The Good Word

This Sunday s readings invite us into an area of considerable discussion–not to say dispute–in classrooms pulpits pews chanceries and other such places How is Scripture to be interpreted most fruitfully What methods and questions are most suitable Do we need to consider the 8th century c

8220 Rejoice in the Lord always Again I say rejoice 8221 Phil 4 4 Reading or hearing these words of St Paul always make me recall the simple musical round that was popular a few decades ago composed by whom when nbsp It almost automatically brings a smile to my face and makes me want

A classic American text John Graves s Goodbye to a River celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year This non-fiction work chronicles Graves s three-week trip down the Brazos River in Texas and along the journey Graves reflects on nature his own life and local history with remarkably cr

The Gospel readings for the Second and Third Sundays of Advent always focus on John the Baptist Since we are again in Lectionary Year A the two selections are from Matthew 3 1-12 and 11 2-11 respectively See my Nov 27 post for an overview of the whole Season of Advent Given that John the

As the passages from Isaiah 11 1-10 and Matthew 3 1-12 illustrate we await the coming of the peaceable Kingdom the fulfillment of the promises of God the establishment of the Kingdom that shall not end And we await it in the context of history otherwise known as our ordinary lives Christianity

Some readings at the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent are from apocalyptic books such as Daniel and the little apocalypses in the Synoptic Gospels These passages refer to cosmic disturbances sun and mood falling out of the sky wars and terror-stricken people giving th

1 Coming of Jesus for the Final Judgment The first two weeks of the Advent liturgy focus heavily on the Last Judgment with its consequent rewards and punishments If a person centers himself on this aspect of Advent he deepens his awareness of his own death and the ultimate evaluation of what he

Eschatology the study of the end times tends to get people fired up To get a discussion going about eschatology simply ask the question What would you do today if you knew that the world would end tomorrow and people will talk Changing the word tomorrow to next week or next year and t

The reading from Isaiah nicely picked up by the response–Psalm 122–takes us to Zion the hill on which Jerusalem sat where the temple rested whence royal Davidic enterprises worked and most important of all where stood God s cosmic throne rooted deep in the earth and brushing the heavens

The First Sunday of Advent December 2 2007 marks the start of a new liturgical year when we will again use the readings from Cycle A of the Lectionary for Mass Most readers of America are certainly familiar with the basic structure of the three-year Sunday Lectionary in which the Gospel readin