TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)
OPENING PRAYER: Isaiah 24 Isaiah 45:1, 4 - 6 This Sunday, we will again hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Since it is from chapter 45, we know that it is from Deutero-Isaiah. We recall that Deutero-Isaiah prophesied 587 – 539BC, during the Babylonian exile. During this time, the political scene in the Ancient Near East changed dramatically as a result of the rise of Cyrus II (the Great). Until he came into power in 559BC, the great powers controlling the Ancient Near East were usually Semites, [...]
UPDATE ON THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS
You may recall that Pope Francis called a Synod of Bishops, entitled For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission; it opened in the Vatican on 9 October 2021 and will conclude in October 2024. Its aim is to discern how the Holy Spirit is moving through and with the Church. Listening sessions were held throughout the dioceses around the world – including ours – in the spring of 2022. The question asked at those listening sessions was: “How does this ‘journeying together,’ which takes place today at different levels [...]
ANNUAL EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION
One of the pleasures of friends is the time we get to spend on vacation or at dinner with them. After a relaxing dinner, it’s wonderful to linger over a cup of coffee or a last glass of wine with your close friends, recalling happy memories or planning for future events together. We all treasure those times. As you know, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) initiated a three-year Eucharistic Revival last year to provide us all with a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. During [...]
TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)
Isaiah 55:6 - 9 This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Seeing that it is taken from chapter 55, we know that it is part of Deutero-Isaiah, dealing with Israel during its Babylonian exile. It is at the very end of the Babylonian captivity and we should read the opening verses of the chapter since they speak in anticipation of how the Persians would allow the exiles to return. The Book of Ezra opens with the decree of Cyrus that called the exiles to return [...]
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Sirach 27:30 – 28:9 This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of Sirach, one of the very last books of the Old Testament. It was written between 200 and 175BC by a man who identifies himself as Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sira (cf. 50:27). Some of your Bibles identify the book as The Wisdom of Ben Sira. This is actually the earliest title of the book; the “ch” was added when the book was translated into Greek. It is an excellent example of Wisdom literature, filled with [...]
CATECHETICAL SUNDAY
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Romans 14:7-9) This weekend, we join with the Church throughout our nation and around the world in celebrating Catechetical Sunday. Those whom the community [...]