The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Here is the text of the sermon given by Fra Lawrence Lew OP at last night's Mass at Blackfen for our patronal feast of Our Lady of the Rosary: Last month I had the opportunity to visit the cell of Saint Pius V in Santa Sabina, the oldest Dominican priory in Rome. And there in his cell, which is now a chapel, we were surprised to see that he had a wide-screen television! Well, actually… to be precise, what we saw was a fresco on the ceiling of the cell, showing the pope praying the Rosary… and as he does, an angel pulls back a curtain, and he appears to be watching the outcome of the battle of Lepanto on a wide-screen television… I think this is entirely appropriate because today’s feast widens our vision. And it is also appropriate that we celebrate this feast using the form of the Mass essentially codified by Pope St Pius V. This beautiful liturgy is itself a widening of our Catholic vision, of our hearts and minds. As Our Holy Father said: “Let us generously open our hearts a...

As today marks the close of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, here is my sermon from yesterday on the subject: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12.13) Today falls as the Sunday within the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. 45 years ago, the second Vatican Council had a particular concern for promoting Christian Unity and addressed the question in a special Decree on Ecumenism. The Council did not in any way contradict the traditional teaching of the Church: indeed it said that the fullness of unity subsists in the Catholic Church. In one place, the decree says: “Jesus Christ, then, willed that the apostles and their successors - the bishops with Peter’s successor at their head - should preach the Gospel faithfully, administer the sacraments, and rule the Church in love. It is thus, under the action of the Holy Spirit, that Christ wills His people to increase, and He perfects His people's fellowship in unity: in their confessing the one f...

Ignatius Insight has carried today a short extract from Peter Kreeft's Angels And Demons. What Do We Really Know about Them? including "The Twelve Most Important Things to Know About Them". I often remind people that angels are not fairies - Peter Kreeft gives some excellent further short points. Happy feast day for today - and for Friday's feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, which is also the anniversary of the dedication of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Blackfen. Last year, on a Sunday in October, I gave a sermon on The Archangels and our families .

Here is the sermon that I preached last night at Addiscombe. The Mass was a Votive Mass of Christ the High Priest offered for the particular intention of praying for vocations to the priesthood. I am deeply grateful to Fr Joe O’Connor and to you, the parishioners of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Addiscombe, for inviting me to celebrate Holy Mass here on the occasion of my 25th anniversary of priestly ordination. My very first memories of the Holy Mass are of being carried in my father’s arms at the age of perhaps 3 or 4, listening to the singing of the Credo in the old Church in Brockenhurst Road. In this new Church, I remember regularly coming to confession to Fr McKenna. He always seemed to me very grave but kindly. Mgr Moran was the parish priest at the time of my ordination in 1984 and, as I realise now, as a wizened parish priest myself, greatly cherished the opportunity to have a priestly ordination in the parish. Later, I participated in the funeral of my brother, Gerry, and ce...

On Saturday, the Union of Catholic Mothers held a Garden Party with various things going on, including games for children ( above ) and a gathering in the presbytery garden: It was a gloriously sunny day and an opportunity to have a glass of Pimms and a chat. For others, the Hall was available to sample the delicious cakes inside: This evening we had our annual Mass for children and young people in the parish who have died, and to pray for their families. As it is the feast of St Maria Goretti, I took the opportunity to speak of her life and ask for her prayers. Here is my sermon for tonight's Mass: St Maria Goretti was born into a poor family in Italy in 1890. Her father died when she was nine years old and her mother had to work in the fields while Maria looked after the sewing and cooking at home. The family were uncomfortable with moving in next to the Serenelli family, a father and two young men. They were disturbed by the pictures (obscene by the standards of the day) which t...

Here is my sermon for today, Good Friday By his wounds we are healed “ He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. ” (Is 53.5) Once again today, we hear the account of the Passion of Christ, this time read solemnly from the Gospel of St John. It is a story familiar to us which we retell year by year as part of our Sacred Liturgy. It is in the sacred celebration of the Liturgy that the Holy Scriptures find their true home. We do not read them as any other book. They are the inspired word of God which we proclaim as an act of worship in itself. In the spirit of adoration and thanksgiving, we proclaim the wonders the Lord has done, the greatest of which is the paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. The passages about the suffering servant in the prophecy of Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teach us the meaning of the appalling suffering of Christ. He wa...

Here is the text of my sermon for the Christmas Masses. The Lord said to me “You are my Son” this day have I begotten You . (Ps 2.7) The lovely traditional carol with which we began our vigil for Christmas, “Once in royal David’s city” sings our faith in the mystery of this great feast day: He came down to earth from heaven Who is God and Lord of all. The eternal Word of God, born of the Father before time began, is now born in human flesh of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who herself was chosen by God and preserved free from original sin to be His immaculate Mother. The carols also tell us the purpose for which Our Lord descended in humility to be with us in human form: And our eyes at last shall see him through his own redeeming love, for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above; and he leads his children on to the place where he is gone. “His children” refers to all of us. In the presence of the Most High God, we are all children and do well to come before him in humility...

My good friend Joseph Sowerby has been clearing out his office and found a typescript of a homily given by Fr George Pell on 27 May 1979 at the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy. ( Nostalgia ) I well remember the occasion - it was a scintillating sermon and those of us "on the same wavelength" as Joseph recalls, got to know him as a result. This was during Trinity Term, the term after I had served as President of the Oxford University Newman Society, which I had the great pleasure of addressing earlier this year . Joseph picks out one quotation: What I am saying is that we are in a battle situation, and that the wholesale dismantling of the Catholic tradition is pastorally disastrous. In a commonplace book which I used to keep in those days, I have just dug out an entry that I made. Referring to "The increased number of avowed atheists, the decline in Church going, baptisms and marriages in Church, the fall in vocaitons, the departure of so many priests and religious...

I am very grateful to Peter Clarke for this Photo and for his summary of my sermon at Mass yesterday at St Mary’s Church, Ryde: In his sermon at Mass Father reminded the congregation that we commemorated the seven sorrows of Mary. It reminds us that, like ourselves, Mary had sorrows and tribulations in her life as well as joys and happiness. Father mentioned someone he knew with a severe illness, who knew that death was imminent. He sought to strengthen his faith by coming to daily Mass, and to prepare himself for death and to meet his Maker. Mary shares in many of the sorrows with which we can identify; bereavement, especially, like her, losing a son. Parents often find heartache when their children lapse and lose their faith. We must remember that at Mass we offer ourselves in union with the Divine Victim. It is at Mass that we can associate ourselves with Our Lady who stood at the foot of the Cross and witness the agony of her Son. She offered her own life in union with her Son and ...

An Irish reader has drawn my attention to an excellent sermon by Archbishop Seán Brady, given recently at Knock as part of the 2007 National Novena. Brady is Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. In his sermon, he made the following points: Those who confidently tell us that the Catholic Church in Ireland is an anachronism, a superstition of bygone days which has been rejected by intelligent Irish people, have greatly over stated their case. God is still active in people’s hearts. The land of saints and scholars has become better known as the land of stocks and shares, of financial success and security. Tragically it has also become a land of increasing stress and substance abuse. People are seeking to control their future rather than entrust their future to God’s promise and plan. The result is an increasing culture of insecurity and fear. Underlying this trend of ‘future telling’, is a fear of the future … It is evidence of the failure of a life without God to address the ...

Another great replacement for the car radio on long journeys - the Catholic Sermons Series 2007 from the priests of the Fraternity of St Peter serving the St. Philippine Duchesne Latin Mass Community. The list includes some meaty talks on the four last things during a mission given by Fr Issac Relyea of "Keep the Faith". All downloadable as mp3 files.

I thought you might be interested in the sermon I will be preaching this Sunday as it touches on some matters that I have raised recently in this blog. “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7.50) The story of the repentant woman who is forgiven by our Lord is very moving. Our Lord restores the woman’s self-respect which has been lost with her reputation and offers an analysis of his action to his friend, the Pharisee Simon, that will cause him and countless others after him to examine their conscience and begin to root out the capital vice of pride. A modern reading of this episode might well stop there. However, the gospel account ends with our Lord’s proclamation of the woman’s salvation “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” This turns out to be the essential outcome of her encounter with Christ. It is worth reflecting on this in relation to our own work in the parish. People often say to me that the parish is a good one and I like people to say this: it brings a sense of...

Some people asked me for the text of the sermon that I preached at the Birmingham Oratory for the feast of St Philip Neri so here it is: St Philip, a saint for saints My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and be glad. (Psalm 33.2) Fr Bowden in his Miniature Lives of the Saints says that the life of St Bernadine was St Philip’s favourite among the saints and the last he read before his death. Fr Bouyer on the other hand says that the last book he had read to him was the Fathers of the Desert. Perhaps we should make a distinction between reading or being read to; or perhaps St Philip inspired the two fathers with different information as a joke. We can understand why St Philip loved St Bernadine when we think of the great gatherings of feuding renaissance factions listening to his sermons and then ending with an emotional reconciliation with the bacio di pace . The holy Franciscan’s withering attacks on homosexual vice would also have met with approval surely from ...

I don't often post sermons but as one of my parishioners was kind enough to email me saying that he found today's interesting, I thought it might be worth an airing. My decision to preach on this subject was partly prompted by the depressing sight of Richard Dawkins' latest book The God Delusion on the best-seller shelves in WH Smith and Waterstones. We have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him. (Matt 2.2) The Magi, or wise men, represent the “gentiles” of the world, that is to say, the people who had not had the benefit of God’s divine revelation through the law and the prophets as we have written in the Old Testament of our Bible. They were led to Christ by a star, that is to say, through something created. The same is true for many people today. People can observe the beauty and complexity of creation, in the natural sciences, whether through the study of the living cell, the study of the human genome, the study of the mechanism of evolution in the n...

Sermon preached today at the Oratory School Requiem Mass in the Little Oratory, London You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour . (Luke 12.40) In the canon of the Mass, we pray for all those who sleep in the sleep of peace qui dormiunt in somno pacis . (At least we pray that in Latin – it is missing in the English translation for the moment.) We pray that God will grant them a place of cool repose, light and peace. But the Church refers to them as already sleeping in the sleep of peace. This is part of our Catholic faith: that the Holy Souls are certain of their place in heaven. They are sure of being in a state of grace that they will never lose. In that way, they are already happier than we are on earth. We do not know for certain that we will get to heaven: it depends on how we live the rest of our lives. We do not know that we will persevere in a state of grace. However, the Holy Souls are not completely happy: they mourn their sins. Nevertheless t...

At the 10.30am Mass today, I mentioned that St Charles Borromeo was one of my favourite saints and that I would not try to say much about him otherwise the Mass would not be over in time for lunch. Here is the text of a sermon that I preached on 9 July (the 14th Sunday of the Year) during a series of sermons on the saints. Whether they listen or not, this set of rebels shall know there is a prophet among them. (Ezekiel 2.5) The mid-16th century was a time when there was much corruption in the Church. There was widespread financial scandal because people were made abbots, bishops or rectors of parishes simply in order to take the revenues of an institution without ever living there or doing any pastoral work. Many priests lived bad lives, openly breaking their vow of celibacy, not saying Mass, not instructing the people. The education of the clergy was poor in many places. These scandals helped to add fuel to the protestant reformation. The Council of Trent re-stated Catholic doctrine ...

Preaching in the Oratory is a daunting experience at the best of times. The preacher is escorted by the MC about a third of the way down the lengthy nave and then has to climb a steep set of stairs to look over the congregation. Yesterday, several things combined to make the experience even more nerve-wracking. The first was that the Church was so full. That is not so bad in itself but being six feet off the ground does rather bring it home. Then the stand for the preacher's notes was a little too high for my five-feet-six frame. I did have a quick go at adjusting it but when it didn't move easily, I thought I had better leave it. There is also the adjustment that needs to be made for amplification in such a large space - you have to speak more slowly and pause more if it is not to become garbled (at least I think so!) The most difficult thing, though was that this was one of those times when God says "Right, Finigan, let's bring you down to size a bit and make you dep...

Today I finally got round to giving a sermon on the Catholic teaching on homosexuality . Not something that I would particularly choose to do except for the widespread promotion of homosexuality among young people as simply an alternative lifestyle. If we never speak about the Church's teaching in this area, youngsters simply believe whatever is the last thing they heard on the telly. I was just going to do a whole series on moral issues but I think I will intersperse it with other topics - otherwise it becomes just a bit too depressing. Perhaps I'll talk about Our Lady or the Sacred Heart next week.

Here is the text of the sermon I gave yesterday at the London Oratory for the Rosary Crusade of Reparation. The Triumph of Mary Immaculate Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array? (Song 6.10) At the visitation, St Elizabeth and the pre-born John the Baptist rejoiced in the presence of Jesus Christ, then an embryo of a few days. St Elizabeth also showed respect to our Lady: “Why should I be honoured with a visit from the Mother of my Lord?” Our Blessed Mother’s immediate response was to use this prayer as a direct channel for the praise of God. “My soul magnifies the Lord...” She is ever the same. She is a most sure route to our Blessed Lord “To Jesus through Mary” is the unfailing path of our prayers. If we think of the miracle of the sun, and the 70,000 people there including atheists, freemasons and communists, awed by her power with God, we should have a great confidence and trust in the interce...

Ma Beck, of Ward Wide Web , a regular commenter on this blog, has posted a homily Ascension and the East given by Fr Dennis Kolinski CRSJC, at the St John Cantius Church in Chicago about the priest facing Eastwards for the celebration of Mass. It was given on the feast of the Ascension which is a very appropriate occasion to reflect on the matter. The homily is an excellent spiritual summary of the significance of the priest and people facing together towards the East in anticipation of the second coming of Christ. Hearing all this about St John Cantius makes me want to go and visit Chicago.