July 21 2020 - Association Of Catholic Priests

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Brendan Hoban: Pomp and ceremony belong in another era
May 30 2023
Dermot Quigley
The splendour of Traditional Catholic ritual has stood the test of time. More Popes have celebrated the Vetus ordo than the protestantized novus ordo. I attended His Eminence’s Mass at Knock. It lived up to the description of the late Fr. Faber of the Mass as the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven. He was speaking in the 19th Century so he could not be talking of the Novus Ordo. Cardinal Sarah described some Novus Ordos as Parish Pantomimes full of confusing claptrap. My niece’s recent 1st Holy Communion was evidence of this complete with a clown priest!!!!! Tradition is growing again and will be around long after the novus ordo falls into eventual disuse. They tried to kill the TLM in 1969 and it is thriving despite the efforts of His Eminence Cardinal Roche
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4 June 2023 – Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity
June 4 2023
Thara Benedicta
Key Message: Can we give our heart to the Holy Trinity to abode? Homily: One of my friends noticed a blind beggar explaining a Bible verse on the topic of the overflowing love of our Almighty God to another beggar. Our friend found it profound and joined the conversation. After listening to the blind beggar, our friend checked with him why he was begging. He explained that he was working in an unorganised chemical shop, he lost his eyesight slowly. To take care of his family (his wife and a daughter), he has resorted to begging. Now he is unable to find a job for himself, he has a family to take care of, he is not able to see now, moved to the streets without anything for himself. All this happened without him being responsible for it. Still, he loves God. He was not even a little bit angry at God. He never complained. Instead, he is reaching out to the other beggars who do not otherwise have an opportunity to understand God's presence and love. Though his physical eyes are closed, his spiritual eyes are wide open. Our blind beggar friend taught me a big lesson. Sufferings are never sufficient to stop our love for God. It is not that God is seated as the Holy Trinity on the throne in Heaven. That throne is our heart. That's the throne they will long for. Our God loves us whether we love Him or not. But when we love Him, He makes His abode with us. Our Lord Jesus says this in John 14:23, "If a man loves me, He will keep my words; and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." God has made His abode with the blind beggar. Can we also give our heart to Him as His abode? Our Triune God loves to sit there and listen to our songs. So let us sing praises to Him. Psalm 22:3 says, "Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." Saint Antony was always praising God. So God did not allow His Holy tongue to decay. God would also like us to talk with Him. Not only sad times but always. That is why He is sitting in our hearts secretly!! I remembered one of the childhood conversations in our school lunch-time. The children were chatting about the Triune God, "Why is God - 3-in-1?" One child answered, "God created the world as 'Our Father'. Then God had to wash away our sins - so He washed away the sins of the world as 'The Son - Jesus'. Still He wanted to be with us always, so He came down as 'Holy Spirit'. In whatever form He can help us, He takes it". This simple statement summarises the story in the Bible. In the Old Testament, God mainly took care as "Father". Our Father gave lots of laws and commandments. You will be good if you follow them, not good if you do not follow them. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. In John 4:24, God is a Spirit. But it does not mean that He does not have a form. He has a form as explained in Revelation. "He looked like a Sapphire stone". Daniel 7:9 "He was as white as snow..." But God cannot reveal Himself in this personality - His glory is too much for us to take. He said, "No man can see me and yet live". So in different times, He appeared as different forms. He appeared as a traveller to Abraham, appeared as an angel to Joshua. He appeared to people but did not stay with them day and night. In the New Testament till the Ascension of our Lord Jesus - It was the Son. He was not talking about punishments. It was about forgiveness. If you slap me on one cheek, I will give you another cheek. If you want to spit on my face too, you can do it. It was His laws. He is the Immanuel "God with us". He is the God who always stayed with us for 33 years just like any other human being. When people looked at Jesus and His works, they were able to see the glory of God. He was both the Son of Man and Son of God too. He was sad, happy, tired, cried, hungry, angry just like any other human being. In the mountain of Transfiguration, His dress became white like the sun, His face shone, He walked on the water, calmed the storm, drove out the devils, cured the sick and suffering as God. So He was both God and man. God had become man to wash away our sins. By His blood we are washed clean from our sins. By His wounds we are cured from our diseases. He was born from the womb of a virgin, crucified, died, buried, resurrected, ascended and seated at the right hand of our God the Father Almighty. He sat at the right hand of the person who looked like the Sardius stone. He is still there. Until He comes back, He will be there. From Pentecost till the end of the world - it is God the Holy Spirit. When our Lord Jesus ascended to Heaven, He said, "Who will be there with you? I will ask my Father to send you the Holy Spirit. He will be the comforter". Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the Spirit of God. God who came to chat and walk with Adam in the Garden of Eden, has come to chat and walk with us as the Holy Spirit. He is also our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says, "Christ lives in me", because He was filled with the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit explains how to practically apply the laws of our Lord Jesus Christ in our day to day life. He whispers the laws with His silent voice. That is why our Lord Jesus said, "The world cannot know Him, but only you can know Him." So they are three different kinds of persons in the same God. Our Lord Jesus says in John 14:16, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be with you." We can see the presence of the Holy Trinity here. Our Lord Jesus Christ is saying that God our Father will send His Holy Spirit on us. In the book "The story of the Soul", there is a beautiful conversation between two sisters, Saint Thérèse and her sister Celine. Celine asked little Thérèse, "How can Almighty God be present in such a small Host?" Little Thérèse immediately replied, "Because He is Almighty. He can do whatever He wishes". So God can sit in our little hearts too. Can we call Him?
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Séamus Ahearne: EX CATHEDRA
May 27 2023
Paddy Ferry
"....you’ll be happy on the sidelines, letting the scribblers get on with their scribble or scrabble." Eddie, the recent, major problem on this site has been that there are so few scribblers, in comparison to days gone by, wishing to get on with their scribble. PS I presume it should have been "outwith".
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Séamus Ahearne: EX CATHEDRA
May 27 2023
Eddie Finnegan
Ah Paddy, even a dentist's chair is a kathédra - even if not the most comfortable. Séamus's reflections from Algarve, whether from chair or sandy walk, are a treat as always. But Paddy, welcome to the retirement ranks - at times, like Ned, you'll be happy on the sidelines, letting the scribblers get on with their scribble or scrabble. Btw, your mention of "many interests out with my professional life" reminds me that you're really a Scot. Is "out with" for 'outside of' found elsewhere in these islands out with Scotland? Nova Scotia maybe? As for retirement, isn't Jorge Bergoglio thriving on it at 86, with half a lung, a flat foot, sciatica, a semi-colon but no signs of a full stop? That's what I keep telling myself as I lie horizontal under yet another CT or MRI scan. Why didn't they send us all to Rome or even the Algarve for retirement?
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Brendan Hoban: Pomp and ceremony belong in another era

4 June 2023 – Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity

Séamus Ahearne: EX CATHEDRA

Séamus Ahearne: EX CATHEDRA

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