Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

Lent is a season where, scripturally, we revisit the story of our salvation history.  It’s the story of where our great patriarchs and prophets met the Lord God, and how our relationship with God, as a people, continues to grow and evolve.  We also know from our review of the readings last week that our overarching theme for Cycle B is  covenant .  After God’s covenant with Noah last week, we now visit the next great covenant, that between God and Abraham… The Word for the 2 nd  Sunday of Lent Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Psalm 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19 Romans 8:31b-34 Mark 9:2-10 Our first reading, from the book of Genesis, is one of the great stories about Abraham.   By this point in the narrative God has already made a covenant with Abraham, but now God is putting that covenant to the test.  God asks Abraham to make a sacrifice of his young son Isaac.  Isaac, as we know, is the only child born by Abraham’s wife, Sarah (a birth promis...

With the season of Lent now upon us, we enter a period of penitent reflection that includes an increased emphases on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Our readings for Sunday Mass not only remind us of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, but our three-year lectionary cycle also allows us to explore that story in the light of an over-arching theme for the season.  For Cycle B (Gospel of Mark), that theme is covenant.  Covenant is that agreement between God and his people that marks the special relationship we have with our God.  It is a word we will hear in our readings this Sunday, and a word we will continue to hear in our readings throughout this Lenten season. The Word for the 1 st  Sunday of Lent Genesis 9:8-15 Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:12-15 Our first reading for this 1st Sunday of Lent starts with one of the first covenants between God and his people – that between God and Noah at the end of the great flood.  Also known...

This 4th Sunday of Lent we continue with our journey through Salvation History, and like last week, the themes and symbols revealed in these passages hold special meaning for us in the RCIA.  Last week our theme was trust – trust in the Lord, and our symbol was water – life giving and life sustaining. water – the primary symbol of Baptism.  This week our theme is redemption, and our symbols are anointing and light The Word for the 4th Sunday of Lent 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 We open with our first reading from the 1st Book of Samuel.  To put us in the proper context, Samuel was the last of the Judges, and it was he whom the Israelites cried out to for a king.  This was not what God wanted, but he granted their request, and Saul is appointed as the first King of Israel.  At this point in the narrative, Saul is getting on in years, and the people need a successor.  None of Saul’s sons are suited to the ...

We are now deep into our Lenten season reflection, and from now through to the Triduum our readings not only continue our journey through Salvation History, they begin a cycle of readings that are some of the most powerful in all of scripture.  In fact, the Church finds these readings of such importance that she has chosen them to be used specifically for the RCIA in the Scrutiny Rites.  It is fortunate for all of us that these readings fall within our regular cycle of readings this year so we can all give them due contemplation during this Lenten season. The Word for the 3rd Sunday of Lent Exodus 17:3-7 Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42 We open a reading from the book of Exodus.  At this point the Israelites have escaped Pharaoh and his army having crossed the Red Sea.  They are now free, but have yet to reach Mount Sinai.  They are traveling through the “wilderness,”  A barren stretch of land between the sea and the Sinai. ...

For this second week of Lent we continue our journey through Salvation History. Whereas last week our readings focused on sin (through Adam) and redemption (through Jesus), this week’s readings remind us that even with our faults, we have been chosen by God. This is not an arbitrary choice, but a conscious, willful intervention by God to become closer to his creation. The Word for the 2nd Sunday of Lent Genesis 12:1-4a Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22 2 Timothy 1:8b-10 Matthew 17:1-9 Our first reading from later in Genesis gives us the story of Abram (who we will later know as Abraham) and his first call by God. Up to this point Abram has been living with his wife (Sarah) and his entire extended family in the land of Haran when God comes to him and tells him to “go forth from your land… to a land that I will show you.” God is asking Abram to leave his ancestral home for a place far away that he knows nothing about, all on the promise of his blessing. Not only does this show us Abram’s level...

Lent is a time to reflect… to see where we have been, determine where we are, and chart our course ahead.  Similarly, our readings for this Lenten cycle also show us where we have been as a people, help us to see where we are, and show us the road we as Church should follow.  We call this walk through the scriptures the “history of our salvation, ” and throughout this season of Lent, we will be listening to stories from some of the most pivotal moments of our history as a people of God. The Word for the 1st Sunday of Lent Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17 Romans 5:12-19 Mathew 4:1-11 Most appropriately, we begin our journey at the very beginning… with our first reading from the Book of Genesis and  the story of “mans fall from grace.”  This is the same “necessary sin of Adam” we sing about during the Easter Vigil’s Exultet. In our passage from Genesis this week we witness God’s creation of man and the creation of the garden.  From there our text ...