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SOCL, All Saints

  • Writer: Admin
    Admin
  • Nov 1, 2024
  • 2 min read

Updated: Dec 28, 2024


ree

November 1, 2024


Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

And I will give you rest, says the Lord.


See


Today we celebrate the community of faith, being in communion with all the saints, a day of both thanksgiving and vision. Thanksgiving because of the example and inspiration of the saints, who have come to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Eph 4:13). Vision because our Gospel today describes the path we must take to make the same journey home to God. If we wish to join the saints both now and into eternity, we must make our own the “mission statement” of Jesus, which is the Sermon on the Mount and especially the opening invitation to true happiness.


Listen



Reflect


(Matthew 5:1-2)


The blessings in the Beatitudes are primarily future blessings, but there can be an anticipation of the blessings in the present. At first reading some Beatitudes may seem to describe circumstances that you would like to avoid at all costs. Read them slowly. Stay with each one for a while.


Let yourself get a sense of the paradox involved in each one. Perhaps you have had an experience of a deeper and more authentic life, a blessing, when… 


1. You were poor - you knew your need of God.

2. You mourned – could feel for others.

3. You were meek – not emotionally out of control.

4. You hungered and thirsted for some cause.

5. You were merciful rather than vengeful.

6. You were pure in heart – a person of integrity, whose actions and intentions correspond.

7. You were a peacemaker.

8. You were persecuted because you stood for something.


Pray


Jesus you are our teacher within and today we ask your help. Just as you have brought our brothers and sisters to full maturity in you, so also guide us and be with us as we walk your Way. By your grace, may we too be counted among saints in the present moment and in the life to come. Amen.



 
 
 

One another, Sunday30B

  • Writer: Admin
    Admin
  • Oct 25, 2024
  • 2 min read

ree

October 27, 2024



Let us pray that God’s light may illuminate our minds and hearts and guide us in God’s peace:


For our Church and parish family, that we may seek to follow Christ by becoming a community of compassion and reconciliation: let us pray to the Lord.


For all who serve the Church, that they may gather and unite us as God’s holy people: let us pray to the Lord.


For all who serve us in government, that they may uphold and protect the sacred dignity of every person: let us pray to the Lord.


For those who are mentally impaired or physically disabled, that we may be given the grace and wisdom to welcome them and enable them to use their gifts for the benefit of the entire human family: let us pray to the lord.


For those who are lost and troubled, who are mired in fear and despair, who feel abandoned by God, that, with our help and support, they may embrace the love and hope for the Father: let us pray to the Lord.


For those who have died [especially _________], that they may one day awake and arise: let us pray to the Lord.


For the prayers we now offer in the silence of our hearts [Pause...]: let us pray to the Lord.


Lord of light, restore us with your vision of selfless so that we may make real in our lives

the prayers and hopes that you alone see in the depths of our hearts. Hear the prayers which we ask of you in the name of Jesus, the healing Christ.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024s, October 27). Thirtieth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102724.cfm

-Cormier, J. (1995). Lord, Hear Our Prayer: Prayer of the Faithful for Sundays, Holy Days, and Ritual Masses.


 
 
 

The Word today, W30B

  • Writer: Admin
    Admin
  • Oct 25, 2024
  • 2 min read

ree

October 28 - November 02, 2024


Sts Simon and Jude, apostles


Ephesians 2:19-22 Our reading opens up a fundamental question: what or who are we as Christian believers? Using a building metaphor, the identikit is rich, to say the least.


Luke 6:12-16 Luke makes it plain that Jesus prayed before the choice and appointment of the Twelve. It is important to note that the Twelve function, in the ministry of Jesus, as a prophetic action, underscoring Jesus’ programme which was the restoration of Israel. Cf. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24 NRSV) By the time Luke is writing the restriction to the Jewish people of Jesus’ ministry was already in the distant past.


St Colman


Ephesians 5:21-33 This reading—if read at all—calls for very careful handling. Within the patriarchal context of the time, the roles of husbands and wives are differentiated. We may note that challenges are laid before both the wife and the husband here. The non-Pauline Ephesians is somewhat different to the totally equal treatment in 1 Corinthians 7:1-7 (which also calls for careful handling).


Luke 13:18-21 The mustard seed was proverbially the smallest of seeds and so serves for a comparison. It is intriguing to notice that the mustard seed comes up again, this time in relation to the size of faith of the apostles!



Ephesians 6:1-9 Our reading reflects a common type of writing, the “household code.” Even though conventional and not as revolutionary as one might hope, still the values of the Gospel shine through.


Luke 13:22-30 It is often said that preaching is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable! There’s a bit of that in today’s Gospel, as Jesus’ upends expectations with his own, very different, way of looking at things.



Ephesians 6:10-20 The writer is aware that being a Christian is a struggle, even a battle at times. Using the imagery of warfare and armour, he builds up a dynamic picture of what it means to be a Christian.


Luke 13:31-35 The Herod in this Gospel is not Herod the Great but his son Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee during the ministry of Jesus. He was well capable of cruelty as his killing of John the Baptism does (in Mark and in Mathew, but not in Luke). The second paragraph express the desolation of Jesus as he contemplates the fate of the prophets and, indeed, his own.



All Souls


The wide choice for the first two readings makes detailed notes impractical.


Mark 15:33-39, 16:1-6 The lectionary offers a sharp juxtaposition between the death of death and the empty tomb proclamation (it would be good of offer the full reading, 16:1-8). The juxtaposition is true to the spirit of Mark’s Gospel, written during the capture of Jerusalem, a time of immense turmoil, dispersion and suffering. Abandonment and Easter reassurance are the opposing yet supportive poles of discipleship in Mark’s Gospel.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024s, October 27). Thirtieth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102724.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/


 
 
 
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