THE SEASON OF ADVENT
Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. (Baruch 5:1-4) With these words that we hear at Mass today, the prophet Baruch helps to prepare us for the coming of our God. As [...]
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT (Year C)
Baruch 5:1 - 9 This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of Baruch. The name is interesting; as you all know, it is derived from the Hebrew - בָּרוּךְ - which means “Blessing.” We don’t hear often from Baruch; in fact, this is the only time we hear from him on Sunday in the entire three-year cycle. It is one of the many options at the Easter Vigil, but is seldom selected because others are more appropriate. So, let’s review what we know about him and his book. [...]
SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
On this, the last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year, the Church calls us to think of the end of our lives, our final judgment and our final destiny – the Kingdom of God. The apocalyptic vision that we hear in today’s first reading from the Book of Daniel sets the tone by speaking about the coming of a “Son of man” who receives dominion, glory and kingship over all peoples, nations, and languages who will serve him. The passage from the Book of Revelation that we hear today is [...]
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE KING THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year B)
Daniel 7:13-14 This Sunday, we will hear again from the Book of Daniel. Again, the passage was clearly chosen to prepare us for the Gospel. Let’s review our current understanding about this book; you will recall that we heard a passage from it just last Sunday. We have come to understand this book as being apocalyptic in style, written around 165BC. An uncritical reading of the book would lead us to conclude that it is a sort of biography written about an historical person who lived during the time of [...]
THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year B)
Opening Prayer: Daniel 7: 13-14 Daniel 12:1 - 3 As we come to the end of the liturgical year – next Sunday is already the last Sunday of the Year when we celebrate the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – we remember it as Christ the King – we are given an opportunity to reflect on the end of time. All three readings speak of the end of the world and the final judgment. This Sunday, we will first hear from the Book of [...]
Adopt-a-Family, Christmas Food Baskets, Mercy Hospice Giving Trees
Although many of us are fortunate to be returning to a rather normal life, the coronavirus continues to affect the lives of many parishioners in our sister parish, St. Martin de Porres. We also have families in our own parish who could use some assistance as Christmas arrives; it’s just a little more than six weeks away! We have several parish initiatives that will allow you to give to those in need as you celebrate God’s great gift of his Son, Jesus. For those of you not familiar with them [...]