Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Daily Sermons
September 5 – Fr. Lehtoranta – What Your Heart Desires
September 8 – Fr. Lehtoranta – Our Lady, Happy Servant of God
September 10 – Fr. Lehtoranta – The Precious Child
September 11 – Fr. Lehtoranta – The Value of Life and Time
September 12 – Fr. McGuire – Thoughts on Mary
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Two Tuesdays in a row, we’ve buried good Catholic men, prayerful devout Catholics, five men altogether this year. They are at rest from their labors and earthly sufferings, and with God, or very near to Him. But we are diminished by their loss. As we pray for them, we pray Almighty God to raise us up five, ten, fifteen more such men; examples to others, strong in their faith, active in church, generous in giving of themselves. The work must and does go on, and we must go on, but this is the help we require, and beg of God’s grace.
A secret strength of St. Gertrude the Great all of these years, in the face of every opposition, both within and without, has been the “secret” quiet nocturnal adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for over 30 years. This quiet devotion to the Blessed Sacrament along with the great public devotion of Forty Hours and Corpus Christi, has solved so many problems, and brought us untold graces. Men, we could use you to watch an hour in adoration with us. Why not? Contact Bishop Dolan or Tom Simpson for more details, or to be put on the schedule. Our Forty Hours this year is scheduled for the weekend of Christ the King, October 24th-26th.
I was truly edified to see so many of you at William Harris’ funeral, serving (as you are, after all) as his “family.” God reward you by inspiring you with some of his great devotion to the Poor Souls. This was Fr. Nkamuke’s first funeral, and he did a fine job. Fr. Lehtoranta took him to Calvary Cemetery is Dayton, and showed him how the burial is done here. Although funeral customs are different in Nigeria (burial is generally in the family compound), still this is a good training for a new priest.
William Harris was one of the “shovel brigade” for a number of years in West Chester. They would clean the path for the monthly Rosary Procession, shoveling away the goose droppings in all weather, thus “preparing the way of the Lord.” What an act of penance! The shovel brigade is no more, and we Rosary marchers have had plenty of opportunity to get in a little Fatima penance along with our processional prayers. Thank you for coming yesterday on a Saturday morning. Already next month we will have our last and candlelight procession on Columbus Day. I have been vaguely thinking about moving the procession across the street next year, where it is a bit quieter. That way we would not have to compete with the cars and traffic – and geese.
We had a beautiful birthday celebration for our Blessed Mother last Monday. Several homeschooling families swelled our ranks for the Solemn Mass celebrated by our celebrated author Fr. Cekada. After Mass a beautiful procession conducted us to the grotto, where Katie had set up a second shrine to the Infant Mary (we have two), replete with seeds and seedlings, pansies waiting to be blessed. Afterwards the children sang their way to Helfta Hall, and enjoyed some cake after one more song…Happy Birthday. This is such a nice way to start the new school year.
Tomorrow we conclude our Novena for the Nativity of Mary, and sing the Solemn Mass of her Seven Sorrows, one of September’s principal devotions, along with today’s, the Holy Cross. Days of grace and days of blessing are these.
We are blessed to be having our beautiful High Masses each school day now as well as by having our Sunday choir back singing in the back. Today’s High Mass marks the official opening of a new season at St. Gertrude the Great, but we’ve been busy for a while now.
Fr. McKenna has returned with tales of his travels with Bishop Sanborn through Poland, Austria, Germany, and Hungary. His Excellency met with several Germanspeaking priests and is expecting a seminarian they are sending him. The Budapest chapel, formerly Pius X and the “Resistance,” is now simply logically Catholic, holding no communion with the Great Impostor and arch-heretic Francis. Our Fr. Valerii has been studying the Latin Mass off and on with Fr. Trytek in Krakow, and is well accepted by the Polish faithful. His old city and house in eastern Ukraine are all caught up in the bloody conflict there.
Fr. Cekada has been doing a series of shows on his “Work of Human Hands” about the New Mass. Last week’s topic was Art & Architecture in the Liturgical Revolution. Many of the bleak, modern 1950s Cincinnati churches (such as the “other St. Gertrude”) were obviously preparing the way for Vatican II. Tune in at: restorationradionetwork.org. Also check out Bishop Sanborn’s interesting blog at inveritateblog.com. The more we read, the more we learn, the stronger we become in our faith, the better equipped we are as apostles.
May Our Lord send us many lay apostles as well as priests to continue the work of the Church.
Don’t forget the Ember Days this week, and the parish picnic next Sunday.
May the Holy Cross be your protection. Make it well and often, and honor it in your home.
– Bishop Dolan