Father Bradford preached this sermon at Mass on the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, September 26, 2021, at St Lawrence Church.

As Father said, “Our small initial gestures give way to a very different perspective, and in time, we will want to give to, and not just take from, the Lord Jesus. Then He will have us in His family.“

Father Bradford’s sermons back to 2014 are here.

Father Bradford preached this sermon at Mass on the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 19, 2021, at St Lawrence Church.

As Father said, “A child gives us a precious insight, even if incomplete, into the Divine Love of the Holy Trinity: what God is really like. And Our Lord tells us to strive to keep just this kind of childlike relationship with our Heavenly Father.”

Father Bradford’s sermons back to 2014 are here.

The Matter of Life takes you on a journey to unravel the complexities of the abortion debate by addressing the issue through science, philosophy, history, and powerful personal stories. The film answers hard questions and provides hope for the future. To learn more, visit matteroflife.org

Steven Hardy invites all parishioners to attend the pre-screening of this movie:
At St. Clemens Shrine of the Eucharist, 1105 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02215-3604
SHOWING IN UPPER ROOM
On Friday, September 24, 2021
Doors open at 6:30 PM, showing at 7:00 PM
Filmmaker/speaker panel and Q&A at 8:45 PM

Father Bradford preached this sermon at Mass on the Feast of Saint Gregory the Great on September 5, 2021, at St Lawrence Church. This is the Patronal Feast of Title of the St Gregory the Great Community.

As Father said, “… Pope Gregory crowned the work of the other great Doctors of the Church, as together they made possible the transition of the old world into a new world nearer the pattern of the Kingdom of God. Holy Gregory, pray for us!”

Father Bradford’s sermons back to 2014 are here.

Saturday, September 11, 2021
from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

The Psalter: The Hymnal of Israel, the Hymnal of the Church

Leader: Fr Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D.
The program will end with Evensong in the church.
All are welcome. Bring a friend.
Bring your Bible and lunch.

Father Stravinskas is a long-time friend of our congregation and has been our celebrant, preacher, and retreat leader many times. He will also be our preacher at Sunday Mass on September 12th. 

Later that day, at 5:00 PM he will make a presentation in Holy Cross Cathedral on The Eucharist in Music. This is part of his series for the Archdiocesan Year of the Eucharist. The lecture will be followed by Solemn Vespers and Benediction.

Father Bradford preached this sermon at Mass on the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, August 29, 2021, at St Lawrence Church.

As Father said, “So to lift up our hearts, to put them with the Lord, is not just the announcement at the beginning of the Eucharistic action in the Mass. It is the beginning of all Christian prayer. And that is the way the new law of the spirit gets its beginning in us.”

Father Bradford’s sermons back to 2014 are here.

If you signed up to receive Contra mundum by mail, you should receive your September 2021 issue soon. You can also read it here on our website as well as all of the back issues.

Our parish paper provides religious instruction, news, and upcoming events for our our combined congregation and community. It also includes sermons and articles by Father Bradford, and articles and writings by contemporary and classic authors:

• “A Month of Marian Celebration” by the Provost from the Oratory Parish Magazine of the Brompton (London) Oratory
• “Please Help Save the Hyde Amendment”
• “Hospitality and the Works of Charity” from from Homily 23 by Pope St. Gregory the Great
• “The Patient Approach of Divine Wisdom,” a sermon by Father Bradford
• “You Don’t Have to Keep It in Church” by William A Donahue
• A Day of Recollection coming Saturday, September 11, 2021 with Fr Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D.
• “The Whole Truth about Christ” by John Janaro
• “Pleased with Mary, God Gave Her the Word” by Saint Catherine of Siena
• “A Report from Our Business Manager” submitted by Rick Timmerman, Finance and Operations Manager

Father Bradford preached this sermon at Mass on the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, August 22, 2021, at St Lawrence Church.

As Father said, “But at the heart of Christian discipline there is a divine truth. Spiritual growth is not motivated by idealism or notions of being nice, but by hunger. And Jesus Christ Himself is the food.”

Father Bradford’s sermons back to 2014 are here.

My dear people, 

All the news and photos from Haiti are horrific. Cardinal O’Malley has asked for a special collection to be taken up on the weekends of August 21-22 and 28-29. We will do that. If you do make a contribution, please indicate on your envelope or check memo, HAITI RELIEF, with checks payable to the Congregation of St Athanasius. On August 30th we will send these funds to the archdiocese for sending on to Haiti.As an alternative you might make contributions directly through Catholic Relief Services, 228 W. Lexington St., Baltimore, MD 20201-3443. (For more information, email info@crs.org.)

Blessings.                                                                              

Father Bradford

Father Bradford preached this sermon at Evensong & Benediction on the Solemnity of the Assumption at 5:00 PM on August 15, 2021 at St Lawrence Church.

Music by Loyset Compère, Peter Philips, and Thomas Tallis accompanied the service under the direction of Dr. Janet E Hunt and a reception followed.

Father provided the following on the back of our service leaflet:

Beyond death and judgement

The destiny of the Church and world has already been fulfilled, not only in the uncreated person of the Son of God, but also in the created person of his Mother. That is why St Gregory Palamas calls the Mother of God ‘the boundary between the created and the uncreated’. Beside the incarnate divine hypostasis there is a deified human hypostasis.

We have said above that in the person of the Mother of God it is possible to see the transition from the holiness of the Old Testament to the holiness of the Church. But if the all-holy Mother of God has reached and consummated the holiness of the Church, and all holiness which is possible for a created being, we are now concerned with yet another transition: the transition from the world of becoming to the eternity of the Eighth Day, the passage from the Church to the Kingdom of God. This last glory of the Mother of God, the eschaton realized in a created person before the end of the world, henceforth places the mother of God  beyond death, beyond the resurrection, and beyond the Last Judgement. She participates in the glory of her Son, reigns with him, presides at his side over the destinies of the Church in time, and intercedes on behalf of all before him who will come again to judge the living and the dead.

VLADIMIR LOSSKY

Vladimir Lossky (1903-1958) was an
Eastern Orthodox theologian
who lived and worked in Paris.

LITURGY OF ST BASIL THE GREAT

O full of grace, thou art the joy of all creation,

of the hierarchy of angels and the race of men.

Hallowed temple,

Paradise of the Word,

The glory of virginity,

From thee God took flesh and became a little child,

He who is from all eternity our God.

Thy womb he took as throne,

Thy body he made wider than the heavens.

O full of grace, thou art the joy of all creation:

Glory to thee!

Father Bradford’s sermons back to 2014 are here.