Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard for your Mass of Sunday Obligation?

Let us know.

For my part, I am preaching at all the Masses at the FSSP parish in Littleton.

Today, taking my cue from the storms and anxiety in the barque of Peter, and from the Gospel account of the Apostles waking up the Lord in the boat during the storm, when waves were breaking over them, I made the point that there is no safe place to be than with Christ in the Church he founded.

If today your are experiencing confusion and anxiety, there are some practical things to do.

First, perhaps follow the news less and get on with living your good Catholic lives.

Second, memorize and recite Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity… often.

Third, study the history of the Church.  There are always been turbulence in the Church, from without and from within.  We have to have perspective.

 

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28 Comments

  1. iPadre says:

    OF – We are in the midst of a purification. Only a remnant will remain. If we want to survive and flourish, we must “seek the Lord.” In the end, a very small, but more faithful and powerful Church.

    EF – Barque of Peter is the Church, storm is the trials, persecutions, and difficulties She faces. We are in the worst crisis in the Church’s history. Modernism has effected all aspects of the Church’s life – dogma, morality and Liturgy. We must become loud through our prayers, penances and sacrifice. That is the only way we will wake our Lord, Who sleeps in the boat.

  2. Markus says:

    We received a “lecture sermon”, in Spanish and English, on how we must resist and protest the administrations’ efforts on immigration. It is a “moral” issue and not a political one so said. We were reminded that Syrian refugees are also Christians. Quotes were made from past and present popes and US bishops.
    The “good news”, to my wife and I, is that we will now be attending the local monastery for our Sunday obligation. It appears from the dwindling numbers at Sunday Mass that many will be doing the same.

  3. VexillaRegis says:

    We went to a NO Mass. Fr. talked about the Beatitudes, and how one must always strive to see the truth – the devil (sic!) wanders about here trying to cloud our vision. Then he said “two things are of utmost importance: 1)” (Something I missed due to young son loudly flipping pages in hymn book to find favourite hymn) “and 2) ehhr – /silence/ ehhr – what was it now, I forgot – oh yes: “(something I missed again as son asked me why Fr. was silent).” Haha!

    Fr., who usually writes extremely good sermons, must have had a bad memory day. Happens to all of us :-).

  4. medievalIrish says:

    Our sermon today consisted of an announcement that Bishop Frank Dewayne, Diocese of Venice, FL,
    has given permission for a non territorial parish for the Latin Mass in his diocese. It will be staffed by the FSSP and will have 2 churches, one of which is already in operation.

  5. rcg says:

    Our Mass was for St Francis de Sales, the diocesan patron. He brought back a lot of people who had gone down the wrong path, about 75,000. So we should emmulate him and help our brothers and cousins back to the Church.

  6. mariadevotee says:

    Our Priest talked about humility and how important a virtue it was to cultivate. Comes from the latin ‘humus’- earth, that we are dust and formed into existence by God’s love. Christ is our model for humility and we should be striving for that, not prideful. Pride can keep us from the sacrament of confession and we should adopt humility and to come to confession. Confession keeps us close to Christ so we should be at the confessional often.

  7. Sliwka says:

    OF-Ordinariate Vigil: Fr spoke on Beatitudes, taking a few and explaining their meaning more clearly. Example: those who mourn are not those who mourn a deceased relative, but who mourn over the state of one’s soul. He compared the two Marches south of our border and how the first exemplifies absence of mourning and turning oneself completely away and off from God and how our base nature comes out in full. We can mourn our own sinfulness before God and we can also mourn for those who do not mourn (that is the start of mercy).

  8. yatzer says:

    What saints would be particularly good to read up on, considering present times?

  9. oldconvert says:

    Pray and stand up for those Christians persecuted for their faith – and remember, persecution is an opportunity to stand up oneself and be counted.

  10. Christopher Meier says:

    Had my first (and God willing, my last) experience with the Clapping Alleluia. Also, this parish apparently used the Peace and Love Ad-Lib rite of St. Flowerchild.

    Homily spoke to the meaning of “poor in spirit”, and aligned very near to Card. Sarah’s ideas about this as expressed in “God Or Nothing”. And then the homilist dove into Fr. James Martin SJ quotes which tended to spoil the effect.

  11. Spade says:

    EF Mass, as my home parish (where we all chant the Salve Regina in Latin after communion) has bizarrely done the Sounds of the 60’s the last two Sundays in a row and I just couldn’t take it. Priest talked about fear, and that it is bad and we should just trust in the Lord. Because what’s the worst that could happen? You die and go to heaven (hopefully).

    Which spoke right to me, as I’ve got a business trip coming up and am deathly afraid of flying (and just waiting for TSA to try to confiscate my combat rosary). Father even talked about a lady in the parish who desperately wants to go to the Holy Land but refuses to get on a plane. So that was almost for me.

  12. Nan says:

    yatzer, any saint, depending on your perspective, would be good to study. Brawly Old St. Nicholas, who punched Arias; St. Pius X who spoke against modernism and promoted frequent reception of communion; St. Francis of Assissi, who tried to convert the Sultan in Syria; St. Peter, first pope; St. Therese of Lisieux, who taught the “little way”; St. Patrick, who got the snakes out of Ireland (DC anyone?). It depends on what you think is the most important thing.

  13. iprimap says:

    Here are my notes on Father Kirby’s homily at Our Lady of Grace in Lancaster, SC:
    .
    http://prognosticis.blogspot.com/2017/01/ite-missa-est.html

  14. Precentrix says:

    OF Mass…

    Random priest for some reason, I think one of the local ones is away and they shuffled.

    Hat-owning deacon preached on the Beatitudes. Summary:

    Nietsche was wrong about a lot.of stuff. Society is wrong about things.

    Blessed are you when people speak calumny against you… People will say all sorts of things about us and call us “RIGID” for adhering to Catholic doctrine.

    The reward is not far off and distant, but comes even here and now as a foretaste.

    Nietsche is dead. Christ is risen.

    *****
    I have no idea why he has been reading Nietsche but I sent a link to the “heretical garbage” stamp.

  15. joekstl says:

    Our pastor preached on the Beatitudes. He tied this week’s Gospel to last week’s call of the first disciples/apostles. Last week those called dropped their nets to follow Jesus. This week Jesus goes up the mountain to teach these “newbies” as to what they have gotten themselves into – and in a play on the word “beatitude” – what their attitude must be. Then he went into each one (which I won’t summarize here). Three that he commented on: blessed are the persecuted: he called on us to pray for and, if possible, emulate those who suffered because of their faith: the Christians killed in the Middle East just because they were Christian; those who died in South and Central America because of their work for justice. Blessed are the peacemakers: he mentioned Pope Francis and his efforts in regard to the peace settlement between the FARC guerillas and the government in Colombia. Then, the most powerful to me: blessed are those who mourn. Here he stated that mourning is not just for the deceased among us; but it includes those who mourn for family members with terminal illness and those separated from their families. He mentioned that, given the immigration situation arising this week, he called his friend, and a member of our county interfaith justice organization, Imam Belal. The Imam is from Yemen, and his brothers and sisters are there and not likely to be able to come the US to visit anytime soon. He said our parish mourns with him – and should it ever come to be that local Muslims are called upon to register or are slated to be deported (legal or illegal) our parish will register as Muslims and, if necessary, we will hide Muslims. The congregation erupted in lengthy applause. He then reminded us that at the end of Matthew’s Gospel the nations are called to judgment and are to be deemed worthy of eternal life for taking in the stranger. He closed with quotes from Pope Francis addressing a pilgrimage of Catholics and Lutherans from Germany: “You cannot reject refugees and call yourself a Christian. . . .All nations must focus on service to the poorest, the sick and those who have abandoned their homelands in search of a better future for themselves and their families.”

    At the end he asked “Do I have an Amen?” Enormous Amen from the congregation.

  16. Atra Dicenda, Rubra Agenda says:

    We had a baptism for out newborn today. Prep for all the visiting relites took too long and we missed the EF which preceded the Baptism. O we went to the last call 7pm local parish OF. The priest celebrant was a blast from the past former pastor that I thought had left the priesthood or died. He’s an outwardly mixed bag, as most OF priests I witness seem to be. He honors the Blessed name of Jesus with headbows, doesn’t ad lib anything, but takes the time to walk the entire length of the Church giving everyone within arms’ reach of the central aisle the sign of Peace while Jesus sits unattended at the altar.

    Anyway, his sermon was about the larger Sermon on the mount for which the Beatitudes are simple the preamble or opening words. He specifically mentioned how Jesus spoke pretty strongly against divorce (I was surprised he mentioned this) and other points. It was a decent homily actually which was almost made up for the Right of Peace debacle. I can close my eyes and pretend it isn’t happening easily enough tho.

    Sometimes at OF Masses I am reminded that Jesus came into the world and was born in a barn full of animals, stink, disorder, and animal appetites. Even the worst OF Mass isn’t actually a barnhouse.

  17. PhilipNeri says:

    Catholicism is weird. Blessed are the weird.

    https://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2017/01/blessed-are-weirdos.html

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  18. Grant M says:

    I couldn’t follow the Indonesian sermon easily, so I referred to the front cover of the church bulletin, which usually summarizes the content of the Sunday sermon. It was headlined “Sukacita Surgawi atau Kesenangan Duniawi?” (“Heavenly Joy or Earthly Happiness/Pleasure?”). Although this was an OF Mass, the headline tied in nicely with the EF Postcommunion prayer for this Sunday. The bulletin included a lengthy quote from St Theresa of Avila.

  19. Grant M says:

    Or “Worldly Happiness”- that would be the most accurate translation…

  20. JonPatrick says:

    EF Mass. The symbolism of the Church as a ship, a fishing boat that now catches men, and also an Ark, a shelter from the sea, the pitiless forces of nature, which represents Hell. The disciples cry out “save us we are perishing” but they should know they won’t perish because Jesus is there. They were of little faith because they only went by what they saw. We see a great storm and because we look only by sight and not by faith we don’t see Jesus there to calm the storm. He has defeated death and died for our fears. We need to be calm and He will handle our fears as he handled the sea.

  21. Fuerza says:

    The homily was given by a woman standing in the aisle and was about the Beatitudes. I confess to not paying much attention. This is the second time that I’ve been to this parish (my diocesan “last chance” Mass) and the second time this woman has given the homily. In all fairness, the priest appears elderly and in poor health. Is it possible that there’s a dispensation for him to allow someone else to give the homily?

  22. JulieB says:

    Our priest spoke on the Beatitudes and challenged each one of us to take one beautitude per day for the next week and turn it into a prayer. “God, make me poor in spirit because I want to be in Your Kingdom”… He went through each Beatitude and briefly discussed the beatitude and how to make it a prayer. A couple of the beautitudes are a bit challenging, but our priest reminded us that this is what we are called to.

  23. Imrahil says:

    Mass from the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany EF, but sermon, in effect, for the overriden feast of St. Francis of Sales. That our church used to be home to a Salesian convent until secularization came. That we still have a relic of the saint (with which we were blessed aftr Mass).

    How the saint was troubled by the subcurrents of Calvinistic-style Reformation then en vogue in the Paris of his day. That Calvin taught as his chief point predestination; and that according to him, God creates souls positively willing their damnation. That this is not the Catholic teaching, but that no one is condemned if not through his own fault.

    That St. Francis thought he was going to Hell. That he was relieved of that thinking in a Church after prayer, acquiescing in that even if God should condemn him to Hell, still God is ultimate Love and consequently even in this case He would know best (so to say, my paraphrase now).

    That he became priest of the diocese of Geneva, center of Calvinism, and afterwards bishop, and overcoming his character tending rather to anger than mildness, converted tens of thousands of Protestants.

    I fail to remember whether our priest spoke about his writings and his guidance of St. Chantal.

    He finished with the sayings: “It is hard but necessary to keep the middle path between strictness and mildness; if however I should fail to do so, let me rather fail in the direction of mildness”; “let us not, in trying to become angels, fail to become good men”, and one other quote I do not remember (though it was not the well-known honey-vinegar-quote).

  24. bibi1003 says:

    Where were the deacons?

  25. Mary Jane says:

    Our FSSP priest spoke of gossip and broke it down into the differences between calumny and detraction. He also reviewed fraternal correction and under what circumstances we are and are not allowed to go public with information that would damage another’s good name. He mentioned a couple times that the confessional is the place to seek advice about such things, and the question would be “Father, do I *need* to reveal this about so and so?” rather than “Father, do I *get* to reveal this about so and so?” :)

    Father didn’t mention this in his homily, but related – I recall reading a quote (I think it was from a saint, don’t remember which) who said something like, “I’ve never regretted anything I didn’t say.”

  26. Elizium23 says:

    Our 10:30, which of course had a different homily from the 7am and the Saturday Masses, but nonetheless were celebrated all by the same brilliant homilist, followed these lines:

    The Holy Fool. Father called to mind the image of the Court Jester. How this fool, unbound by the laws of decorum, could do absurd things which other guests to the feast could not get away with. Pour the King’s drink on a neighbor. Make fun of the King himself. Father said that he is hiring. Of course the position doesn’t pay anything (although I contend that there is an infinite, eternal payoff). Father said we should be fools for Christ. We should be willing to turn the world on its head, and witness to others, with the attitude of a Holy Fool.

    There was a man who had a huge barn, and thought to himself, “eat drink and be merry! Perhaps I shall build bigger barns for all the goods I have,” but what did God say to him? “You fool!” This is the kind of fool we do not want to be. If we are faithful Fools for Christ then we will be rewarded with the promises of the Beatitudes.

  27. frjim4321 says:

    A bit of a reprise on Pacem in Terris (PJ23) and the Common Good (L13) with reference to the notion of the Common Good as providing a unique lens through which to view the Beatitudes; the need for harmony, cohesion and use of gifts (Paul) in serving the Common Good … a preview of the SOTM coda; a house built on rock (wisdom) v. a house built on sand (foolishness). Being willing to play second fiddle in a world in which everyone wants to be the concert master (Bernstein).

  28. A little late, but here goes…

    After explaining how the Sermon on the Mount presents Jesus as the new Moses, except he’s greater than Moses, because he’s God incarnate, I described the Beatitudes as Jesus speaking directly to each of us, and treated them as a kind of examination of conscience. In reviewing most of the Beatitudes (I didn’t say much about the last two on persecution), I made connections to welcoming strangers and showing mercy to lawbreakers, and specifically mentioned torture and the death penalty.

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