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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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- The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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Francisco12 on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “I find all this fascinating. I would be very interested in seeing video of the Mass. “(There is, according to…”
Gregg the Obscure on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O. 14th Sunday): “Father absolutely knocked it out of the park today. Part 1: Friday before last, the Supreme Court revisited the issue…”
TWF on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “The Ge’ez rite would have evolved organically in Ethiopia from the Coptic/Alexandrian rite. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was under the…”
Schola Guy on 1 July – Most Precious Blood and also the Feasts of St. Junipero Serra and St. Aaron, brother of Moses: “Father asked for a translation of the passage from the Roman Martyrology. My humble attempt: Commemoratio sancti Aaron, de tribu…”
Jennifer on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “This item reminded me of the ‘Missa Luba’, a setting of the old Latin Mass using traditional Congolese styles of…”
Mike on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “. . . isn’t it okay, even desirable, that there should be efforts in the Church to minister to people…”
Lurker 59 on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “Much of this stems from a Protestant understanding of liturgy as man’s response to the saving actions of Christ. If…”
Longinus on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “This Mass was supposedly for the DRC. One wonders why they did not use the music of the Congo which…”
rtjleblanc on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “Wait! Are you saying that the Novus Ordo is NOT the exclusive and unique expression of the Roman Rite?”
summorumpontificum777 on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “The Vetus Ordo must suppressed because of the people who like the Vetus Ordo, i.e., the bete noire of this…”
redneckpride4ever on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “Please forgive the typos in my first post. Fat fingers and spell check don’t always mix on a phone.”
redneckpride4ever on African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….: “I’d have to check again, but I believe Zaire Use is a variation of the Roman Rite. I believe you’re…”
arga on 29 June 1972. Paul VI says, “the smoke of Satan has entered the Church of God”: “To me there is a lot of ambiguity in this famous quote. If you read the whole thing it’s hard…”
TonyO on Look at more of “Desiderio desideravi”: “As the general principles spelled out in Sacrosanctum Concilium have been fundamental for the reform of the liturgy, they continue…”
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Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”- Fulton Sheen
Therefore, ACTIVATE YOUR CONFIRMATION and get to work!
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- “The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
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Recent Posts
- ASK FATHER: How can we help priests who are in “hot water” because they are traditional?
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 4th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O. 14th Sunday)
- African Zairian Rite celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica – UPATED: Meanwhile, Down Under….
- WDTPRS – 4th Sunday after Pentecost: What is “devotion?
- ROME 22/06 – Day 32: My View For Awhile
- 1 July – Most Precious Blood and also the Feasts of St. Junipero Serra and St. Aaron, brother of Moses
- ROME 22/06 – Day 31: Someone saw the list… no… the Letter!
- Look at more of “Desiderio desideravi”
- You have seen the logo for the 2025 Jubilee? – UPDATED
- 29 June 1972. Paul VI says, “the smoke of Satan has entered the Church of God”
- Francis’ NEW “Desiderio desideravi” an Apostolic Letter “on the liturgical formation of the people of God” – an attempt to explain Traditionis custodes, to calm the storm
- Batten down the hatches!
- ASK FATHER: Are we obliged to avoid businesses which will pay for employees’ abortion?
- ROME 22/06 – Day 28: Guess the meat
- In your goodness, pray for falsely accused priests and canceled priests
- ROME 22/06 – Day 26: Indulgences and indulgences
- Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 3rd Sunday after Pentecost (N.O. 13th Sunday)
- ROME 22/06 – Day 25: Really day 26, but… hey!
- ROME 22/06 – Day 24: “talkin’ ’bout my g-g-generation”
- It’s as if the stars aligned on 24 June
- ROME 22/06 – Day 23: Resistance is futile
- On this Feast of the Sacred Heart, when SCOTUS overturned Roe, remember that “Abortion Pill” use will be pushed hard by the Left, and that there is a SAFE REVERSAL after the first pill. @HeartbeatIntl
- US SUPREME COURT issued Opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson – ROE and CASEY OVERTURNED
- “Perdonamose!” St. John’s Birthday Feast and Midsummer Snails
- ASK FATHER: Pork butt for the Sacred Heart
- What do we do when we synodize?
- ASK FATHER: Does the humeral veil contradict in the use of Eucharistic ministers?
- ROME 22/06 – Day 22: “Even in another church St. Rita is sad… about… you know.”
- Vatican Synod’s (“walking together”) on spirituality of synodality (“walking togetherality”) is coming: The merciful heart loves… demons.
- ASK FATHER: What if 100 priests wanted to leave a diocese because of the bishop?
Let us pray…
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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Rather than saying that hell exists and some amongst us are going there, father said the point of the parable is that the wheat were enjoined to convert the weeds into wheat. Why bother reading the Gospel if it doesn’t actually say what it means?
I attended Latin mass at St. Margaret’s and St. Leonard’s church in Edinburgh. The subject of the sermon was St. Mary Magdalene, whose feast day was yesterday. St. Mary Magdalene’s conversion from a sinner to a saint gives us all hope and the peace that comes to us after Confession is a sacred one.
Our parish priest, a Vincentian missionary from Nigeria who is working in our diocese on a long-term basis, preached about the Gospel. Simply: there is evil about in this world, the enemy – the Devil – is active: be on your guard. I can’t remember a British or Irish priest speaking so straightforwardly about the Enemy and the he evil he can do. Clergy from West Africa seem to be much simpler in their approach to sin and evil – calling a spade a spade and directly quoting from Scripture. Sarah for Pope!!
Our Parochial Vicar preached primarily on the first reading explaining about the mercy of God and what was meant by “But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us;” He explained that being lenient did not mean we could sin in whatever way we wanted and be fine, but because God knows all about our faults and weaknesses, we should keep fighting despite how easily we fall. It was good encouragement.
In my homily I asked, ” If the harvest was to happen today, would the harvester mistake you for a weed?”
OF: Based on 2nd Reading. The Holy Spirit fills us with His gifts and graces to grow in holiness. We need to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our weakness and sins.
EF: Based on Gospel. There are false prophets in all times. We have them also. Media trying to corrupt morals, and destroy the Church. Politicians who support laws that go against the moral law. And clerics who water down the teaching of Christ and the Church. We must remain faithful, even if we were to be the only one remaining.
The priest said that the Church is the Kingdom of God, present on Earth, filled with good and bad. The enemy has done this, but it has ever been so and will be until the harvesters come. The Church is the mustard seed that grows to great size.
And as the Church is the Holy body of Christ, she remains Holy even when people in it are the weeds, because His body is not corruptible, which means it clings to the Lord and the sacraments. We are not to be afraid or worried, but to lead a holy life, to recognize we are called to be fruitful wheat.
That unlike actual wheat or weeds, we have God’s Mercy and Grace through the Church and her sacraments to transform us. So we can be the weeds but become wheat if we cling to the Saints and the sacramental life of the Church.
Excellent homily today! Sin and the Evil One exist, and we ignore this at our peril. Those who fall into the trap of relativism are taking the gentle path to perdition (this reference is from The Screwtape Letters, which our homilist encouraged everyone to read). We must avail ourselves of the Sacraments (especially by receiving the Eucharist and going to Confession), pray fervently, and resist temptation in order to maintain our proper relationship with God. There is hope even in a world corrupted by sin and evil; Jesus tells us so in His parables and Saint Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit is ready to intercede for us with the Father.
Lots of emphasis on sin, the existence of the Evil One, and our obligation to nurture the “wheat” in our own hearts so that the weeds, which come from sin, can’t take root and destroy our relationship with God.
At last I get to chime in! Attended a TLM and we had a visiting priest–a well known exorcist whose name you would recognize–and he gave a wonderful sermon: he spoke about justice, restitution, reparation, sin, confession and the offenses against God. So good to hear good Catholic teachings!
Today I attended a recently ordained priest’s first Mass. The Assistant Priest gave the sermon. He spoke of a priest being a crown for a family and for a parish. He spoke of how the lack of priests stems in part from a lack of men willing to be unselfish. He then spoke about how the priest still has all of his humanity after his ordination but yet now is able to forgive sins and institute the Eucharist.
A good priest from Vietnam who emigrated to Canada, gave his homely on the bad weeds and the good wheat… how they are difficult to distinguish because Canadian society promotes the “weeds” (accurate, I know…). He talked about those “weeds from the devil” in society who are promoted like good things with big fancy words, abortion, drugs, assisted suicide… but who are in fact the works of the devil.
The oldest priest in St Kevin’s church (ordained 1965/6, grad of All Hallows, Dublin, still a college but no longer a seminary) made a very notable point for Sunday Mass of the seventh Sunday after Pentecost. The apostate priest Luther allows his scruples and self obsession to overcome him entirely, and from this blow to Christendom many martyrs were added to the Roman Martyrology including during the French Revolution, and more recently on this very day, a great number of Passionist religious and priests slaughtered at Daimiel around this time in 1936. Scruples and self obsession can be toxic.
Father spoke about the gospel, moving from the wheat to the parable of the mustard seed to make an interesting point using one of his personal favorite saints – Damien of Molokai.
Point being God can work tremendous deeds (in His good time) from the smallest things and beginnings, even (in the case of Damien) of challenging (deadly) circumstances, skeptical superiors, personal limitations in ability, and personal shortcomings (pride and temper).
I delved into two ways to take the parable of the wheat and the weeds: that the field is our own life, and that the field is the world. The first idea came from Father Basil Maturin, who did some insightful studies of the parables over 100 years ago; the second of course is how our Lord presents it. Along the way, I talked about conversion, the bad habits that take root in our lives such as pornography, God’s intolerable patience, and a few other things.
What are the weeds in prayer? Jesus says, “While everyone was asleep [the farmer’s] enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat. . .” Notice that everyone was asleep. They weren’t keeping vigil. No one was on watch. And b/c no one was watching, the farmer’s enemy was free to sow weeds. When we are not paying attention to our spiritual lives, when we are living life as if God doesn’t exist, the Enemy is free to sow his weeds.
https://hancaquam.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-weeds-of-prayer.html
Fr. Philip Neri, OP
Our pastor is on vacation. We have a presider/priest who has been with us as a fill-in for the last eight years at least. Our congregation loves him. In his homily he took a very different approach than what I read here. He focused on determining what is wheat and what is weeds and who and when to determine what to do do about the weeds. In other words, how should we use/not use judgment about others; Jesus and the Father will make those decisions at the end of time.
I was blessed to hear His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze preach today at Sacred Heart Parish in South Euclid Ohio. His Eminence spoke on ACTS – Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication to God and how this can lead to a heart full of charity and bear good fruit in one’s life. He was concerned with calling us to holiness today.
After mass he gave a 20 minute talk in the school gym one of the messages of Fatima (penance and reparation) and the universal call to holiness (reminding us in a strong firm voice that serving as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion is NOT our highest calling in the laity – I got a good belly laugh out of that – as did His Eminence). The talk meshed well with his homily.
It was a good day.
Pastor Fr. D preached on the first words in the Gospel, those who are asleep – as in, they are slumbering unaware of the devil who creeps in and sows evil and temptations. Every moment is in battle with the Evil One, so if you are not aware of the battle going on, you are asleep. And if you are asleep, you are in Satan’s power.
NO Mass, with Bishop Nickless in Iowa:
Do you believe in hell and that people go there? Jesus’ and the Church’s teaching on hell, the gift of free will as God’s great love for us & our responsibility for our choices. The great mercy in the 1st reading evident in God’s willingness to forgive us even if that penitence is in the last second of our lives. Bishop Nickless often preaches the countercultural gospel (I posted about his homily last week, too) and it was terrific to hear him give a doctrinal homily on damnation.
In your kindness, please pray for this faithful shepherd and the priests of his diocese.
EF Mass. We will always have a master – it can either be sin or God. Not being a slave to sin can be difficult as the Tempter tailors his bait for us. He knows our weak points. Each sin makes subsequent sin easier – we are on a slippery slope. But God at baptism gave us a new nature. We are now “dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus our Lord”. We need to learn scripture just as Jesus used ion the desert to fight temptation. This is possible because God’s grace is always greater than sin. We need to always keep in mind who we are and whose we are. In sanctification God frees us from sin and sets us on a journey to be what God created us.
We have a new pastor, his formal installation was yesterday. His homily began by explaining what darnel is, and then explained the 3 kinds of weeds that are most pernicious in our society are
* relativism
* individualism
* secularism
He then said that as part of his installation he will make a professional of faith and an oath of fidelity. From that he promised to do everything in his power to sow the good seeds of Christ.
(Diocesan) EF Mass in a small, liberal Northeastern city: Father used readings and Bl. JH Newman’s remarks on two paths (Rome and atheism) to speak about attempts throughout history to navigate a via media between the orthodox Catholic position and heresy. He spoke of semi-Arians and semi-Pelagians and Anglicanism and applied those historical lessons to today’s Church and world.
It was about dealing with difficult people in as much as the wheat the the weeds have to grow up side-by-side, and the need to be humble since the Master of the Harvest will sort it out in the long run.
Our priest told us that whether we are a weed or the wheat is in our own hands, and that it is not too late for anyone to amend their life for the good. I also came across Fr. Paul Scalia’s homily for the day and highly recommend reading it. He is rock solid.
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/07/23/guarding-the-kingdom/
Vickey McBride did a great job also this past weekend. http://catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/07232017
I also heard Cardinal Arinze and was struck by his assertion “Whoever has something to suffer has something to offer.”
Father’s homily was quite good…though initially he had me bracing for impact when he started talking about the ‘hook-up culture’. Wasn’t quite sure where we were going with that at first, but it was a solid message and a difficult one to address. Luckily, the 9 year old and ten year old’s attention spans were maxed out at that precise moment when particulars were discussed…and there was something intensely interesting in the carpet…so I was spared the barrage of “What did Father mean when he said…” questions. I do believe there were some folks in the pews who needed to hear that message…and God gave Father the courage to preach it and my boys the grace not to hear certain things. So all’s well.