Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point from the sermon you heard for your Sunday Mass?

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31 Comments

  1. Deacon Don says:

    A twist on a phrase that is popular around the community … “This year, let’s keep MASS in Christ’s Mass … in ChristMASS.”

  2. Supertradmum says:

    Because we had one of those taped messages from the acting bishop in Maltese, and, of course, I could not understand a word, may I share a few points from a sermon I heard a few days ago?

    The priest said that we all need to prepare for Christ, which means foregoing amusements, entertainments, such as parties and yachting…..

    Ah, Malta.

  3. Tony McGough says:

    Today there was a Pastoral letter from our Bishop, Mark Davies of Shrewsbury . He emphasised the call to holiness; in the church there are no second-class vocations, because we are all called to become nothing less than a saint. Quoting widely from Pope Francis, he encouraged all, whether in factory, office or at home, to use the path to holiness in the apparently little things of every day, strengthened by prayer and the sacraments.

    (Shrewsbury is in England, counties of Cheshire and Shropshire). Bishop Davies is a star.

  4. Peter Rother says:

    The “Serminator,” Rev. John Paul Erickson, at St. Agnes in St. Paul, Minnesota in reflecting on keeping watch in the Gospel for today spoke of intentionally living in a “haunting, blessed quiet” during Advent and freeing ourselves from the “slavery” of “noise”–both auricular and in being busy without purpose–so that we can hear Him coming. Priceless.

  5. Prayerful says:

    Fr segued the Coming of Christ with facing ad Orientum. He considered it tragic, something not found in V2, that priest and people don’t face Christ as one. He made mention of the Bp of Lincoln who is now to have the Masses in his diocese face that way.

  6. Paul_S says:

    At the 8:00 a.m. Mass at St. Thomas a’Becket Catholic Church, Canton, Michigan, Fr. Chris Maus shared a story from Senator Paul Simon (RIP) about a time when a young Mr. Simon and his brother had rescued a man in an overturned car … all because they had their radio turned off to listen to nature and, as a result, had heard the man’s call of distress, which dozens of other passersby had not heard.

    Fr. Chris went to encourage the faithful to similarly turn off distractions this Advent, so that it will be more possible for us to hear the call of Christ. Among other things, he particularly encouraged the faithful to take advantage of the upcoming mass opportunities for confession at the parish on December 2nd and 16th.

  7. Dr. Edward Peters says:

    “The Lord has told us FOUR TIMES in these readings that He is coming, and that we need to be ready. I don’t know how He could make it any clearer!”

  8. Someone please be the Garrigue says:

    Ding-a-ling. I enjoyed the podcazt about the coming of Our Lord. This morning extraordinary Msgr. said much the same thing about the coming of Our Lord, his second coming, and also his daily coming. You don’t hear much of the latter these days.

  9. John of Chicago says:

    Mark’s Gospel, most of all, speaks about the hidden and incomprehensible God irrupting in history–world and personal–as utter and complete surprise. That changes everything. The impossible becomes, in the event, not mere possibility but actual. Advent is our faithful, but ultimately vain, effort to imagine and anticipate the wildly unimaginable, suddenly unveiled. The coming of the Messiah is a story with a beginning but without end–so we try to be alert for what is–but just not yet.

  10. Gregg the Obscure says:

    The watching we are called to do is not passive. It is active. One necessary aspect of active watchfulness is by regular examination of conscience and confession.

  11. Mike says:

    Father contrasted the use of excita in last week’s Collect (asking God to stir up our wills to seek Him) with that in this week’s Collect (asking God to stir up His power to rescue us from danger of sin).

  12. crickally says:

    Pastor’s sermon requested we make our goal for this Christmas to “bring someone home for Christmas”. Not just into our house, but also home to the Church. Try to find a relative or friend who has fallen away from the Church, bring them to Mass on Christmas, and pray and work at keeping them coming, to keep us and them watchful and waiting for Christ’s coming again.

  13. Mum26 says:

    Fr. exhorted us to be watchful. Being watchful is not “wait and see”, but very actively becoming a saint. He quoted St. Rose Philippe Duchesne: “You may dazzle the mind with a thousand brilliant discoveries of natural science; you may open new worlds of knowledge which were never dreamed of before; yet, if you have not developed in the soul of the pupil strong habits of virtue which will sustain her in the struggle of life, you have not educated her, but only put in her hand a powerful instrument of self-destruction.”

  14. benedetta says:

    The liturgical tradition of the Catholic Church is based upon scripture. Stained glass, frescoes, statuary are not for the sake of aesthetics or atmosphere. Like every action in the sacred liturgy these teach with the power of the life of Christ passed down from the earliest Christians, Hebrew speaking, then Greek. Even Catholics who could not read in the time of Gutenberg and after would have been steeped in the stories of the Old and New Testaments and would have experienced a comprehension of faith in coming to the church and seeing these depicted. Faith in God predates the compilation of the books of scripture and so all exegesis is based upon faith first and foremost.

  15. RafqasRoad says:

    Fr. P.F. (older NO priest ordained in 1970 but now in his senior years it would seem, ‘waking up to the truth’ was on fire re his homily for the Advent Mass.In a nutshell…

    How are we using our time?
    We will need to give account to God for our use of time;
    Advent (especially the first fortnight) focuses upon our preparation for the Second Advent by examining the Scriptural deposits etc. that lead to Christ’s first Advent.
    We cannot do anything without a Saviour; no human being can; we all need a Saviour (Jesus Christ) and if anybody in the pews believes otherwise simply take a look at the world around us (within an and without the Church)
    How are we using our time? Are we using it wisely? do we set aside time to pray or do we ‘pray on the run’? grabbing a snatch of prayer here and there in our busyness? ‘some of you congregants pray a lot, some pray on the run, if you’re grabbing prayer here and there, you need to start this Advent by setting aside just five minutes regularly (daily) to pray).
    We will all be judged. We will all be called to give account – for our use of our time in the faith life as well as the material/practical works life).

    This was one of Fr. P.’s ‘dynamite sermons’ that would have shaken up many of the lib types in the congregation (went to an evening mass that I usually don’t attend). Pray for those who see themselves as running the church (parish secretaries???) and in charge of the priests ‘keeping them in line’ that they step away from their own egos, neediness and narcesistic tendancies to surrender to Christ our Lord and His Holy Church, including obedience and respect for those due it.

    Cracker of a sermon (for which Fr. P. may well get nasty email traffic for as has happened to him in the past). Fr. P.F., if you’re reading this, thank you for standing up for Christ and burning yourself up for Him every day in service to our Saviour and Holy Mother Church!!

  16. An American Mother says:

    Our parochial vicar hit the ball over the left field bleachers.
    Started out by talking about watchfulness – and what it means. Not only what we are watching for, but how we are watching and how we prepare ourselves to watch.
    He not only mentioned avoiding eternal damnation in the process, he also exhorted all to go to confession.
    And he chanted just about everything he could in the Mass, and everyone responded in kind.
    I love this young priest – he is on fire for Christ.

  17. Netmilsmom says:

    This new year gives us an opportunity to get our faces out of social media and use that time to pray. God won’t care how many friends you have on Facebook, how often to Tweet or your newest picture on Instagram. He cares about your soul so get it in shape now.

  18. dochm13 says:

    We are waiting and watching not just for Christ’s first coming at Christmas, but also his second coming. How are we preparing for that? Are we on a journey closer to Him, or farther away? We know not the time. Father related the story of a seminarian friend whose brother was hit by a car last week and did not survive. He had been away from the Church for some time, but of course his brother and his mother prayed for him unceasingly. At the hour of his death, he had been visiting with another Christian woman and speaking of God. In an outpouring of grace, he had some sort of conversion moment, literally got down on his knees and repented. He was hit by the car 30 minutes later walking home. Aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

  19. FoxLaniado says:

    The Lord is coming, be prepared.

  20. frjim4321 says:

    Being watchful for graced moments, events and encounters by which the potter seeks to bring out all that is good and beautiful in each of us, that we may be formed into hope-filled and joyful people.

  21. Gratias says:

    I learned that 25 years ago today, 1st Sunday of advent, the Catholic world found out that the Traditional mass was replaced in all the world by our New Order of the Mass.

    It was a Solemn Mass by Fr. Fryar, FSSP. The first Sunday Mass he gives in Los Angeles. It was in West Hollywood, next to the Sunset Strip at St. Victor’s Parish. This is a great location for the TLM, and although at 7:00 pm, it was an ideal setting because people came from all over this vast city of 4,000,000 baptized Catholics. We will be permitted to have the Mass for every Sunday of Advent and also Midnight Mass. Hope we will be allowed next year, but for now we are on trial. Four FSSP deacons came all the way from Witzgrad, Germany to mark this solemn occasion. It was wonderful.

  22. Gratias says:

    Sorry, I learned that it was Forty-Five years ago that the traditional mass was proscribed. 1969, first Sunday of Advent.

  23. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass here in the Diocese of Portland ME. Father’s homily was concerning the virtue of Hope. Of the 3 theological virtues Hope is the most misunderstood. In life we set long term goals and work towards them. In the spiritual life our long term goal is to be in Heaven with God and share the beatific vision. Hope is a virtue of the will, in cooperation with God’s grace. We have to watch out for the things that work against Hope – primarily this is despair (assuming we will never get to Heaven due to our sins) and presumption (taking God’s mercy for granted). Also Sloth on our parts can lead us to despair. Advent is the season of Hope and a time to work to strengthen that virtue in us.

  24. Fuquay Steve says:

    EF. Father linked the epistle and the parable in the Gospel very adroitly. The fig tree, to be fruitful needs to be trimmed regularly, in winter time. Even then, the trees fruit can be destroyed by pests and those pests are listed in the epistle….wantonness, envy, lust etc. To awaken our soul we must not only prune the branches that are suckers but also fight against and resist pests such as sinful desires, no matter how long we have embraced them and society tempts us. It is time , salvation is at hand.

  25. Sonshine135 says:

    Turn the TV off, turn the iPhones off, and Go to Confession!

  26. AnnTherese says:

    An invitation to pray and act for peace in our hearts, our families, communities, church–and especially, our world.

  27. MikeToo says:

    Father spoke about the second coming which is not usually what most people think about when they think of advent. He reminded us that we pray for the end of the world and the second coming and reminded us that we view these things as good. Saint Augustine described a faithful wife who awaits the return of her husband as eager and pinning for his return. The unfaithful wife waits with trepidation. The Church is the faithful wife of Christ her Lord. We are to prepare ourselves, go to confession and be ready to meet our Lord with a clean conscience. What about, at the end, loosing the good things of this world? They will all pass away! We will never find happiness with transitory pleasures. God is the only good that can fill this unlimited need. Being legal residents and supporting our our county is a good thing but this is not an end in itself. Ultimately we all need to become “legal” residents of our final home in Heaven.

  28. Latin Mass Type says:

    I happened to hear two Ordinary Form homilies.

    The first one, by a priest who does not celebrate the EF, was about the meaning of the Advent Candles and also that Advent is a time of waiting in anticipation.

    The second homily, from a priest who not only celebrates the EF when he can but would like to see more reverence in our OF Masses, contained an explanation of the six candles he always uses for a sung OF Mass. (With a reminder to watch for seven candles on the altar when the pope celebrates Mass.) the other priests do not use six candles.

    But for me, the best point was about the crucifix on the front altar, something the other priests don’t use for their Masses. (This church does have a high altar with the tabernacle in the center and a large crucifix over it, but the smaller front altar is used for Mass.) The crucifix on the front altar is there so that the priest and the people are both facing the crucifix and thus facing Christ, during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

    I’m not sure how many people “got it” but perhaps a few seeds were planted…

  29. Bea says:

    Good sermon
    Preparing for Christmas:
    What’s it about?
    Presents?
    Decorations?
    Parties?
    Not wrong to be joyful but WHAT are we joyful about?

    Used the word WATCH a lot in reference to the gospel.
    Decorate your souls with Grace.
    Watch for theLord, for we know not when he comes.
    GO TO CONFESSION

  30. truthfinder says:

    EF. Although the priest said many other things in his homily, one image stuck out with me. He stated that the scripture says the Lord will come in a cloud, the Lord would come during Mass on a cloud of incense.

  31. MattH says:

    Father briefly mentioned Advent as the time of preparation for commemoration of Christ’s Nativity and then as an image of preparation for His second coming, but then noted that Christ also meets us in the Sacraments and we should prepare ourselves before we participate in those. He mentioned mental preparation before coming to Mass, but also talked about the other Sacraments – recommended spending time in mediation before going to a Baptism and discussed the need to prepare ourselves before going into Confession, for example.

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