Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

The first Sunday after the Nativity of the Lord is always celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  And like most feast days, our readings do not change with the lectionary cycle.  Since the Christmas season is a celebration of the Nativity, it seems only appropriate that we focus on the family into which Jesus was born.  It should be no surprise then that our readings focus on parental and family themes: The Word for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 or 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28 Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or Psalm 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10 Colossians 3:12-21 or Colossians 3:12-17 or 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 Luke 2:41-52 Our readings for this Sunday offer quite a variety of options from which the presider may select, so those of us in the assembly will want to listen carefully.  Since most presiders select the first of the options, that is what I will unpack for us here: Our first reading comes from the Wisdom of Ben ...

Since The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) rarely falls on a Sunday, I’ve never taken the opportunity to write about the readings for this holy day, since my focus is generally on just the Sunday readings.  But I find myself in a festive mood (and with some time on my hands) so I thought I would dive into the readings for this, the start of the Christmas season. As with most other holy days, the time of the Mass dictates the readings.  For The Nativity of the Lord, there are four separate selections:  The Vigil Mass, Mass During the Night, Mass at Dawn, and Mass During the Day.  It is also important to note that, like with the Triduum and Easter, the readings for The Nativity are always the same, and do not change with the Liturgical cycles.  And if you’ve ever read my synopsis of the Easter readings, you know that I lament about those “twice-a-year” Catholics because the readings for Easter Sunday don’t truly express the wonder and meaning of the day without th...

This Sunday is the 4th and final Sunday of Advent.  The Nativity is quickly approaching and like an expectant parent, the reality of what is to come is beginning to set in.  During the Sundays of Advent we’ve been hearing the prophecy of God sending us a Savior, and now with that moment nearly upon us, we see the prophecy in our readings becoming much more specific, giving flesh to what was just an idea, leaving no doubt that this is going to happen and that we should be prepared. The Word for the 4th Sunday of Advent Micah 5:1-4a Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45 Our first reading comes from the Book of the Prophet Micah.  While Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah, and his prophetic message is similar, Micah, unlike Isaiah, is not a native of Jerusalem, so through his voice we see the view of an outsider looking in.  Though we don’t hear from Micah very often in the Liturgy, his prophecy is the one that gives us the birthplace of our Savior – Bet...

“Shout for Joy!”  The opening lines of our first reading expresses the feelings we should be having during this third Sunday of Advent.  Also known as Gaudete Sunday (Latin for “rejoice”), we celebrate that we have now past the half-way point of our penitent reflection – the “hump day” of Advent, if you will.  What have we to be so joyful about?  Our readings provide the answer: The Word for the 3rd Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-18a Psalm 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke3:10-18 Our first reading comes from the Book of the Prophet Zephaniah.  Though we don’t hear from Zephaniah very often in our Sunday Liturgies, and though the book itself isn’t that long (only 3 chapters), the importance of his message not only can be seen in his predecessors Jeremiah and Baruch, but may even have had a profound effect on the Judean monarchy itself by moving King Josiah to begin his campaign of religious reform.  Our passage this week, though similar to the passages...

The promise of salvation has been fulfilled!  This is the promise of Advent.  This is the promise of Christ.  As we begin our new Liturgical cycle with this season of Advent we take a lesson from the prophets: that our hope for salvation will be fulfilled.  How do I know this?  Let’s look at our readings for this week: The Word for the 2nd Sunday of Advent Baruch 5:1-9 Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 Luke 3:4, 6 Our first reading is from the Book of Baruch, who was an assistant to the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah, as we may remember from our readings last week, is one of the prophets of the Babylonian Exile.  The Book of Baruch is reflective of that same period, though unlike the Book of Jeremiah, no known Hebrew version of this book has been found (only the Greek version remains), making it one of the Bible’s Deuterocanonical books (those included in the Catholic Bible, but not in the Jewish or Protestant Bibles).  In our passa...

When we celebrate the secular New Year we like to reminisce about the past year while looking anxiously ahead to the year ahead.  With this first Sunday of Advent the Church rings in the new year in much the same way, remembering how God promised to send us a Savior and the memory of that fulfillment through Jesus Christ, while looking forward to the time when Christ will return.  Anticipating the second coming of Jesus is not something we should fear.  It is a season of joyful anticipation and hope! The Word for the 1st Sunday of Advent Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28, 34-36 Our first reading comes from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah, as we may remember, came to his calling under the great reformer King Josiah, but after seeing his king fall in the battle of Megiddo and the subsequent failure of the Kingdom to maintain its devotion to God, he turned his prophecy to warnings of the coming fall of Jerusal...