Was there a good point made in the sermon during the Mass you heard for your Sunday obligation?
Let us know.
Was there a good point made in the sermon during the Mass you heard for your Sunday obligation?
Let us know.
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St. John Eudes
- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
- Fulton Sheen
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"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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Our pastor was away on retreat this Sunday. A visiting Augustinian friar said the mass and preached on behalf of Food For the Poor. He made the point that immigration from Mexico and points south has become a political issue, and if we would like people to be inclined to have their children remain in their homes with their families, rather than undertake a perilous journey north, we should try to improve their living conditions. Some of the people inclined to send their children to points north must walk three miles just to get water, because their village has no well. The friar said that Food For the Poor has built two thousand wells, and has been entrusted with a billion dollars in contributions.
When he held the large Host aloft at the Consecration, the friar had on his face a look of absolute adoration that I have never seen before. He prayed something that was inaudible, despite the rest of the mass being picked up by his microphone. It was completely spellbinding. I complimented him after mass, and he was delighted.
Got to Mass super late- flat tire- and was sitting in the cry room, so I didn’t catch all of it,
but:
The reason nothing works in society today is because we ask “what will make Man happy”, not
“what is fitting for Man, as created by God”. Acknowledge and answer the latter, act on it and
transform the world.
Yesterday’s Mass included about 12 kids who received first communion. The deacon, a seminarian who grew up in the parish, provided a wonderfully accessible homily for the children about what it meant to receive communion. He said that a name has lot of meaning behind it. So in Acts, when Peter raised the cripple in the name of Jesus, the cripple not only heard the name Jesus, he received Jesus through Peter’s faith in him. And while we may not be physically crippled, we have spiritual needs (he didn’t say this directly, but in so many words) that only Jesus can heal. We receive that healing when we receive communion, the body and blood of Christ through bread and wine.
He also suggested to the children that they can pray to Jesus by simply saying “Jesus,” and that this is actually an ancient prayer. I found his homily incredibly accessible to the children, not only those receiving first communion but all of the others there, and moving.
By the way, I don’t know if you saw A.D. last night. The episode, which focused on Peter being confronted by the elders, practically coincided with yesterday’s readings. I don’t know if that was intentional or coincidental, but to me it was striking.
The homily gave some insight into the homilist’s total lack of openness to evangelization outreach, something which I had again brought up with him within the past week. He began by saying that if we feel troubled by the first reading saying that it’s only through the name of Jesus that we can be saved, then, well, you don’t have to have a “coexist” bumper sticker on your car to feel troubled. The idea that our religion is the only way can feel uncomfortably close to extremism like ISIS. It’s absolutely true, he said, that it is only through Jesus Christ that anyone can be saved. But, he said, we believe that after He died Jesus went down to Sheol and brought up all the (obviously unbaptized) people who had faithfully tried to seek God, and brought them to heaven. So anyone can be saved by Jesus as long as they are sincerely trying in life.
When he was in seminary, the priest said, young men who did pretty well in their parish school were invited to go to HS seminary in 9th grade, they just continued on the track and eventually were ordained (this was the case with him); this system gave a considerable formation in the culture and practice of the Church, but the seminarians never had any experience outside of “this system.” Today’s seminarians have an advantage because this is rarely the case for any of them, they have all had experience of the world before going into seminary. And on Good Shepherd Sunday we should pray for them and for more to join their numbers, so that they can go forth to reach the people of today’s world.
I got two main things out of this homily, 1. this priest may be resting on a hope that people’s salvation in general doesn’t necessarily depend on them being reached with the proclamation of the Gospel or coming into direct contact with the means of salvation within the Church and 2. he may feel unequipped by his formation to evangelize people in today’s culture.
Why don’t you delete my comment, since these are not good points. I am frustrated and sad.
One priest talked about the image of the good shepherd and how we are all called to shepherd and how we all have a vocation that we were created for by God.. He then told his vocation story and spoke about sometimes it takes awhile for us to find the purpose God created us for –but everyone has one and no one is exempt and none is greater than the other. He also asked us to pray for the priest who helped him become a priest during Mass.
It helped so much since I am still looking for my vocational call.
Saturday – Monsignor talked about how important it is to pray for and encourage young people in vocations. He spoke about his time as a parish priest and how the priest in his parish had encouraged him through prayer and by talking to him about being a priest. This one has a special connection for me since I knew this priest as a kid ( he has been my cousin’s best friend since they met in kindergarten) and the priest he was referring to since I grew up down the street from that parish.
We had a delightful homily on the Holy Name of Jesus and the efficacy of praying the name of Jesus. I think the priest said that in Holy Scripture the vocalization of the name of God makes God present in a vital way. And that we can call on the name of Jesus to bring Him into any situation in our lives. I have never been introduced to this devotion before, so I thought it was really helpful.
Elizabeth D: I am sure most of us understand your frustrations. You’re in my rosary intentions today!
Father preached about the meaning of being a Good Shepard, obviously about Christ Jesus as the Good Shepard, but he also touched on bishops and priests responsibility to be good shepards. He asked for our prayers for our new bishop (Thomas Anthony Daly), and also for the congregation’s prayers for religious vocations, and described the type of young men who make good priests, basically saying they are of the same stock as those men who make good husbands and fathers.
There are some of us priests who do not care about the salvation of your soul. They will stand up here and preach their own ideas. These are hired men.
There are also wolves among us who will give you poison, poison of course that is laced with sugar. If you follow them you will be following them to Hell.
Know your shepherds because who you follow you will become. If you follow poison you will become poison, if you follow the Truth you will become truth.
Father (being from India) had his normally scripted jokes (he’s still concerned about his English) and homily, but spent the last 10 minutes of it off script, recalling his own vocational experience, and made big points about the need for more priests, and how those vocations must begin at home, with encouragement from the parents. He challenged all the young men of the parish to listen carefully to God’s call for them, and for parents to talk with their children about what their vocation may be.
it was very well spoken.
mysticalrose, but local people may guess who I am speaking of, and for all I know I misconstrued the priest’s meaning.
A Comboni missionary father presided at the Mass I attended. In the homily, he told us that when he was serving in Peru some years ago, he saw a TV program about the 12 children of an Ecuadorian diplomat. Of those children, five sons became Jesuit priests (as missionaries in India and Japan and the slums of Venezuela, if I recall correctly) and three daughters entered religious life. In addition to a formal education in Catholic schools for the children (in the different countries where the father was assigned, since he was a diplomat, after all), the parents (by then long deceased: the children were all middle-aged or older) set a good example for their children by assisting at early Mass every morning before the children got up and saying grace at every meal. Also, after dinner every night, the entire family would pray the Rosary together before the children got ready for bed.
I was quite impressed, though I suspected that atheist activists would consider the parents’ behavior to be emotional child abuse. Twelve kids (all of whom apparently reached adulthood) — and eight of them entered the priesthood and/or consecrated life! Perhaps it does not quite match the Martin sisters, but I would hope that God is pleased by the service that that Ecuadorian family has given Him.
Sconnius, I feel like you and I were at the same Mass. Edmonton Archdiocese?
Yes, Father ended by encouraging parents and other adults to speak positively and ask their children if they ever thought of the priesthood and religious life.
Father also talked about shepherding and how it relates to evangelization in that we must know people in a special way. Also all our vocations are a form of shepherding in which we direct one another.
Lastly there were about 6 First Communicants which is always positive.