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25 Mar 2012 - Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Penitential Act Invitation As our Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father, we pray for our salvation. Invocations Lord God, remember not our sins. Lord, have mercy. Lord Jesus, save us from judgment and draw us to you. Christ, have mercy. Lord God, may we conform our wills to yours. Lord, have mercy. Prayer of the Faithful The universal prayer God is our God and we are God's people. Knowing God hears us, we offer our prayers for ourselves and for our sisters and brothers. Merciful God, your ways are written on our hearts. Help us to follow them more faithfully. Lord, hear our prayer. Merciful God, where you are there also will your servant be. Help us to serve and follow you. Lord, hear our prayer. Merciful God, your Son learned obedience to you. Help us to make our lives more like Christ's. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord God, you draw everyone to yourself. Listen to the prayers we make in faith to you through your Son Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

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Prayers

11 Mar 2012 - Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Penitential Act Invitation We know the ways of God. We ask forgiveness for when we do not follow them. Invocations For when we fail to keep God's commandments. Lord, have mercy. For when we do no remember the words of God. Christ, have mercy. For when we are not devoted to God. Lord, have mercy. Prayer of the Faithful The universal prayer Our Lord is passionate that we remain close to him. With the same desire to stay near to God, we pray for our intentions. Lord God, you are the one Lord. Help us not to let anything false come between you and us. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord Jesus, you were raised from the dead. Help us to believe in your name. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord God, it is easy to forsake your ways. Help us to accept your gospel and follow you. Lord, hear our prayer. O God, you bestow "mercy down to the thousandth generation" for those who love you and keep your commandments. See the sign of our love and faith in our prayers to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

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Prayers

04 Mar 2012 - Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Penitential Act Invitation We place ourselves before the mercy of God for the times we have not trusted in God's guidance. Invocations God our Lord, you challenge us to have faith in you. Lord, have mercy. God our Father, your Son brings us closer to you. Christ, have mercy. God our Lord, you raise us to eternal life. Lord, have mercy. Prayer of the Faithful The universal prayer God has told us to listen to his beloved Son. Having heard the word of God, we now give our attention to the prayers we make to the Lord. As you did not withhold your Son from us, may we give ourselves to you. Lord, hear our prayer. As you did not spare your own Son from death, may we receive all that we need from you. Lord, hear our prayer. As you transfigured your Son before the eyes of his disciples, may we be transformed. Lord, hear our prayer. O gracious and generous God, we ask you to hear our prayers and grant us salvation so that we may serve you better, through Christ our Lord.

Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

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The inner word

19 Feb 2012 - Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

In Mark's gospel Jesus always seemed to be moving about with urgency. Even at the beginning of his ministry he was "driven" out into the desert for 40 days. Do you enter these days of Lent with a similar drive and zeal? What will you encounter in the desert this time? Do you feel the protecting Spirit of Christ, just as Jesus knew the ministering of angels?

Desert 40 days Lent

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Prayers

26 Feb 2012 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

Penitential Act Invitation God renews the earth. We pray to take our part in that renewal. Invocations Lord God, you made a covenant with all creation. Lord, have mercy. Lord Jesus, you resisted temptation. Christ, have mercy. Lord God, you teach us your paths and guide us in your truth. Lord, have mercy. Prayer of the Faithful The universal prayer We pray to be faithful to our covenant with God as God is faithful to us. God of all creation, we begin our observance of Lent. May this season bring us closer to you through prayer, sacrifice, and charity. Lord, hear our prayer. God of all creation, you gave us the gift of your Son. May we follow his example in all things. Lord, hear our prayer. God of all creation, your Kingdom is at hand, May we lead lives of repentance and faith. Lord, hear our prayer. Loving God, you show us the way to new and everlasting life. Listen to the prayers we make to you while we are on that journey, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

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Homily stories

13 Nov 2011 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

I had a friend whose father worked a lot of evenings and also traveled a lot for his job. He once told me, "I was always relieved when I heard Dad's footstep on the stairs coming up to our apartment. Life never seemed quite right when he was away, and for a while I found myself becoming withdrawn and even depressed during his absences." Though God never leaves us, there are times we experience the absence of God. Today's gospel begins by saying that the landowner was leaving--going on a journey. The story revolves around what happens in the landowner's absence. Some people stay busy and involved in life, putting their "talents" to good use. Others withdraw from life and get disengaged. Perhaps one of the best benefits of having faith, even in those times when we don't feel God's presence, is that it gives us the confidence to continue to function well in life--physically, emotionally, and spiritually--despite our uncertainties. This is one of the biggest gifts that parents can nurture in their children--the ability to have faith even in times of doubt. We will all go through times of confusion. But the worst thing we can do at such times is to withdraw our gifts and our talents from the world. For it is in putting them to good use that we're most likely to hear God's footsteps and know that all is well.

Authors Tom McGrath

talents Faith absence of god

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Homily stories

13 Nov 2011 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Working in my dad's grocery store as a teen, I was taught that the customer is always right and to smile at them no matter what. One day as I was at the cash register, a stranger asked me for change for a $20 bill and then a ten and then a five. I was responding with my dazzling smile when my brother slammed the register drawer shut. Then he told the customer to get out of the store right away. I was dumbfounded. My brother explained that it was a scam and that the register at the end of the day would be at least twenty dollars short. He was right. The next time someone tried it on me, my smile vanished as I told him to leave before my brothers and I called the police. There are times to be nice and times to be not so nice. The parable of the talents remind us how "nice" God has been to bless us with so much. But with those gifts comes an important responsibility: to use them and share them in a way that they are not squandered. Should it surprise us that God is disappointed? He has given us a beautiful world and the technology to enjoy it without destroying it. But we wantonly use up our resources not to aid those less fortunate but for our own temporary pleasure. Instead of making our world a better place, we are destroying it and anyone who stands in our way. With all that God has given us comes a responsibility. When you think about it, God is being more than fair.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

gifts talents responsibility

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Homily themes

13 Nov 2011 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

You yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come. In the Hebrew scriptures, the "day of the Lord" points to the time when God's final manifestation will bring an end to the world, salvation for those who do justice, and judgment upon those who do evil. In the New Testament, the "day" marks the coming of the Son of Man, the time the resurrected Jesus will judge the world and salvation history will be completed. For some New Testament writers, the "last days" are still to come (Matthew 25:31: "When the Son of Man comes in glory . . . ."), while for others they already began with Jesus' earthly life (Hebrews 1:2: "In these last days, [God] spoke to us through a son . . . ."). The day of fulfillment and judgment is neither so far distant as to demoralize us, nor able to be predicted so as to drive us to fear. Scripture's message of watchfulness counsels us to be ready regardless of when or how the world will end. Homily points Religious obligations are often presumed to be pious things we do to please God. What if God wants us to be who we were created to be most of all? Vocation is not just a job, a role, or an activity. It is a fulfillment of our humanity characterized by spiritual fruitfulness. God gives us "talents" to bring to fruition, but the external fruits are empowered by spiritual ones. The final spiritual fruit, self-control, keeps us faithful to the rest and to our ultimate goal.

Authors Joel Schorn

day of the lord Salvation talents

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Prayers

10 Apr 2011 - Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

Penitential Act Invitation Our Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Let us ask for pardon for the times we have turned from that life. Invocations Lord Jesus, you give us hope when we despair. Lord, have mercy. Lord Jesus, you have promised us salvation and granted us forgiveness. Christ, have mercy. Lord Jesus, whoever believes in you has eternal life. Lord, have mercy. Prayer of the Faithful The universal prayer Our Lord rescued his friend Lazarus from the tomb. Pray that Christ will raise us up from the darkness of sin and death to the glory of Easter. For all who are sick and struggle with physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual illness, that God may restore them to wholeness and health, we pray to the Lord. For all who have died and who await resurrection on the last day, that they rest in peace until they are called forth from the tomb by the voice of Jesus, we pray to the Lord. For all who mourn the death of family and loved ones, that they may hold fast to faith and trust in the promise of eternal life, we pray to the Lord. That the love of God, shown to us in Jesus Christ, may give us confidence and courage in the face of death, we pray to the Lord. Loving God, your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the resurrection and the life. May we always believe in his power to save us, for he is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

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Exploring the word

03 Apr 2011 - Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

IF THE CHURCH didn’t give us Lent, we’d probably have to invent it. We might even spare some compassion for those who don’t have an annual season for reflection on themes as human as they are forbidding: desert, thirst, the need for rescue, darkness, suffering, and death. These shadowy components of our experience can’t be avoided and must be acknowledged, maybe even befriended. They are companion pieces to another set of liturgical themes we commemorate in winter: anticipation, hope, light, joy, and birth. We celebrate that other season with eagerness and the dancing mood of festival. We observe this present season more carefully, tentatively, on tiptoe. Song and carol are for Advent; Lent seems a time deliberately carved out of silence. This week we consider the dark valley that paradoxically finds us without fear. With Psalm 23 as our map we descend into a darkness—that is, in the startling phrase from Ephesians, ourselves. We are not in darkness; we are darkness—until we become light by sharing in the life of Christ. I don’t think many of us need to be convinced of our darkness. We know we miss the mark of love so clearly defined in biblical teaching. We don’t have to review the catalog of our thoughts very far back to find one that makes us ashamed. We’re also keenly aware of the cultural gloom that wraps us on all sides and seeks to penetrate our outlook: cynicism, the rhetoric of suspicion, hostility toward those who are “other,” or a mere but spiritually fatal indifference. How can we escape this darkness and step into the warming, redeeming light? Simply, seek Jesus. We come into the presence of the only man whose very spit is a blessing instead of a curse. Jesus turns mud into medicine, the meal on the table into everlasting life. If he can do all that, he can surely turn this world’s darkness—and our own personal darkness—into unending light. The reason we come together in his name is because we profess that truth. Profession of faith isn’t the same as trusting and believing what we say, of course; that takes a lifetime of decisions big and small. But professing faith is the start of embracing it, being penetrated by sacred word and sacramental action deep down until the dark valley within is ablaze with hope and divine promise. “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” the former blind man’s neighbors ask. Some say, “It is,” and others say, “No, it just looks like him.” Both are right. When we give up our darkness in favor of the light, we are not who we used to be at all. Related scripture links Purification of a leper: Lev. 14 Ordination of Aaron and sons: Lev. 8 Lineage of David to Jesus: Matt. 1 Catechism links Children of sight and light: CCC 588; 1216; 1691-1698

Authors Alice Camille

psalm 23 Lent Light jesus Faith decision

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