Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 16, 2014:

Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Psalm 128: 1-5
1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6
Matthew 25:14-30


In this parable, the three servants are not competing with each other. Rather, they have each been entrusted with a particular amount and left to decide what to do with it.  They aren't evaluated by the Master based on their performance in relation to the other two servants, but on how well they have made use of what they have been given.

What factors influence your own ability to take a risk or to decide to hold back in your own life?
In your spiritual journey?

The topic for the Catechumenate this week is Stewardship.

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 19, 2014:

Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6
Psalm 96: 1, 3-5, 7-10
1 Thessalonians 1: 1-5b
Matthew 22:15-21

After three solid weeks of pointed parables directed to the chief priests and religious rulers, is it any wonder that today's Gospel begins,  "The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech"?

The Cyrus mentioned in the first reading was a Persian ruler who allowed the Israelites to return from captivity in Babylon. He was called by God for this role, even though he was not familiar with Israel's God. Any person can be an agent of God's mission, if they recognize and respond to the call.

If you've ever felt pulled between loyalty to two conflicting ties, perhaps the lesson of the Gospel is of some guidance. Living in the United States, with a strongly held value of separation of Church and State, there are times when the call to be a good citizen and the call to be a faithful Christian seem at odds. Perhaps it helps to remember the phrase on our currency, "In God We Trust".

• What do you find easy to entrust to God?
• What is hard to trust God about?

There is no Catechumenate this Sunday.

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 12, 2014:

Isaiah 25: 6-10a
Psalm 23: 1-6
Philippians 2: 12-14, 19-20
Matthew 22:1-14

An important thing to know about the Gospel parable is that wedding guests were provided with a garment. (that makes the king's actions at the end seem a bit less harsh, doesn't it?)

The first and second readings are wonderful in their imagery (Isaiah) and practicality (Philippians).  Deep down we know, we know that God provides for our needs. And the usual reality is that when we are content with what we do have, we find ourselves enriched in a variety of ways. Being of high or low status, wealthy or poor really has little to do with our worth in God's eyes, and in the eyes of any person of faith (we'd hope). Celebrating the goodness rather than calculating our fair share brings us to a deeper sense of feasting. Being able to enjoy what is offered rather than grasping for more is the beginning of that poverty of spirit that brings us into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

The topic for the Catechumenate this Sunday is Gathering as Church.

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 5, 2014:

Ezekiel 18: 25-28
Psalm 25: 4-5, 8-10, 14
Philippians 2: 1-11
Matthew 21:28-32


The topic for the Catechumenate this Sunday will be Catholic Morality.

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 28, 2014:

Ezekiel 18: 25-28
Psalm 25: 4-5, 8-10, 14
Philippians 2: 1-11
Matthew 21:28-32

This is one of those times when it is helpful to read more than just the Gospel selection. Earlier in this chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and the day before Jesus proposed this parable, he had triumphantly entered Jerusalem (think Palm Sunday) and drove the money-changers out of the temple. Now, the leaders of the Jews were questioning who gave him the authority to act and speak that way. So Jesus- in this week's Gospel and next, tells them parables to illustrate the dangers of being too proud or stubborn to respond to God, to change to repent, to admit that they just might not have all the answers.

For us today, it's a call to examine how well we are living as Catholic Christians, not just calling ourselves by that name.

There is no Catechumenate this Sunday.

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here are the readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 21, 2014:

Isaiah 55: 6-9
Psalm 145: 2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Philippians 1: 20c-24, 27a
Matthew 20: 1-16a

Does this parable say more to you about the all-encompassing mercy of God, or of the human tendency to compare, measure and begrudge others' good fortune? Or maybe, both!

Whenever God does call, are we willing to follow?
The topic for the Catechumenate this weekend is the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Here are the readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, 2014:

Numbers 21: 4b-9
Psalm 78: 1b-2, 34-38
Philippians 2: 6-11
John 3: 13-17

How is it that an instrument of execution has become a central symbol of our faith?
Because it is the means through which God basically took everything we had to throw at him, embraced all the evil of the world and overcame the power of sin though the power of infinite love. In a similar way to God's power directed through the bronze serpent of the first reading healing those bitten by real serpents, God's power through Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross offers us healing for the wounds of our sin.

Why celebrate this on September 14? It is the date on which the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was dedicated in the fifth century. Given the deep wounds being inflicted and suffered today in the Holy Land, let us pray for the  overwhelming power of God's love and healing to effect reconciliation there.

The topic for the Catechumenate this Sunday is Jesus the Redeemer.
Mystagogia meets this Sunday at 10:45am.