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 this traditional 4th Sunday remaining after Epiphany, or, in the Novus Ordo, the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time?
Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
A couple thoughts of my own: HERE A taste…
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Their situation in the storm was like to the end of the world. However, it was also like to the beginning of the world, when there were waters of chaos.
In Genesis God spoke a Word over the chaotic waters and order was the result. In Matthew’s account amidst the chaotic, boat-swamping waters of Galilee, the Word Incarnate Jesus speaks to the wind, rebuking it, to the sea, calming it. In this calming of winds and waters, Jesus revealed Himself to be God.
This episode also ties Christ to the figure in Ps 107, in which frightened people in a storm on the waters, probably also fisherman, cry to God for help. The Lord delivers them.
There’s more peril in this Sunday, but hidden behind the Collect, the first oration of the Mass which goes back to the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604).
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There were several good points made in the homily today. We visited the local Byzantine Catholic parish and Father gave a rousing 20+ minute homily that did not drag at all. It was really a great call to action on the eve of the election in these United States. Divine Liturgy was packed as well, lots of young families and young people.
He tied the Epistle directly to the situation we’re facing in this country and to the election. He started off by saying he was going to read a social commentary on the said and piteous state of our culture, without telling us the author. I honestly thought it was some political pundit, and that it would be from some unexpected source in the media. I was legitimately surprised when he announced after reading the selection that it was written in 1937… and was from Pope Pius XI. It honestly read to me like it could’ve been written last week. Basically, Father spent the first few minutes reading “Divini redemptoris”, specifically from paragraphs 9 and 11.
He then brought up the election and told us that if we want to make our culture one that “recognizes the authority of the Divine Majesty” (DR 74), then we mustn’t just simply pray for Trump or Harris to win, but rather look to what Father called “the cosmic reality”. He said to instead pray that God’s plan be made manifest and that it unfolds in the way God wills; whatever that plan may be, we must solely put our trust in Him and not in any mere man.
The Epistle came from Ephesians 2:14-22, and this is where he tied the bulk of the homily to, along with Pius XI’s encyclical. In this reading, St. Paul says we “are no longer sojourners, but are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. So Father basically told us that as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we shouldn’t put our trust in any candidate, but rather put our trust squarely in Christ.
Quoting again from Pius XI, he said that we as “the sons of light” must fight the “sons of darkness”. How do we do this? He said we listen to the Pope who hoped that “the fanaticism with which the sons of darkness work day and night at their materialistic and atheistic propaganda will at least serve the holy purpose of stimulating the sons of light to a like and even greater zeal for the honor of the Divine Majesty” (DR 39).
When WE as Catholic Christians fight, Christ works through US, and Christ’s plan is therefore unable to unfold in the world. No candidate will save us, but if we wish to be saved (and see our loved ones and neighbors saved), we must be on fire with great zeal for our Lord Jesus. Then and only then will we see our culture change for the better, and get out of the hellish landscape that Pius XI described all the way back in the 1930’s.
What stood out for me in Father’s sermon was that before Jesus said to the Apostles ‘O ye of little faith’ he first asked them, ‘Why are you fearful?’
Father said the Apostles didn’t answer Jesus, nor was Jesus expecting an answer. Jesus didn’t rebuke the Apostles; rather He turned and rebuked the winds and the sea which were threatening the people He loved.
It may not seem like much but I was struck by the love Jesus has for us. His question to all of us, ‘why are you fearful?’ reveals His sadness at our lack of trust in His love.