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When Church Sucks…

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When Christians get together there’s really nothing we love to do more than to complain! In my experience, what we especially like to do is to have a good whine about the problems we have with our parish. In response to this, I would like to write a series of short posts about some common complaints I’ve heard. Today I’ll begin with one of the most common criticisms:

“Our priest’s homilies are boring…”

As I say, this is a very common complaint. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve heard people say something like this. Unfortunately, it’s often a reason given as to why someone left to join a Protestant congregation. 🙁

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Sunday Lectionary: Holy Trinity Sunday

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Fairly terse notes today, I’m afraid…

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: June 3, 2012

Last week we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost and this week we have another great celebration: Trinity Sunday. The Holy Trinity is one of the central truths of the Christian faith, declaring that there is only one God and in that Godhead there are three persons: Father, Son and Spirit.

The truth of the Trinity was something which was revealed by Christ, although there are hints found in the Old Testament. For example, the use of the first person, plural pronouns found in the Creation account:

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:26–27

Some Fathers also saw a hint of the Trinity in the call of the angels before God’s throne:

 I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robefilled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” – Isaiah 6:3

Although revealed in the New Testament, the word “Trinity” is not found in Sacred Scripture. However, the word “Trinity” does describe the truth which is found in Scripture. The word is first used to describe God in the third century by Tertullian (although the word first makes its appearance in Christian theology in 170 AD through the writings of Theophilus of Antioch).

At every Mass we confess the truth of the Trinity in the Nicene Creed when we confess that Christ is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father”.

This Trinity is one God from Whom, through Whom, and in Whom all things exist – St. Augustine 

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Sunday Lectionary: Fire Fall Down

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If you are leading a Bible Study of these Readings, I would suggest reading them in the following order: Gospel, First Reading, Second Reading, Psalm.

Pentecost Sunday: May 27, 2012

This week is probably my favourite feast in the Church’s liturgical year: Pentecost. On the day the Holy Spirit came, three thousand people entered the Church. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that we might see this again in our days…

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

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Sunday Lectionary: Going up?

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In addition to being the Seventh Sunday in Easter, this Sunday is also Ascension Sunday. This has been an insanely busy week – sorry I didn’t get this posted earlier.

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: 20th May, 2012

This Sunday we hear a glorious mystery! The Second Glorious Mystery to be precise! Yes, this Sunday we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven.

In recent weeks, life among the Apostles had been, to put it mildly, a bit rocky (and not “rocky” in the good, “Peter” kind of way). In fact, things had been pretty awful. The Master had been betrayed, beaten and then killed on a cross. Dark times.

But then, something happened… He rose from the dead! For several weeks He had been appearing to His disciples! Life was good again! But then…what?…He left?

Huh? Things were finally starting to look up! Why did He leave? Did the Lord abandon His Church?

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Sunday Lectionary: It’s all you need

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Sixth Sunday of Easter: 13th May, 2012

The Readings this week start to wrap up our Easter Season prior to the Feasts of Ascension and Pentecost.

In the First Reading we read about that great moment in Church History when the first Gentiles received baptism and entered the Church. In our Second Reading, we conclude our study of St. John’s First Epistle by hearing about the love of God. Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus unpacks His teaching concerning His metaphor of “the vine and the branches”  which we heard last week.

As we come to the Eucharistic table this week let us come with thankful hearts. God’s love is so great that He came to redeem us, call us His friends, pour His Spirit into our hearts and make us members of His family.

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Sunday Lectionary: Remain In Me

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Continuing my attempts to produce these Lectionary Notes in under four hours…

Fifth Sunday of Easter: 6th May, 2012

The Readings this week focus around life in Christ.

We begin with an account of St. Paul’s failed attempts in Jerusalem to commune with Christ’s Body, the Church. Strangely enough, it turns out that people tend to be a bit stand-offish if you’ve previously tried to kill them! In our Gospel Reading, Jesus teaches his disciples using the metaphor of the vine, showing us that union with Him is essential if we are to live. He gives us a warning too, that if we do not produce fruit, we will be cut off from Him and deprived of His Divine life. St. John restates this sentiment in the Second Reading, exhorting his readers to “love not in word…but in deed”. 

Let us come to Mass this week thirsty for the grace of Christ which is communicated through His Church. Let us drink deeply, returning to the world refreshed, ready to share the life of Christ and to bear fruit which will last.

Through Him, and with Him, and in Him…

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Sunday Lectionary: Saving Shepherd

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Producing these Lectionary Notes has been taking too long again. Therefore I’m giving myself a time limit of a few hours. Let’s do this…

Fourth Sunday of Easter: April 29th, 2012

The Readings at Mass this week focus around the person of Jesus Christ and his unique, fundamental place in Salvation History. In our First Reading, St. Peter boldly proclaims that “There is no salvation through anyone else”. In our Psalm we sing the words quoted by Peter in that speech to the Sanhedrin, declaring that Jesus is “the stone rejected by the builders [which] has become the cornerstone”. In the Gospel Reading, Jesus declares that He is “the good shepherd”  who “lays down his life for the sheep” and, as we hear in our Second Reading, because of this we may truly be called “the children of God”.

At this Sunday’s Mass, confident in the goodness of our Shepherd, let us firmly put our trust in Him.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever – Psalm 23

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