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I talked about the Cardinal McCarrick situation, the pornography problem and Humanae Vitae. It’s all connected.
I went to a large, not-especially-traditional parish in the Archdiocese of Washington. Our priest talked frankly about the Cardinal McCarrick situation (referencing the bad shepherds mentioned in the OF readings) and the what-and-why of Humanae Vitae and its rejection of artificial contraception. He plugged natural family planning. It was great, and I saw him get lots of positive in-person feedback afterwards.
I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get a lot of negative blowback also, so I’m praying for him.
Stressed that HE (JESUS) is our peace and if we want peace we MUST take time away and go off and get quiet to be with Him. Also if we have never made a retreat we need to find a good one and go so that we can spend that entire time in prayer with God and not have any distractions—-we all need that. Father stressed that even when he goes away for rest he established his prayer time FIRST. He makes sure he does that FIRST because if he doesn’t he will get distracted and do other things and not put God first and his prayer with Him first. Even on vacation we must NOT leave God behind we MUST go to Mass and we MUST give God the time, prayer and love He deserves even when away from home. Many make time for their children’s sports and other activities but make excuses when they can’t go to Mass. He said that should NOT be the case.
Jesus took the apostles away to a deserted place. He took them on a vacation. A deserted place, like us going to Kelowna (laughter, Kelowna is a popular vacation spot in BC, and not a deserted place although it is far away ;). And what did he find? The crowds waiting for him. That would be like us going to Hawaii and setting our blanket down on the beach and looking next to us and seeing our boss (more laughter). Did he tell the apostles to send the crowds away? No, he looked at them with compassion. Jesus looked with compassion on the crowd when he fed the 5,000, when he gave sight to the blind. He always looks at us with compassion. We are never too sinful for Jesus to love us.
Our Priest-in-Charge also discussed about bad shepherds, and unfortunately in all walks of life we do find a few. Father also mentioned the existence of hell, and referenced The Divine Comedy, where some Popes are found in hell. Yes, there were some Popes throughout history that were corrupt, and some that lived a lifestyle contrary to the Church.
Personally, I was reminded of a Law and Order:SVU episode that aired about three years ago. Detective Sonny Caressi, a character who in the script attends weekly Mass, says “as a child my priest saved both my life and my sister. It is a shame we only hear about the bad ones.”
The parish priest in giving for homily for the ninth Sunday after Pentecost at one point, placed a practical emphasis, taking his cue from the Gospel, on how a Catholic conducts himself in a church, plus getting with others, particularly small others, babies, who can be a bit noisy. If they cry, one of the porches has audio, otherwise even the gurgling represents the sacrifices of the parents in bring a child into the world.
TLM, Canon talked about the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and how Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not recognize the time of their visitation and He knew what would happen to the city in the rather near future. The sermon then moved onto how we can be spiritually blind ourselves and such.
I started to miss bits of what was said after that because a child in the back pew started being extra-fussy and I’m super-sensitive to sudden, shrill, high-pitched sounds…exactly what little ones excel in ;p
Our sermon, from Fr. Stinson, FSSP was about Justice and Mercy. (another hard hitting sermon).
Next week will be his final sermon with us before he takes over as North American District Superior. We will be welcoming Fr. Longua, from Dallas soon. we have been so Blessed and will continue to be with our new pastor.
Byzantine Rite (Melkite Greek Catholic Church). The Gospel was Jesus walking on water and Peter asking to walk then sinking. We often go through storms in life and we need to depend on Jesus, if we lack faith we will sink into the water also.
At the TLM, the Gospel told the story of Jesus weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem because of not knowing its time of visitation. Fr D compared this to our lives and the daily visitation of grace and God’s care that we ignore, to our detriment. Father explained the different graces and occasions we receive them such as Mass, the Sacraments, holy inspirations and urges, opportunities for obedience and self-sacrifice, etc. Jesus must weep over our impending destruction too – we need to change.
It was a homily about bad Shepherd’s that abuse their power and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, given by a priest that ran from the diocese of Newark some decades ago. It mentioned taking back the Church from those disreputable shepherds. There was a round of applause after the homily, for good reason.
As Christ came closer to his Passion, he moved from preaching in the country or from a boat and instead taught in the Temple, the place of sacrifice. If we come to the Temple, the place of unbloody sacrifice, He teaches us still in preaching from the pulpit but even more in silence from the Tabernacle.
Fr D then beseeched us to keep silence in the Church – to speak only to God. (He excepted small children with whom we ought to be patient – only to be interrupted by my 22 month old daughter!) He made the point that if a child is very noisy, mum or dad should take him out for a few minutes to the Church porch – which has loud speakers, so you won’t miss anything.
The effect was immediate – chitchat reduced by 95% after Mass in the Church; lots of chat outside, of course.