Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

Life from death.  As Christians we’re all familiar with the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, and how this act of loving sacrifice revealed God’s power over death itself.  While this may be the most significant story of resurrection, it is not the only story of resurrection in the Bible.  In fact, as we go through this Sunday’s readings, we see that resurrection of the dead is one of the more important threads that runs through all of our Holy Scriptures. The Word for the 10 th Sunday of Ordinary Time 1 Kings 17:17-24 Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13 Galatians 1:11-19 Luke 7:11-17 Our first reading from 1st Kings is one of the more significant resurrection stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the story of how the great prophet Elijah raised a widow’s young son from the dead.  It is a time of famine in the land, and the leaders of Judah blame Elijah, so he has fled North and finds himself living with Zarephath, a widow, who also has a young...

This Sunday we have the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, in which we celebrate the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Word for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Genesis 14:18-20 Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4 1Corinthians 11:23-26 Luke 9:11b-17 We open with a short passage from Genesis, where we are introduced to the priest Melchizedek, king of Salem.  Here he offers bread and wine while giving God’s blessing to Abram (after his having defeated the forces and allies of the king of Elam).  While this is the one and only story we have in Scripture about Melchizadek, his legacy has carried through to the Psalms, the New Testament, and even to our Liturgy in the First Eucharistic Prayer.  Not only is he the first named priest of God Most High, but during his encounter with Abram we see the first time bread and wine as a blessed as an offering.  These “firsts” play through many important themes in scripture, incl...

With last week’s celebration of Pentecost we officially put the season of Easter behind us.  But in typical Catholic style, we’re not quite ready to end the party.  We open this period of Ordinary Time with two very important Solemnities:  This week, the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity Sunday) and next week, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). The Word for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Proverbs 8:22-31 Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 Romans 5:1-5 John 16:12-15 We open this Solemnity with a reading from the Book of Proverbs.  One of the early wisdom books, a large portion of the book is considered to be a collection of the sayings from King Solomon.  While portions of the text do date to the early monarchy, scholars also believe the book continued to be edited and developed through to the post-exilic period.  One of the trademarks of wisdom literature in the Bible is that wisdom itself is personified (often as a beautiful...

This Sunday the Easter Season comes to a close with the celebration of Pentecost… that moment when the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples, and whose gifts allowed them to leave the upper room and spread the Gospel to Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria, and throughout the world.  It’s the birthday of the Church! The Word for Pentecost Sunday Acts 2:1-11 Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 1st Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Romans 8:8-17 John 20:19-23 or John 14:15-16, 23b-26 The readings for Sunday open with the Pentecost story from the Acts of the Apostles.  It is after the Ascension and the Apostles have gathered again in the upper room, along with Mary and some of the other women.  The remaining 11 Apostles have just selected Matthias to take the place of Judas, and now with everyone present, our passage describes the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit. From the upper room our scene then jumps to the busy street below… busy because there is a lot of a...

The End .  When we reach the end of a book or a film, we sometimes see these words telling us that our journey through this particular story has concluded.  As our journey through the Easter Season comes to a close, our readings for the 7th Sunday definitely give us a feeling that we have reached the conclusion of a story: The Word for the 7 th Sunday of Easter Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 97:1-2, 6-7, 9 Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 John 17:20-26 Our first reading continues our journey through the Acts of the Apostles, but actually takes a step to Chapter 7 and a time before Paul makes his appearance.  Here we meet Stephen, a deacon in the church of Jerusalem and a fierce defender of the faith.  He has been arrested and is standing trial in front of the Sanhedrin.  During this trial Stephen is boldly condemning the Jewish authorities for being blind to prophecy, giving a long discourse that takes us from the patriarchs of Genesis to Moses to Jesus.  Our pas...

Following the traditional calendar, the Solemnity of the Ascension falls on a Thursday… 40 days after the Resurrection, and 10 days before Pentecost.  But since the Ascension is such an important moment for us as Church, many diocese, including our own, have moved this celebration to this coming Sunday (in place of the 7th Sunday of Easter).  But regardless of when we celebrate it the readings are the same: The Word for the Ascension of the Lord Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23 Luke 24:46-53 Our first reading is from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.  While it might be more appropriate that this reading should follow our Gospel reading for today (as it naturally follows after Luke’s Gospel), the book-end effect of these two readings remains intact, reminding us how this was a pivotal moment for the Church.  Like most sequels, our reading opens with a recap of where we left off at the end of Lu...