Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard for your Mass of obligation?   Let us know.

Taking my cue from the 2nd Reading from Revelation (N.O.) I spoke about the characteristics of the risen body we hope to enjoy!   Going back to the 1st Reading from Acts 13, and the part about how the Jews incited persecution against Paul and Barnabas by gossiping with prominent women and men, I talked about how to deal with seriously annoying people.  Try to picture them as God intends in the resurrection.   Also, stemming from the characteristic of “brightness” we will have, we can already begin to reflect God’s glory in our words and deeds here, even toward seriously irritating people.   It may make a difference.

It was my 2nd Sunday at the Guantanamo Bay Base Chapel.  Great people.  A good experience.   The Navy needs chaplains, men!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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10 Comments

  1. Mary Fran says:

    The best news at Mass today was not actually in the homily. It was the news from the pulpit that we have yet another young man entering the seminary in the fall. That makes 9 from our parish right now, I believe, in formation. We are in the Arlington, VA, diocese.

  2. HvonBlumenthal says:

    We had a replacement SSPX priest from Antwerp who had not been informed that it was the start of Luxembourg’s two-week celebration of the patroness, the Consolatrix Afflictorum. So at zero notice he preached on how strong a position Mary is in to console the afflicted, by reflecting on her situation immediately after the crucifixion and then comparing her behaviour with that of the apostles. We need, he said, to imitate the apostles not as they behaved after thecresurrection but as they behaved after pentecost; and throughout this transition they had our lady’s example. She did not leave the cross and she was present at the pentecost, a constant source of consolation from the one who had suffered the most grief.

  3. zag4christ says:

    Today the homily at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes was given by Fr. Darren Connall, the rector of the Cathedral. He chose to focus on the reading from the Acts of the Apostles where even though Paul and Barnabas were run out of town by the elite of the time after sharing the Good News with the Gentiles, they were filled joy and the Holy Spirit as he, Fr. Connall has been in his vocation as a priest, the rector of Bishop White Seminary, and now at the Cathedral. He pointed out that today was the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and invited us all to the ordination to the priesthood next Friday of Deacon Raymond Kalema, originally from Uganda, now of the Diocese of Spokane. He also emphasized the importance of parents to be open and encouraging of vocations for their children to the priesthood and religious life, but especially the priesthood, because of the special role priests offer in bringing us the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. “No priest, no Eucharist”.
    Two other important events were noted. Next Wednesday Leonardo Defilippis will be portraying St. John Vianney in the Cathedral auditorium, and on Sunday there is a fundraiser for the our new Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame which is to open in 2020!

    Peace and God bless

  4. carn says:

    Based on the reading of John 10, 27 – 30 our priest tried to remind us that we are also called to be a shepherd for others; as we just had something called “week for life” in German church, he gave as two detailed examples:
    – helping pregnant women in difficult situations (also highlighting the work of some pro-life organization and noting that they are currently asking for some baby items to help such women and mothers and that the respective flyer is avaible in the back of the church; i am still uncertain what our bishop would say about the priest calling in the homily parishoners to give money and/or unused items to that pro-life organization, cause that pro-life organization and the bishop are not on best terms; also i am not sure, whether this can be considered a “good point” as i am not sure whether it is compatible with the guidelines for homilies)

    – being attentive and helpful to any people one knows who might be in danger of suicide; he went in detail there, trying to confer information how to spot this (e.g. an elderly person overly being worried about being a burden is a rather prominent warning sign), what are risk situations, how to talk to such a person (one important suggestion: it is not wrong to simply ask politely, whether someone has considered suicide; cause people do not get the idea for suicide from such a question; either they have the idea themselves or they are not currently at risk; one does not cause suicide by such an inquiry), how to generally reduce the risk (e.g. do not give old people the impression they are a burden; listen to people; visit people), and also various interesting information (e.g. men far more at risk than women, potentially due to more unwillingness to ask for help; risk relatively high between 15 and 25, but risk greatly increasing and far higher then at 70+; for every “successful” suicide there are 40 attempts; for 97%+ of people the time between decision to attempt suicide and to attempt it is less than 24 hours; and often people describe afterwards – remember, most people fortunately “fail” – this time as a time in which they acted as if being forced, in which they were nearly incapable of controlling their own actions;;;; the priest seem to have force fed himself the best data and studies regarding suicide and present the information he took time to gather as best as possible)

    Especially good point: based on the last item about people – at least the one with a “failed” attempt – acting in the hours before suicide as if forced and without real capability to freely reflect what they are doing

    our priest condemned the notion that suicide is anything that should be tolerated or even seen positively cause of freedom.

    Or to put it cynically, our priest let out his inner pharisee by reminding us that the law is “you shall not kill” and “love your neighbor as your love yourself” and that therefore we deserve beingthrown stones at us if we fail to listen through his 20 mins+ sermon and heed what he preaches us from the pulpit by listening to other people and helping where we spot someone in need, all that while also promoting these hateful ideas that abortions, suicide and euthanasia should not take place and the faithful should act accordingly.

    I liked it.

  5. JonPatrick says:

    In the Eastern Rite Divine Liturgy, Sunday was the 4th Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday of the Paralytic. He had been lying near the pool for many years unable to get down to the healing waters in time. In a way this was a tragedy that there was no one to help him all those years until Jesus came along. When Jesus asks him “do you want to be healed” we might think this is a dumb question that the man might answer “why do you think I have been lying here for 38 years?”. But there is a reason for asking, because by doing so Jesus is saying that he sees him as an individual and a child of God. Sometimes all we need is to be there for someone else, to ask “do you need anything” to show that we see them as persons, that they are not alone. The Benedictines have a tradition that the front door of the monastery is never locked, because anyone who comes to the door is Jesus and should be welcomed.

  6. Markus says:

    Fr.’s sermon was on sheep (how we act like them) and the Good Shepherd. He told a story about teaching a first-grade class on the subject and at the end asked, “what he was?” A girl in class answered, “you’re the sheep dog.” He had to admit, good answer.

  7. straphaelguy says:

    My son was ordained a transitional deacon last Saturday, so the Sunday Mass we chose to go to was his first sermon! The white and gold chasubles were laid out, but he asked our pastor if it was possible to use white and blue as he had a Marion theme. After thanking his family/mother for encouraging his vocation, he noted that we
    learn from our mother’s examples. He said: Her life was one entirely dedicated to the the Lord, always pointing to her Son and always wishing to do the will of the Father. Jesus said in our Gospel today “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” When Mary heard the voice of the Lord through the archangel Gabriel, she knew the will of God and followed. This was truly Mary’s defining moment – her fiat – when she said to the Archangel Gabriel “let it be done unto me according to thy word.” He explained that Not even an active “I will do this” came from her mouth – she was completely passive to the will of God and said “let it be done unto me according to thy word.” He then asked if we were listening to the voice of the shepherd, and what “Let it be done unto me according to thy word.” might look like to parishoners, including things like having a tough talk with someone who’s not living the life they should be. It might mean taking a job that pays less but will better help bring about the kingdom of God. It might mean stepping aside from career plans to be able to be with family more.

  8. Discerning Altar Boy says:

    Father riffed on the theme of eternal life. He stated a few misnomers we often hear when we lose a loved one and explained why they tend to miss the mark.
    1) God must’ve needed X in Heaven? False, God needs nothing, we cannot add to His greatness.
    2) X is happy now because he’s with Z? False, any joy we experience upon seeing our loved ones in Heaven subsists in and is totally subordinate to the joy of seeing God face to face.
    3) X must be causing trouble up there now? False, there’s no trouble or sin in Heaven.

  9. Spinmamma says:

    The Homily was good, mostly about God’s unconditional love as revealed in motherhood, with scripture references. My favorite part of yesterday’s Mass was, at the end and before the final blessing, our younger priest, who has a beautiful voice and a loving, spiritual demeanor, led the congregation in chanting “Salve Regina’ in Latin acapella while turned toward the painting, hung at the back of the nave, of Our Lady of Guadalupe so to remember our spiritual Mother. (My parish is NO with many traditional elements. )

  10. I’m covering all the sacraments in Easter Season, as there is a likeness between the power of the Resurrection and the power and grace of God poured into us through the sacraments. So this Sunday I spoke about the anointing of the sick. Admittedly, not a lot of tie-ins with the readings, but I did connect to the second reading, from Revelation, concerning those who came through “distress,” and to the Gospel, Jesus promising that no one would take his beloved “out of my hand.” I explained the essentials of the sacrament, including that it was intended for those in “danger of death,” rather than “one breath from death,” which are not the same thing. Many people face cancer and heart conditions and serious surgeries, where the danger of death is real, yet that doesn’t mean they will die. I encouraged people to contact me, even at 3 am, if they need the sacrament. I explained exactly how to contact me. I explained that one should go to confession, if possible, before receiving the anointing. I explained also that the healing of this sacrament certainly includes physical healing — I’ve seen it — but always spiritual healing: peace and courage. And I took this opportunity to explain what grace is: God’s own life, poured into our lives, to make us like God.

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