Father Patrick Peyton addresses the San Francisco Family Rosary Rally, October 7, 1961.[/caption]
Father Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea parish in San Francisco, gave a 17-minute homily on Sunday,July 21.
Jesus wept as he looked across the Kedron Valley at the temple in Jerusalem. The people had turned away from their trust in God.
Paul looked at the seaport of Corinth and saw a lot of immorality – drunkenness, prostitution. He said, “Do not become idolators.”
Like those worshipping the golden calf.
We are idolatrous in the modern world. What do you put your trust in?
On my flight back from Dublin, there was a computer malfunction. People were waiting in long lines.
Our god is IT.
I had a teacher in the seminary, Father Benedict Groeschel, a Franciscan, kind of famous at the time. . He used to say, “Fellas (he was from Jersey City, a long scraggly beard and an old ratty Franciscan habit), you gotta look at the world and spit.” Don’t make idols.
In Ireland we visited the small town where Father Patrick Peyton grew up. He led the rosary crusade in the U.S. Even San Francisco paused to praise the rosary.
In Indianapolis, the Eucharistic revival ends. There is great joy in Indianapolis today. But how long will this joy last?
The joy is already over. We live in the moment. SF is a heck of a lot worse than Corinth ever was.
Long ago, when I was young, priests didn’t talk much about “joy,” they were prayerful, holy and serious. The Mass, Sacraments and religious devotions were all very holy and very serious. The priests encouraged a serious life of Mass attendance, prayer, proper reception of the the Sacraments, and spiritual reading, as well as making little sacrifices or mortifications, “offering up” little sufferings, in union with Christ’s Sacrifice, on the Cross. Plus, there were many religious devotions and Novenas. The priests would preach about how the Saints, when starting out, usually had sudden, phenomenal religious experiences or unexpected conversions– and after those lovely spiritual experiences faded, the Saints were taught to “push themselves away from the table.” They were told, “Do not seek the consolations (beautiful experiences) of God– instead, seek the God of consolations.” Be diligent, love and serve Him, through good times and bad, and stay faithful. Keep plodding along, day-by-day, faithfully. Attend Mass, go to Confession, fast and pray, help the poor, do good works, etc.– and lead the “hidden life” in Christ. Do as the Church teaches. Doing all of this will bring us all simple, daily joys– just like little St. Carlo Acutis felt so much joy, going on his daily little “Spiritual Highway to Heaven,” with the Holy Eucharist, as a young boy. We may not have great and tremendous spiritual experiences, but that’s not important– mainly, we must trust, and love and serve God faithfully, no matter how we feel. It’s similar to being married– first, you fall madly in love, but then, after your Wedding and Honeymoon, the realities of daily life set in, and you might have many different, completely normal experiences and feelings, towards your spouse, day-by-day. That’s just normal. But overall, you are deeply committed, and love each other deeply, abiding together in that married love, over a lifetime, supporting and nurturing one another, your marriage deeply rooted in Christ. The road to Heaven is long and hard, with many challenges. At the end, when a Saint was finally purified, after many trials– very close to God– then, typically, millions of beautiful graces would pour into his or her soul, rapt in Divine contemplation, and they would suddenly, unpredictably, have blissfully ecstatic experiences of union with God, filled with His Divine Love and Joy. As for ourselves– most of us are not Saints! But we all should lead a good spiritual life, do as the good Abp. Cordileone advised– and more! Instead of the tiny, one-hour, modern Eucharistic Fast– I think the 3-hour one is much better. And how about doing fasts and abstinence on certain days, like every Friday, as we used to do? And saying a daily Rosary, and making frequent Holy Hours of Adoration, making the Stations of the Cross by yourself, on Fridays, too, plus, other religious devotions, prayers and Novenas, and the Divine Office, are very helpful, too. A good priest can help his parishioners with all of this, so they won’t get confused, and they will know just what to do, what will be best. Then, to persevere, loving and serving the Lord, seeking to lead a good life, and seeking purification of sins, most people will find a simple, normal kind of happiness and joy, and will be at peace, loving and serving their Lord. Being diligent, watchful, throughout our lives, as we “know not what hour the Bridegroom comes”– and be well-prepared for Him— is the best idea I know of. (“The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins” — St. Matthew 25:1-13) A good priest can help. Loved Ven. Fr. Patrick Peyton! He was miraculously cured of TB by Our Blessed Mother, and had an excellent spiritual pathway to offer, with his worldwide Family Rosary Crusades. Loved all his beautiful religious films, too! “The family that prays together, stays together. And a world at prayer is a world at peace.” He may someday be canonized as a Saint.
Reply to worse than Corinth: Excellent well written comments.
Bless you! Well, Christ is there, always ready and waiting for us, in the ‘ruins of Corinth,” (or, the ruins of today’s “Sodom and Gomorrah-ville”) ust as He was, in the time of St. Paul.
Don’t disagree with anything in the above post, but Fr. Peyton was speaking to an established, culturally endorsed Catholic Church with a pre-existing and very strong spirituality. He powerfully built on an already established infrastructure. That has disintegrated so as to be unrecognizable today. Truly we are back to Paul’s basic admonitions to a Church in it’s infancy.
That is sadly true. Our society and Church were tragically destroyed by Satanic lies, sins, evils and horrors beyond all description. May we reclaim our Church, our society, and all Western Civilization, by the grace of God, for Christ!
I saw in an advertisement, that a place called “Hot Johnnie’s Smokehouse,” in SF, at 4077 18th St., (415) 624-3171, owned by a man named Jonathan Young, email@hotjohnnies.com has advertised a Drag Queen Brunch at Noon on Sunday, Aug. 18th. (Not sure if they have other locations, too– with evil Drag Queens.) Shame on them! They are located in the Castro district. Are Catholic LGBTs from MHR church going there, after Mass? With kids? Catholic parents need to form a strong group to put an end to this evil.
Or Sodom?
race to the bottom: It’s worse than Sodom.
SF residents have voted for this kind of degeneracy and decline for decades. They should just accept and adjust to the fact that this is life in their city now, and it will probably worsen. You get what you vote for. Except, of course. in Democrat primaries.
decades: You are absolutely right. You get what and who you vote for. San Francisco residents need to do some serious prayers if they want to save their city.
Accept it? Accept a horrible, filthy, Satanic poison that kills body and soul? No. Clean it all up! Many young kids are dying of AIDs or VD, right now– others will soon be infected, and will die, too. Sin is a horrible disease of body, mind, heart and soul. How many deaths are waiting, at MHR and “Hot Johnnie’s Smokehouse,” in SF’s filthy, sinful Castro District? Clean it all up! Educate, evangelize, pass laws, clean it all up! Just like the Presbyterian missionary women cleaned up prostitution in Chinatown, and SF police publicly burned huge piles of opium in Chinatown in 1919-1920, in a great, big opium den crackdown. And the opium trade and opium dens were ended, and Chinatown was rebuilt.
Perhaps if we had a war with China, they would be doing us a favor if they hit San Francisco with nukes.
Large cities, especially military ports are and have always been sources of evil. San Francisco was bad before but limited to certain sections, then it was levelled by an earthquake. S.F. is still not prepared for another serious quake. As Fr. Z always says to repent, go to confession and stay out of mortal sin. One never knows the day nor the hour.
Three French Drag Queens are carrying the Olympic Torch, in France. Boycott the Olympic Games! This evil ought to be prohibited by law.
3 French Drag. What are the organizers trying to prove? The Woke Olympics.
The Olympics have always been pagan. Why any Christian, or Jew for that matter, are involved in them is a puzzlement to me. Years ago, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi wrote how pagan they were in his book, “Doesn’t Anyone Blush Anymore?” Since then, they have only gotten worse.
Don’t pass the Luciferian torch. Boycott it.
Even worse– a bunch of filthy, degenerate French Drag Queens performed a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s the “Last Supper!” What a HORROR! our Blessed Mother and her Divine Son, Jesus, the Savior of the world, Who died for our sins — are WEEPING, at Notre Dame Cathedral! Shanme on the Olympics! Boycott the Olympic Games! Evil! Thousands of people, including many celebrities, like Harrison Butker, Riley Gaines, Lila Rose, Elon Musk, Raymond Arroyo, and many others— are outraged!! Bishop Barron posted a video with a good speech about this evil. If the filthy Drag
Boycott the Olympics! That’s outright blasphemy. Jesus said on the Cross, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Shortly before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He entered the temple, and was horrified at the evils and filth taking place there. He took a whip and drove the evil money changers out of the temple. He overturned their money tables and chairs, and spilled their coins onto the floor. He cried out, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” We need bold, courageous officials in France to sternly rebuke the Olympics officials publicly, who planned the evil spectacle of Drag Queens mocking the “Last Supper.” They need to arrest those who planned and who took part in this evil, and put them in jail, and punish them all. Good laws must be enacted to prohibit religious persecution, sacrilege, and blasphemy. The Olympics should be boycotted and shut down, at this point. A day of prayer, fasting and reparation for sin should be called by the Catholic Church, in the Archdiocese of Paris. The area where the blasphemous sacrilege took place should be cleansed in religious rites by the Archbishop, Abp. Laurent Ulrich. That is how I see it.
Reply to Restrainer: Thank you for your wonderful comments to this horrible story. I believe those responsible for this disgraceful performance are mocking Christians and Christianity. And as you correctly say the place where this blasphemous sacrilege took place should be cleansed in religious rites by the Archbishop of Paris. Jesus who is the Son of God was crucified for the forgiveness of all the sins of mankind. Let’s not crucify Jesus over and over again. Viva Cristo Rey. Long live Christ the King.
The Olympics are fading into History as another unwatchable event. Much of the same way as nobody any longer tunes in to the Emmys, Oscars or any other Hollywood show. Good bye to all of them.
Soon nobody will want to live in SF either. You see how many stores have closed and are closing in once-bustling shopping districts?
All that will be left in SF will be homeless, druggies, illegals, and gays. What a fine city.
Boycott the Olympics: I would like to add that I just saw Bishop Robert Barron’s video on this horrible depiction of the Last Supper at the Olympics. Bishop Barron said, “Catholics should not be sheepish, let your voices speak out.” This 2 minute video is on youtube and really worth listening to it.
I very much appreciated Bp. Barron’s thoughtful and supportive video. I kind of got concerned about possible attacks on priests and Catholic churches, or arson attacks, after the horrific Olympic sacrilege. Hope that priests, churches and cathedrals will all be okay, and well-protected.
Reply to Restrainer: I’m glad you got a chance to see Bishop Barron’s thoughtful and supportive video. We must pray for our Priests and Churches because the winds of persecution are in the air. Our Lady of Lourdes pray for us.
There have also been many scary threats by terrorist groups to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Hope people will all be safe.
Boycott the Olympics: It has just been reported that Paris has been hit by a power outage hours after the city has been battered by rain. To top it off there’s a growing backlash over the opening ceremonies mockery of the Last Supper. Boycott watching the Olympics.
I hate france.
Anti-France: France is the country that Our Lady of Lourdes appeared and home to Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.
The French Revolution was evil but not Christian France. There is a world of difference. The French revolutionaries tore down the sacred images in the Cathedral of Notre Dame and put a harlot on the altar and called her the goddess of reason. They do not tell you that in government schools here nor there anymore.
Many good nuns and priests were executed, too, during the Reign of Terror, and the Catholic Church was suppressed, and their properties were confiscated to be owned by the revolutionary government. 30,000 priests (who were not killed) were sent into exile. Even today, the Catholic Church still does not own most of its Church properties in France— the French government owns all Catholic and Protestant churches and cathedrals, as well as Jewish synagogues and temples. Worship communities are allowed to worship in the buildings “assigned” for their use, for free– but the buildings are all State properties.