I am celebrating the EF Mass at our Cathedral for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost this coming Sunday.
The Epistle Reading, Romans 6:19-23, is no longer in the Sunday cycle of readings in the Ordinary Form. It is relegated to a daily Mass only.
But this is the kicker! The Gospel reading is no where to be found in the Ordinary Form Lectionary either for Sunday or for a weekday Mass!!!!!!
While I may have offered a reflection on the Epistle at an Ordinary Form Mass where this was read, I have never preached a homily on Matthew 7:15-21 in nearly 40 years of ordination.
May I ask why? Could it be the new lectionary is the wolf in sheep's clothing????? Or were the ones who proposed to Pope Paul VI that this new lectionary was new and improved the ones this Scripture identifies? I ask; you answer.
Just on what shall I preach as a novice to this Gospel read at Holy Mass?????????????????????
Here are the two readings:
Romans 6:19-23
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. 20q For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.* 21But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.r 22But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,* and its end is eternal life.s 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel, Matthew 7:15-21
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.k 16l By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So by their fruits you will know them.m
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.n
15 comments:
One of the fruits of those wolves is that they took this passage out of your lectionary.
Pseudo-Chrys.: The grape had in it a mystery of Christ. As the bunch sustains many grapes held together by the woody stem, so likewise Christ holds many believers joined to Him by the wood of the Cross. The fig again is the Church which binds many faithful by a sweet embrace of charity, as the fig contains many seeds inclosed in one skin. The fig then has these significations, namely, love in its sweetness, unity in the close adhesion of its seeds. In the grape is shewn patience, in that it is cast into the wine-press - joy, because wine maketh glad the heart of man - purity, because it is not mixed with water - and sweetness, in that it delighteth. The thorns and thistles are the heretics. And as a thorn or a thistle has sharp pricks on every part, so the Devil’s servants, on whatsoever side you look at them, are full of wickedness. Thorns and thistles then of this sort cannot bear the fruits of the Church. And having instanced in particular tress, as [p. 284] the fig, the vine, the thorn, and the thistle, He proceeds to shew that this is universally true, saying, “Thus every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but an evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”
What holds us together...? Christ.
Father, those passages do not fit the wolves new theology that Christ is our brother and our equal, and that He would never send anyone to hell.
Carol H . "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for. thee that one of thy members should perish, and. not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (Matt 5:29) in included in the current lectionary, so your suggestion that the "new theology" precludes their presence is shot through.
So what is objectionable about these?
Oh, Father, given the current situation in our Church, this gospel is ripe with possibilities...
Anon at 5:46, not so. The wolves of the new theology find much of traditional theology offensive, so they pluck it out and cast it from the body of Christ.
Carol H,
You are dealing with "Clericalism on Steroids Boy!"
Those who produced the Lectionary (which was put together in haste, and which was signed off by Paul VI despite his admission that he had not read it) did have a habit of keeping the more 'uncomfortable' passages out of the Sunday cycle. A notorious example is Luke xi:14-28 (third Sunday of Lent in the older lectionary).
Not long ago there were those who were critical of the Novus Ordo but had nothing but praise for the 1970 Lectionary. You don't hear this much nowadays. Like the rest of the liturgical 'reform' it was ill-conceived, rushed through and agenda-driven.
Father McDonald,
Off topic but here is the money quote from an article in National Review taking on "Father" Martin on his latest rant that women should preach at Mass:
"Catholics have to make a choice about how we approach the Mass. Is it the solemn observation instituted by Christ in which we as a Church constantly live the Passion and experience the real presence of our Lord? Or is it a do-it-yourself liturgy where we play out our fantasies and fulfill our wishes, where we make sure that everyone is included in any way they want, no matter how much attention is shifted away from Christ? One choice serves our egos, the other, our souls."
When I say that I would like to be able to attend the old Latin Mass in my parish, people (who are less informed on these matters) will often look at me in puzzled way and ask why it matters so much to have the Mass in Latin. My quick answer is that there is a lot more to it than simply the language of the Mass. This example from the lectionary is but one piece of evidence supporting this point . .
Carol H. The passage I cited, Matt 5:29, in included in the current lectionary.
You said, "Father, those passages do not fit the wolves new theology that Christ is our brother and our equal, and that He would never send anyone to hell."
Now, if your assertion were true, and if sending people to hell did not fit in the "new" theology, why would a passage about sending people to hell be included?
And it's not clericalism, it's the ability to read. That may seem to some to be "clericalism," but it isn't.
"By their fruits you will know them."
Well, perhaps I should have not been shocked, but this morning their was news of some armed Ole Miss frat brothers in front of the Emmett Till historical marker where the young black was murdered in 1955. Looks like some pretty bad fruit growing there---things like that make me wonder whether fraternity membership is compatible with the Catholic faith...I mean are there any where drugs are not present at some time, "one-night" stands are not happening on the weekends and the local hospital is not dealing with those who have drank too much? Not to mention various questionable "initiation" activities? Just wondering. And no, this is not the so-called "Anonoymous K' TJM.
The fraternity I belonged to in college was not known for drugs, one-night stands, heavy drinking, or questionable initiation rites.
My fraternity? GDI !
I did, exactly once, attend a big bash in a frat house. The Hundred Days Party, 100 days before graduation, was pretty much required. I think it was in the Sig Ep house on campus.
I was in a fraternity in college - the president of it, actually. We had several Catholics as members. I wasn’t Catholic at the time. I was not a member of the fraternity at issue at Ole Miss, although like that fraternity, mine was founded by Confederate veterans and was in Mississippi.
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