Tonight's podcast is from the Traditional Latin Mass for the Supper of the Lord (Cena Domini.) This sermon is about the connection between the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood, and why Jesus transfers His suffering and leadership to His priests. We will see that both the leadership and the suffering of priests are for the life of the world.
Myth #1: A priest can give you permission to skip Sunday Mass if you had a very busy weekend (for example, a Saturday wedding.) Truth: Sunday Mass is part of the Third Commandment. A priest can not dispense you from God’s commandments. No sooner could a priest give a frisky married man a dispensation on the 6th commandment for his travels than he could give a person a dispensation for fulfilling a matter of Divine Law. I blogged recently on the different levels of authority here. If you are sick or having a baby or travelling (i.e Mass would be impossible) then there is no sin in missing Sunday Mass. [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
By a strange turn of events, I have to spend a day in Istanbul while trying to get home from Spain—even though it's the opposite direction. The reason this is especially strange is because these two countries were evangelized by the brothers James and John, sons of a Galilean fisherman named Zebedee. These two men became first century Apostles of Jesus Christ. Jesus nicknamed them "Sons of Thunder" because of their attitude towards life. After His resurrection, Our Lord sent St. James to Spain and St. John to Turkey (with His own Blessed Mother.) I flew from James' land to John's land today, and I'm tryıng to navigate a keyboard set up for the Turkish language at 9pm here in the city [...]
Do we walk this Pilgrimage of life alone? Or perhaps alone with God? On the Camino in Spain, I frequently hear young and old people say "Well, everyone has his own Camino!" Indeed, St. John Paul II said that each person is a particular image and likeness of God. So, yes—that means everyone's pilgrimage through life is equally particularized and beautiful. But I think the phrase "Everyone has his own Camino" would have confused JPII a little since he came from a tight-knit Polish family and group of friends, seminarians...notwithstanding the tremendous loss he suffered. Furthermore, that phrase would have never been heard on this Spanish pilgrimage 800 years ago. Why? Because they always [...]
