Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for the 4th Sunday Sunday after Easter? Novus Ordo – 5th Sunday of Easter.
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
A taste of my thoughts from the other place: HERE
[…]
[H]ow would the “good of the Church” genuinely and certainly be advanced by the removal of the confirmation slap, certainly one of the more famous elements and most memorable of the rite? Next, did that removable represent an organic development? The confirmation slap had been around since at least the 13th century when the liturgical writer William Durandus (+1296) wrote about it. ….
Has the witness to the Faith in the public square by Catholics been easily recognizable in those who would have been confirmed after, say, 1971? There is no question that a web of social and ecclesial issues over the last 50 years has shaped, or misshapen, Catholics. But have we been acting like a body of confirmed believers in the face of challenges from the world, the flesh and the Devil?
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We were advised to “go to confession” and that we should ask for the grace to long even more for heaven.
Attending Holy Ghost FSSP church in Bethlehem PA again, Father gave an interesting homily on faith vs works, brought about because of various Protestant accusations that we Catholics believe we can earn our way into heaven by just doing good works. He did bring out the fact that sometimes as Catholics we can go from faith to superstition, that some thing or act has a kind of magic power, where in reality it is the charity that comes from the act that has the effect.
The church was again packed for the 10:30 Missa Cantata. It is such a privilege to worship there. Unfortunately next week we are back to the novus ordo desert but soon we will be in the Lehigh Valley permanently, God willing.
(1) Attendance was around 100 at the 1330 EF Mass (I’m finding that I attend that unless I’m up overnight on Saturday). Bear in mind, this is a Low Mass – I attend an FSSP parish with four masses across Sunday morning (including a Sung Mass).
(2) The priest gave a fascinating homily on “bad hate” vs “good hate” – the former often arising from envy, the latter essentially being “Look, the sheep and wolf exist in a natural state that could be understood to be ‘hate’ because the wolf wants to eat the sheep and the sheep does not want to be eaten, and so neither can want what is best for the other”. The other main point was, in essence, “Look, if you have friends who aren’t Catholic, don’t hide your faith just to go along to get along and don’t be afraid to nudge them religiously” (which I, at least, take as being distinct from “please hit people over the head with your faith” – I see it as more about limiting the compromises with respect to one’s faith that one should be willing to make [i.e. “No, you really /should/ go for fish, not meat, on Friday even if your friends want to go to Outback, and you shouldn’t fear confronting them on e.g. abortion either”] than anything).
I take the thrust of the combined message as “Don’t go around hating your fellow man, but understand that there will be times and places that your faith will put you into intractable opposition to others and don’t be afraid of this conflict when it comes knocking”. And there’s a tacit acknowledgment that there are forces in the world that are utterly inimical to faith.
I started attending the parish in question about a month ago (I think my first Mass there was on Easter Sunday, actually – I went to the 0700 because the 1330 wasn’t going to be an option). I have noticed that the homilies are – I’d be tempted to riff on the old ad and say “This isn’t your grandfather’s Catholicism” except that it feels very much like it /is/.