It is easy to get overwhelmed by these trials, but if we must look at the events and circumstances of our lives in the light of faith, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. He gave a couple examples of how to live this out. For example, after a job loss, one might wonder how they will support their family, how they be productive, how they will find another job, etc. Looking at this situation in the light of faith, one will trust that God will provide for their needs and will lead them to something even better. Another example Father gave was that of being diagnosed with a serious illness. It would be easy to despair at the sufferings one must undergo, but through the eyes of faith, a person could see this as an opportunity to be conformed to Christ on the cross and to do penance for the sins of the world. So through all the storms of life, we must view everything in faith, trusting that God makes everything work for good for those who love Him.
I’m not doing it any justice, but it was an excellent homily! :)
I devoted my homily to the Jihadist genocide and pretty much went all Saint Bernard, except for the “Deus vult!”
Our PP absolutely loves poking fun at William Barclay’s exegesis, and had a field day with Barclay’s explanation of the ‘walking on water’. Apparently Jesus was walking on the shore, in the surf, and they mistook that for walking on water, because of the pounding waves.
Except that the PP is an ex-yachtsman, and pointed out that the boat was battling a headwind, which meant that the water near the shore would be flat, due to the wind being offshore.
And then we got on to the likelihood of martyrdom by Islamic radicals. He’s very good value, our PP.
In the context of the second reading (Romans 9:1-5), how our sins make us like those fellow-Jews St. Paul mourns and that regular confession is the remedy — once a year at least and more would be better. The newly-expanded confession schedule was included, along with the ‘or make an appointment’ part. And not a few were nodding that “that’s a good idea I haven’t thought about in a while” sort of nod.
And regarding those whom we love who have turned away from the Church, prayer, fasting, modeling a Christian life without compromise (or nagging), and faith in God’s power to change hearts.
Fr. Connall began his homily describing the freak wind storm that hit our part of the country, the second such event in the past 3 weeks, as he experienced them last Saturday night while at a parish family’s barbecue. Trees were blown down, the power went out, numerous wild fires were ignited. He said that the storm the disciples experienced was probably a similar powerful and terrifying act of nature, more so it being on the water, not on land. He said that the Gospel points to the obvious importance of keeping focused on Jesus, having faith, never, never losing our faith in Jesus. Then he pointed out that the Church has been likened to a ship or boat, in fact, the nave of the Cathedral is nautical in origin. Truly, the cruciform shape of the Cathedral points to “The” redeeming act of Christ dying on the Cross for us, but he pointed out that the disciples were on a boat going somewhere, ostensibly to the other side of the lake, but another way to look at it is that the Church is our boat, and she is here to carry us through the stormy seas, our focus always on Christ, our destination, “the other side”, eternal life with Christ.
It was a beautiful morning, with sun streaming through all of the stained glass windows, the Cathedral filled with people from all walks of life, a wonderful Gospel, a insightful homily. I was filled with thankfulness and gratitude for our Church, its priests, and the Grace that put me there.
Fr. Ken Baker gave his sermon on “In the older, traditional Roman Rite today, our Lord weeps over Jerusalem, which does not recognize the day of visitation. Visitation, such a charged word! Then He drives the miscreants from the Temple.”
The trouble was that with all of the many fussy babies, I couldn’t hear but about half of it. Its just wonderful knowing that our little parish has so many new and young Catholics. And Fr. Baker was delighted to have to complete with the kids.
Our Deacon noted that here in Minnesota, going out on a lake in a boat and then having the weather become worse than expected was an experience most of us can relate to. He recounted an incident in which it had happened to him, and stated he learned from it to be prepared. He then stated that to prepare ourselves for the storms in life, we also need to be prepared. We should prepare for that kind of storm, he stated, by receiving the Sacraments (Confession and Holy Communion), reading Scripture, and reading the lives of the saints.
Father had a beautiful homily on how Jesus used miracles, such as walking on water, to reinforce faith. Jesus couldn’t (meaning wouldn’t) do miracles where faith did not exist. Faith was not brought by miracles; rather it was reinforced by miracles. He tied this back to the Old Testament reading from the book of Kings where God was heard as a whisper at the mouth of the cave. Father reiterated that God presented himself on Earth, not as a warrior, a conqueror, or an earthly king. God chose to come quietly as a babe in swaddling clothes. Were God to come in the manner of shaking mountains, how would we know it was he? Could we say for certain it wasn’t a man, like the Wizard of Oz, pulling levers? God presents himself to us in a way in which we must believe and have faith in Him.
EF Mass and traditional Roman Rite readings. Father preached on where one ought to place their faith. Do not place faith on oneself, do not place faith on worldly goods but rather place your faith on God. Using St.Pauls epistle and the Gospel we hear what happens when man’s focus is on anything other than God. Through our faith in God and the Sacraments He has given us through the Church, we are given means and strength to overcome temptations the ‘others’ (as enumerated in the Epistle) fell prey to. Our means to salvation is faith in God and those beautiful Sacraments he has provided us through His Church.
Father spoke about “the many”. A lot of confusion there on the part of some folks who would prefer to think “that all” are saved. He mentioned that he was very happy that the language was returned to it’s proper context, as all are called to be saved, but there are many who will refuse. Jesus prayed and offered His life for the many who would accept Him, and just going to Church on Sunday and calling yourself a “Catholic” doesn’t mean you have accepted Him.
[Keep in mind that Christ’s Sacrifice was indeed “for all”. However, not all will accept what He did for them.]
Many excellent points but the one that got me was that we should pray that we will not sink like Peter for lack of faith when we felt the storms of the world, but that if we DO, pray that we we will at the very least have enough faith to call out to Jesus to save us — because He will.
Yes, Fr. Z. I humbly thank you for the correction. Fr. in his homily did state that Christ’s sacrifice was for all mankind throughout all time, but that some would not accept It or Him and that, as a result, the “all” would become “the many”.
My apologies for not relating that accurately or more clearly.
Our sermon was about how we should pray and try to find God any way we could. Jesus went to the mountain, Isaiah hid in a cave. Isaiah couldn’t find God in the wind or the lightning or the earthquake or the fire, but was able to find Him in the quiet murmur after all that. This shows us that sometimes prayer means quiet – not a lot of fancy words. Like with these new prayers [sic], I actually have to study them to figure out what they say and how to read them correctly — it really destroys the ambiance of prayer.
Between that and how Monsignor seemed to say that God was always there and Isaiah was just not able to detect Him because it wasn’t right to Isaiah’s need or way of thinking was truly … remarkable.
The Gospel for the Tridentine Mass concerned Christ cleansing the Temple. Instead of considering the story as simply being a story about the Temple in Jerusalem, learn from this Gospel as a lesson about ourselves. We, as Temples of God, especially if we receive Communion worthily, must clean out our own Temple. Ask Christ to clean you as he cleansed the Temple. And yea, that cleansing might not be pleasant.
Father used the examples of what Christ saw in the Temple as corollaries of what we have going on in ourselves, the dirt, the distractions, the focus on money and temporal things, lack of prayer and awareness of the presence of God, etc. — everything but what we are supposed to be.