Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard during your Mass to fulfill your Sunday Obligation?
Let us know.
You were paying attention, weren’t you?
UPDATE:
At The Catholic Thing, Dr. Howard Kainz laments that, since Vatican II he has not heard sermons on our Sunday Mass Obligation.
I just found that a little ironic. Not only do I mention our obligation often in sermons, I also post – virtually every week – this post about what you heard during the Mass to fulfill your obligation. Hence, you are reminded of the obligation constantly.
Surprisingly enough, I occasionally get a email complaining that I am talking about an “obligation” instead of “luuuuhv”. They are always from a priest.
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Why do we give in the offertory what we give or don’t give? Do we give from our excess or our need? What if Jesus was sitting next to us in the pew when the collection basket passes would our giving change—-well He is there with us and He does see what we give. Like Father said He knows exactly what we make and what we give.
We also had a deacon speak to us about our WONDERFUL AMAZING Bible Study program here in south Louisiana called “Come Lord Jesus.” This program was developed by one of our own local Priests about 40 years ago & still going strong and growing and spreading to other states and countries. It has helped me tremendously learn about Scripture and be able to share and fellowship with other ladies in our Parish.
I really do pay attention, but have terrible homily memory. Unless the subject matter is something that I find really interesting and is rarely spoken about. Like the Jewish question, modernism and Vatican II, etc. But I usually have to go to reginaprophetarum.org every Sunday for those.
Father Gabriel spoke of our duty to widows and orphans and those in need generally. He has a priest friend who worked among the people living in the high Andes, which is virtually a moonscape and barely provides sustenance for the people living there. After a while, he noticed that when a woman became widowed, she would take herself and her children off to die of starvation or exposure, for the village was too poor to help them. Similarly, he worked in Guatemala, an evangelized country where there were many widows with children with inadequate provision. As a novice he also worked in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco where many widows and widowers live in apartment hotels, where the rent is $1.00 less than the amount they receive monthly from Social Security.
He spoke of how we often think of “the world” as “out there,” but in fact, each of us must fight against the worldliness in our own hearts, and not rely solely on Church agencies or the government to aid people in trouble. The inner city where we are situated presents us with many people often with seemingly intractable problems. Yet, since we are baptized we are- like Elijah- prophets whom the Lord can guide, if we will but turn to him for guidance in aiding the difficult people and situations we encounter. It was an argument for taking personal and charitable initiative in dealing with “widows and orphans,” the broken and impoverished.
Wish I could remember Father’s homily. I know it was good and was about the two widows (one about Elijah, the other from Mark) but I’ve forgotten Father’s major point. I know I wanted to applaud … just can’t remember why now. Straight after the homily, just before the Offertory procession, one of the pastoral team stood up in front of the congregation ( her back to the altar) and reminded people about the sausage sizzle happening on Nov 25 and that sign-up sheets were being passed around for people to indicate if they were going to attend as they had to know numbers for catering. The sheets were passed around then and there. I was dismayed. Yes it’s lovely the parish is holding a sausage sizzle after Mass to welcome new parishioners, but why not wait to announce at the end of Mass, along with all the other notices? Then the Recessional “Hymn” was played: Glen Campbell’s “Try a little kindness”. Saints preserve us from the happy-clappy catholic relics of the 1970s.
It certainly didn’t feel like I had attended a Catholic Mass…
Very good homily in an N.O. Mass today. Pastor of Sacred Heart in Norfolk, VA.
The sacrifice of the woman of her last measure of flour and last drops of oil to prepare a cake of bread for the stranger, and the sacrifice of the woman who gave her last bits of coinage to the temple treasury are sacrifices in the type of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary.
And that then additionally tied to the sacrifice of the last full measure that Service members offer for love of country.
I went to a Polish language Mass with the Cistercian Fathers in Willow Springs, Illinois (Archdiocese of Chicago). Today was the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence, so the homily was focused on Poland. The priest mentioned how the world tries to tell us that we cannot be truly independent unless we free ourselves also from the constraints of the Catholic Church. But he mentioned, quoting St. Paul, that Catholics having only two choices, either following and obeying Jesus and therefore being truly free or independent, or becoming the slaves of sin. There is no neutral way in between like the world tells us to take, in which we ignore the mandates of the Church and just do what we feel is good. If you are neutral like that, then you are already a slave of sin. The world especially does not understand the meaning and importance of the cross, of suffering and struggle. The Gospels, with Jesus only performing miracles, preaching the Good News, and blessing children, would lack substance if they did not contain the Cross. Similarly, if Polish history contained only the parts where Poland was successful and prospering, but lacked the struggles and battles for its freedom and independence, it would be a bland history with nothing really worthy of remembering. Some want Poland to go away from its Christian heritage, to cut Poland off from its Christian roots. But if a tree is cut off from its roots, it dries up. Poles talk about their motto: “God, Honor, Country.” This only works if our love of God is first and then thanks to this faith we live according to Christian values (Honor), so that then we can know what good we can do for our country.
“Yes it’s lovely the parish is holding a sausage sizzle after Mass to welcome new parishioners, but why not wait to announce at the end of Mass, along with all the other notices? Then the Recessional “Hymn” was played: Glen Campbell’s “Try a little kindness”. Saints preserve us from the happy-clappy catholic relics of the 1970s.”
Gab that is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sad. I am sorry that this is allowed at your Church.
We make any necessary announcements Before Mass begins or Father makes them after Mass is concluded before he recesses. And NO glen Campbell music.
Back in my home parish today and after so long away it was rather comforting to be there. Low Mass in the traditional form, with Father using the parable of the wheat and the cockle to draw an analogy for the current situation in the Church.
The priest who often preaches about Freemasonry gave a good homily for the Resumed Fifth Sunday where where the talked of the march of history and how false beliefs like paganism and witchcraft tried to frustrate the turn of the wheel. Only Christ managed to do that by overcoming death on the Cross. Now Christians are harried by a new religion which believes that it can bring heaven on earth, halt the march of time, that of Progressivism. Only by trust in Christ can we hope to resist this new false religion.
We had a visiting priest from Cross Catholic Outreach (CCO). He did a brief homily on the widow and her contribution and then got to his main point: raising money for Catholic charities in the Caribbean and Central and South America. (CCO also has missions in Sri Lanka and the Philippines.)
I was impressed with his talk until he started laying on extremely fulsome praise of Pope Francis, verging on a cult of personality. Then at the end he mentioned that this is a special charity of the Pope’s. That did it for me.
I took it to mean CCO donations go to Administrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostiolica (APSA), just as Peter’s Pence does. If that’s the case, some of the money may go to the charitable work, but some very likely is diverted to pay off male prostitutes who have blackmailed certain cardinals, to maintain luxury off-campus apartments in Rome for certain high-ranking clergy, and/or to go to other causes like the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Sorry, Father. There are Indian missions and schools here in Montana and over in South Dakota that need my contributions and will use them to help poor children without “wetting their beaks” (to Quote Don Fanucci in The Godfather).
[When I post these and ask for GOOD points, I really do mean good points. Folks, leave the negative out of these, please.]
Reverend James Jackson told us that Satan is our own personal Goliath and that we must arm ourselves just as David did to defeat him.
The reading was about Elijah meeting the poor widow during the drought (and the miracle of the oil and flour not running out, thus saving herself and her son from starvation), and about the poor widow who gave her last few coins in the collection, and Jesus stated that her contribution was greater because she gave out of her poverty, not her plenty.
The Homily was about humility and the need to seek God, not materialism.
The prayer dedications including a dedication to commemorate the centennial of the end of the 1st World War,
We had a Requiem Mass for Remembrance Sunday (UK). The main point of the homily was simple. Pray for the dead – because one day you’ll be one of them.
Despatch from a Novus Ordo Mass (yeah, I know, sorry…please pray that my lovely wife will see the light and opt for TLM on Sundays): the priest avoided the “we should love more” pitfall and focused on listening and obeying God. It was also impressive that he based most of his homily on the Old Testament reading (1 Kings: Elijah and the old woman) to illustrate the benefits of both, i.e. God provides. He recounted that as the youngest of six children, he was used to going whither he would and had to overcome of lifetime of bad habits in order to embrace the discipline of obedience. It’s rare to hear insightful homily at my parish, but this young priest bucked the ‘luuuhv’ trend and it seemed that people were really paying attention.
“luuuuhv”
Perhaps the priest in question should be reminded that love is an act of the will . . . you know, like assisting at Mass on Sundays.
Harrrumph!
Sunday Mass is the obligation, because something as small as a single hour (give or take) is placed within the context of the one hundred sixty eight that God has most generously provided us. Such a trivial return is this sacrifice of our time for His own sacrifice, that most who even do go are wont to have forgotten everything that had happened within by the time that they arrive home.
Now an act of “luv”, an offering freely given of the will out of the stirrings of the heart, well, let’s leave that for Tuesday mornings before our labors, and Saturdays so early that the sun has not yet risen even after Mass.
We have a visiting priest this Sunday. He talked about how some of the worst people have been converted (gave examples) and told us not to give up hope on our lost loved ones. Also he exhorted us to make a good confession and sent us home with an examination of conscience.
OH and Father made sure even though it was a month early that he told us we MUST go to 2 separate Masses for the Holy Day in December. We cannot go to one Mass to count for the Holy Day and the Sunday Mass. 2 SEPERATE MASSES—no “double dipping”. Glad he did say that so there would be NO question.
I have never heard a priest talk about repentance or confession or hell at a Sunday sermon.
They really should.