Staying Awake: Readings for 1st Sunday of Advent

Happy New Year, everyone!  The Church Year begins this Sunday with the First Sunday of Advent, and we are back to reading cycle A in Church Year 2020. 

There is a very ancient tradition in the Church of reading the Book of Isaiah during Advent.  In antiquity, both Jews and Christians considered the Book of Isaiah to be one extended prophesy of the “age to come,” the “latter days” when the Anointed One (Heb. “Meshiach,” =”Messiah”) would arrive.  The First Readings for Sunday Mass and for weekday masses, as well as the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours, are dominated by Isaiah during this liturgical season.

Two Men in a Field: One is Taken, One is Left (The Mass Readings Explained)

This week's video is now out for The Mass Readings Explained where we cover both the track of the Gospel/Old Testament and Psalm, as well as St. Paul's famous concept of putting on the "Armor of Light" (Romans 13).

The End is Here! Feast of Christ the King

Here in Steubenville one of my co-workers has a clever bumper sticker that reads: “I’m a Monarchist.  And I Vote.”

The day after the surprising election of 2016, then-President Obama took the high road by reminding us, “We’re not Democrats first, we're not Republicans first, we are Americans first. We're patriots first.”  In the political sphere, that’s true.  But there is a first that comes before that first.  We are Christians first, ‘monarchists’ who are loyal to Jesus Christ the King.  And better Americans for being so.

The Church year comes to an end this Sunday with the Solemnity of Christ the King, one of my favorite feast days.  The Readings focus heavily on the theme of the kingdom of Christ, which was typified or foreshadowed by the Kingdom of David in the Old Testament.

1.  The First Reading is 2 Samuel 5:1-3:

Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (The Mass Readings Explained)

The last week's video is now out for this liturgical year.  Check that out below.

Also, there's less than 7 days before the 1st video of the expanded edition of The Mass Readings Explained is released, where we will be going through the 2nd readings at Mass, with a particular focus on Paul and the Moral and Spiritual Life.

Learn more and join us by clicking here.

The End is Near! 33rd Sunday of OT

Some years ago I was driving through the back hills of Ohio with my son, and we passed a billboard in a farmer’s field that read: “God has a Judgment Day coming!” 

My son asked me if the farmer who had placed the billboard in his field was Catholic or Protestant.  I suggested he probably was a Protestant.  My son asked why Catholics didn’t put up billboards like that.  I theorized that perhaps fewer Catholics owned farms close to the highway, or maybe they were less convinced that announcing the coming judgment was really an effective means of evangelism. 

Billboards announcing judgment day are not a part of American Catholic culture.  Nonetheless, the Readings for this coming Sunday affirm the truth of that well-meaning farmer’s sign.  God does have a day of judgment coming.  Is that good news or bad news?  It would depend, I suppose, on whether we have suffered injustice or committed it.

1.  Our First Reading Malachi 3:19-20a:

The Destruction of the Temple and the Tribulation (The Mass Readings Explained)

This week's video is now out for The Mass Readings Explained.

Check out the clip below, and be sure to check out this series, as we're going to begin the "expanded" edition in just a few weeks.

Thanks!

The Revolutionary Belief in Resurrection: 32nd Sunday of OT

We are advancing in the “unofficial liturgical season” of November, and the Mass Readings turn toward meditation on the Last Things.  This Sunday we are directed especially to the consideration of the resurrection of the dead.  

The resurrection of the dead is controversial.  It is a traditional belief in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, but Eastern religions have no necessary commitment to it.  Indeed, bodily resurrection makes no sense in Buddhism.  Likewise, ancient Greek philosophy had little use for the body in general, and it was often regarded as a prison for the soul.  Western secularism espouses materialism; therefore, there is nothing to a human person except his material body.  Resurrection is impossible, unless it be through some technology.  

Christian faith, following Jesus Christ, proclaims the goodness of the body, and affirms that God will one day restore and transform our bodies, similar to the transformation we witness in the accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection physical appearances.

1. Our First Reading is 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-1:

Will There Be Marriage in the Resurrection (The Mass Readings Explained)

This week's video for The Mass Readings Explained is now out.

Check out a free clip below, and you can subscribe to get your 14 day free trial before the new liturgical year begins with the 1st Sunday of Advent (Dec. 1), when we will start covering the 2nd reading from the Sunday Masses, primarily focused on the letters of Paul.