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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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We had a trenchant corrective to all the hair-on-fire reactions to the new encyclical.
Fr. used the story of Pope St. Marcellinus, and its various interpretations through the years, to make his points.
Some takeaways:
1) It takes some prolonged, intensive effort to be an actual heretic.
2) You have to love the Pope, even if you don’t like him.
3) While blogs can be useful, they can also be sinks of pride and intransigence. (We’re EF, so he was primarily talking about Trad blogs.) So, choose with care and don’t have the itchy ears.
Father never disappoints in his homilies. Basically it was about us all needing to calm down about the Holy Father, even though he has said things that are confusing and inaccurate. If we are troubled, we need to pray harder. Beware of bloggers who are saying that the pope is no longer the pope. He brought up the story of Marcelinus, who burned incense at the altar of the emperor, but later repented in sackcloth and ashes and was beheaded by the emperor and is a saint.
Ha ha. Skeinster, we are at the same parish. Sad news about Father being transferred. I hope he will continue posting his homilies online.
We had a Solemn High Mass as a Mass of Thanksgiving for a newly ordained man. He preached well concerning Our Lord’s reaction to Peter’s request that He leave him for he was a sinful man. The new priest spoke directly to the young men of the parish and asked that if God called that they answer and not let their sinfulness and inadequacies stand in the way.
The squall is the turbulence of everyday life. Trust in the Lord, always!
Father said that he thought that when Jesus said “Quiet. Be still.”, that he wasn’t talking ONLY to the wind and sea, but to the Apostles, as well. And so we need to be quiet and still amongst the storms of life and to trust God in all we do. And that’s the challenge, because we think we’re the ones who can calm and still the storms – but we really can’t. It’s beyond our ability, no matter how much we think it isn’t.
For once, mirable dictu, my novus ordo parish had a good homily. Deacon observed that all three readings concerned storms. He then related a story of his, how his children used to crawl into his bed with him when heavy storms rolled through, then he would comfort them and put them back to bed. It all dovetailed nicely with Father’s Day, as the Deacon preached on the responsibilities of fatherhood, and on the necessity of always turning to our Father in heaven. It was probably the best homily he’d ever preached.
Hi, St. Jude-
I think we must be- thanks for adding some stuff I left out!
Yes, it’s sad and he will be greatly missed. Thank goodness for technology.
The good point was that in spite of the obvious references and connections in the first reading story of Job (creation/creator) to the then 3 day old encyclical (creation/creator!!), Father did NOT mention the encyclical ONCE that I heard.
Still not sure whether it was a sermon (a lecture on points of church teaching or doctrine) or a homily (reflection on the readings) or both, so I will call it a Sermily.
The rest of the world (MSM) seems to have forgotten all about the earth shattering Encyclical so Father forgot about it too although I thought it would have been an opportune time to link the two.
Everyone seems to have moved on to the Popes alleged observation that making bombs is unchristian unless you use the bombs to bomb unchristian infrastructure like the the railway tracks leading into WWII unchristian concentration camps, then thats OK apparently. :-)
Our deacon preached. He focused heavily on Father’s Day. He described the awesome responsibility that fathers have and noted several ways in which earthly fathers fall short. Yet the Lord can calm even these storms. He described at some length one father who had troubled his family early on with alcoholism, but who later in life set out to make up for his past sins.
He also made the very good point that reading spiritual books without acting on their content is like reading cookbooks without making any of the recipes.
Our homily was about sleeping!
Jesus slept because his conscience was clear and he was close to his Father.
Jesus stayed up at night to pray and be close to his Father.
Us sinners are the oppositie and not as much like Jesus as we like to think we are.
We tend to go to sleep when we pray (especially at mass!)
and we can’t sleep because we have no peace with the Lord.
So imitate Jesus. Sleep well in good conscience with the Lord. That means go to confession….and you will sleep like Jesus amidst the raging storm.
Our pastor preached on Fatherhood, and how early in life, we are in awe of our fathers. In our teenage years, however, we can begin to feel that our father’s don’t know anything. He then nicely brought that to God, and how we can act like teenagers in our spiritual life, only going to the Father when we have a serious problem that we need to get out of. He then connected this to the gospel, about how the disciples were in awe of Our Blessed Lord, and fell silent. He ended with a prayer for the fathers.
It was about the apostles in the boat in the storm.
“Teacher, do you not care that we are sinking?” Mark 4:35
“Oh you, of little Faith” He replied
Father went on to explain (I believe he was referring to the exorcism done in Mexico, not sure) that what Our Lord did then was an exorcism of the storm that demons cause these upheavals.
The exorcism when the apostles were in the boat was echoing the exorcism he did over the possessed boy. Here He said: “How long must I endure you, Oh ye of little Faith.
He told the demons in the boy to leave him and the boy’s upheaval, distress and screaming ceased.
So, too, the storm ceased and the sea became calm after Our Lord’s words to the storm.
At the boys exorcism the people asked themselves: “Who is this that has power over and expels demons?”
So , too, the apostles asked themselves: “Who is this that even the waves and wind obey Him?”
re: storms on the waters of life
Spare a thought for priests. Father said that people only go to priests with BAD news. Whenever a tragedy strikes or a calamity hits, folks turn to a priest. But never when they get a promotion or get a winning lottery ticket. The nature of the job is that priests are barraged with sad stories all the time. They are actually the ones most in need of encouragement and affirmation.
It was a great homily but I mostly remember him talking about Jesus being asleep and the disciples being afraid, not realizing who was with them — and that he was in charge even when it seemed like the disciples had to do all the work to save themselves.
anthtan
That’s so true. People go to confession with ugly things. They never say what good was done. It is not the nature of confession nor should it be in the nature of conversation/bragging.
We should pray for them and let them know that we do and praise them for a good sermon.
EF so we had the “fishers of men” Gospel. Jesus works through us here on earth, so it is up to us the spread the Good News, to be his hands and mouth so to speak.
Fr. talked about Laudato Si. His main point: all our squabbling is working against the unity of the Church.
Father spoke about trusting God with our whole lives. It was poignant because it was his last Mass at that church and he spoke aobut the trust He needed to show God and that God has earned our trust.
I had a hard time not crying….Father has made such a difference in my life.
Our Lord’s demonstration of His mastery of creation made Peter and the others realize and acknowledge their weakness and emptiness. To this acknowledgment, Our Lord responded by choosing those very men to inaugurate His apostolate: a work of charity in faith. Through Holy Mass, which perfectly expresses that charity, Our Lord calls us forward into the light of grace and directs us, His weak and empty present-day followers, to extend that same apostolate within His Church.