5th Sunday after Pentecost
This sermon considers the teachings of St. Igantius of Loyola on how to make decisions without fear. Ignatian discernment of spirits are linked on my blog as part I and part II.
4th Sunday After Pentecost
Cast into the deep.
10 Years After Summorum Pontificum
Ten years ago this week, Pope Benedict XVi issued an apostolic letter called Summorum Pontificum that decreed that all Roman Catholic priests could offer "the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite," also known as "the Traditional Latin Mass" that preceded Vatican II. In fact, Pope John Paul II had encouraged bishops to allow their priests to do this, but Pope Benedict went a step further in saying that priests did not need permission from their bishop to do the old Mass in private. Restrictions were to be loosened for this Mass offered in public, too. The Roman Catholic priest was also given permission to give the old absolution in Latin for penitents, extreme unction for the dying and early-Church blessings for anyone who asked. The priest can now live on the old calendar for both the Mass and the Roman [...]
The Over-Intellectualization of the Catholic Faith
I have only been a priest for seven years. About halfway through that period, I switched from the Novus Ordo to the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments. It was also during this time that I stopped saying a line that I was famous for in seminary: “We do not have a crisis of sacraments. We have a crisis of catechesis.” I used to say this because I knew how many people received Holy Communion in this country without knowing Who they were receiving. In fact, I put my money where my mouth was: As a young priest, I taught a Eucharistic class just off-campus of Colorado State University, a school with 33,000 students. I called my class “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist” after this excellent book by Dr. Brandt Pitre. Most weeks I had about 50 CSU [...]
3rd Sunday After Pentecost
Are you saved from eternal death by your conscience or by Jesus Christ? The primacy of conscience is the New Jansenism.
Trinity Sunday
Life is a pilgrimage that starts with the Trinity and ends with the Trinity. We'll consider the exitus-reditus of St. Thomas Aquinas in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Nota Bene: Although removed in the 1971 Liturgy of the Hours, the Athansian Creed was in every Roman Breviary for hundreds of years. Here is a good English translation of that supreme confession of the faith in the Trinity: Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the [...]
Mary’s Role in Pentecost
Covered in this podcast is a wide range of Catholic issues, from the first Pentecost to the charismatic movement today, to St. Maximilian Kolbe. We’ll especially consider Mary’s role against demons and the syllabus of errors in modern times. Special thanks again to the Benedictine Nuns of Mary Queen of Apostles for allowing me to use their music as the bumpers to my iTunes sermons and podcasts.
Sermon on Islam
What do Muslims really believe? Although we hear alarming facts in this sermon, I draw from the Qur'an, world history and secular sources like Atlantic Magazine and Washington Post. Towards the end, I quote Catholic sources like this African bishop as well as TFP’s Rosary campaign to defeat ISIS.
Ascension Thursday Sermon
This sermon considers the Ascension in light of the Old Testament.
5th Sunday After Easter: The Precepts of the Church
The old list has six precepts. The new list has five precepts.