Sunday Preparation

Scripture Resources for Catechists

• Opening the Word from FORMED online
• Seasonal Resources from Be My Disciples
• Cycle A Resources - The Gospel of St. Matthew
• Girardian Lectionary - comments and exegesis on the Sunday Scriptures
• Lesson Strategies from Be My Disciples
• Sunday Connection for this week from Loyola Press
• Finding God - the Online Catechists Helper from Loyola Press (log in required)
• Sunday Homilies - from All Saints
• Midweek Reflection (signup) - From Liturgical Publications

June 25, 2017

Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33 (Jesus speaks of courage under persecution.)

'Sunday Connection' Scripture Commentary

Catechism Connection

14, 1816 - The disciple of Christ must bear confident witness to the faith.
305 - Jesus calls us to trust in our heavenly Father
1034 - Jesus speaks of "Gehenna'.


Find these references in the Online E-Book of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Saints This Week

June 26 Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer
June 27 Saint Cyril and Alexandria
June 28 Saint Irenaeus
June 29 Saints Peter and Paul
June 30 Blessed Raymond Lull
July 1 Blessed Junipero Serra

This Sunday and for the next six, we hear extracts from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. In Romans, Paul gives one of the most important and influential accounts in all the New Testament, of the meaning of salvation in Christ. As Catholics we tend to pay more attention to the Gospels than to any other part of the Scriptures. We give high priority to the sayings and stories and teachings of Jesus, and perhaps less to St. Paul's letters, or the Old Testament.
 
But Romans is a very important part of the Scriptures. Often when St. Paul writes he is replying to some question or problem raised by one of the Churches he had founded on his missionary journeys. But in Romans it seems to be a bit different. He is taking his time and explaining the Christian message from start to finish.
 
He begins in the early chapters by discussing the human condition, which he sees as weighed down with sin, guilt, ignorance, suffering and death. However much we try by our own efforts we cannot overcome these things. He says that sin came into the world because of the disobedience of Adam. We cannot cast the blame on one individual a long time ago, as if he alone was guilty, and it is not our fault. Rather, we see Adam as an illustration of what all human beings are like and have done, ourselves included.
 
Paul's teaching may seem grim and pessimistic, but in fact the opposite is true. He says today that, "The gift is not like transgression," rather the abundance of the gift of God's grace overflows abundantly for many.

July 2, 2017

Gospel: Matthew 10:37-42 (Jesus speaks of courage under persecution.)

'Sunday Connection' Scripture Commentary

Catechism Connection

858 - Jesus sends out his apostles as emmissaries.
1506 - Jesus calls his disciples to heal the sick
2232 - Family ties and Christian calling

Find these references in the Online E-Book of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Saints This Week

July 2 Saint Oliver Plunkett Martyr
July 3 Saint Thomas the Apostle patron of Architects, Construction Workers, Cooks
July 4 Saint Elizabeth of Portugal
July 5 Saint Anthony Zaccaria
July 6 Saint Maria Goretti Martyr, patron of Girls, Youth
July 8 Saint Gregory Grassi and Companions, martyrs 

Continuing our reflection on St. Paul's Letter to the Romans:

The reading we have heard today appears in the Easter Vigil. Paul joins together the experience and meaning of the death and resurection of Christ with the practice and experience of baptism. This is why participants in the RCIA process - Catechumens - celebrate baptism at Easter. 

So how do we begin to understad the teaching of Romans, that in baptism we "join with" Christ in his death and resurrection and so enjoy freedom from death and sin? We often hear preachers talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and telling us that we receive salvation through this event. How is this so? How is it that what happened to Jesus has an effect on us? This is the link which St. Paul is talking about in the reading today. If you were to read all of St. Pauls' writings you would see that he uses many different ways to explain who Jesus is and what he has done for us. In various ways he says that we "join with Jesus" and what happens to him happens to us.
 
This is especially so when we are baptized. Paul says that when we are baptized "we are baptized in his death: in other words, when we were baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too might live a new life." The practice of the early Christians of baptism by immersion shows this death-and-rising very clearly and dramatically. We too experience this every year at the Easter Vigil.

One familiar definition of a sacrament is "an outward sign of inward grace" something that we can see and feel takes place, but an inner change happens too. So in baptism we die and rise with Christ in a symbolic way, so we become joined to him; what happens to him happens to us.

July 9, 2017

Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30 (Jesus and His Father)

'Sunday Connection' Scripture Commentary

Question of the Week: is it harder to preach the Gospel nowadays than in Peter and Paul's time?

Catechism Connection

240 - Jesus reveals God as Father
459 - Jesus is our model of holiness
473 - Jesus knows all that can be known of God, and shows it forth
544 - The Kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly
1658 - The Church is home and family to those who "labor and are heavy laden" 
2603 - Jesus' prayer of thanksgiving
2701 - Jesus' vocal prayer
2785 - A humble and trusting heart is necessary in prayer

Find these references in the Online E-Book of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Saints This Week

July 9 Saint Nicholas Pick and Companions, martyrs
July 10 Saint Veronica Giuliani
July 11 Saint Benedict, patron of Europe, Kidney Disease, Poisoning, Schoolchildren
July 12 Saints John Jones and John Wall, martyrs
July 13 Saint Henry
July 14 Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
July 15 Saint Bonaventure Doctor of the Church

Year A - Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Gospel today contains some of Jesus' most comforting words.

First, Jesus rejoices that God has revealed himself to the simple, the poor and ordinary people. It is not primarily to the rich, powerful or successful that God becomes known, but to "the poor in spirit", as Jesus stated in the Sermon on the Mount.

Second, Jesus invites all people to come to him "who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." These words are directed in particular to two classes of people: first of all, the laboring poor, who do the greatest portion of the world's work, but receive the least of its goods; and second, Jesus is speaking of the burden of the Jewish law, which was difficult for people to bear, but considered necessary if they were to be in right relationship with God. Observance of the Law, which a Jewish man pledged himself to at his Bar Mitzvah, was often called putting oneself under "the yoke of the Law". Hence Jesus promses in contrast, "my yoke is easy and my burden light."