sample issue Testimonial:

“I love this service!”
~ Fr. Steven, Las Vegas, NV

Just last Sunday we heard in the Book of Revelation how those who worship before God’s throne “will not hunger or thirst anymore. . . . and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” This week the same book has a similar message: For human beings, “God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain.”

These passages say that in life with God human suffering will pass away and God will provide for the whole person, spiritually, bodily, emotionally.

• Do you feel that God speaks to every part of you, not only your “spiritual” side?
• How does God do that?

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“I always find the content insightful, concise and clear.”
~ Fr. Paul, Queensland, Australia

The closest thing to apocalypse most of us will experience in this life is falling in love. In the biblical Apocalypse, God reveals the great mystery at the end of time in these terms: “Behold, I make all things new.” Is there a human experience that refreshes our mortality as completely, and radiantly, as being utterly lost to love?

We think of Apocalypse as the worst thing that could possibly happen. It’s envisioned as a sort of Big Bang in reverse: the unraveling of reality as we know it. The scenario includes monsters, warfare, explosions, and anarchy. No more utilities delivered to the home; no more Starbucks on the corner. We’re talking desperate times, folks.

Apocalyptic literature intends to persuade us that all is lost, at least from the perspective of human efforts. Apocalypse is the revelation of what’s been hidden, remember. When the masks come off and we see good and evil as they truly are, it won’t be pretty. But Apocalypse doesn’t lead to despair for people of faith. It merely redirects our gaze to heaven, where the only authority powerful enough to save us awaits our attention.

And what awaits us in that heavenward glance is not harrowing. When all is lost in mortal terms, God is prepared to make all things new. Who wouldn’t hand off this ailing society of ours for the communion of saints in a heartbeat? Who wouldn’t surrender a relentless history of warfare for the Prince of Peace? Who wouldn’t trade the Ten Commandments for the Law of Love? The final revelation is that everything bad can be restored to original goodness in the end. Do we believe this?

For many of us, Judgment Day convened over a bottomless pit of hot coals makes more sense. Maybe it’s because we know human nature so well. We are it. So we need Apocalypse to be the “door into the terrible,” as Catholic novelist Mary Gordon calls it. Many of us would like our enemies to burn, all the evil folk who make history such a burden and misery to the many. We hold onto the door to the terrible because we want a place or a time where the anguish of the world will find its answer, where justice (on our terms) will be served once and for all.

But what if John’s vision is right? What if human history is the door to the terrible? What if, after passing through the agony of this life—after wars and cancers and injustices and losses too many to count or to bear—what if God’s great revelation to us is simply love, which restores all things to wholeness, newness, and happiness? If that’s the door we anticipate, who’s willing to walk down the path of such love today?

Related scripture links

Barnabas sponsors Paul: Acts 9:26-28
First missionary journey: Acts 13:1-14:28
Making things new: Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 11:19-20; 36:26-28; 2 Pet. 3:13
Separation of Paul and Barnabas: Acts 15:36-41

sample issue Testimonial:

“It [PTW} is like having Thomas Aquinas back on Earth again!”
~ Fr. John, Washington, D.C.

When Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God’s glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around!

“Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” (from John 13).

Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014); actapublications.com; 800-397-2282.

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“Theology is great, homily stories are fantastic.”  
~ Dn. Ron, Brentwood, CA

WHEN MY DAUGHTER was asked why she wanted to be confirmed into the Catholic faith, she answered: “Because God needs me.” It wasn’t the answer her class had prepared or the Catechism teaches. I am not even sure it is quite theologically sound: Does God need anyone?

Nevertheless, I don’t doubt that God relies on Hannah, who has Down syndrome, and others who don’t meet society’s standards of perfection to show us how woefully limited our perceptions of beauty, success, and happiness are.

When God chose to pitch his tent and dwell among us, he turned the world upside down and inside out. In an eternal chain of transformation, God makes all things new.

And that is where God’s need for Hannah comes in. People feel drawn to Hannah because she walks through the world with a confidence that she is perfect in God’s eyes. Instinctively, or more probably through the grace of God, she knows that, like God, it is good for her to pitch her tent and live among the rest of us. She is God’s ambassador to the Kingdom where all you need is love.

sample issue Testimonial:

“[PTW is] a great resource. Covers a wide range of day-to-day issues of concern to ordinary people.” 
~ Fr. Stephen, Danville, NY

Penitential Act

Invitation
Our God asks us to love one another. For when we have not loved, we now ask for God’s forgiveness.

Invocations

• Loving God, you make all things new, Lord, have mercy.
• Loving God, your compassion overcomes suffering. Christ, have mercy.
• Loving God, you call us to faith. Lord, have mercy.

Prayer of the faithful

The universal prayer
A new heaven and a new earth have been revealed and God’s dwelling is with the human race. In the glory of God’s presence we offer our prayers.

• May the church persevere in faith and enter into the kingdom of God, we pray, Lord, hear our prayer.
• May the world recognize that God is in its midst, we pray, Lord, hear our prayer.
• May God bring comfort to all who sorrow or are in pain, we pray, Lord, hear our prayer.
• May this faith community show we are Christ’s disciples by the love we have for others, we pray. Lord, hear our prayer.

With thankful hearts we praise forever our God in whose name we pray.

sample issue Testimonial:

“I use it [PTW] for motherhouse preaching, and with my seminary students.” 
~ Sr. Mary Ann, Akron, OH

“I give you a new commandment: love one another.” Everything is new: “Behold, I make all things new.” A new door of faith has been opened. Isaiah’s words are referred to but mean something new. All that is old has been swept away. Even the commandment itself is new and not really modeled on a commandment at all but on an action: love and the ultimate example of love, Jesus’ offering of himself. Heaven has descended to earth and nothing separates God, the Son, and all the faithful.

sample issue Testimonial:

“I consider PREPARE THE WORD essential in my ministry.”
~ Deacon Les, Sun City, AZ

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.
—T. S. Eliot

The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times.
–Singer Patti Smith (b. 1946)

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