By: deejohn50@cox.net

deejohn50@cox.net — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 04:13:00 +0000

Thank you Gayle. Very well done. I made confession and Mass at St. Paul Newman Center a few hours ago. Father mentioned several examples of empty motions, making the sign of the Cross with Holy Water, genuflecting, and how we need to take it to heart why and what we are doing instead of making them empty motions.

By: JMC

JMC — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 17:58:00 +0000

This is good, it goes farther that most sermons I hear in church these days. Not only do you explain what these readings are telling us, you give us ways to live up to those teachings. If only our parish priests would do as much.
I posit that there is much more that could be done with this. For example, in Mark 7:21-22, there is a whole list of evils, which, if widespread then, are positively rampant now. That list is not addressed – or at least, it wasn’t in my parish. Even as presented, in modern language, few people truly understand what those words actually mean. We know what adultery and fornication are, yet most of us tend to dismiss them, as our culture treats them as normal and expected behaviors, belittling those who choose not to engage in them. Or, who truly understands what blasphemy is? It was believed in centuries past that any taking of God’s name in vain constituted blasphemy, and in some quarters, rigorously enforced. For instance, in the 19th century British navy, a man was gagged with a marlin spike for blasphemy, defined as the taking of the Lord’s name in vain. And yet today we throw “OMG” around as if it were nothing. Using that abbreviation does not avoid actually taking His name in vain, since everyone knows precisely what those initials stand for.
Does anyone today realize that “covetousness” is not mere jealousy – there’s nothing wrong with merely wishing that the sort of good fortune that befalls another would happen to oneself; we are guilty of true covetousness when we actually resent our neighbor’s good fortune. Covetousness is a close relative of greed
For those of us roughly 55 and older, that’s all third-grade catechism stuff. But for much of today’s generation, those words are utterly meaningless, just a lot of “Yabba,” as one well-known TV character puts it (and I don’t mean Fred Flintstone ;D). Yes, by all means, explain Scripture to us; much of it really needs explanation. But also, there is a great need for addressing those parts that refer to evils that beset us today, which too many of us do not even recognize as evils.
To boil it down to a sound bite: We need to dilute the feel-good aspects with a little fire and brimstone.

Comments on: Scripture Speaks: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

By: deejohn50@cox.net

By: JMC