Mass, Confession & Benediction Schedule - September 2015

10 AM September 6th - 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Confessions 9:00 AM.  Benediction after Mass.
Mass intention: Helen Milan (L)

10 AM September 13th - 16th Sunday after Pentecost
Confessions 9:00 AM.
Mass intention: Rodney Angotti (D)

10 AM September 20th - 17th Sunday after Pentecost
Confessions 9:00 AM.
Mass intention: Jose & Rebeca Meza (L)

Ember Wednesday, September 23rd (No Mass)

10 AM September 27th - 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Confessions not available
Mass intention: Jeane Richmond (L)

Homily - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost - August 23, 2015

Gal. 3:16-22; Lk. 17:11-19

St. Paul is very strong on what he says today in the Epistle, that salvation comes from the promise to Abraham, fulfilled in Christ.  In another place, St. Paul says that, by the promise, Abraham saw Christ from afar.  The reasons he says this is because in his missionary work among the gentiles, there were the Judaizers, those Israelites who insisted that the new gentile converts observe the law of Moses, promulgated, as St Paul says, 430 years later.  St. Paul says the law cannot save.  As St. Augustine said, it can point out sin, but it cannot take away sin.  It is Christ, the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, who heals, forgives, and brings us salvation.

Solemn High Masses in Lander, Wyoming

Wyoming is one of the largest States in the country, vast and beautiful, and yet the least populated of all 50 States. This contributes to Wyoming’s palpable sense of solitude, remoteness, and ruggedness, which is ideal for outdoor adventures as well as for people seeking a slower pace of life in the midst of more contemplative surroundings -- like the famous but practically inaccessible Carmelite Monks.

Numbering about 10% of the population, the Catholics in the State generally live quite a distance from the kind of populous urban centers in which it is relatively easy to muster forces for (not to mention interest in) solemn liturgical functions. Fortunately, the presence of Wyoming Catholic College, with its strong Catholic commitment, emphasis on the traditional liberal arts, and devotion to the glories of Western culture, has drawn many students, faculty, staff, and families to the small town of Lander (pop. 7,732) over the past decade. This, in turn, has provided the incentive and the infrastructure for the celebration of many magnificent liturgies...   Read more...

More Christ, Less ‘Worldly Entertainment’ at Mass, Says Vatican’s Head of Worship

"We run the real risk of leaving no room for God in our celebrations"

VATICAN CITY, August 17, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - The Church still hasn't seen a genuine implementation of the Second Vatican Council's teachings on the Mass, says Cdl. Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

In a recently translated document published in L’Osservatore Romano, the African cardinal asserts that in spite of all the liturgical changes witnessed since the 1960s, the Church has yet to authentically realize the Council's understanding of what the liturgy actually is.  Read more...

Homily - Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - August 16, 2015

2 Cor. 3:4-7; Lk. 10:23-37

You may recall in the letters of St. Paul his difficulty with the Judaisers.  After announcing the Gospel in the missionary areas, there were those who insisted that the new converts observe the Jewish law.  Some commentators say this was because it was easier to follow the old law with its clear formulations than the subtleties of the new law.  And yet, as St. Paul says in the epistle today, the letter kills but the spirit gives life.  St. Augustine echoes this when he says that the old law gave us knowledge of sin but could not take away sin.

Homily - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - August 15, 2015

Jdt. 13:22-25; 15:10; Lk. 1:41-50

Today’s feast expresses the ancient faith that the Blessed Virgin Mary, having come to the end of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven, defined in the lifetime of many of us here, in 1950.

In the first pages of the Scripture, in the Book of Genesis, after the fall of the first man and woman, there is a haunting verse:  Eve became the mother of all the living.  What transpired in the garden resulted in their fallen human nature.  We receive the nature of our fathers.  And so all who come after them are afflicted with original sin, save the Blessed Virgin Mary, preserved by a singular privilege of God by virtue of the merits of Christ.  At the other end, in the final pages of the Book of Revelation, the inspired author says that death will be no more.  And there is this woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption:  a woman clothed with the sun, wearing a crown of twelve stars.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Saturday August 15th

Extraordinary Form Low Mass at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 15th at St. Mary Magdalen Chapel

Celebrated every year on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the death of Mary and her bodily assumption into Heaven, before her body could begin to decay--a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time. Because it signifies the Blessed Virgin's passing into eternal life, it is the most important of all Marian feasts and a Holy Day of Obligation.  However, in the United States and other countries, the bishops have received permission from the Vatican to abrogate (temporarily waive) the requirement for Catholics to attend Mass when it falls on a Saturday or a Monday.

Instead of an obligation, take this most Blessed of Feast Days as a "Holy Day of Opportunity"!

Read more about the Assumption at:
catholicism.about     fisheaters.com

Traditional Latin Mass Community of Blessed Junipero Serra

The central coast's Traditional Latin Mass Community of Blessed Junipero Serra (Pismo Beach/Oceano) is served by Dom Christopher Andrews, O.S.B. a young Benedictine monk from Clear Creek monastery.  The new young Priest came at the request of the Most Reverend Richard J. Garcia, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey in California.  The community is blessed with daily Latin Masses.  Sunday Mass is at St. Paul the Apostle in Pismo Beach while weekday Masses are offered at St. Francis of Assisi in Oceano.  They hope someday to have their own church facilities.

Baptism of Joseph Benedict Zalesak

You are invited to join the Zalesak family in prayer as the Sacrament of Baptism is conferred upon Joseph Benedict Zalesak, August 16th following the 10:00 a.m. Mass.

Juventutem Michigan Chapter Leads Nationwide Growth in Devotion to Tridentine Liturgy

Karla Dorweiler | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Detroit — While scores of young adults spent July 31 socializing with their peers in downtown Detroit, members of the Michigan chapter of Juventutem were doing the same — in a very different way.  Juventutem is an international organization of Catholic married and single men and women, ages 18-35, who share a devotion to the traditional Latin Mass, also known as the Tridentine Mass or the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.  On July 31, the group hosted its second Latin Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit with Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron and celebrant Fr. Clint McDonell of Sacred Heart Major Seminary.  Nearly 175 people attended the Mass, with Juventutem members accounting for about 75, with cathedral organist Joseph Balistreri and members of the Archdiocesan Chorus providing sacred music.  Archbishop Vigneron, in his homily, noted the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola and urged members of Juventutem to imitate the saint’s zeal for evangelization.  “Like St. Ignatius, we, too, are called today to be ‘all in’ in our discipleship,” said the archbishop. “To have an unconditional commitment to the Lord, to be intrepid in our devotion.”  Read more...

Homily - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - August 2, 2015

1 Cor. 12:2-11; Lk. 18:9-14

Comparisons are odious, including in the spiritual life.  We never compare.  If we compare ourselves with others, we will always find someone who we consider better off than ourselves, and we will feel dejected.  And we will always find someone who we consider worse off than ourselves, and we will feel proud.  We simply try to see ourselves as God sees us, with His presence, gifts, love, and the grace necessary to overcome our sins and weaknesses.  St. Paul says he does not even judge himself.  He leaves that to God.  If we can see ourselves as God sees us, we will be in a good place.