"The greatest thing about miracles is that they happen."
Friday, June 30, 2006
Learned Priest
I just got back from a retreat, and at that retreat we had daily Mass. Each day there was a new priest, but on Tuesday we had a REALLY STUPENDOUS priest. He had a good, interesting homily, and...drumroll please...HE QUOTED GKC!!!!!!! The quote, actually, has always been beloved to me, and I was so happy when he used it!!!! It just topped off the week!!!!
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4 comments:
Funny that this week I heard one of the all time top sermons too (and being teen-times-3 I think I have heard more than you) that featured a GKC quote very prominantly.
"As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength at all. Like all the Christian virtues, it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable."
The sermon, about Hope, showed how when we say hope we usually don't mean it. It is usually something that only mimics the kind of hopeless hope that belonged to the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' cloak, and also to Jairus who believed his daughter was beyond any medical help.
This hope is more rare he seemed to be leading up to. Then in a simple change of tone he showed how we, most all of us, have SOME area in which we are tempted to resign as hopeless and fall into sin. And how the same hope awaits us all - Jesus. For those consious of mortal sin (he was very in the moment) this priest welcomed to confession. For those free from it to Communion - - - not just to touch the hem of Jesus cloak but so much more!
That's wonderful Electro. Dale Ahlquist's opening speech at the ACS Conference was also about Hope and he quoted this of Chesterton's as well, and said pretty much what your priest said. But I hadn't connected that with Sunday's readings, so thanks for that.
Nancy: I was listening to a sermon by a Fr. Dave at the cathedral in Duluth. Maybe he went to Chestercon. - Maybe he got the tapes?
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