This month of November brings us to the end of liturgical Ordinary Time; we begin the season of Advent, and a new liturgical year, on December 1st. The readings of the first Sunday of November, November 3, remind us that we are to love God and love our neighbor; these are the two greatest commandments. The following week, November 10, Jesus compares the monetary contribution of the poor woman, the widow’s mite, as it is sometimes called, to the monetary contributions made by the rich, saying that the poor woman gave all that she had while the rich have contributed from their surplus wealth. A challenging message for many of us! The next Sunday, the thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, with its apocalyptic readings from the Book of Daniel and the gospel of Mark, focuses our attention on the end times; only God knows when the end will come, we are told. Finally, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King on November 24; this is the final Sunday of the current liturgical year. We remember that our King, Jesus, is the ruler of the entire universe, all of creation; he is thus not like other kings that the world has known. You can prepare for the Sunday readings at liturgy.slu.edu/.

We remain in the Church’s liturgical season of Ordinary Time this month, our attention focused on Jesus’ recorded words and actions in his time, and their meaning in ours. We are reminded of the great bond of marriage in the gospel on Sunday, October 6, (Mark 10: 2-16) and we hear that Jesus gave sight to the blind Bartimaeus on October 21 (Mark 10:46-52). The second reading on all of the Sundays of October is from the Letter to the Hebrews. The main theme of this “treatise” is the “sacrifice and priesthood of Christ”; this theme is developed so as to strengthen our own faith. From the Letter to the Hebrews we also hear that God’s word is living and effective (Hebrews 4:12), a good parallel to the words of Jesus from Mark’s gospel on that day, that all things are possible for God (Mark 10:27). You can read an introduction to the Letter to the Hebrews on the US Bishops’ Bible website at bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/0. And, as always, at the St. Louis University liturgy website, liturgy.slu.edu/ you can find means of preparation for each Sunday’s readings.

September is here. Amazing!!! Where did the summer go? With this month comes a spirit of freshness…the school year begins, organizations hold meetings, the Patriots start a brand new season. Listen to the song Holy Wisdom, Lamp of Learning (bit.ly/LampofLearning) to capture this sense of renewal. On the other hand, we experience constancy in our Church life as we continue to celebrate the Season of Ordinary Time. During September, we will listen to Sunday gospels which tell of Jesus’ mighty deeds and Jesus’ words that help us to become better disciples. This month, along with Jesus’ disciples, we are also asked the question “Who do you say that I am?” The daily and Sunday Mass readings are always available at bible.usccb.org; you can prepare for the Sunday readings at liturgy.slu.edu.

Summer Ordinary Time starts off with a liturgical bang, with Trinity Sunday and the Feast of Corpus Christi taking center stage on May 26 and June 2, respectively. Officially called the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Trinity Sunday is a celebration of one of the central tenets of our Catholic Christian faith: Three distinct persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in One God. The New Testament lectionary readings on Trinity Sunday refer to this mystery of our faith. The second reading, which is from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, reminds us that we are God’s children and, along with Christ, God’s heirs; the Spirit witnesses to our relationship with God, the Father. The gospel reading from Matthew is even more explicit, telling us that Jesus commissioned his disciples (and us) to bring his message to all the nations and to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  This formula is one which we repeat every time we make the sign of the cross; it helps us to remember that our God is indeed One in Three persons.

Alleluia! This Hebrew word is a powerful prayer which means “Praise the Lord!” It is a prayer we now voice to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead; it was absent from our liturgies during the season of Lent. The liturgical Easter season extends from Easter Sunday through Pentecost Sunday, May 19. The season includes Divine Mercy Sunday (the Second Sunday of Easter, April 7) and Ascension Thursday, May 9. The Fourth Sunday of Easter, this year celebrated on April 21, is often called Good Shepherd Sunday because the gospel reading is always one of the stories about Jesus, the Good Shepherd. The Sunday first readings during the Easter season are from the Acts of the Apostles, the story of the early Church, while the second readings, which focus on our lives as Christians, are all from the First Letter of John. Most of the Sunday gospel readings are from John’s gospel. You can read about The Acts of the Apostles (outline, themes, etc.) on Fr. Felix Just’s Catholic Resources webpage, catholic-resources.org/Bible/Acts.htm. Fr. Just also has a webpage with many resources regarding the Gospel and Letters of John at catholic-resources.org/John/Intro.html. You can prepare for every Sunday’s readings at liturgy.slu.edu/.

“Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart…” So begins the first reading of Ash Wednesday, a reading from the Old Testament book of the prophet Joel. Just a bit later, the prophet further exhorts us to “[r]end your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God”. And so, Lent begins with a call to return to God genuinely and wholeheartedly, a call, perhaps a reminder, which we hear every year at this time. The gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, taken from Matthew’s gospel, tells us of three ways in which we can concretely express our return to God: giving alms, praying and fasting. (You can find the Ash Wednesday readings and all the daily Mass readings at bible.usccb.org.) These three spiritual practices are often referred to as the pillars, or disciplines of Lent. Here are some thoughts about how we can carry out each of these means of returning to and encountering God.

The liturgical season of Advent begins on December 3rd.  It’s a short season this year, having only three full weeks, as the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 24th, is also Christmas Eve. In Advent, we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ first coming to our world, his Incarnation, on Christmas Day. In addition, we remind ourselves of our need to “be alert” for Jesus’ second coming at the end of time; the gospel on the First Sunday of Advent contains Jesus’ warning to us to be on the watch. And finally, during Advent we are especially aware of Jesus’ presence with us in our daily lives and in our Eucharist; we can truly say that we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us!

We conclude our celebration of the Church liturgical season of Ordinary Time this month; Advent starts the first weekend of December. These last few weeks of Ordinary Time are always focused on the end times, the second coming of Jesus Christ. The gospel readings for the weekends of November 11/12, November 18/19, and November 25/26 all call us to prepare for the end of time.

On November 11/12, we have the parable of the wise and foolish young women who await the coming of the bridegroom…only the wise ones are prepared, however, and the message for us is to be ready, to be alert, for we don’t know the hour that the Lord is coming! On the next weekend, November 18/19, we hear the parable of the talents; we are admonished to use what skills and gifts we have before our Lord and Master returns.

We continue our liturgical journey through Ordinary Time this month. We hear gospel readings on two particular Sundays which remind us that the Hebrew Scriptures (for us, the Old Testament) provided a clear backdrop for Jesus and the people of his time. On October 8 (the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time), we are presented with the parable of the vineyard owner, whose own son was killed by the vineyard tenants when he sought to obtain his produce. Jesus, after he tells this parable, recites two verses (#s 22-23) from Psalm 118 in the Scriptures, verses which he (and we) believe describe him: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone…”

Students have returned to school and we are getting back into the “academic year” rhythm of things. The Church continues its celebration of Ordinary Time, reminding us more and more about how we are to live as followers of Christ. For instance, in the gospel on the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 3), Jesus tells us that "[w]hoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Challenging words, for sure, but ones which are spoken by someone who knows about denial, suffering and death, someone who has “walked the walk and talked the talk”. These are words which also come with a guarantee from Jesus himself that he will always be with us. You can prepare for all of the Sunday readings at liturgy.slu.edu.