Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
It is the 4th Sunday of Lent., “Laetare”. The Roman Station is Holy Cross of Jerusalem.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation? (Even when sermons or homilies aren’t great, you can find at least something good to take away.)
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news? We all have heard the bad news. How about good news?
I have a few thoughts about the orations in the Vetus Ordo for this Sunday: HERE
A taste…
God the Son fed the multitudes miraculously multiplying bread and fish in a remote place away from other food sources. The superabundance of the miracle reveals a pattern of deprivation before bounty. We fast before our feasts. Holy Mother Church, the greatest expert in humanity that there has ever been, understands this pattern, reinforced and required by divine revelation. It is reflected in our calendar and in our rites. We are our rites.
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Our canon likened this Sunday to a musical ictus. A pause to look around and rejoice at the spiritual progress made so far. Also, he likened it to mountain climbing. One pauses to look at the view, but then advances upward never looking down and focusing on the small steps one is taking and looking to make sure that a misstep is not taken. As I wrote this down, my 2 year old granddaughter came over and asked to ‘color’ very persistently. So I gave her a ball point pen and an old Marian pocket calendar for her to make her squiggles. She was very quietly occupied. She can already read the letter ‘I’ in IHS.
Giving up fine Mozzarella is a noble thing, but mortifying our interior will is better.
Well attended early Mass, lots of youth serve!
Fr. Fryar, FSSP, at St. Vitus near Los Angeles, leveraged from today’s vetus ordo gospel (feeding the 5000) to remind us to be grateful for God’s bounty at mealtimes.
I have been reading an excellent, scholarly book — which I believe you recommended –Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ.; and one of the themes of Isaiah’s writing is the Israelites’ dependence on God’s protection of His “chosen people” — and the agricultural bounty given to them — if only they would trust in Him instead of . . . .
Attendance at the 7 am Mass was surprisingly good — still in our COVID-era tent because our congregation has seriouly outgrown the church building– despite the early advent of daylight savings time.
Father talked about Psalm 51 and the importance of pleasing God and what that means, and then segueing from talking about how a contrite heart is pleasing to God, he spoke about the importance of confession and urged everyone to to go if it’s been a while.
We are planning a move to the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania and on a recent weekend trip to look at houses we attended mass at Holy Ghost FSSP Church in Bethlehem PA, a stunningly beautiful church originally built by German Catholics as evidenced by the German inscriptions around the walls. To our pleasant surprise the 8:30 AM Mass turned out to be a Missa Cantata (normally it is a low mass) perhaps in honor of Laetare Sunday.
The homily addressed the way we understand scripture, there being 4 aspects to it, the literal and symbolic which in turn is divided into 3 – the allegorical, and I unfortunately forgot the other two terms but the last is one that leads us to heaven. The feeding of the 5000 is often interpreted by modernists as simply people sharing their food which of course denies the true miracle that happened. There are many elements in it that point towards the Eucharist.
I admit I was a bit distracted and don’t really remember much from the sermon. Deacon mentioned that he and Father were wearing rose for Laetare. Fairly well attended anticipatory Mass (quite reluctantly) due to family circumstances at my usual parish. For some reason, the attack of every note on the piano was grating on me. Someone who I hadn’t seen for over a decade said hello to me after returning to the pew behind me from communion; I needed to finish swallowing the host which was half-dissolved on my tongue, as I was attempting to prevent fragments from gathering between my teeth. I fervently pray for greater reverence and sacrality.