Some notes for your Sunday Mass in the Vetus and the Novus Ordo

For those of you who frequent the Novus Ordo, tomorrow is the 32nd Ordinary Sunday (Year A).  I have something for you over at my newish Substack (which you should visit, subscribe so you’ll get alerts)  HERE

Excerpt:

For a while people criticized education by memorization and repetition. They claimed that children just mouth things they don’t understand. On the other hand, though they might not understand them at the moment, one day in the future they do. When they need it, they remember something important because, long ago, someone made them learn it. Soldiers and sailors gripe during basic training and entertain homicidal thoughts about their drill instructors. Not a few return to their instructors later and thank them. When the time came for that skill or tool or piece of knowledge to be used in a critical moment, they had it. Similarly, in the struggle of spiritual warfare in this vale of tears, the Church’s repetition of readings and orations and devotional prayers and Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope, Love, and many others is to make important things available when we no longer have the luxury of stopping to think everything through from the beginning. In a moment of temptation, in the confusion of a crisis, at the bedside of a dying loved one, or when our own death approaches, we have ready to hand the truths of the Faith and the prayers of the Church. The time to learn them is before we desperately need them.

For those of you who frequent the Vetus Ordo, tomorrow is the 5th Sunday Remaining after Epiphany.  I have something for you at One Peter Five, for which I write a weekly piece.  HERE

Excerpt:

The enemy sowed the weeds “cum dormirent homines… while the men were sleeping”.

This is a warning about negligence and presumption. Errors enter when vigilance slackens. Abuses become habitual when those charged with maintaining discipline neglect their duties. The Enemy is patient, industrious, and highly capable of taking advantage of even small opportunities supplied by sleepy shepherds.

The master’s command to leave the weeds until the harvest aims at the final separation of the wicked from the just. It does not abolish the Church’s obligation to correct error, admonish sinners, protect the innocent, or exercise legitimate discipline. Charity and vigilance must work together, particularly when those in authority have the duty to safeguard souls.  Now should we presume that we can always identify with certainty who belongs among the wheat and who among the tares. A sinner can repent. Someone who appears outwardly respectable may be inwardly corrupt. God sees what human judgment cannot.