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The Roman Missal for the Ordinary Form says that “a period of silence may also be observed” after the reading of the Passion (n. 22). This is what happened in my parish. It was rather nice.
Not this year, but at a previous solemn high Mass of Easter, after priest, deacon and subdeacon had spent 38 minutes chanting exquisitely the Passion Gospel, the first thing the homilist said was “Perhaps on this one occasion no one will object if the usual vernacular reading of the Epistle and Gospel is dispensed with today”.
Henry Edwards,
That quote is hilarious.
Geoffrey,
I too had no homily.
We had neither a sermon nor a period of silence following the reading of the Passion. Before Mass, our priest said since the reading was so long, there would be no homily.
I do, however, recall the Palm Sunday sermons of our former pastor about the reason we should put our palm branches behind every crucifix in our home. Let this always remind us that the cheers of “Hosanna” that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on that Sunday became shouts of “Crucify Him!” by Friday. How goes it with us? Do we welcome Jesus into our lives and promise we’ll do whatever He asks, only to turn on Him and away from Him when the pressures of the “crowd” grow hot?
The priest gave a short homily after he and deacons read the Gospel. Unlike another priest there whose vocabulary includes the ‘Great Apostasy,’ ‘cheats and liars of the UN,’ Father’s remarks were mild yet were a good effort to evoke His sufferings and linked it to the present trials of the church. He concluded by asking prayers for the Pope and bishops, not mockery, that they were trying their best.
I thought this thread was supposed to be about good points from Sunday’s sermon, no?
I deeply regret not remembering more of what our priest spoke about, I just remember that it was a very good sermon that touched where it needed to touch. I will try to share what I remember.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem riding on an ass was a sign of contradiction. His meekness, his crucifixion, his entire Passion was a sign of contradiction. What this means for us is that our lives will not go as we want them to and that we must live our lives through The Cross of contradiction. He also went over the Beatitudes, pointing out that they are also contradictions, and that the briefest moment of torment in Hell is far worse than the greatest sufferings here in this life.
He said it better. He usually does.
For some reason I cannot remember most of the homily. But what I do remember is that Father said that whereas Mary of Bethany/Magdalene (which?) used expensive ointment to demonstrate her devotion to Jesus, Judas did not think Jesus was worth that much — in fact, Judas did not think Jesus was worth more than 30 pieces of silver. He likened this to our sins — when we choose sin over Christ, we are saying that the sin is worth more than the Son of God. When we sin we are saying that God is worthless. Ouch.
Close paraphrase of what our pastor said follows.
Many people are named or described in the Passion reading, but there’s someone else who isn’t mentioned that is in nearly every scene that was recounted: witnesses who just don’t get involved. This is the most significant event in the history of the world, and yet they let it all pass them by without doing anything. How often do we go out of our way to avoid addressing the plight of those around us?
Father’s words were good but I just can’t remember what he said.
However, I attended our dioceses’ concert of “Mozart’s Requiem” with our local symphony and a chorus of about 50 voices. I will add this to my Lenten observances from now on. Note: I listened to it on YouTube beforehand, but there is NO comparison to that and hearing it live with symphony and so many voices! I followed the Latin and translations (which I need) during the concert, and loved it completely. It transports.
The Gospel reading was the raising of Lazarus. Father used that to speak about the certainty of death and to always be ready to give a good account before the fearsome judgement seat. After the Divine Liturgy, we had 4 priests available to hear confessions.
Ordinary Form Mass.
Father explained to us (among other things) that the Mass is a holy sacrifice, not just a gathering together. He said that he is acting in persona Christi.
I was pleased. We are making progress!
People are attracted to Christ for what he can do for them and then they fall away. Christ wants to transform us and that is not what some people want.
Father quoted and spoke of the poem “The Donkey” by GK Chesterton. It was good since I’m a Chesterton fan.
Our bishop preached at Mass Saturday before the Formation classes for the permanent diaconate, and he urged the men to experience fully “the week that changed everything” rather than rush to the Easter resurrection. We passed that on to the men and women preparing in RCIA for the sacraments of initiation: experience fully what you’re doing rather than letting it be another milestone you made it past.
It was a High Mass (EF) and the Priest first read the notices for Holy Week. Then at the end he just said words to the effect of: “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of the necessity of making your Easter Duty and above all to make a good confession, confessing your sins in number and kind.” While the other words are a paraphrase, he actually used “number and kind”. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard that from the pulpit!