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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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Truth, humility, meekness, obedience. Think about what you are praying for when you pray the Our Father. If you don’t believe what the Catholic Church teaches then how can you pray “thy Kingdom come,” since you do not want it?
We shouldn’t expect any “sign” from the Holy Ghost every time we pray, or – even worse – feel guilty when we don’t get any sing.
Sounded like father isn’t a fan of so called “charismatic movements”.
WOW. Father Loya came out with both guns blazing today, as only he can. The reading today in the Byzantine Church had to do with the flowers of the field. I’ll give you one guess what his topic was.
Yes, this is when most pastors take up the charge against indecent dress in church. But he really laid into us, storming about how when it comes to the things that rule us, it should be what is right for the church: that we should be taking what is here, in church, and taking it out to the world; NOT the other way ’round.
But instead, it always seems to be the world that wins; instead, we bring what is out there, in here (into church). We have to change this; we have to be salt and light to the world. If we don’t do it, who will?
Bishop Hermann spoke of the cedar tree planted on the hill, which is a prefigurement of the cross.
He also spoke about the mustard seed, and that the mustard seed, once grown, must be crushed to be used for flavoring. The greatest threat to us today is not ISIS, but our attachment to our comfort: some examples were contraception instead of the sacrifice of raising children, refusal to commit to the marriage covenant, and watching TV from the couch instead of praying the Rosary on our knees. If we are not being opposed for our faith – if we fit in with society – we are not living Christ’s life.
If we can trust God even a little, He can take that mustard seed and grow big things with it.
Fr. David Brown, S.J. (Ph.D) at our EF Mass gave a terrific reflection on the Epistle and how part of St. Peter’s letter is used nightly at Compline. He spoke of our need for watchfulness when sin comes knocking at the door of our hearts (and being watchful that we do not leave the door unlocked–I imagine this was an image for willingly exposing ourselves to near occasions of sin). He spoke of the need of God’s grace to fortify our souls against our spiritual enemy.
Not during the sermon, but one of the intercessions was something about restoring the dignity of the vocation to marriage.
Good stuff. I think we often forget it a vocation.
Father knocked it out of the park with a sermon on fatherhood, in anticipation of next week. He outlined the duties of the state and that the spiritual status of the father has a huge determinate affect on the rest of the family- putting them either under Christ the King, or the devil.
He dissected the prevalent man of today, who doesn’t really care for anyone but themselves and a life of pleasure, who have no idea of sacrifice for others and cannot commit to anyone else. He then describe the damage done if those kind of men enter the priesthood.
It was outstanding.
We had a visiting priest who is a friend of the rector. He preached on the importance of daily, personal, prayer. He advocated we replace television with the Rosary. After Mass had ended, he allowed that he was filled with joy to see so many young families and their children at the Mass.
We also have a new bishop. He is Thomas Anthony Daly. His first public Mass was his installation. His next was the 11:00 a.m. Mass at the parish associated with our local Jesuit university. He preached about education, but I don’t know the details. Hopefully it was a shot over the bow.
Peace and God bless.
Mustard Seed: Graces through Sacraments hidden in our hearts.
How do we respond?
We must know Him, Love Him and serve Him.
Do we ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit?
Like mustard seed to get the flavor, it must be ground, smashed, as Our Lord in the Garden and on The Cross. We too, when things go wrong should allow ourselves to be ground to learn and be closer to God.
Like the buried seed, Christ buried in the tomb produced much fruit. We produce fruits of the spirit in the quietness of our hearts.
More or less, can’t remember the exact words but that was the general drift of his sermon.
Local NO Roman Rite church 250m up the street. Our Diocese celebrated the Immaculate Heart of Mary yesterday (Sun 14th June). One key element that stood out bold as brass in my thinking was Fr.’s comment ‘Just because God doesn’t answer our prayers (in the way that we want) does not mean that He is not acting upon them in His own time and way (even if such is hidden from our understanding). Excellent!! God is neither a spiritual vending machine nor magical ‘father Christmas’ granting us sweets whenever we want them.
he also admonished the congregation to trust in God’s providence in like manner to Mary’s trusting ascent of ‘yes’ to God.
Fr. is 70 years old and has been a priest for as long as I have been alive.Pray for our priests.
Though this is off topic, please, please pray for one of our acholyte’s dogs, a black two year old labbie called ‘Boscoe’ who was stolen from his home five days ago. There is a horrid dog theft and dog fighting racket down here mixed up with the ICE epidemic in our locale…vile(the police know and can do nothing; another friend we know had his dog stolen and paid $1,000 ransom to get him back). Please also pray that my new guide dog Nyssa when outside on her own upon the occasions that such is necessary is not stolen either. Boscoe’s owners had the place locked and have high jump-proof fences; no dig sites were found either. I know this isn’t a prayer request thread, but your kind indulgence would be dearly appreciated. St. Roque, pray for the animals (especially dogs) that god has gifted us with.
Love and God’s blessings,
‘Rafqa’s’
The tiny mustard seed, grows into a big flourishing bush/tree. God’s kingdom is like that within us. We need to plant seeds and nourish seeds planted and grow God’s kingdom in each one of us.
At the EF Mass, the Gospel was the shepherd with 100 sheep who leaves his 99 sheep to look for the one lost sheep, and the woman with 10 coins who searches for her lost coin. The numbers 10 and 100 are perfect numbers, so losing one then finding it restores the perfection, and symbolizes how we are imperfect and need God’s help to become perfect.
A smart phone in the hands of a young person is a baited hook.
We had a great sermon yesterday by our FSSP Pastor Fr. Dennis Gordon about the Law of Identity: “A thing is a thing and cannot be something else”. A man is a man and cannot be a woman; a marriage between a man and a woman is a marriage – a marriage between two of the same sex is not a marriage. He made it very clear that to condone those who support these unnatural unions or transgender surgeries is in itself a mortal sin. You can’t say “I personally am against gay marriage but if if so and so decided to embrace such, I will support them – by doing this one commits a mortal sin.” He also said a priest in Canada has been jailed for not supporting Gay Marriage and we need to stand up for the Truth. Thank you Father Gordon for preaching the truth in these times of grave apostasy.
At our EF Mass this Sunday, our pastor gave an excellent sermon on confession and the extremes of presumption and despair.
The priest who offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (EF) that I attended concentrated on the mercy of God, that we need His grace, and “the gift of confession”, where so many people come back to Him. He told us to take advantage of it, and that a priest in his childhood used to tell them: “when you sin, RUN to the confessional!” It was short, succinct, and so sweet. It reminded me of a certain blogger . . . . :-)
My sister had to attend an OF Mass, and the priest there hit one out of the park too, she said. He talked about how we are each a mustard seed, and so we need to grow and become a bush big enough for the birds to come and build nests in our branches. In all these years, I have never heard that interpretation. It made a huge impression on both of us.
It is so heart-warming to hear so many people saying that they have excellent homilists; thank you, Fr. Z, for providing a chance to share our priests’ wisdom with each other.