Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Daily Sermons, August 16-20

Sermons from daily Masses, August 16-20.
St Hyacinth, St Helen, St John Eudes, St Bernard.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Sunday Sermon, August 14 -- Division in families, Devotion to St Philomena

Sunday Sermon, August 14.

Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation. (Luke 12:51)

The peace of Christ comes from an interior joy that none can take away even in the midst of exterior trials and persecutions. Jesus came not to make us feel good, but to make us to be good. This can even mean division from family and friends.

St Philomena is a great patroness for those suffering division in their families. She is one of the great patronesses of the Church and a favorite saint of many of the great saints of modern times (St John Vianney, St Peter Chanel, St Damien of Molokai, St Anthony Marie Claret, and many others).

Contrary to what some say, Vatican II never did away with devotion to St Philomena (and she never was on the general liturgical calendar, but that didn't stop St John Vianney and all the others from promoting her devotion). Indeed, the shrine of her relics remains active with the approval of the local bishop and of the Vatican. Her feast (kept only by the devotion of the faithful) is August 11, she died August 10.

Marian Conference, August 7-12 -- Mother of Mercy

Talks given at the Marian Conference at Corpus Christi, August 7-12, 2016.

Sunday Sermon, August 7 -- Do we treat Jesus like a thief?

Sunday Sermon, August 7

Jesus compares himself to coming as a thief to despoil a rich man of his possessions. Do we treat him like a thief, unwelcome and unwanted when he comes to us asking for our time, our energy, our love in our family and workplace and in the poor? If we see others (and especially the poor) as a burden now, Christ will rob us of all that we have when we meet him in the judgment and he will give us a place among the unbelievers.

Daily Sermons during Vacation Bible School, August 1-6

Daily Sermons given during the week of children's vacation Bible camp with the Nashville Dominican Sisters.

Sunday Sermon, July 31 -- Wealth and the Christian Life

Sunday Sermon, July 31 -- Wealth and the Christian Life


Leo XIII (encyclical letter Rerum Novarum, 1891): Every person has by nature the right to possess property as his or her own […] But if the question be asked: How must one’s possessions be used?, the Church replies without hesitation in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: ‘One should not consider one’s material possessions as one’s own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when other are in need.’ […] True, no one is commanded to distribute to others that which is required for one’s own needs and those of one’s household; nor even to give away what is reasonably required to keep up becomingly one’s condition in life. […] But when what necessity demands has been supplied and one’s standing fairly provided for, it becomes a duty to give to the needy out of what remains over.

John Paul II (encyclical letter Centesimus Annus, 1991): “It will be necessary above all to abandon a mentality in which the poor – as individuals and as people – are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced.”

Daily Sermons, July 26-30

Sermons from daily Masses, July 26-30.