Was there a good point made in the sermon during your Mass of Sunday obligation? Let us know.
UPDATE 29 July
Today I read a terrific piece at Crisis by Fr. George Rutler about Notre-Dame in Paris Do go there and savor it.
Here’s a hint to your reading. Rutler mentions feckless bishops who, today, suffer from the same affliction of bishops even in the ancient Church: “Laodicean mediocrity”.
This is a reference to Revelations 3 and the lukewarm members of that ancient community. In Revelation, John writes to seven Churches. Laodicea is the last. Ironically “Laodicea” is derived from “rights of the people”. In other words, they do their will, not God’s. They are not fervid with love of God, but lukewarm. Laodicea is a byword for mediocrity.
What will Christ do with such people? He will “spew” them from His mouth. In the Douay rendering, He will “vomit” them. Rev 3:16.
Why do I bring up Rutler and this business of Laodicea under a post about Sunday sermons?
Coincidently, I mentioned this very verse during my Sunday sermon.
Frankly, my sermon got away from me on Sunday. I was going to tie together all the chants of the Mass but… well… I digressed. It happens. I’ll show you what happens when I get off track. Sadly, sometimes priests digress and wind up preaching more than one homily. Sunday… guilty as charged.
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Hard time concentrating (2 grandkids in my lap) but my Pastor caught my attention when he talked about those who confuse others about the Church’s teaching on the sexes and marriage, such as “that heretical Father James Martin…”.
TLM. “By their fruits you shall know them”. Good fiery homily about communicating with our bishops and priests that we expect them to rise up and resist the evil in the church, to speak and stand for truth. That we should pray and do reparation. Father brought in Athanasius and Bishop John Fischer.
Father was pretty adamant today about discerning ravenous wolves who are trying to lead us. He pointed out that in today’s readings Jesus went so far as to say it twice that “by their fruits you shall know them” and that the reference to fruits meant more by their words than by works. He said we should be able to use what we have been taught by Jesus himself to compare it to what we are told and decide who to follow by using that as our guide, that we will know by doing that if we are following ravenous wolves. It was a great homily.
Our ninety-two year old Jesuit EF priest started out with the line that the media are trying to be the new Moses, trying tell us what is right and what is wrong. He then had a great homily on sheep in wolf’s clothing, including his perceptions on Vatican II.
OF: solid catechetical homily walking briskly through the petitions of the Pater Noster and reminding us that, to be proficient at anything at all, it is necessary both to practice diligently and to recommit quickly and vigorously after failings rather than giving in to discouragement or settling for mediocrity or worse. Very solid.
OF mass having the account of Abraham and God discussing the smiting (smiting?) of Sodom. The priest discussed the pornographic culture we are immersed in and the destruction of families by it. He stated how he canceled his t.v. provider to end the ‘infiltration’ of said filth. All in all a good homily. I thanked him on the way out for his ‘spiritual father’ exercise. sumthun like that.
Solid and thoughtful homily – our relationship with God the Father as a relationship with our father, and the importance of prayer. One of the points that Father emphasized was that we have so many examples of Jesus at prayer. If Jesus (who, it might be loosely said, has a special relationship with and understanding of God the Father) takes time to pray, then we have no excuse not to as well.
By their fruits…
The way to identify a false prophet is by watching for someone that will elevate one truth at the expense of other truths. Examples would be appealing to compassion to permit abortion for young rape victims or promoting same sex “marriage”.
The homily at an EF Mass by a diocesan priest this morning was strongly worded and no nonsense.
It began about good & evil fruit, then moved to good & bad tree. He said several times “the tree is sick”. We know this because the fruit is bad.
Hold on, because it’s going to get worse this fall at the next synod.
What do we do?
We have to stay the course; trust scripture and tradition.
Never has fortitude been more important than now.
We must protect, educate and be steadfast. Don’t listen to the wolves.
Pay attention to truth! Reject the noise.
St. Paul tells us the goal is to live a good and decent life and then to live in Heaven.
Giving in to weakness is not the answer.
Ooh! The rare old orthodox Jesuit!
We visited a TLM parish while on vacation in Colorado Springs. The FSSP priest preached on how to protect one’s self from false prophets. One point had to do with what we fill our minds with. We should read less social media and blogs and scandalous postings and occupy ourselves instead with reading the lives of the saints or reading holy scripture.
” Sadly, sometimes priests digress and wind up preaching more than one homily.”
Sometimes (not often) i will lean over to my wife and say, “Father is having trouble landing this baby”. I will often have a FarSide image in mind.
Ordinary Form – The homily was about prayer, based on Father’s experiences as a pastor. A couple points that stuck in my mind:
1) Jesus contrasted the Father’s goodness with you who are “wicked.” It is difficult language for us today, and He was talking even about the best of us – this was a discussion between Him and His disciples. The point, however, is not that we are wicked, but that God’s generosity is greater than our wickedness.
2) Paraphrasing father: “When discussing prayer and faith with those who have lost their faith, it has never been my experience that people stop praying after they lost their faith. Rather, it has always, every time, been that they ceased praying, and then they lost their faith.”
3) Be persistent in prayer, like the neighbor in the Gospel parable, or even like Abraham in the Old Testament. God does not give us everything we ask for the moment we ask, and if He did, we would simply become “spoiled brats.” If we are persistent, however, and if it is truly beneficial to us, He will answer our prayers.
I always enjoy your homilies. Instructive.
[Thanks.]
My pastor began by telling us how much he enjoyed Alan Dershowitz’s book, “Abraham: The World’s First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer;” and how Prof. Dershowitz characterized Abraham’s questioning of the Lord as “chutzpah.” Father transitioned to Niebuhr and the Serenity Prayer; ultimately reflecting on the simplicity, completeness and fatherly intimacy of the Pater noster. As always, he encouraged us to pray daily. A concise, but meaningful sermon.
Quite enjoyed your homily, Father Z. It was a smorgasbord and therefore interesting..
EF low Mass – Father discussed how certain elements within the church preach a false doctrine of inclusion, and said actually, Our Lord does exclude those who won’t follow Him. Father also mentioned that there is a final exclusion that we should fear – being excluded from the beatific vision.
The readings included Abraham talking to God about the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fate of any righteous who may be found in the city; the Gospel was Luke’s account of Jesus teaching his apostles about prayer.
I talked about the “sin of sodom,” with some delicacy, but I attempted to make clear that while it included what happened between two men or two women, there were other sins of sodomy that involved men and women with each other; unnatural acts that deliberately exclude the transmission of life. And I said that America is becoming Sodom; I talked about how that happened and despite feeling powerless, we have the power of prayer. I cited our Lady’s messages to Fatima, including the astounding fact that had the pope acted much sooner, World War II and the Cold War could have been prevented! So God sometimes unlocks graces and gifts only through persistent prayer.