Thine Own Service

Thine Own Service

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Homily for Easter IV

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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easter, homily, jubilee, mercy

Detail from the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Ss Volodymyr and Olha, Chicago, IL

Detail from the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Ss Volodymyr and Olha, Chicago, IL

On this fourth Sunday of Easter we hear in the Introit words of Psalm 33: “The loving-kindness of the Lord filleth the whole world, alleluya: by the word of God the heavens were stablished, alleluya, alleluya.” By this opening text of the Mass the Church bids us rejoice today that the Lord has, by the merits of his passion and by his victory over death, rescued us, his people, from the certain death which is the result of our sin. In the light of the paschal season we are reminded today that, as the Easter Sequence proclaims, “Death with life [has] contended: combat strangely ended! Life’s own Champion, slain, yet lives to reign.”

The saving action of Christ, by which he leads us from the clutches of death and returns us to fullness of life in him, is the ultimate sign of the loving-kindness or mercy about which we hear in today’s Introit. Our restoration to life in God—the undoing of the serpent’s guile and the sin of the Garden of Eden—is a fruit of the Father’s love for us; a love seen most perfectly in the passion of his only-begotten Son, by whose death we have life. That mercy is at the heart of the message of the gospel. It is the cause of our joy and our hope, and it is the catalyst for our evangelizing mission, to bring all peoples to know and to love Christ in the communion of his holy Church. With Pope Benedict XVI we can say, “mercy is the central nucleus of the gospel message” (Regina cœli, 30 March, 2008).

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Homily for Low Sunday 2015

12 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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baptism, easter, homily

Baptismal Font, Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Chains, Cincinnati, OH

Baptismal Font, Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Chains, Cincinnati, OH

In the various calendars in use across the Latin Church this day is known variously as Low Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, the Second Sunday of Easter, Quasimodo Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, the Octave Day of Easter, and Dominica in albis or, to give its full name, Dominica in albis depositis. This latter title recalls the custom that today, at the conclusion of the Easter octave, those who were baptized at the Paschal Vigil would lay aside for the first time the white robes with which they had been clothed during the sacred ceremonies last Sunday. As is the case now, the practice of the ancient Church was to clothe the newly baptized in a white garment, both as an outward sign of the Christian dignity, and as an admonition to carry the life of Christ always without stain. The gift of this physical robe furthermore acts as a token of the gift of everlasting life which, through the cleansing waters of the font, has been given.

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Homily for Maundy Thursday 2015

03 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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communion, eucharist, lent, passiontide, priesthood, triduum

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The solemn celebration of this most holy night, in which we commemorate the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood, affords us the opportunity to recognize once again the great outpouring of love and grace which is the sacrifice of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. By participation in these sacred rites and in those of the coming days the Church invites us, her children, to enter into the mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection, in a more intense and renewed way, uniting ourselves to the perfect oblation of God the Son to God the Father in and through God the Holy Spirit. In the three days on which we have now embarked, the saving acts of the Lord are retold so that we might recognize what our God has done for us, and so strive to respond by lives oriented toward his eternal presence.

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