How to make the most of a bad sermon
To the delight of his readers, Fr Tim Finigan has returned to more regular blogging after a hiatus. At The Hermeneutic of Continuity, he posted some advice on “How to listen to the sermon tomorrow”. You may think, Fr Finigan wrote, that the homily is dull, or “that the priest did not prepare well, or that he read out an essay, that he was too serious, or too light-hearted, that he ignored current events, or talked about news items, that he was too theatrical, or lacked rhetorical skill”.
But a sermon is actually a sacramental – that is, we can use it to “increase in grace”.
“What we need to do is to ask the Holy Spirit what He wishes to give us here and now through this sacramental.” And if the sermon is heretical? Well, you should still open yourself to the grace of God. “He will strengthen you to hold fast to the faith, encourage the faith in your family and among your friends, fight against error – and find a good parish where the faith is taught properly.”
Evangelisation should not be drone warfare
At ncregister.com, Jason Craig compared evangelising online to drone warfare. Like a drone pilot, the techno-evangeliser is able to reach far, communicating with millions of people. “You are able to coolly lob truth bombs into the interwebs and pray that your well-reasoned comments, perfectly tuned videos and dynamic presentations will lead people away from death to life,” he wrote.
But, both for the pilot and the evangeliser, “there is significantly less danger, and that might be dangerous”. Christianity had always been an “agonisingly human thing”, he argued, starting with the Incarnation, and is “spread largely through the encounter with people who have had an encounter with Christ”. Real encounters with Christ, he said, involve the “weight of real crosses and the intimate experiences of real rejection” – the kind not usually found online.
What monasteries can learn from hipsters
At americamagazine.org, David J Michael asked whether religious orders could learn something from “hipster” culture. Hipsters, whose influence is growing, value what is rare, unusual, and rooted in tradition. “Hipsters are drawn to craft beer, obscure cheeses, organic farms, taxidermy and homemade preserves. They favour hand-dipped candles, old-fashioned stationery, Indian headdresses and the lamentable industrial-chic decor and exposed bricks that mark so many new restaurants and bars.”
All this has become mainstream, which can mean it becomes commercialised. But hipster values “now mirror central monastic ideals – simplicity, authenticity, community, self-sufficiency, contemplation”. These things could well be attractive to the modern eye, he wrote.
✣Meanwhile…
✣ A stag party in Edinburgh got off to an unusual start earlier this month – with Mass at the city’s cathedral.
A post on the Facebook page for St Mary’s Cathedral said: “We get many requests at the cathedral from groups who wish to say their own Mass.
“Today’s group was quite unusual in that it was a stag group. Yes, the groom was insistent that his last hurrah before marriage begin with the celebration of Holy Mass and so his best man duly arranged for it to happen,” the post explained.
“We wish the groom and his wife-to-be a long, happy and fruitful marriage.”
It is understood the couple were in Rome celebrating their honeymoon this week.
✣ A priest in the United States has won acclaim for his home-brewed beer.
Fr Jeff Poirot, a parish priest in Fort Worth, Texas, won the 2017 Ninkasi Award along with his brewing partner Nick McCoy, who is also a Catholic. It is America’s most prestigious home-brewing award.
Their beer was chosen as the best among 8,500 drinks submitted.
Fr Poirot said it was “hard to put into words” what winning the award meant but said that brewing beer would remain merely a hobby. He told the Fort Worth Star Telegram: “My role as a priest takes precedence.”
✣The week in quotations
What struck me was the inner peace he had found Benedict XVI on his last conversations with Cardinal Meisner Funeral message
Mosul is almost 80 per cent destroyed Fr Ghazwan Baho Catholic News Agency
It’s not something made up by Pope Paul VI in 1968 Theologian John Grabowski on the Church’s teaching on contraception CNA
The superficial heart wants to pray and give witness but gets tired and never takes off Pope Francis Angelus
✣Statistic of the week
£45m Extra yearly funding the Government has promised for overseas family planning Source: gov.uk
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