Food for thought from the Russian Patriarch

"In the web space groups of church liberals and conservatives are appearing that are not looking for the truth, divine truth but a means of finding fault, stinging each other. This is a very sad tendency." Patriarch Kirill of Moscow

I'll admit that I have been guilty of this in the past.









h/t Byzantine Texas
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Great way to think about the Sabbath

The Sabbath is a day for the sake of life. Man is not a beast of burden, and the Sabbath is not for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of work. ... The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the workdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude but the climax of living.

Abraham Heschel, The Sabbath

 

H/t to Happy Catholic

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"Why the hurry?"

“Why the hurry? Do people in love hurry when they are saying goodbye? They seem to be going and then they don’t go; they turn back again and again; they repeat quite ordinary words as if they had just discovered their meaning... Please don’t take exception to my applying to the things of God the example of noble and fine human love. If we love God with our heart of flesh – and we have no other – we will not be in a hurry to finish this meeting, this loving appointment with Him.”
St Josemaria Escriva on leaving Mass

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When the homily is blah

I was reading a post over at Restless Pilgrim about people leaving the Catholic Church because the priest's homilies are boring. What to do?
His five suggestions:

1. It’s not about entertainment. I know this is tough to hear, but the purpose of the homily is not to entertain, but to explain the Scriptures and to exhort you to holiness. One would hope that the priest would do this in an engaging manner, but this may not always be the case. If your priest is opening up the Scriptures and encouraging sanctity then you have a lot for which to be thankful.

2. Pray for your priest. If you want a better preacher, pray for the one you’ve got! When I returned full-time to the Catholic Church I was really disappointed with a lot of homilies I heard. In response to this, I got into the habit of praying for my priest during the week, as well as saying a short prayer for him just before the homily:

“Lord Jesus, please fill this man with Your Spirit. Increase in him the gift of speaking. May he speak Your Word with truth, love and boldness. Amen”

If the prayer of the righteous is powerful (James 5:16)….then hit your knees!

3. Listen. Out of love for Christ and respect for the priestly office, don’t switch off, but listen attentively. In addition to praying for the priest before the homily, how about praying for yourself too?

“Come Holy Spirit. Open my heart and mind to hear the words which are about to be spoken through Your minister. Help me to be receptive to what it is you want me to hear today.”

Matthew Kelly has this suggestion: just look for the one thing. As the priest is speaking, listen out for something which you can take to heart and apply to your life in the coming week. I can guarantee you that pretty much every homily will have something in it that you can take on board and which will help you live a more authentic Christian life.

4. Supplement your diet. If you want to get more out of the homily, put more into it! Spend some time with the Scriptures prior to Mass so that you become more familiar with them. You could read a commentary on the Readings to help you understand them more fully.

Since I started trying to get physically fit again, I’ve been taking food supplements. This means that, even if some of my meals are a bit substandard, I still get a good dose of vitamins every day. You can do the same thing with your Sunday homily. In the Catholic world there are some truly phenomenal teachers and preachers. So, in addition to hearing your priest preach each week, listen to some other homilies online. Here are a few suggestions

1. Dr. Scott Hahn
2. Fr. Robert Barron
3. Monsignor Charles Pope

5. Encourage your priest! Your priest is only human, so do what you can to encourage him!

And all men are ready to pass judgement on the priest as if he was not a being clothed with flesh, or one who inherited a human nature – St. John Chrysostom

Sometimes even shepherds need some affirmation! So, if one week your pastor says something in his sermon which you find helpful, tell him! Thank him and encourage him! Is his ordination anniversary coming up? Maybe consider purchasing him a gift such as the Catena Aurea or the Ignatius Study Bible.

To which I add:

6. Learn more about the Divine Liturgy/Mass

If you realize that it is the sweet foretaste of Heaven, that it is the union of Heaven and Earth in that time and place, that you are privileged to experience something so otherworldly and awesome, then Father's bland homilies are less of a big deal. Think about Jesus riding in on a donkey to His New Jerusalem every time we pray "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord." When we sing "Holy, Holy, Holy" realize that you are not only praying the same prayer as the angels, but we are praying it with the angels. Think about this: Angels don't have the privilege of receiving the Eucharist!

 

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Sometimes its that one word in a homily

The summer after my junior year of college I went to training at Fort Lewis for about a month. The first Sunday myself and other from my class were released to go to Mass. We came in late and we had to leave right after communion. Father actually told the others to wait until we received the Eucharist to line up.
Back to my point: I don't remember anything else about the homily (and we had missed the readings) except that Father said that Christians are supposed to be "counter-cultural". That word and its connotation made and still makes me cringe. However, the word was so shocking that I couldn't help but remember it and it has marinated in my mind and soul for these eight years. I was thinking about it tonight for reasons that I can't recall and I felt compelled to share with you my take on the main point of Father's homily in my own words from my Northwestern experience:
Father's point was that we are called to be "counter-cultural" that is to say, more than just salmon swimming against the current. We are called to change the course of the river until it flows the direction that we as Christian salmon are swimming. We shouldn't just content ourselves to be different and separate as we the Pilgrim Church swim up the stream, but we are called to transform our world, to change the "streams" we swim in.

Thanks for reading.
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The Enemy's Ambush

'He who is ignorant of the enemy's ambush is easily slain; and he who does not know the causes of the passions is soon brought low.'
St. Mark the Ascetic
other Saint Quotes
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Story about St Anthony of the Desert

When the same Abba Anthony (St Anthony of the Desert) thought about the depth of the judgments of God, he asked, "Lord, how is it that some die when they are young, while others drag on to extreme old age? Why are there those who are poor and those who are rich? Why do wicked men prosper and why are the just in need?" He heard a voice answering him, "Anthony, keep your attention on yourself; these things are according to the judgment of God, and it is not to your advantage to know anything about them.'

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Thomas a Beckett on Religious Freedom

hat tip to Art of Manliness
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St Ephrem on Eucharist

"O Lord, we cannot go to the pool of Siloe to which you sent the blind man. But we have the chalice of Your Precious Blood, filled with life and light. The purer we are, the more we receive."-- St Ephrem

see more quotes on the Eucharist

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Thought for Ash Wednesday and Lent

"It is absolutely impossible at the same time to be a man of understanding and not to be ashamed to gratify the body."
St. Clement of Alexandria

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St Nilus of Sinai quote

"Even if you already appear to be with God, beware the demon of fornication; for it has great fascination and is full of cunning, constantly trying to overcome the transport of your sober mind and to draw it away from God, even as you stand before God with reverence and fear." 
St. Nilus of Sinai

h/t From the Fathers

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Prayer and Scripture

"Do not approach the mysterious words in the scriptures without prayer and without asking help from God, saying: Lord, grant me to perceive the power that is in them. Deem prayer as the key to the insight of truth in scripture." St Isaac the Syrian


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Praise and Worries

"The man who wishes to offer a pure mind to God but who is troubled by cares is like a man who expects to walk quickly even though his legs are tied together."
St John Climacus

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Humility and God's Grace

Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God's grace and compassion.
St. Mark the Ascetic
h/t to Word from the Desert
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Handfuls of Sand

A handful of sand, thrown into the sea, is what sinning is, when compared to God‚s Providence and mercy. Just as an abundant source of water is not impeded by a handful of dust, so also the Creator's mercy is not defeated by the sins of His creations.
St. Isaac the Syrian


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Jonah and Vocations

So it occurs to me that the story of Jonah can be seen as a story of his vocation as well. God has called on him to be His prophet to Nineveh. We are each called to a vocation where we can spread the Gospel with the talents we are given, just as apparently among Jonah's talents was preaching.
However, many of us like Jonah turn away from that which our God has called us to. In these cases, He has various methods to convince us to see things His way (i.e.  storm and spending three days inside the Leviathan). I suppose how long this convincing takes depends on the hardness of our hearts, but we are each called to go to our own Nineveh with the message given to us.

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Life of Repentance

 

I was reading through my RSS feeds and came across this post.  It was about the quote from St Isaac of Syria on the scroll above, "This life has been given to you for repentance, don not waste it on vain pursuits."

I could go on and on about this, but I'll let it speak for itself.

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The Wonder of Christmas

Has anyone else stopped and thought about how truly wonderful the Nativity of Our Lord really is?
Besides a virgin giving birth, Man and God are united in the Incarnation. His taking on flesh and becoming God AND man unites Heaven and Earth. Mary is like Jacob's ladder connecting the two. In the Mass/Divine Liturgy we worship in the same way as the angels as is described in Isaiah, Matthew, Luke, and Revelation. There also Heaven and Earth are united in that place.
Think about it.The Incarnation continues even today in the Eucharist. God makes Himself physically present and available to us, albeit in the guise of bread and wine.

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Who Owns Who?

The other day I was reflecting on the Pearl of Great Price Parable:
Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls.  Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. --Matthew 13:45. 46 (Douay Rheims Translation)
While on the one hand, the merchant bought the pearl and "owns" it, but the pearl's attraction and allure were so strong as to cause the merchant to sell all his possessions and to return for it; forsaking all other wealth and possessions for the pearl alone.
So I ask who owns who?

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Bishop Sheen preaches

Bishop Fulton Sheen preaches on the evils of Communism:
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