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 19th Sunday after Pentecost, the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Novus Ordo.
Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?
A couple thoughts about the sign of the cross: HERE A taste…
[…]
Paul’s metaphor of “putting on” links beautifully with the Gospel’s image of the wedding garment in Matthew 22: the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a wedding feast prepared by a king for his son. Many are invited but refuse to come; others kill the servants who brought the invitation. The king then invites everyone from the streets, yet when he finds a man without a wedding garment, he casts him out “hand and foot” into the outer darkness. The parable’s twist, as St. Gregory the Great comments in Homiliae in Evangelia (38.9), reveals that the garment signifies love:
What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy Church. He may have faith, but he does not have love.
Love, then, is the garment that clothes the new man. Without it, even the guest within the banquet hall is lost.
[…]
Loading ...
The priest at the Benedictine abbey said that with our prayer and gifts for the mission, we are like Aaron and Hur (first reading), supporting the missionaries just like they supported Moses.
We, who from infancy have known the sacred Scriptures, have known Jesus (second reading), should show solidarity with the heathens who have never heard about Jesus or haven’t heard enough about Jesus. And, sadly, he remarked that our country has become a missionary country. We should be thankful for priests from India, Africa and Southern America for coming to the Netherlands to keep the fire of the faith burning.
He also alluded to the Sermon on the Mount, saying that Jesus taught us that prayer must be accompanied by fasting, and fasting by almsgiving. Prayer must cost us something in order that it may be fruitful. When we can do nothing else for another person, when everything seems lost, we can pray for that person and that’s the most valuable thing we can give.
We must fight for the truth and we should ask ourselves how much God is worth for us. The priest announced that there would be taken just one collection, the entire proceeds of which were going to be sent to the mission. Take this one chance, he said, to show your best side. To give with the knowledge that you’ll receive just as you have given. He ended his sermon with the words (translated into English): seize your chance, and God will reward you.
Today, I witnessed nothing short of an act of heroism on the part of my parish priest. He was courageous enough to ask the congregation NOT to purchase anything from the back of our church because it is the Sabbath and it would be scandalous to do so. He very bravely stood up to whomever was responsible for selling wares at our church on the holy day. He didn’t want to incur a mortal sin by encouraging us to shop. Pray for him. He’s young and very devout and is an inspiration to those who struggle to live the Truth of Our Lord.
A Norbertine Priest from St Michael’s Abbey was filling in for our Pastor. Our priest was in Denton, Nebraska- As one of our parishioners was receiving the Tonsure with the FSSP. Our parish has 4 more men in seminary in other locations. Plus 3 men and one lady with religious vocations.
Today Father spoke about St Paul’s admonition – “Put on the new man.” The wedding garment. Being clothed in charity.
In the Ordinary Form Mass, our parochial vicar delivered the homily, teaching us about the typology and significance of the altar crucifix, such as is found in the Benedictine altar arrangement, an image of Christ crucified placed upon the altar.
Perseverance, trust, and patient endurance in times of trial. Prayer without ceasing.
Our pastor gave a good homily about prayer (from the N.O. 29th Ordinary Sunday readings). He talked about how Adam and Eve only realized their nakedness when they stopped relying on God, and how prayer is our way of expressing trusting reliance on him.
When Father mentioned Adam and Eve being naked, my two-year-old boy looked up and asked loudly, “Who’s naked!?” Our pastor was dying laughing about it after.
I’m traveling and went to a diocesan Mass away from home. While speaking about the need for a righteous holy anger during these difficult times, Fr read most of Bishop Strickland’s “Urgent Message” regarding a recent Vatican appointment without, if I recall correctly, mentioning the individual appointed.
Pastor of my new parish outdid himself, as did the short-handed schola. (being in schola is such a joy!)
In the Hebrew language, each word has a numeric value since the letters were also used as numerals. Amalek and doubt have the same numeric value, so the battle against Amalek was also a battle against doubt. In the battle against Amalek, Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ tired arms. Prayer is like this. sometimes we get weary and we rely on the prayers of others. At other times we intercede for those in need. (aside: this has long been one of my favorite OT vignettes)
St. Cleopatra lived in the fourth century in Syria. she was a widow with one son, a centurion in a Roman legion. She witnessed the martyrdom of St. Varus, collected his relics, and a built a church in his honor. shortly after this, her son suddenly died (no mention was made whether this was in line of duty or otherwise). she barraged St. Varus with prayers that her son be raised from the dead. She did not receive that outcome. Instead she had a vision of her son with St. Varus in heaven.
This parish was manned by Jesuits until two years ago when they ran out of Jesuits* and there’s a lovely window of St. Ignatius above the choir loft, so it’s dulce et decorum that mention was made of the North American Martyrs. Father enumerated the numerous horrifying tortures they underwent at the hands of Hurons. I had forgotten that St. Isaac Jogues was rescued and returned to France and that while there his most ardent prayer was that he could go back to the Hurons. His intention was granted him.
* now manned by the Community of St. John which is also Ignatian, but not in the least progressive. it was formed in France a bit more than 50 years ago. there has been a major demographic shift in the parish in the past two years, as one can readily imagine.
We have a priest from Uganda in our parish who came to learn the TLM, but just as he was due to go back, WuFlu hit and we still have him. Due to the pitch of his voice, the mic, and the acoustics of the building, I usually struggle to hear more than the occasional stray word of his sermon, but I recently acquired OTC hearing aids and actually caught more of it! We were taking a collection for the missions, and he noted that he was aware that, in Uganda, he likely directly benefitted from such collections, but during a different part of the sermon he noted that a lot of the recipients and beneficiaries of mission funds, in our current world, can expect to die for their newfound faith. I’ve never had a good sense of this priest’s personality, but he directly connected the collection to fundraising to create martyrs. Such is the “religion of peace” in Africa…
(Raises hand) Diocese of Charlotte, checking in:
Loads of new people at the SSPX chapel, and all thrilled to be there. Relief and joy is the best way I can describe the vibe. Even better that we had board games, a fire in the fireplace, scotch, guitar and fiddle playing and swing dance lessons.
BOARD GAMES….?!??!??
May I hope…?
Yes, of course, Father. We have chess after every Sung Mass. LOL