Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard during the Holy Mass in fulfillment your of Sunday Obligation? Let us know.
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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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My homily was entitled, “Who is a prophet and what do prophets do?” The answer is that through baptism, we all share in Christ’s prophetic office, and thus we bear witness to the truths of our Faith. I highlighted those truths about human nature, chastity, and marriage, that are most contested today.
Original sin caused a power sag. Redemption was a power restoration.
Perhaps a shocking metaphor, but to this engineer it’s one of current utility.
Today was the Sunday set aside to hear from a missionary and donate funds to their cause. We had a young, approx. thirty years old, OFM, Conventual from the Chicago Province. After hearing confessions, he celebrated our scheduled TLM/EF for us!
I spoke with him after Mass and asked him how frequently the TLM/EF is celebrated among the Franciscan Conventuals. He said the younger friars are interested and a number of the older friars never gave it up. He said the Conventuals never got quite as “crazy” as the other Franciscan branches did. He reported that in the western province the superior has asked the friars to learn/celebrate the TLM/EF mass, and they celebrated it during the annual Walk(?) for Life mass. He said the superior has a lot to do with how well the EF is supported in a province.
I thanked and gave him a donation.
Father (our pastor) made a lively presentation on priestly celibacy and why it is important. He tied it in to the priestly ministry and how changing values and demographics and expectations mean that priests, while busy, are not part of people’s lives the way they once were. And the big context was about our need to focus on Jesus.
Thirteenth Sunday Ordinary time.
Fr started off with what makes for a “practicing Catholic?”
Now we might say someone who goes to Mass, Confession, follows the Catechism, etc, but in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is telling us how to be practicing before His Church was formally set up.
We have to put God above all other relationships—even above our family members.
Fr could not understand why the line just prior to this Gospel passage was not included…Mt 10:34 “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.”
The same Sword mentioned by St Paul:
“For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
When Jesus said the first Commandment is to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, this is unconditional-whereas to love our neighbor as ourselves, is conditional.
Sometimes there may be conflicts of interests in two commandments, such as nepotism in business or politics, and we should recognize that our obedience to and love for God is foremost.
Our homily was from a young Jesuit…dont worry, he actually believes in God. discussing the gospel he spoke about how Peter easily could have blown Jesus off, I’m a fisherman, you’re a carpenter. dont tell me how to fish. but instead he trusted and obeyed. if we all obey the will of the Father, our life will turn out okay. a lot more good stuff, but it was passsionately preached, not read, and I could tell he believed what he was preaching. A Jesuit!
Our priest talked — in specific reference to Independence Day coming up — about freedom, and quoted Lord Acton: “Freedom does not mean being able to do what I want to do; it means doing what I ought to do.” His discussion of the quote was quite good.
(and I beg pardon if the quote isn’t exact, since it’s dependent on my memory of what Father said, and he depended on his memory for it, too!)