Was there a good point made in the sermons you heard for the Vigil of Easter?
Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard for your Easter Sunday Mass of obligation?
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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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Our pastor preached a homily almost exclusively about Jesus. God be praised. Nothing about how wonderful we parishoners are. No irrelevant personal anecdotes. Only a brief mention of illegal immigrant policy. An Easter miracle.
I preached that a cross without Christ is just a piece of wood and a tomb without Christ is just a cave. I.e. the Holy Sepulchre is a very amazing Relic of the events we celebrate and can lead us to remembrance and gratitude and joy, but that you about Christ not the cave . It’s no longer even a grave because of the Resurrection. The Resurrection has made the tomb irrelevant in some sense, Jesus Christ destroyed the finality of death. Now, the grave is merely where people sleep awaiting the General Resurrection, because death is now temporary.
If we want to live in a way that reflects this reality, we need to obey the Angel’s message, not staying where Christ once was, but seek him where he is now: Eternally presenting his life in sacrifice to the Father, and yet existing in deathless glory.
Here in Knoxville we were blessed this year with the celebration of the full Sacred Triduum–Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday–in the traditional Latin rite for the first time in a half century or so. Including on Holy Thursday the procession with two thurifers incensing the Blessed Sacrament (under an ombrellino) to a side altar of reposition, the Passion of St. John chanted by three priests in the solemn liturgy of Good Friday, and in the Easter Vigil all twelve Old Testament prophecies chanted as they were for many centuries.
I posed the question: What will you live for? I contrasted some of the things people live for, and die for, in our world, with who Jesus is, and what he did for us. My hope was that this would make the renewal of baptismal promises (immediately following) more significant for all concerned.
Ordinariate Vigil: Fr said 1) the resurrection is fact, 2) Be Not Afraid is a common refrain from angels and with the resurrection we need not fear (also St JPIIs constant refrain as well) 3) quoting P Benedict XVI that Christianity is not an adherence just to a moral code or a philosophy from the mounts but an encounter with a person–and as we prepared to renew our baptismal vows to recall what that was that powerful encounter.
Father C delivered a brief homily at the Vigil, but had an interesting point. Based on the St Matthew Gospel, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary went to the tomb early in the morning to perform acts of anointing, as Jesus had had a hurried burial due to the Sabbath.
Blessed Virgin Mary did not go to the tomb. She was the only person at the time who already believed what Jesus had said, that He would rise on the third day. She knew that if she went to the tomb, it would be empty… “a linen closet”. She had total faith.
Fr. Beach, at St. Martin of Tours in Louisville, talked about needing to sacrifice our wants so we can serve others. He said that on his desk he has a bottle of sand from Utah beach and a bottle of soil from the garden at Dachau. They remind of him of Christ’s sacrifice for us all.
I heard a very beautiful, sentimental, loving, uplifting, tear-inspiring “talk” this morning. No one could have left the church without loving the presiding priest due to his humble, sincere and loving demeanor and the message he conveyed along with his personal emotionally affecting anecdotes. The standing-room-only attendees applauded Father for his “homily”. I didn’t, but I understood why everyone else did because I was as emotionally moved as were they. However, the homily did not relate to the readings in the least regard. In fact, they were not even referred to. The presiding priest was not our pastor. He is a priest from a far northern state who visits our Florida parish annually for Easter week and helps the pastor cover all the Masses. So many people come from all parts of the country and beyond to spend time in our beautiful climate and surroundings that our parish must two Masses simultaneously on Easter Sunday. In addition to the Vigil Mass, we have four morning Masses, two in the church and two in the parish hall (for those for whom there is no room remaining in the church). There is also a Spanish Mass at 1:30pm and a fourth (actually a fifth) English Mass at 3:00 pm.
Based on percentages that we are all familiar with, I can’t help but presume that many of our Mass participants do not attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of obligation. A gentleman sitting next to my wife told her that he had to walk around outside the church (our church has a marvelous prayer garden) before he could enter it. I took that as a feeling of guilt and if so, it was actually a healthy feeling for him to have. He did, however, probably along with 99 or more percent of the attendees, approach for communion (I can’t say that he or everyone else that approached actually received).
The point I’d like to make is that however emotionally moved everyone was, I didn’t hear anything in Father’s “homily” that might provoke a good many of his listeners to attend Mass next Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised if some, if not many, don’t attend another Mass until next Christmas.
May I add:
What a missed opportunity to inspire – more truly, to instruct – those who rarely attend Mass to do so every Sunday and holy day of obligation. And to remind them of the obligation to be in a state of sanctifying grace when they receive communion. Could priests not at least say “if you haven’t been to confession since you last failed to attend Mass on a Sunday or holy day of obligation, and yet were truly quite able to do so, please do not receive communion”? They could also add “you are welcome to come forth to “one of the priests” distributing communion for a blessing”.
Our pastor at the Vigil Mass focused on the women in the resurrection narrative. He stressed they were those who had the courage to get things done. So he challenged us, after we left the Easter Vigil service, what would we do to bring the message of Jesus to our community.
Our pastor preached that “Galilee” is not just a place, but a condition of faith. Galilee was where the disciples met Jesus, where they came to follow him, and where they witnessed his miracles. He then compared this “Galilee” to our own baptisms and conversions. To go back “to Galilee” is to reconnect with the things that made our faith strong in the beginning.
Our priest read St. John Chrysostom’s Paschal homily:
http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/sermon.htm
Easter Vigil in Los Angeles. No sermon for the mass was very long, yet wonderful. Solemn mass with three priests, spare one for some readings, and a superior choir. It is amazing how much the Latin Mass has advanced here since Cardinal Roger Mahony was retired. [Imagine that!] We now have 5 every-Sunday Latin Masses in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. There had not been any solemn masses offered in California and in only the last year we were able to attend 5! The FSSP being allowed into Los Angeles by Archbishop Gomez made a huge difference. We are going to Make the Mass Great Again.
[Thanks for that good news.]
URL Greek Catholic this morning: not the Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom, but Fr spoke 1) the meaning of Pascha and Passover using the new UGCC catechism and 2) the hope we have in resurrection but only if we life a life frequenting the Sacraments. This was good as it seemed this was more of a C&E crowd
I attended Easter Vigil at my parish Saturday evening. Had a reverent Mass with 15 baptisms, all seven readings, 95% altar boys and good deacons, and our pastoral administrator, a former Episcopal priest who came in five years ago under the Pastoral Provision, used one of my favorite Eucharistic Prayers – the first one.
Anyway, the homily was given by our vocations director, who at one time was a parochial vicar at our parish. The homily was about trust. Jesus died for us and rose again. Trust in God. This priest also quoted many passages in the Bible to make key points – yes, Catholics do read the Bible.
Easter Vigil holds a special place for me. A turning point in my reversion story came as a senior in college 23 years ago at the attendance of an Easter Vigil.
Our priest was sick most of Holy Week and still not up to par on Easter, so he concelebrated and the visiting priest gave the homily. Most of it was a reading of a St. John Chrysostom homily for Easter (credited), so I got my patristics fix.
I was also sick most of the week (don’t know if it was the same thing), but I got my voice back enough to sing the Easter Sequence. “Victimae paschali laudes” is definitely one of those songs that is easier to learn by ear than by using the hymnbook. It is beautiful, and takes only a minute and a half to sing, so I don’t understand why people leave it out so often.
My good news to share with you:
I had the grace of giving to my mother this Easter Vigil the three Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and first Holy Communion. The only thing that would have made this more perfect would have been to be able to offer the Easter Vigil Mass in the Extraordinary Form. But at least my mum received Holy Communion kneeling, on the tongue, and wearing a beautiful white veil. Being 70, it’s not easy for her to kneel; but she insisted on kneeling to receive Our Lord. I was very proud of her!
[Outstanding!]
It may sound a bit trivial as I write it but in person it was quite effective. The priest preached on the Gospel of St. Matthew and the one point that really stuck with me was about the angel. “The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.”
Father reckoned that this was a moment of laughter – laughing at the Devil and laughing at death. He compared it to an older brother who has pinned his little brother to the floor and said “nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!” OK, a little disappointing in print but more effective in person.
My mother has dementia but she very much enjoyed celebrating Easter in the Church and with the family later on. The woman to my right was alone and looked a bit sad, so I got to give her a big Easter hug.
And to you all, “Krisdos haryav ee merelots! Christ is risen from the dead!”
cdnpriest, how lovely!!! Congratulations to both of you. This must be an extremely unusual event.
Fr. Z, may I nominate cdnpriest and his mother to your Biggest Gold Star :-)?