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 Quinquagesima Sunday, and in the Novus Ordo the 6th 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:
[…]
Hence, the miracle unfolds “ecclesially”. Bartimaeus is not healed in isolation. Others tell him who passes. Others lead him forward. There is a relay. Charity is already active before sight is restored. Someone tells him who is passing. Someone guides him. Someone repeats the invitation: “Take heart; rise, He is calling you.” The Church speaks that sentence every time she beckons a sinner toward confession, every time she urges a weary soul toward prayer, every time she drags the reluctant toward the altar rail. Lent is not a solitary endurance test. Your neighbor has you. You have your neighbor. “Get this man to CHRIST” is not only a line for Bartimaeus of Jericho. It is a description of Christian charity in action.
Are we not all like Bartimaeus at certain points in our lives?
[…]
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In the NO the first reading is from Sirach. “God does not give you license to sin.” To my mild amazement, Father spoke about freedom not meaning freedom to do whatever you want. Specifically he said — because of something he saw on his recent travels — it’s the parents who are responsible for a little boy appearing in public wearing girls’ things, and that the parents are not thinking through the consequences the child will face. There was more in his homily, but I wanted to stand up and cheer just for that.
We also had the OF readings, and Father preached on how the Gospel readings (the “but I say to you” one from Matthew 5:20) calls us to do more than the minimum, but also not to compete like the less perfect one is a loser. Love is just not satisfied with the minimum okayness.
The idea is to be the best you can be, getting better whenever we can, and not trying to just win a one-time achievement. We are always training to go further, like an athlete who is not satisfied with winning one race or one fight. We improve along a whole lifetime.
Father did include stuff to prevent scrupulosity or talking oneself down into hopelessness, which is something to think about with college kids in spring semesters.
The readings were Novus Ordo. Father discussed getting to the root of systemic sins and constantly working to eliminate them. He also recommended fasting throughout Lent and not just for two days. Father is also conducting a trial run of additional confession times and tweaking daily Mass times to encourage greater accessibility.
the parish was under the aegis of Jesuits for its first 99 years until they ran out of Jesuits, so it is not surprising that it has a 1st class relic of St. Claude Colombiere, who is commemorated today. Father exhorted us to seek St. Claude’s intercession for a fruitful Lent given the saint’s own struggles with the discipline of the vows he had taken.
Father quoted at length from a recent book by Bp. Erik Varden – the first Norwegian-born bishop of Trondheim (Norway) since the protestant revolt. This bishop is conducting the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia. the quote from the book was stirring.
Today Father drew on the Gospel insights of Fr Pius Parsch in the Vetus Ordo.
He likens it to a Drama with 3 Acts.
Act I . Old Testament Passion Play.
Abraham will sacrifice a ram, instead of his only son, on the
Same hill that God the Father will sacrifice His only Son.
Act II. Peter’s Grave.
Station Church. Consider ourselves present at the Basilica.
Act III. The Mass we celebrate today.
God has our Lent planned for us. May get penances we didn’t plan .