Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

For many of us our busy Fall schedules are in full swing, making it harder for us to pause for a moment of prayer and reflection... to give thanks to God... to ask God for assistance... or to just be in his presence for a moment.  It is in these busy days and weeks that we need to make that time... to attend Mass, to have a moment of daily prayer... even if that moment is the walk from the parking lot to your office or classroom.  Not only does this allow us to reconnect with God, but it provides us a moment of self-reflection (the basis of the Jesuit tradition of the Examen of Conscience) to make sure we're still on the right path and still moving forward. The Word for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time:         Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14         Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19         1 Timothy 1:12-17         Luke 15:1-32 (or 15:1-10) All ...

This week our theme is forgiveness, which we Catholics embrace as the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We open with a reading from the 2nd book of Samuel, in which we see King David, after having sinned against God, begs his forgiveness, which God eventually grants.  In our Gospel from Luke, we see Jesus dining with Simon, a Pharisee.  A sinful woman in the town, upon knowing where Jesus is dining, enters the gathering and anoints Jesus’ feet.  As usual, Jesus turns this into a catechetical moment, helping us to see the nature of sin and forgiveness, but that our faith in Jesus helps us attain salvation. The Word for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time:         2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13         Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11         Galatians 2:16, 19-21         Luke 7:36-8:3 This idea of "faith in Jesus" as the one necessary element for ju...