Adult Faith Formation & Initiation

“Vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!”  These are the words that open our first reading this Sunday and are a stark reminder of what should be important in our lives.  While we may be familiar with the saying, and while we may give credence to the sentiment, our modern lives are in fact often mired in vanity.  This Sunday’s readings serve as a sharp reminder as to what is really is important: The Word for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17 Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 Luke 12:13-21 Our first reading is from the Book of Ecclesiastes.  The word “Ecclesiastes” is a rough Greek translation of the Hebrew word Qoheleth , to whom the book is attributed.  This is not so much a name of someone as it is a title, in this case the “assembler” or “collector” of wisdom.  Like all wisdom literature in the Bible, this book is a collection of sayings and parables intended to remind us of what is important.  Here the author uses the word “vanity”

“Ask and you shall receive.”  These are the words Jesus teaches us in this Sunday’s Gospel.  Yet far too often we let our “Catholic guilt” get in the way of this teaching.  We’re so attuned to serving God and others that we sometimes forget that God also owes a duty to us, as our readings this week will show: The Word for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time Genesis 18:20-32 Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8 Colossians 2:12-14 Luke 11:1-13 We open with a passage from the book of Genesis.  Here Abraham is on his way to the city of Sodom (because his nephew Lot and his family are living there).  As God is walking with him, he asks Abraham if he has heard of the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah.  He has heard and fears the Lord will “sweep away” the cities as punishment for their sins.  So he confronts the Lord, most humbly, if he will destroy the city if he can find 50 innocent people.  The Lord relents, saying the city will be spared.  So Abraham presses the Lord further, if he can find 40 peop

Last week’s readings reminded us of the importance of loving our neighbor.  Out of this love of neighbor comes our long-standing Catholic tradition of hospitality, which we see as a common thread in this week’s readings: The Word for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time Genesis 18:1-10a Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 5 Colossians 1:24-28 Luke 10:38-42 Our first reading comes from the book of Genesis.  Here we meet up with Abraham (no longer Abram) as he has an encounter with the Lord.  Only this is no ordinary encounter.  Three men who have been traveling through the area have come to Abraham’s camp, and immediately Abraham insists that they stay, rest, and have some food.  This might sound unusual to us, but we need to remember that Abraham is living in a desolate area.  Travelers are not common, and when they are encountered, it is the long-standing custom in that society to be hospitable (a practice that carries through to some of our modern-day laws, like how a boater must always respond to a call

What does God want of us?  It sounds like a daunting question, but it’s really not.  All of the 10 Commandments, all of the Mosaic Law, all of the teachings of Jesus, come down to just two things:  Love God.  Love you neighbor.  But to quote the Lord from Exodus, we are a “stiff necked people.”  Our readings this week remind us that loving our neighbor is our ticket to salvation. The Word for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time Deuteronomy 30:10-14 Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37 or 19:8, 9, 10, 11 Colossians 1:15-20 Luke 10:25-37 Our first reading is from the book of Deuteronomy.  This is the book that most scholars believe was presented by King Josiah during the 7th century BCE in his attempts to reform the people back to the Lord.  In this passage, we hear Moses telling the people of Israel that God’s wishes for his people are not some remote or inaccessible dream but are instead something quite obvious: Love your neighbor.  Moses reminds us that we know this already, in our mind

One of the final efforts of Pope Benedict XVI was the announcement of the “New Evangelization” back in 2013.  This was a multi-year effort to focus on our “Journey with Christ through Faith, Worship, and Witness.”  Pope Francis continued this work through his calling for a Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2016, noting that a loving God is also a merciful God, and that the best way to evangelize was to mirror that mercy as Christ taught us.  Although this multi-year focus concluded in 2016, this revitalized focus on evangelization still holds a strong focus throughout the Church.  In fact, many important documents, including our newly revised Directory for Catechesis, maintains a primary focus on evangelization – the announcement of the Good News of Christ.  Our readings for this 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time help us to see what can be accomplished when we seek to spread God’s love: The Word for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time Isaiah 66:10-14c Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 Galatians 6:14-18 Lu

With last week’s solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ we conclude our special post-Easter celebrations as our Sundays return to the cycle of Ordinary Time.  As we join Jesus and his disciples on their travels, we are faced with a hard decision:  What does it take to be a follower of Christ? The Word for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time 1 Kings 19-16b, 19-21 Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 Galatians 5:1, 13-18 Luke 9:51-62 Our first reading from the 1st book of Kings has the great prophet Elijah choosing his successor, Elisha.  The scene from our reading seems fairly straightforward, but to better understand this moment we need to look deeper into the context of this story:  Here Elijah, once again, is a man on the run.  The great drought and famine is over and King Ahab and the people are rejoicing in the Lord.  Unfortunately, that rejoicing included slaughtering all the prophets of Baal (one of the great Canaanite gods).  This infuriated Queen Jezebel who ordered that El

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 Melchizedek, 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 for the first time bread and wine being blessed as an offering.  These “firsts” play through many important themes in scripture, including bread as a source of life