Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

When you think of the season of Lent, what do you think of?  When you ask most Catholics, they will usually say that it’s a season where we’re supposed give something up.  Others may say that it is for prayer and for giving alms.  These are all right, of course, but not entirely.  According to the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy promulgated from the Second Vatican Council, “The season of Lent has a twofold character: primarily by recalling or preparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the paschal mystery.”  While those who are preparing for Baptism use this season of Lent as a period of “Purification and Enlightenment,” all of us Catholics are called to remember our own Baptisms as a primary focus for Lent in addition to penance.  With that emphasis in mind, let us see how baptism plays into our readings for this first week of Lent: The Word for th...

As Christians know we are all “called to be holy.”  But what does that really mean?  We hear this phrase often and yet few Catholics can say where it came from or explain what it really means.  Our readings this week give us some answers… The Word for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 Matthew 5:38-48 Our first reading comes from the book of Leviticus, the second retelling of the Moses story, only this time through prism of priestly (Levite) Law.  In this rather short passage, we are given two powerful commands.  First, God commands us to be holy.  But what does he mean?  While the intervening passages (verses 2-16) provide some clarity, the real understanding comes from the second commandment in the passage, “love your neighbor as yourself.”  Period.  Before we can even utter an inquisitive “why” God says, “I am the Lord.”  the scriptural equivalent of “because...

Right is right, and wrong is wrong.  But is the world really that black and white?  While some might argue that it is just that simple, our Catholic tradition recognizes that it is not.  The extremes of darkness and light are easy to see, but much of our everyday life operates somewhere in-between.  The time we spend studying scripture and Church tradition are not so much to point out the obvious light and dark, but in learning how to, as I often say, “navigate the gray.”  Put another way, finding the right balance between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law .  On the surface, our Gospel this week takes a fairly strong, even harsh line with regard to the Law, but to view this passage literally is to miss the deeper meaning that Jesus is trying to teach: The Word for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time Sirach 15:15-20 Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Matthew 5:17-37 or Matthew 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37 Our first reading comes ...

We Catholics sometimes have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be.  Take for instance our use of certain words, like catechesis or liturgy to describe certain regular activities of Catholic life (to teach and to pray).  Their meaning gets lost because they’re just not part of most people’s everyday lives.  Take for example the phrase Social Justice .  Within Catholic leadership circles this has certain meaning for a wide array of Church activity, but if you were to ask the rest of us what “Catholic social justice” means, you might be hard pressed to explain.  Perhaps this Sunday’s readings can help… The Word for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time Isaiah 58:7-10 Psalm 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Matthew 5:13-16 Our first reading comes from later Isaiah, where we are reminded of what it is that God really wants to see of his people.  Not festivals but works of mercy.  This passage comes from a period after the Exile – t...