First Sunday of Lent

Here are the readings for the 1st Sunday in Lent, March 13, 2011:
Genesis 2: 7-9, 3:1-7
Psalm 51: 3-6, 12-13, 17
Romans 5: 12-19
Matthew 4: 1-11

As we begin the season of Lent preparing for the new life of Easter, we enter with Jesus into the desert, to confront our own temptations. What was his mission about? Would it be based on- focused on- power, wealth or fame?

At baptism and confirmation, you are anointed for Christian mission. This Lent, go into your own desert and decide what temptations make it hard to clarify or carry out your own God-given vocation.

There is no RCIA Session this Sunday.
The Rite of Sending and Call to Continuing Conversion will be celebrated at the 5:30pm Mass on Saturday evening. The Rite of Election will be at 3pm at St. Andrew's on Sunday afternoon.

Please remember to set your clocks AHEAD one hour before you go to bed Saturday night!

Ash Wednesday

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart 

(Joel 2:12)

We begin the season of Lent with a call to conversion.

Our song echoes our hopes and desires for this new life in Jesus Christ:

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
(Psalm 51:12)

And we are marked with a cross of ashes, a double sign of our mortality,
with confident desire and expectation to share in the eternal life
promised by our God who can bring life
from the dust of the earth and from the depths of the grave.


While Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation, you are invited and encouraged to participate in Mass or a Liturgy of the Word service today.
The schedule at St. Andrew the Apostle is:
Mass: 6:30 and 9:00 AM, 5:30 and 7:30 PM
Liturgy of the Word with Distribution of Ashes: 12 Noon

Ash Wednesday is a Day of Fast and Abstinence: All Catholics are to refrain from eating meat (that includes chicken, but fish is okay) and (for those under 60 years) eat only one full meal, with no eating between meals. You may have two smaller meals that together equal one.

Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time, March 6, 2011:
Deuteronomy 11: 18, 26-28, 32
Psalm 31: 2-4, 17, 25
Romans 3: 21-25, 28
Matthew 7:21-27

• How can you and do you respond to God's gift of grace?
• What choices do you encounter that require a strong foundation of faith?

The topic for this Sunday's Catechumenate Session is Justification .

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 27, 2011:
Sirach 15: 15-20
Psalm 119: 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
1 Corinthians 2: 6-10
Matthew 5:17-37

• What keeps you from fully trusting God?
• What keeps you from fully believing in God's care for and love of you?
• What are images of God that you are most comfortable with?

The Catechumenate topic this Sunday will be "Images of God"
The rescheduled Mystagogia session will begin at 11am at the Macdonald's home.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 13, 2011:
Sirach 15: 15-20
Psalm 119: 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
1 Corinthians 2: 6-10
Matthew 5:17-37

The Gospel this week continues the 'Sermon on the Mount' discourse from the previous two weeks (Beatitudes, Salt and Light), and it could be viewed as practical applications of the beatitudes. Situated on a high place, like Moses delivering the 10 Commandments received from God, Jesus is positioned firmly in line with the lawgivers and prophets of Judaism. Yet he isn't simply repeating the well-known laws and rules, but challenging his disciples -and us- to a deeper way of living. "I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors... but I say to you..."

In essence, Jesus asks us to examine what's in our hearts. Sure, you might be obeying a law, fulfilling an obligation, but if your heart's not in it.... what's the use?

• Look back at the Beatitudes (4th Sunday of Ordinary Time) and read through today's Gospel again... what connections can you make between them?
• How does the law of love offered by Jesus, transform us and challenge us?

The Adult Catechumenate is not meeting this Sunday (last Sunday off until Pentecost!!!).

St. Josephine Bakhita

Today is the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a woman born in the 19th century in southern Sudan.  As her life is described here, she was a slave beginning at age 7, eventually accompanying her owner's daughter to Venice where she learned about and was attracted to Catholicism. Baptized at age 22, she eventually gained her freedom and became a religious sister.  

In the homily at her canonization mass, Pope John Paul II, spoke of the inspiration of her life:

"We find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their dignity in the full exercise of their rights."
                                       

St. Josephine Bakhita, pray for us!

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 6, 2011:
Isaiah 58: 7-10
Psalm 112: 4-9
1 Corinthians 2: 1-5
Matthew 5: 13-16

• What do the images in today's readings say to you about living as a Christian?
• In the first reading from Isaiah, concrete examples of light-giving actions are presented... which come easily to you, which are challenges?

The topic for this week's Catechumenate Session is Eucharist Leads to Mission .