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Author Topic: Fr. Girouard: The Scary Olympics of Christ. (Sermon Septuagesima 2026).  (Read 39 times)

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Offline StonewallCatho

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Fr. Girouard: The Scary Olympics of Christ. (Sermon Septuagesima 2026).
« on: Today at 09:18:00 PM »
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    • FR. GIROUARD'S VIDEO SERMON (02/01/26). WITH HIS PERMISSION.

    Dear friends,

    We hope you are doing well. 

    We need to focus on our spiritual duties. It is a matter of Life and Death.

    Willy-Nilly, we are all contestants in the Olympic Games of Christ. We cannot be spectators. Each of us will either win or lose the Prize of Eternal Bliss.

    A great tool for us is the daily reading of the traditional Roman Martyrology. It has a short notice on all the saints of the day. A quick read, but bringing lots of fruits. Those are our models to follow, and they assist us and cheer for us in Heaven. This reading is so important, that Holy Mother Church has included it in the Divine Office of Prime. Please note that this Office, and this Martyrology reading, are so great tools against the Devil and the World and the Old Man, that both were suppressed by Paul VI in his "Reform" of the Breviary. They were too much against "modern sensibility". 

    You can order your copy here. This is the same Edition I am using.


    Another great help, giving us detailed instructions, is the book "Spiritual Combat" by Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli:
    [url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1950782107/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1950782107&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
    Let us therefore meditate today with attention on the words of St. Paul in the Epistle of this Sunday. This is the subject of today's sermon.

    With love and blessings,

    Fr. Girouard

    SERMON OUTLINE: 

    INTRODUCTION: Today we will explain verse 24 of the Epistle proposed by Holy Mother Church in her liturgy of this Sunday. In the other verses of this text. St. Paul himself explains what he means by comparing our situation to a race and to a boxing match. We will simply add some information from historians of Antiquity, and especially from the great Doctor of the church: St. Bernard, from his own commentary on the same verse. The whole will remind us that to become "comfortable" in the practice of Religion is a great peril to our souls. 

    1- QUOTE: I COR. 9: 24: Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. 
    We hear a lot about the Winter Olympics these days. Also about the Super Bowl. Many are excited about these events (not myself). They have become a Religion. Yet, despite their Pagan characteristics, worldly sports can be a school for us. Indeed, we are, as Christians, taking part in a Life or Death Race, and oftentimes we do not match the efforts and energy Pagans put into their sports. Pagans put us to shame!

    2-EXPLAIN: "So run that you may obtain".
      A) The right way to run.
        1) Rules to follow, and therefore to know.
        2) Manner to run and win.
      B) "One receiveth the prize"
        1) Only one Elect? In Latin and French, the words of St Paul "so run..." are in the plural.
        2) A special prize only for the Heroes.
        3) At the goal post, we are alone. Nobody else can win our crown for us.
      C) Historians of Antiquity give details about races and prizes of these days.
        (Quote from Apocalypse 3:11). 

    3-OUR MODEL: Christ's Race and Fight.
    (A wonderfully inspiring and lengthy AND SCARY quote from St. Bernard). 

    4-OUR SITUATION:
      A) A vocation to a competition, to a challenge. 
      B) A tremendous outcome.
      C) The crown to grab and keep is Christ Himself. The Crown is a Crown of Thorns in this life. It is changed into a Crown of Glory in Heaven

    CONCLUSION: As St. Bernard explains: To stop progressing in virtue, is to start regressing. There is no middle ground, there is no time or place to take a break. If we are complacent with ourselves and happy in our mediocrity, we will lose the race, we will be knocked out in the fight. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves if we have progressed in the past year in fighting our defects and augmenting our good habits. We have to do this in an honest way. And we need to take the tools to perform well in that challenge. For instance, as I said before, the daily reading of the Roman Martyrology and of the book: "The Spiritual Combat". The BVM, even if "full of Grace" was still making sure that everyday she was doing something more to please God. Let us ask for her motherly help in this crucial competition.

    VIDEO LINK: [url=https://iframe.mediadelivery.net/play/79118/b85f4058-1757-422b-b3f8-e4e74df93c17]https://iframe.mediadelivery.net/play/79118/b85f4058-1757-422b-b3f8-e4e74df93c17


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