Thursday, June 30, 2016

Sunday Sermon, June 26 - The Government has no right to establish same-sex "marriage" (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

Sunday Sermon, June 26.
This past week we celebrated the feasts of Sts John Fisher and Thomas Moore, as well as of St John the Baptist. These three were martyrs for marriage -- all being killed because they rejected divorce and remarriage as adultery. Sunday is also the feast of Sts John and Paul who were put to death under the Apostate Julian who used the power of law to persecute the Christian people.

Thus, as we are near the one year anniversary of the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in the USA, a sermon on why the Catholic Church teaches that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

1) Some who promote same-sex "marriage" claim that "the government has no right to tell me whom I can love." Even if this argument were correct (and it's not) this wouldn't prove that the government should legalize same-sex "marriage", but only that the government shouldn't recognize anything as marriage.

2) But there is a reason why the government should make laws which support the fidelity and permanence of the marriage of a man and woman. Marriage laws are established for the good and protection of the vulnerable and the innocent, namely of children. Since only the union of a man and a woman can produce a child, only this union of a man and a woman can rightly be the subject of the laws of the State. And the government as a duty to promote the union of a man and a woman as faithful (i.e. no adultery) and as permanent (i.e. no divorce, except in extreme cases).

3) That being said, the Catholic and the Christian must always show love and understanding as well as kindness to those who either promote same-sex "marriage" or even who are involved in such a "marriage". There is no room for disgust - we must never be repulsed by any persons, no matter how different their lifestyle is from our own. At the same time, we cannot promote an objectively sinful lifestyle -- therefore, we cannot attend these types of weddings, nor can we every allow such a "couple" to sleep in the same room in our home.



Listen online [here]!




Saturday, June 25, 2016

Daily Sermons, June 21 - 25 (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

Sermons from daily Masses, June 21 through 25.
St Aloysius, St Paulinus, the Priesthood, St John the Baptist, St William.


Friday, June 24, 2016

Sunday Sermon, June 19 -- The Sacred Heart of Jesus, An Open Wound With Love (Father Ryan Erlenbush)

Sunday Sermon, 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

"They shall look on him whom they have pierced." Zechariah 12:10

Stanzas applied spiritually to Christ and the Soul, by St John of the Cross

A lone young shepherd lived in pain
withdrawn from pleasure and contentment,
his thoughts fixed on a shepherd-girl
his heart an open wound with love.

He weeps, but not from the wound of love,
there is no pain in such affliction,
even though the heart is pierced;
he weeps in knowing he’s been forgotten.

That one thought: his shining one
has forgotten him, is such great pain
that he bows to brutal handling in a foreign land,
his heart an open wound of love.

The shepherd says: I pity the one
who draws herself back from my love
and does not seek the joy of my presence,
though my heart is an open wound with love for her.

After a long time he climbed a tree,
and spread his shining arms,
and hung by them, and died,
his heart an open wound with love.



Listen online [here]!






Daily Sermons, June 13 - 18 (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

Sermons from daily Masses, June 13 through 18.
St Anthony of Padua, Mercy, Bl Germain, The Sacred Heart, St Ephrem the Deacon.


Sunday Sermon, June 12 -- St Mary Magdalene, Witness of Divine Mercy

Sermon for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time: St Mary Magdalene, Witness of Divine Mercy

Pope Francis has recently elevated St Mary Magdalene's feast and set her forward as a "witness of divine mercy" (quoting St Gregory the Great). This connects St Mary Magdalene with the penitent woman of Luke 7, following the general tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.  We further show that Mary Magdalene is one and the same Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus.

St Mary Magdalene is a witness to us in this Year of Mercy that Jesus did not come to save the righteous, but sinners; and that he is powerful in our soul precisely when we allow him to heal the wounds of our sin.


Sunday, June 12, 2016

Daily Mass Sermons, June 7 through 11 -- Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish

Sermons from daily Masses at Corpus Christi Parish, June 7 - 11.
St Norbert, Our Lady of Sunday, St Ephrem, St Margaret of Scotland, St Barnabas.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Adult Formation, June 9 -- Dante's Purgatorio, Cantos 17-26 (Part 4 of 5) -- Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi

Pope Francis has named the Divine Comedy as the official book and spiritual guide for the Year of Mercy. We discuss cantos 17-26 of the Purgatorio: sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust.

The recording cuts out near the end, we will review this portion in next week's session.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Sunday Sermon, June 5 -- Three Kinds of Sin Overcome by Christ (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

Sunday Sermon, June 5 -- 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Three Resurrections, Three Kinds of Sin Overcome by Christ

The Gospel for this Sunday tells of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. Jesus also raises two others as recorded in Scripture: Jairus' daughter and Lazarus.
The little girl of Capernaum symbolizes sin in the heart, the son of the widow of Nain is sin committed once or twice, Lazarus is habitual sin which imprisons the soul. All these are overcome by Christ.

(Based on a sermon from St Augustine: Homilies on John, 49)

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Daily Sermons, May 31 - June 2 (Corpus Christi Parish, Father Ryan Erlenbush)

Daily Sermons at Corpus Christi.
The Visitation, Sacred Heart, Sts Marcellinus and Peter.

Adult Formation on the Divine Comedy, June 2 -- Dante's Purgatory, Cantos 9-17 (part 3 of 5)

Dante's Divine Comedy has been named by Pope Francis as the official book and spiritual guide of the Year of Mercy. We discuss the Purgatorio, part 3 of 5.

Purgatorio, cantos 9-17. A review of ante-purgatory and covering the purification of the soul of "bad love" - Pride, Envy, Wrath.

Sunday Sermon, May 29 -- Making Spiritual Communions (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Solemnity of Corpus Christi)

Sunday Sermon, May 29 -- Making Spiritual Communions

Sermon for the transferred Solemnity of Corpus Christi:

St Julian Falconieri received her final communion (viaticum) in a miraculous way through a spiritual communion. The key to continually living the virtuous life is to make many spiritual communions throughout the day.