Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

Since the beginning of the Church her people have always recognized those who were models of holiness and piety.  They were given the tile “saint,” and what began as a local custom developed into a more structured practice under the Holy See beginning in the 10th century.  In recognition of the Solemnity of All Saints falling on a Sunday, we forego our usual readings in favor of these chosen specifically for this special holiday: The Word for the Solemnity of All Saints Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 1 John 3:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12a Our first reading comes from the Book of Revelation… probably one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, and confusing books of all the Bible.  And it’s no wonder… with its apocalyptic style thick with symbolic images and numerology, it can be hard to follow.  So let’s try to unpack our passage for this week.  The passage opens with John seeing an angel, speaking with God’s authority, to the four o...

Are there times where you feel “unworthy?”  It’s a feeling we have all experienced at one time or another.  No matter how severely you may feel this way, however, our readings this week remind us that God is there for us, always... The Word for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Hebrews 5:1-6 Mark 10:46-52 Our first reading comes from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah.  As you may remember, Jeremiah came to his calling as a prophet under King Josiah, the great reformer of the later Southern Kingdom of Judah.  Jeremiah saw the eventual downfall of the kingdom and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, but even though he foresaw the fall of Judah, this week’s passage gives us a vision of redemption and hope… that God will restore the people of Israel.  Even in the midst of impending tragedy, Jeremiah could see God’s great mercy.  How can Jeremiah be so confident of our redemption?  It’s f...

For some time now Jesus has been trying to explain to his disciples that he is going to be killed, but the Apostles either can’t see this, or refuse to see it.   Jesus, however, a student of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” understands this all too well… that to speak the word of God will often lead to personal suffering: The Word for the 29tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Isaiah 53:10-11 Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22 Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45 Our first reading comes from the book of the Prophet Isaiah.   In a passage from late Second Isaiah he tells us that God’s servant will suffer – the fourth of Isaiah’s “servant songs” which tell of a redeemer sent by God to save humanity, but that redemption comes at a cost… the death of his servant.   While the opening hook is troubling for us to hear ( The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity ), as if God takes delight in his servant’s suffering, we need to continue with the passage to see that God’s being pleased...

What is truly valuable?   As a species humanity seems constantly preoccupied with this question, starting from our individual perspective, and building up to our families, our parish, our community, all the way up to the entire world view.   Whole industries have grown around this idea of value, from the advertising industry that tries to convince you of the value of what they’re selling, to insurance companies that can set a monetary value on everything, including your own life.   Our faith tradition also has some thoughts on this question, as addressed by our readings this week: The Word for the 28tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Wisdom 7:7-11 Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Hebrews 4:12-13 Mark 10:17-30 Our first reading is from the Book of Wisdom.   You may recall that we had a passage from this book three weeks ago, but by way of reminder, the Book of Wisdom comes to us from the Jewish community in Alexandria some 50 years before Christ. ...

With Pope Francis concluding his Apostolic Journey to the US by opening the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, our readings for this week are particularly appropriate as they focus on marriage. The Word for the 27tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Genesis 2:18-24 Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 Hebrews 2:9-11 Mark 10:2-16 Our first reading is from the second creation story in the Book of Genesis.  Wait… second creation story?  Most Catholics are aware that Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and most are aware that it begins with the story of creation, but unless they’ve engaged in any critical Bible reading or study, any details beyond that tend to get a little fuzzy.  So let me explain… The first chapter of Genesis does in fact give us the story of creation, starting with “In the beginning,” and very poetically proceeds to give us a day by day description of the events.  When we get to day six, we are told in verse 27, “God created mankind in his im...

God’s ways are not our ways.  This is one of the points Jesus was trying to make with his Apostles in last week’s gospel, and that theme continues be examined in our readings for this week… The Word for the 25tth Sunday of Ordinary Time Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 Psalm 54:3-4, 5, 6, 8 James 3:16-4:3 Mark 9:30-37 Our first reading comes from the Book of Wisdom.  By way of reminder, the Book of Wisdom was written about fifty years before Christ.  For Jesus and his followers, this was a contemporary work, and like most wisdom literature, served as a sort of catechism for the Jewish community.  In this case, however, the community wasn’t from Jerusalem, but from Alexandria, and was written in Greek (not Hebrew) while patterned on a style used in Hebrew verse.  For most Christians reading this passage, it sounds very much like how Jesus was treated.  It can be hard for us to remember that this verse comes to us a couple generations before he was even...

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...