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 Sunday, more than likely Corpus Christi transferred from Thursday?
Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
A taste of what I offered at 1 Peter 5 this week. I wrote about the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost but related it to the great feasts nearby.
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The fiery tongues of Pentecost have fallen. The ancient Ember Days have passed behind us. Trinity Sunday has crowned the revelation of the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Corpus Christi has placed before our eyes the living Bread descended from heaven. In a handful of days, the Sacred Heart will show us the furnace from which that Bread was given, the pierced Heart from which the Church and the Sacraments flowed.
Now Holy Church clothes herself again in green, the color of hope and growth, and sends us into the long campaign of the Sundays after Pentecost.
This is the first green Sunday after the great Lent and Easter cycle, since Trinity Sunday takes the place of the First Sunday after Pentecost. It feels like an opening. This Sunday, the 2nd after Pentecost, brings us to the practical school of grace. The mysteries have been poured in. Now the Church says, in effect, “ITE.” Go. Live from them.
Dom Pius Parsch called the time after Pentecost a “Golden Bridge from Earth to Heaven.” He saw in these Sundays three great themes: Baptism and its graces, the long conflict between the two camps, and preparation for the Second Advent of the Lord. Every Sunday is a small Easter, because Baptism has plunged us into Christ’s death and resurrection. Yet Baptism has not transported us into a paradise without struggle. We remain placed in the kingdom of God while surrounded by the kingdom of the world. Adam’s legacy clings to us. Our souls waver. The Church, mother and fortress, trains us for battle. She feeds us with the Word. She strengthens us still more with Holy Communion. Another battles in us and for us: Christ, always Mightier, vanquishes the mundane mighty.
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Our parish had celebrated Corpus Christi on Thursday with a High Mass, so Sunday was the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, although they were planning a procession after the 10:30 AM High Mass. Due to various family reasons too long to go into here, we had to attend the 7 AM Low Mass.
In the sermon Father related how he had recently visited the Vendee in France and described a little of the history of this uprising of common people against the atheism of the French Revolution, people who just wanted to worship God as they always had done (does that sound familiar?). There was a man who the people wanted as a leader but he literally hid under the bed to avoid being chosen. He did eventually take a leadership role and died as a martyr fighting for religious freedom.
We too are in a fight, not with guns and pitchforks (at least not yet) but a spiritual battle against the forces in the world around us and the forces of Satan. We must not hide under the bed but need to fight back just as the people of the Vendee did.
Father read quotations from St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine about the “one loaf”. both were to the point that in a loaf of bread, the individual grains can no longer be distinguished from each other, but because they have been moistened, ground, and baked, they comprise the one loaf. so it is for Christians: we are moistened in baptism; ground by our repentance, prayer, and penance; and baked by the fire of the Holy Spirit. He then read lines from the Lauda Sion which he had chanted a few moments earlier, translated them, and expounded.
We had a short procession, but it felt long in the 90 degree heat and relentless sun. Choir was short-handed, but we pulled it off including the Mozart Ave Verum Corpus with me as the only bass, a baritone singing tenor, and but one soprano.
I have started going to an SSPX chapel nearby (scouting out candidate catacombs). In the sermon this Sunday (Corpus Christi Solemnity), the priest did mention the upcoming SSPX consecrations, but a point he emphasized was that we had to guard against the temptation to relish a smug pride of superiority in having “picked the right side” in the controversy surrounding the consecrations, rather than staying focused on the underlying Truth Himself. The chapel is located out in a rural area, so they had a very beautiful procession. It included stops for adoration at altars set up at 2 private houses along the procession route.
The priest started his sermon by saying that he would have preferred to place the monstrance on the altar for 15 minutes instead of giving a sermon, because that would teach us more perfectly than human words ever can capture what the solemnity of Corpus Christi is about. Just looking at Him and He at us. After Mass the monstrance with the consecrated host was put on the altar and the congregation spent a good 10 minutes in silent adoration. Then the Eucharistic blessing was given. It’s nice to notice that the priest knelt on a prie-dieu on our side of the altar, i.e. ad orientem.
Missa Cantata with Panis Angelicus by Franck, Qui Pacem Ponit by Lalouette and Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. We had 18 altar BOYS and a procession and BBQ. Holy Angels in St. Thomas, Ontario. Diocese of London. Father made a few announcements and said, “The Homily today will be preached by Our Blessed Lord through our streets.”