Wedding Homily from the Mountains
This is today's homily, the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the TLM calendar, preached in Steamboat Springs for this new groom and bride, Keenan Fitzpatrick and Brianna Fitzpatrick (née Lawson.)
Anti-Slavery Theology on Tap
Today is the feast of the 7 Sorrows of Mary. I'm convinced that if she had an 8th and 9th sword pierce her heart, they would be abortion and child sex-slavery. Regarding all forms of slavery, in fact, there are more slaves today than there were during the days of the Trans-Atlantic slave-trade. Today, there are between 20,000,000 and 40,000,000 slaves in the world. The numbers include such a wide range because of the hiddenness of the modern industry. We know that close to 100,000 of these slaves are child-sex-slaves here in the United States, most of whom were born here in the USA. Below is a Theology on Tap (1 hour) that I did in Colorado last year with my good friend, Loren Fardulis, an evangelical protestant who has done much on this front. (If you don't have time to [...]
Men are the Problem. Men are the Solution.
In the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (Traditional Latin Mass Calendar) the Apostle Paul writes I bow my knees before the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.—Eph 3. In the homily I only quoted five of these, but included here 1) To all those who shall recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great graces. 2) Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace. 3) The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin, and dispel heresy. 4) The Rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it will substitute in hearts love of God for love of the world, and will lift them to the desire of [...]
9/11 Hope
Bear with the background story before a bit of a show-stopper. My good friend Msgr. Philip Reilly, founder of Helper of God's Precious Infants is my hero of diocesan life. This Irish priest from NYC fasts all day (until 5pm) in front of an abortion mill in Brooklyn. God has closed over 60 abortion clinics due to his work. He trained the Franciscan Friars in sidewalk counseling. They believe he'll be canonized (literally, not figuratively.) This man lives all three munera of the priesthood to the maximum! (See my last post to get that one.) In any case, he was in front of an abortion clinic in Brooklyn when he could see the towers in Manhattan go down 14 years ago today. Msgr. Reilly had a priest friend in lower Manhattan at the time, and this is a little known (but [...]
End of the Priesthood
Today is the feast of the 17th century Jesuit, St. Peter Claver. He's seen above in his untiring work in Cartagena, Columbia to the slaves who were brought there from Africa. The "end of the priesthood" doesn't mean that the Catholic priesthood is coming to an end. By "end," I mean the final-end of something. As I wrote in the post The End of the Mass, "end" simply means telos or goal of its existence. What is the end of the priesthood? The answer: The glory of God and the salvation of souls. What is the means to this end? If you answer "the sacraments," then you're only a third correct. The Catholic Church (even Canon Law) teaches that there are three munera (gifts or duties) to the holy priesthood that are necessary for the salvation of souls: 1) Teach (Teaching [...]
Offertory
A friend recently e-mailed me and he said that reading my blog is "like drinking sparkling water while pulling nose hairs." Well, this is going to be one of those sparkling water ones without the pulling of nose hairs. Despite the seemingly-boring topic of this post, the Offertory of the Mass, I’m going to make a tall promise: What I show you on the Offertory of the Mass will transform your weekly worship into something new, interpersonal, meaningful and even thrilling if you enact it, as Mega-Churchy as that promise sounds. The offertory is the part of the Mass after the homily when the priest prepares the altar for the sacrifice. In sung Masses, the offertory prayer is sung. In the sung Latin Mass (TLM) the offertory prayer is sung by the choir and whispered by the priest. In the vernacular Mass (Novus Ordo, say, in English) it's sung by the priest. [...]
Trust or Virtue?
Salvation is a free gift that we receive from God at our baptism (1 Pt 3:21.) However, for salvation to be realized, we must cooperate in a life of virtue (Mt 24:13). Maybe we ask the question: Does virtue come from God or from me? Even the gift of virtue or discipline comes from God. While some Catholics try to earn their way to heaven without any trust in Jesus Christ, other Catholics commit the opposite heresy of “once saved always saved,” which usually leads to a life of laziness. This post is not a Scriptural apologetic for the Catholic view of salvation. It’s a short writing where I look at a few clues from the saints to understand the balance of trust and virtue. A post on Scripturally-defending-the-Catholic-view-of-salvation would be very fun and easy for me. But this topic [...]
Marriage Defenders: Part 2 of 2
A friend of mine who is a beautiful wife and mother of seven children was in a supermarket this week. A 50 year old man stopped her and then sarcastically asked her if she knew what "caused" having seven kids. She texted me about this and then added her and her husband's thoughts on this: Some days the world just wears you down and a part of you starts to feel like maybe you are a freak. Not just about having a lot of kids, but about everything. And then you realize you need to spend some time in adoration and start to once again see life through Jesus' eyes and not the world's. The world is so blind and hard-hearted that what is beautiful and sacred just can't be comprehended by it. Why is the world so hard-hearted to [...]
Marriage Defenders: Part 1 of 2
The reason why the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox hesitantly accept divorce and remarriage today can be traced back to a 9th century synod, where Greece had a pre-emptive episode of England’s Henry VIII’s libido issues. In fact, the Greek bishops of the 9th century held a synod to recognize the legitimacy of the emperor Constantine’s second marriage. A Greek monk, St. Theodore, stood alone in the breach, calling this synod the “Adultery-Synod,” moecho-synodus in Greek. Like history that would be repeated seven hundred years later in England with Henry VIII versus St. Thomas More, the Greek bishops and the emperor stood behind the synod of adultery, not behind the saint. St. Theodore the Studite was also a champion in speaking against slavery and iconoclasm (removing pictures from Churches.) But in upholding traditional marriage, he suffered the most. He was whipped, imprisoned [...]
9+1 Little Lepers
Homily from the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 2015, Traditional Latin Mass calendar: