Share the good stuff.
It’s the 5th Sunday after Pentecost in the Vetus Ordo and the 13th Sunday of the Novus Ordo.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
I have some thoughts about the Sunday Epistle reading posted at One Peter Five.
A taste:
I was recently reminded of something from the life of St. Thérèse, the Little Flower. When in choir, there was an older nun that was behind St. Thérèse, the seniors being in the upper stalls and the juniors below. This older nun drove St. Thérèse crazy with noise that she would make, sounding like “two shells being rubbed together.” What would make such a noise? Perhaps ill-fitting dentures or rosary beads drawn across her teeth. St. Thérèse found it vexing until she determined that what was so annoying perhaps sounded like music to Christ. She was surely acting under the influence of grace in that, but it was also an act of her will. She made a choice about how she would deal with the annoyance.
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I went to 9 AM Mass at my home parish and it was a lovely Novus Ordo Mass. Father John E. Donia gave a great homily and I love that he paused for reflection before the Penitential Act. We did the full Confiteor and what could be better than beginning with “Lift High the Cross,” one of my favorite hymns.
Father’s presentation of the Readings and Gospel is that Jesus invites us to love others, especially our families, with a devotion and passion, without losing sight of our greater love for G-d, in which we acknowledge Him as the author of all that is good, all that we love in our lives.
My only gripe is that we used the “Mass of St. Ignatius,” a mass format of dubious value since, after almost two years of it, no one knows it… Not even our priests and deacons. This is hardly surprising because it is musically inarticulate, by which I mean that it appears to intentionally break all of the rules of musical progression. One cannot even begin to guess where the next note will go… which I am sure made the writer feel fantastic about their cleverness but one wonders why it is forced upon us in the Philadelphia Archdiocese since so many of our fellow regular diocese Catholics do not have to suffer through it.
Perhaps this is a wide interpretation of “good news,” however, this seems to be as meet a place as any to share my latest discovery… this guy:
https://youtube.com/@lectionesantiquae3090
https://www.lectionesantiquae.com/
He records some of the readings in Latin, in a fine cadence, and posts them on youtube and his website. He has also done full recordings of several books of the Bible, and a number of Classical texts (Cicero, Caesar, Seneca) all with the ecclesiastical pronunciation. Just the other day I was really enjoying the first book of the Gallic Wars.
An excellent resource for anyone who desires to tske their Latin listening skills to the next level. This guy deserves some serious accolades.
We had a guest preacher today for a mission appeal. He’s a priest of our diocese, but an immigrant from Vietnam.
First part highlights: “the world today pays less attention to teachers than to witnesses” – thus how we conduct ourselves is what can attract others to Christ. the great quote from St. Teresa of Avila
“Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
That was imo a brilliant lead in to the appeal for his native diocese in Vietnam. Thirty new seminarians each of the past five years when the communist government had long limited them to six.
At my usual TLM, which I think has grown in attendance over the past few years, the priest mentioned that today is also the feast of the Visitation. Some time ago I had become attracted to idea that it would make more sense for the feast of the Visitation to be held on a date when Mary and Elizabeth were both pregnant, i.e. between March 25 and June 24, since they were both pregnant when Mary arrived. The priest, however, in his homily said that July 2 is the anniversary of the day when Mary left Elizabeth, i.e. the completion of the Visitation. I had never heard that before. Moreover, even though I have long been aware that the visit lasted three months, nevertheless it had never previously occurred to me that a July 2 date would be about the date of its completion. I needed Father today to point that out, and so help me see that celebrating feast on July 2 makes a great deal of sense.
Father Steve had a fantastic, powerful homily today. He talked about how we must not accept cohabitation and/or gay “marriage” in our families. It is better to hurt someone’s feelings now than to go to hell for not standing up for the truth that this is a mortal sin.
He added that our children/grandchildren who are cohabitating or in civil relationships should not be allowed to sleep in the same room in our homes.
Unfortunately, this sin affects our son and my husband and I were advised by a different priest not to stay in his home if he insists on sleeping with his “partner”.
I appreciated Father’s courage in addressing this as an example as how we are forbidden from loving anyone, even our children, more than God.
Novus Ordo Mass at Saint Anthony’s Monastery, Kennebunkport, ME. The senior friar priest, Fr. John Bacevicius, OFM, gave one of his very strong homilies, saying how we know that we love Jesus more than anything else, is if we follow his commandments. He then gave several examples of how we fail in loving Christ above all when we choose evil behavior or omissions. He certainly convicted me. Unfortunately he will not be preaching on July 4, but memory from past such sermons says look at Ezekiel 5.
Father, I appreciated your analysis of the passage by St. Peter in your One Peter Five article at the link. You mentioned that in the RSV the central passage is set off because of its hymn-like quality. I thought you might want to add that the passage has, not just hymn-like quality, but Psalm quality — St. Peter is quoting Psalm 33. :)
Psalm 33 (KJV translation for most beautiful and solemn English):
12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
With prayers and best wishes, David
I connected St. Paul’s words in Romans about baptism being a share in Christ’s death (2nd reading) and the Lord’s invitation to take up the Cross with Independence Day, by proposing that our nation needs a collective “baptism.” Our nation idolizes the concept of “choice,” and our task as Christians is to help our nation realize choosing the Good is more important than the good of choosing. I talked about our nation’s conscience continuing to need stirring, because the alternative is frightening. The “stirring” is our job.
Ion the OF, I talked about how we understand “whoever does not take up his cross” is from hindsight. Nobody Our Lord was speaking could even imagine Him being crucified. He was giving them and us a means of preparation to follow Him. It’s a total and complete self giving with the understanding we might have to undergo any persecution or suffering if we follow as He expects. Connected this to some current day persecutions.
In the EF I talked about Peter’s knowledge of Christ coming from the Father. Our Lord asked and everyone gave opinions about Who He was. the only acceptable response came through the Father’s infusion of divine revelation into Peter’s soul. Our Lord does not care about our opinions. He doesn’t care about the world’s opinions. Nor does He care about some committee’s opinions. Our Lord wants us to be rooted in moral and doctrinal truth. It’s the only way to our eternal salvation.
We have a new pastor- his first sermon was why he became a priest and the importance of the sacraments and especially the Eucharist. I wish I had it recorded. Really, really good homily on the Eucharist and the Real Presence