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 Sexagesima Sunday, and in the Novus Ordo the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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:
[…]
Standing by Paul’s tomb, the Church listens to Paul speak of himself in a way that unsettles modern expectations of authority. The Epistle spans what we now call 2 Corinthians 11:19–33 and 12:1–9, divisions unknown to Paul himself. In the first movement, Paul catalogs his sufferings in relentless detail. Beatings, shipwrecks, hunger, exposure, betrayal, danger from enemies and false brethren. He does so in response to accusations from some in Corinth who dismissed him as unimpressive, unskilled, even fraudulent. Paul answers by exposing the true cost of discipleship. Apostolic authority is authenticated by conformity to the Crucified. To belong to Christ entails being handed over to weakness, insult, hardship, persecution, and calamity.
Yet Paul does not stop with visible sufferings. He moves, at the precise point where modern editors placed a chapter break, into territory even more dangerous to describe.
[…]
Loading ...
our Priest in the 5th Sunday in the Ordinary Time, explained about the Gesima Weeks (last week we start to abstain from Meat, this week from milk, and next week from eggs) without mentioning the names, this according to him to recalibrating our senses toward the Lent. When I asked him in private, he said, “when people heard the names, they will start to freaking out.. oh you are traditionalist… ” he said “every good things whether from the Mass of the Ages or from the Novus Ordo, is the Catholic things and we should and must preserve.”
btw, he is one of the priest who years ago, ever wrote about the mutual enrichment in the adoremus.org.
NO, Gospel about disciples being “salt of the earth” and “light of the world”:
A good point was made that salt and light can have both creative and destructive effects. Salt both preserves and sterilizes, enhancing flavour but also poisoning sometimes (the example of Roman armies salting arable fields when destroying a city and its economy was used). Similarly light not only illuminates and shows the way forward, it can also expose dirt and rot to be eliminated. The role of Christians as salt and light for the world fulfils both these positive and negative aspects. If we lose the saltiness of our baptismal commitment and hide our light under a cover of cowardice and complacency, we not only fail to enhance the world in a positive way, we also fail to expose evil and eliminate it from society as we should by our words and example.
Due to the after effects of weather and extreme cold, we ended up at the local Novus Ordo church on Sunday where we heard a gem of a sermon on the familiar Gospel passage on salt and light.
Note that Jesus says “you ARE the salt of the earth” and “you ARE the light of the world” not that you are becoming the salt of the earth or light of the world. We were made salt and light at baptism. Salt was and is very important as a preservative and to add flavor. We can do the same to those around us. We must not put our light under a bushel basket but let others be illuminated by the word of God. This can just be how we live our daily lives.
After some opening remarks as is often his wont, the pastor referred to the martyrology of the day.
The world today is full of activism. People seek to rectify various injustices. Without the Lord this is useless. If there could be a world where everyone was treated fairly but the Lord was ignored, it would just be a pleasant waiting room for Hell. Worse, people let the existence of various injustices prompt them to furious reactions often more grievous than the original injustice.
Then he gave a stirring account of the life of St. Josephine Bakhita – someone who suffered more injustice than most of us can imagine, yet she harbored no bitterness. The parish has a first class relic of her in a reliquary in the style of an eastern icon. It is permanently displayed at the Marian altar*.
Then he gave an account of one of the founders of the Trinitarian order. This order had as its principle aim the ransoming of captives. In the late XIII century, Barbary pirates seized and enslaved many Christians. St. John of Matha took a ship to (iirc) Tunis and ransomed about 250 Christian slaves. Pirates attacked the ship on its northbound journey. These pirates oddly enough just wanted to shipwreck the Christians, and so they stole the sails from the ship and – by some accounts – wrecked the rudder. St. John did not panic. He did not give in to despair or seek some human help. He hung the heavy cloaks of the friars on the masts, knelt on the deck, and prayed. The ship safely reached Ostia several days later.
*after Mass I paused before said relic, prayed for a few people including Mama Z, and snapped a photo
Father brought in the Angelic Doctor to share his thoughts on the Sower and the Seeds.
The Church is a vineyard and a field. Wine and Bread are spiritual fruits. Wine makes us joyful. Bread makes us strong.
In Christ’s Humanity is the Vine. The Holy Trinity plants the Vineyard. Seeds are Peace, Truth and Love.
Our priest preached about the importance of frequent confession. In his exact words: “get in the box.”
You’d have to meet him in person to get the impact of those words. For me, it really helped me to think about receiving that Sacrament less scrupulously. Just get in the box, be sincere, contrite, and humble, and let God be the one who heals. Don’t make it this scary thing you have to do to be a good Catholic.