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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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Let’s ask a somewhat difficult question: do we need a strange miracle to occur before we can say with the utmost confidence: “God has visited His people!”? Do we need a man several days dead revived? Do we need a sick servant healed from a distance? If so, if you need a strange miracle to believe, ask yourself why.
http://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-strange-miracle.html
Fr. Philip Neri, OP
Was in another town yesterday, decided to attend Saturday evening Mass there. Lo and behold, the bishop was there for confirmations. Probably a good thing too, as the general tendency of that parish was probably as liberal as the church was beautiful…. and it was a real gem!
The bishop spoke on acts of mercy, on opening oneself to the Holy Spirit – all what one’d expect given the occasion, and well phrased. But besides setting the stage of what was expected of those being confirmed, he also spoke to those confirmed long ago; asking whether one still dares to call for Gods help. Given the audience, a sizable part of which most likely went to Mass only on special occasions as these, that was a very good point. Putting faith in God, asking for the Holy Spirit – all fairly simple language, but building a context of a proper relation between man and God at the same time.
Besides, despite instructions in the booklet to sit down during the Eucharistic prayer, he asked the parish to remain standing (kneeling wouldn’t have worked, no doubt, and most likely some liberal was fuming) and lead us all in an impromptu Ave Maria afterwards because of the feast of The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
I was well pleased with my bishop that day.
While the phrasing was a bit awkward, the main point was that the devil was roaring like a lion with bizarre teachings of death (abortion and transgender were 2 examples), and that it seems more like it is the 99 who are lost today rather than the one.
Excellent today!
Visiting priest – Eritrean Cistercian from a Stateside monastery on mission appeal.
Started with the mercy God showed the widows in the readings, moved on to say how we should avail ourselves of the mercy God shows us (sacrament of reconciliation), and how about showing mercy to others by giving to help address some serious spiritual and material needs in his home country.
Bonus points: you could hear the eyebrows going up all around the church as he told us about Mass at home. 3 or 4 hours of prayer and music to warm up before 2 hours for Mass. A little different from our typical 45 – 60 minutes.
He sang a verse from one of the hymns for us, too.
The homily I heard today was in Arabic, so I don’t know whether any good points were made in it. My daughter seemed to like it, though, so…
When we look upon Him Whom we have pierced by our sins, we learn that He has come not to condemn us but to rescue us in His mercy.
4th Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday of Christ the Teacher, in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Rite. On Romans 5:1-10 and St. Matthew’s Gospel 6:22-33 by our Father Deacon. Our society has become besotted with despair, as reflected in uncontrolled impulses toward eliminating life through legislation. We even second guess whether any child’s life is worth saving. And yet, this Gospel, these readings together point out the everlasting way forward: hope, which is present wherever human life dwells. A very beautiful Divine Liturgy that was enjoyed by a great many.
I went to a Novus Ordo Mass today. My priest’s homily focused on the question “Why me, God?” We ask this frequently, but with a negative undertone, in a way of complaint. We should ask this because of the good God has done in our lives, the many unmerited blessings He has poured out. When we begin to ask this question, we will discover more about who God is.
The confessional is the gate to Heaven.
Father mentioned the similarities between the first reading about Elijah and Jesus. It was miracles like this one which gave Jesus the reputation of being Elijah returned. Like when he asks, who do people say that I am? He is more than just a prophet and his miracles go beyond the simple healing to expose this truth. When prophets spoke for God in the old testament, they almost always start with phases like, “Thus says the Lord, . . . ” When Jesus spoke to the dead man he said “Arise!” he spoke with the authority of God.
The women was in a desperate situation. The gospel says Jesus was moved with pity. He physically felt her pain. In a way she had an advantage on us. Many times we don’t admit we are in this situation too. We each say – I didn’t murder, didn’t rape or seal from the needy and I’m a good person, but the women knew she was in a bad way and did not pretend otherwise. She was ready to receive God’s mercy. Many times we are more like St. Paul in Galatians. He needed to be knocked off his high horse before he realized how bad a situation he was in. Jesus, God, wants to give us mercy, he feels our pain but we need to be in a position to accept it.
However often you are currently going to confession, you should try to go more often, because there are no downsides to going to confession more. Something I needed to hear.
Don’t skip Mass during the summer. (I know, pretty obvious, but I know people who think summer means not going to church, so I was glad to hear Father say it straight out….)
Talked about how Elijah and Jesus both took pity upon a widow who had lost her son, and that God sometimes doesn’t wait for us to ask; He just helps us. God loves us and will do amazing things for us.
He talked about the desperation the widows would have, with neither son nor son in law to care for the them, so it was a great act of mercy in both the old and new testament stories that the son was raised from the dead, then he asked for widows present to raise their hands, then told a story about Alberto, a 10 year old Mexican boy.
Alberto’s house burned in a fire that killed his family. He was the only survivor, with his face and head badly disfigured. He had other living relatives who wouldn’t take him in, due to his disfigurement. He had nowhere to go and heard of an orphanage, so went there, to ask Father if he could live there.
Father said he would love to take him, but it would be up to the boys to decide because they considered themselves family. Father called the boys together and told them Alberto’s story, telling them that if he joined them, they would have to accept him, no bullying, no ignoring, no teasing, etc. Then he called Alberto into the room. There was dead silence until Jose, another 10 year old, walked up to Alberto and took his hand, saying, “I am your brother” and raising Alberto from the dead. This is what we are all called to do.
10th Sunday in Ordinary time here at Our Lady of Lourdes. Fr. Connall celebrated the the Mass, but Fr. Seidel preached the homily. He is a young priest, and he is amazing in that he preaches without notes. And he preaches a extended period. That being said, his homily today was the reason that I attend Mass at the Cathedral. He fed the flock. He spoke about the power of prayer, in his life and how it is meant to be for us.
May God bless all of our good and holy priests.
Solemn EF – it was excellent overall but the best bit was some preaching against liberation theology and wrongheaded conceptions of justice.
EF Mass. The pharisees only care about their own spiritual state and are afraid of contamination i.e. the sinners being unclean but Jesus is thinking of the state of the sinners and publicans. We should want to “contaminate” the world with the love of God.
This is relevant to the world today because we need to go out to the sinners and bring back the lost sheep, not being afraid of being contaminated ourselves, acting with humility, remembering that where they are (lost sheep) we were once ourselves.
Yesterday, I attended our bilingual Mass, ingles y espanol. I try to attend every 3-4 weeks, since it helps me practice my Spanish, and it’s a reverent Mass.
The permanent deacon (he’s a newer deacon, and is well formed) gave the homily in English (he doesn’t speak much Spanish) and discussed compassion, which tied into the Sunday readings. When he was finished, the priest (who speaks some Spanish, but like me is white, I wouldn’t be surprised if el Padre Zuhldorf hablar espanol, italiano y ingles, estudiando seminario en la ciudad de Roma) gave the homily again in Spanish. It was well done, and I can get the gist of the Spanish, even though when I talk in Spanish I think in English and translate the Spanish in my head.
Now, what really impressed me…during the consecration, the priest did Eucharistic Prayer IV in Spanish. I had never heard Eucharistic Prayer IV in Spanish, and it was excellent. This priest is the pastor, and he rarely uses Eucharistic Prayer II – his associate pastor is a former Episcopal priest and very rarely uses Eucharistic Prayer II, normally I or III.
Like many of you reading this who survived the 70s and 80s, it wasn’t until within the last 10-15 years I learned there were different prayers at the consecration (by the way, I was an altar boy for many years, so I really should have known better). Many priests unfortunately choose Eucharistic Prayer II because it’s the shortest, and some priests (particularly those ordained within the last 10-15 years) say that they feel like something is missing when Eucharistic Prayer II is used.