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It’s the 19th Sunday after Pentecost in the Vetus Ordo and the 27th Sunday of the Novus Ordo.
Elsewhere I guess Season of Creation is over. It ended on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (cliché, perhaps). Instead, Barrington is now focused on “walking together”.
More importantly, 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:
The faux-comforting chestnut that when someone dies he becomes “an angel” is false, of course. But it is sort of true, in one way. When we die and our souls separate from our bodies, our souls no longer have bodily senses and the appetites and concupiscence that comes from the flesh. This means that, like angels, we cannot change our minds. This is the foundation of the Church’s constant teaching that, at death, we go to our Particular Judgment and… that’s that. We cannot change our minds. We cannot repent such that we can gain the salvation that we had lost during our earthly lives because we died in the state of mortal sin rather than in the state of grace and God’s friendship.
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Traveling again, ended up at a small mission church in a little town in northern Maine for a Saturday Evening Mass. I was impressed how reverent the people were, some ladies in veils and a few went to confession when the priest showed up. The homily given by the Deacon explained how the vines cultivated by God had not borne good fruit but butter wild grapes and how we had to change our lives to bear good fruit by doing God’s will.
“It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” 2 Maccabees 12:46 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)
Latin Mass in Calgary Alberta was booming as usual. Went to the 7am low mass and it was packed with young, blossoming families.
We learnt about the elect, and that sin should be horrifying to us. A possible sign of being the elect is a persecution in defending what is true. I sense Father was guiding us to hold fast to what we know is revealed truth, even if those who should be confirming the brethren are not.
Father emphasized greatly the need to GO TO CONFESSION.
Today is the anniversary of my fourth sons Baptism at the Toronto Oratory. Neri, Ancina, Sirleto, intercede for us.
My parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Grand Rapids, Mich. will host the relic of St Jude tomorrow (Mon. 9-Oct-2023), with a Votive TLM at 7pm. Veneration is available from 1pm until 10pm.
This is the first time St Jude’s relic has ever left Rome. For many American Christians, this might be our only chance to venerate the relic of a saint who touched Our Lord. Amazing!
https://apostleoftheimpossible.com/
i probably can’t do justice to this homily from the parochial vicar who also teaches Scripture at the local seminary.
He started by noting that he was shaken today by the events in the Holy Land. He has friends in Bethlehem and he is unable to contact them or learn of what is occurring there. He then quoted the reading from Philippians: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”
This is part of the great kenotic hymn – kenotic referring to our Lord’s having emptied Himself, leaving the bliss and security of Heaven to enter this broken world so that by so doing, he could raise up some of the people of this world to Heaven. In doing this, Christ displayed the ultimate compassion. Compassion means to suffer with someone. Since we are Christians, we are to follow in His example and share in the sufferings of others and by so doing to make them more bearable. Surely you know people who are experiencing difficult relationships in their families, illness, financial uncertainty, or other difficulties. Likely you are experiencing some of those too. We need each other’s help and if we are followers of Christ, we need to help other people facing their difficulties.
two big ways this help can be accomplished are the rosary, and the intercession of the saints.
Father described a crisis he experienced while a seminarian in which he not only decided to leave the seminary, but to renounce the Faith (yes, South American Jesuits figured in the telling of the tale) while riding a bus. He realized he would have to give away the Rosary that had been in his pocket for many years. When he pulled out the Rosary, out of habit he prayed it. The difficulties and doubts that had pushed him to the rash decision melted and he felt as never before the love that our Lord and our Lady have for him. He then discussed how and why to pray the Rosary in a better way than i’ve ever heard in a homily.
Tradition tells us that the angels and saints are in some way present at each Mass. While this is a very large building, the number of angels and saints here right now is beyond our comprehension. the saints lived compassion while on Earth and have had it perfected in themselves now in Heaven. Ask for their prayers. They are eager to help.
He then closed by leading us in a litany of the saints.
I’m so grateful not only to have him at the parish, but that he is helping to form the next generation of priests.
Outstanding homily today. Father compared the Scribes and Pharisees to the wretched workers in the vineyard who killed the servants and the heir and then reminded us that we, too, can become wretched through improperly judging others, especially those who are coming to church in search of Christ in the Eucharist. Who are we, Father asked, to impede their path to Christ? God owns the vineyard, not us. It was clear to me that Father was reminding us that there is an important place in the Church for the Latin Mass, which isn’t an opinion I’ve heard from any other homilist in this parish. (In fairness, this isn’t our parish, but we attend Mass there occasionally.)
I am not doing this homily justice at all, sorry. Father made all of his points clearly and succinctly in a way that invited us all to examine our consciences and ask God to guide us to the work that He wants us to do for His glory, while at the same time reminding us that only God should be judging the laborers.
Also, Father asked us all to pray fervently for peace in the Holy Land, where so many innocent people have already lost their lives, been wounded, or taken hostage, and for peace in the entire Middle East.
Our priest recently spent a couple weeks in Fiji, visiting villages that haven’t seen a Priest in over thirty years, where attending Sunday mass would mean traveling all day Saturday, mostly by foot. and how we have so much that we take for granted.
He talked about the catechists who travel from village to village, taking care of people, and how one village, in particular, was only accessible by foot, through the jungle, and getting there required crossing the same river twelve times.
He spoke of the first Catholic missionaries who arrived there, how the Methodists had gotten there first, and how the methodist communities were well cared for, but the Catholics had nothing.
He said that those people will be first when it comes to the rewards of Heaven, because they persist with nothing.
I feel very small, right now.