Your Sunday Sermon Notes

12 Comments

1. iPadre says:

   26 February 2018 at 12:34 AM

   It was nice to sit back and listen for a change.
2. APX says:

   26 February 2018 at 5:36 AM

   Our priest started a series of sermons on the Last Four Things, starting with Death.

   We’re all going to die. Nothing else in this world matters except to die a holy, well prepared for death in the state of grace. Those who don’t die in the state of grace will spend eternity in the fires And torments of Hel. Those who die in the state of grace will spend eternity in Heaven with God in eternal happiness that will never end.

   We know not the day nor the hour when we’ll die. People die unexpectedly all the time by accidents and acts of violence. No one is completely sure they’ll wake up tomorrow. We can’t even be sure we will be alive in the next hour.
3. exNOAAman says:

   26 February 2018 at 5:38 AM

   Abraham was obedient to God. Sarah was obedient to her husband.
4. frjim4321 says:

   26 February 2018 at 8:29 AM

   The grace that we derive from sacramental encounters can produce not only mere growth but an existential change from terrestrial time/space bound to a redeemed people given access to the “risen from the death” life foreshadowed by Jesus’ cryptic remark to this disciples following the transfiguration; a mystery known in the east as “Metamorphosis,” our sacramental encounters are no dissimilar to the transfiguration.
5. Discerning Altar Boy says:

   26 February 2018 at 9:04 AM

   Nothing we do or go through can be deemed “worth it” without a future in which to hope. This future hope of Heaven, and our necessary perfection before we enter it, should be that which fuels our Lenten observances.
   I can’t wait for Tuesday night, Father. I’ll be coming up from school to hear the mission.
6. Prayerful says:

   26 February 2018 at 11:49 AM

   An anecdote on meeting one of the Habsburgs once, a modest man who once worked for Aer Lingus at Dublin Airport. Fr used that story as the prompt for the point of his homily. It might be said there are two ways of death: a death in despair, not necessarily theological despair, not necessarily one of pain, but one of indifference, of lassitude aided by medication, or a death on Mount Tabor, by which Fr meant that like Bl Karl von Habsburg (or Emperor Charles as Fr called him) seemed to glimpse the Transfiguration of our Lord when he died in exile with his family on the island of Madeira.
7. YoungLatinMassGuy says:

   26 February 2018 at 12:04 PM

   “As priests our job is the salvation of souls.”

   Heard that on Sunday after Confession on Saturday.
8. Karteria says:

   26 February 2018 at 12:17 PM

   A young out-of-parish priest as visiting priest at our regular TLM.
   During a homily on the need for periods of silence to listen to God, he suddenly raised his voice and said quite loudly, “SHAME ON US for not finding these times of silence!”
   He paused, and, then, said “I can do that here. My ordinary Mass would never put-up for it.”
   I hope that as his priestly career passes, he will find the courage to tell his NO Mass attendees the truths they also need to hear.
9. hwriggles4 says:

   26 February 2018 at 1:29 PM

   Sunday afternoon Mass (oftentimes I attend Sunday night at 5:30 pm or 7:30 pm Mass) at 1730 hours – our priest in Charge (he’s a Pastoral Provision priest) began with how he witnessed a learning disabled man pray during the 1980s when our Priest in Charge was a teenager. This led into a discussion how the three men followed Jesus on the mountain. Father highlighted prayer time, and the importance of confession. Having a conscience is important, which is why we go to confession. Father also highlighted that there are those who don’t believe they have any mortal sins, and those who do not repent (i.e. confess) their sins will enter the gates of hell.

   Those present were very attentive – our Priest in Charge often gives 20 minute sermons that are well done. Last week, I attended 7:30 pm Mass, and the good Parochial Vicar (like our Priest in Charge, this Parochial Vicar is under 45) discussed repentance, the importance of confession, and the existence of hell. These two priests are good examples (and good role models) for both old and young Catholics.
10. frjim4321 says:

    27 February 2018 at 7:10 AM

    Karteria, I’d be careful with shaming language. People who have been harmed through physical, emotional, sexual and/or ritual abuse can have major issues around shame, which is less about guilt over unloving choices and more about self-repudiation. I think a prophetic homily can be good, but abusive language should be avoided. Case in point, I know a priest who used the word n****r in a homily about racism, and it went badly. Another priest, preaching to high schoolers about sexual integrity spoke of “pu***itis” and “d***tosis,” and while it was shocking and humorous and actually pretty effective, he ended up at the bishop’s office. I would put “shame on us” on the same level as “shut up,” which is equally crass and abusive and does not have a place in the pulpit.
11. Imrahil says:

    27 February 2018 at 9:51 AM

    Reverend dear Father Jim,

    while you may or may not be right about the shaming language (I wouldn’t know),

    can “shut up”, without even an expletive in between, really be abusive? As in (can’t think of a better example) “I am very sad to hear that some are distributing leaflets with esoteric practices pretending to be Catholic practices. I will be very assuming-the-best, I will not even dare to think that in this community anyone could willingly violate the first commandment and incite others to it; I will just say that those who have no idea of what they are talking about shut do themselves and as all a favor – and just shut up.”

    What, for interest, do you mean “it went badly” when he used the word “nigger” in a sermon about racism? I trust he did not defend racism? I trust he strongly warned people not to sin against charity by using slurs on people, such as in calling black people “niggers”? But there’s obviously nothing wrong with that.

    People seriously need to get rid of the idea that a word in quotation marks is a cause of pain.
12. maternalView says:

    27 February 2018 at 12:49 PM

    I heard two on Sunday. One priest speaking from his notes took us through the traditional meaning of the Sunday readings and explained them in context of our relationship with Christ and his Passion and Resurrection. This was a Mass at a national shrine. Only alter boys. Kneelers for Communion. Etc.

    The other priest at a later Mass at a parish was speaking without notes down in front of the “audience” and basically told us that Christ’s dying was a “no” to violence between neighbors. He mentioned the right to life from conception to natural death and I thought ok here comes the only worthwhile part. But no he then admonished us that poverty is like a death. And that it’s important to realize that. The. he threw in something about labeling people and we should avoid that. Throughout his talk he used the phrase “paradigm shift” four maybe five times. A wasted opportunity to catechize! So basically poverty and labels = bad. Really going out on limb there!

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