BIG C CATHOLICS

Here is the seventh lesson in the Saint Paul Center for Catholic Biblical Theology 's Lenten Scripture study, Genesis to Jesus. Follow along, and by the end of Lent, you'll understand the importance of Easter in light of God's plan for our salvation. Sign up to receive new video lessons [ here ] and buy related study materials. ___________________________________________________ When we ended the last lesson, the descendants of the twelve sons of Israel were enslaved in Egypt. In this lesson, we will see how their enslavement to Pharaoh ends. More importantly, we will see how the Lord delivers Israel from spiritual bondage in the Exodus, while he brings judgment on Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Now we move out of the Book of Genesis and into the Book of Exodus. We learned in the Book of Genesis that salvation history is the story of God’s family. In that family, Adam was created to be the first-born son of creation. Adam falls, failing in his duties as first-born

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) “A body in motion tends to stay in motion, while a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” I’m sure many of you have heard that phrase used in an often-repeated TV commercial that has been airing recently. The phrase has caught my attention especially when I have been a couch potato watching more TV than I should. It’s the “staying at rest” that I am talking about because I am so often afflicted with laziness and lethargy. I resist getting in motion. Well, you may ask, what do those words and that thought have to do with the readings from today’s scripture passages that we just heard? Today is Laetare Sunday. Joy is its theme, joy because we are halfway through Lent and thus very close to the joy of Easter when our Elect will be baptized, confirmed and receive Holy Communion and our Candidates will be received into our Communion of Faith and likewise receive Holy Communion. There is joy, too, because

René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) I am in charge here! I give the orders. Is that clear? Even if I really believed that, I would be well advised not to say it out loud. But let’s suppose I came into your home or place of work and said the same thing. It wouldn’t be long before somebody said, “And just who do you think you are?” In giving the Ten Commandments, God seems to have anticipated that very question. So he begins by stating, clearly and emphatically, just who he is: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.” And in case you missed it the first time, he says, three verses later, “I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God.” The commandments that follow are really, really important, but these statements of who God is are more important still. They are the foundation of all the rest. Why not kill? Because I say so, and

It's no accident that the first reading for the second Sunday of Lent (Year B) is the testing of Abraham's faith. Genesis chapter 22 begins: "God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am!' [Abraham] replied. Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." "When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven, 'Abraham, Abraham!' 'Here I am!' he answered. 'Do not lay your hand on the boy,' said the messenger. 'Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.' As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram

By Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America (Genesis 22:1-18; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10) At the conclusion of the dramatic story of what transpired on a mountain in the land of Moriah, Isaac’s life is spared, a substitute is found for the holocaust, and Abraham, who was willing to offer up his beloved son at God’s command, is rewarded for his unstinting faith. In Old Testament and New Testament times, the place where it was believed Abraham went to sacrifice his son continued to be venerated. The Temple of Jerusalem was built there. In our second reading, St. Paul alludes indirectly to another small mount within easy walking distance of the Temple. The evangelists call it Golgotha. And on an unnamed mountain, somewhere in Galilee, Jesus appeared in his glory, along with Moses and Elijah. These various elements all find a resonance at yet another mountain, in the French alps, called La Salette. In remembrance of the Pa

The theme of this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is "Your Right Hand, O Lord, Glorious in Power." (Exodus 15:6). The octave of prayer for the promotion of Christian unity takes its impetus from Exodus 15:1-21, the words of Moses: Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea; his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power— your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble. At t

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) Well, that was quick! In under twelve hours Andrew and his companion had decided that the man they had just met was the Messiah! No one knows what they talked about, so we may give free rein to our imagination.           Maybe they discussed Jesus’ vision of a world of peace and justice and of outreach to the poor. We have seen in our own time that this is one of the most attractive features of Pope Francis. Why not something like that in this case? Or they might have had a free-ranging conversation on the Scriptures in general. They did call him “Rabbi,” after all. Or maybe such an exchange might have been more like the one Jesus would have three years later, after his Resurrection, with two other disciples, on the road to Emmaus when, we are told: “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what re

Fr. Simon Francis Gaine O.P. Regent of Studies, English Province of the Dominicans Professor of Theology, Blackfriars Oxford, UK ( Click here for today’s readings ) Today’s Gospel takes us beyond the biological fact that Mary was a biological mother. It tells us more about her motherhood than that she gave birth. We learn how Mary, together with Joseph, had the baby circumcised when he was eight days old, introducing him into the covenant between God and the Jewish people. At the same time they gave the boy his name, Jesus, which means Savior, because he would save this people – and all peoples – from their sins.  With these actions, we see Mary undertaking the ongoing work of being a mother, treasuring every moment of this motherhood in her heart, just as she had already treasured her Son since she conceived him in her womb. Mary’s motherhood is not simply to conceive and give birth as a biological fact. Together with Joseph, she has the responsibility of nurturin

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) The third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday.” It comes from the first word of the “Entrance antiphon” or “Introit” of the Mass. “Gaudete” is Latin for “rejoice,” and the text of the antiphon is from Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!” It appears in a shorter form in today’s second reading: “Rejoice always.” More on this later. Television shows have gone through many fads and phases. There was the age of quiz shows, the age of westerns, of variety shows, of situation comedies, of detectives, and so on. Today we are in the age of “reality shows.” They are of two types. There are those where we simply observe people: litigants in small claims court, women buying a wedding dress, survivalists, home buyers, you name it. Others are competitions, in which each week someone wins and someone i

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for the special readings for the Feast .) ( For the story of Our Lady of La Salette, click here .) The anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette is September 19. As La Salette Missionaries around the world we celebrate the event on the nearest Sunday. My homily today is therefore not based on the readings for the [24th Tuesday] in Ordinary time but on special readings for the Feast. One might find the story from Genesis, about the rainbow after the flood, to be an odd reading for a feast of the Blessed Virgin. The rainbow makes its appearance as the sign of the covenant that God makes with Noah. The bow, an ancient symbol of war, now becomes a sign of peace. God is starting over, re-creating, reconciling humanity to himself, promising he will never again give up on us. Other covenants followed, with Abraham, with Moses, u

Feast Day - September 14th The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, recalls the retrieval of the Holy Cross, which had been found and preserved by Saint Helena. It commemorates three distinct historical events: the finding of the True Cross, its return in the 7th century, and its ineffable power as the instrument of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and our salvation. Regarding the later, our Savior's crucifixion imbues human suffering with dignity and divine purpose. Here is a reflection by Father René Butler, M.S., from his homily on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Provincial Superior, La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) What do Judas, and the leaders of the Sanhedrin, and Pontius Pilate, all have in common with God the Father? You might find the question confusing, even bizarre, if not downright blasphemous, but the idea came to me when reading a comm

August 6, 2017 Our divine Redeemer, being in Galilee about a year before His sacred Passion, took with him St. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, Sts. James and John, and led them to a retired mountain. Tradition assures us that this was Mount Thabor, which is exceedingly high and beautiful, and was anciently covered with green trees and shrubs, and was very fruitful. It rises something like a sugar-loaf, in a vast plain in the middle of Galilee. This was the place in which our Lord the Man-God appeared in all His heavenly glory. Whilst Jesus prayed, he suffered that glory which was always due to his sacred humility, and of which, for our sake, He deprived it, to diffuse a ray over His whole body. His face was altered and shone as the sun, and his garments became white as snow. Moses and Elias were seen by the three apostles in his company on this occasion, and were heard discoursing with him of the death which he was to suffer in Jerusalem. The three apostles were wonderful

On Sundays when homilies by Fr. Butler and Fr. Irvin are not available, we will feature homilies by Fr. Thomas Lane. Fr. Lane is a Professor of Sacred Scripture at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD on the campus of Mt. St. Mary’s University. He previously ministered in Ireland. (Originally delivered in 2013). Fr. Thomas J. Lane S.T.D. Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD  Fr. Lane's website Jesus is the Promised Messiah Listen to Him even as He predicts His Passion What a grace for Peter and James and John to see Jesus transfigured. They got a preview of the glory of Jesus risen from the dead and his glory in heaven. It was also a preview of the glory we all hope to share in heaven. This was a very special grace for Peter and James and John. It was not the only special grace Jesus shared with Peter, James and John. Earlier in the Gospel (Mark and Luke) we read that Jesus only allowed Peter and Jam

Via Fr Robert Barron at Word on Fire At the Transfiguration, Moses was there representing the law and Elijah was there representing the prophets. But why were Peter, James, and John present? And what does this event mean to us today? St. Thomas Aquinas devotes an entire section in his Summa theologiae to this event. His treatment sums up much of the wisdom of the Fathers, so looking at his reflections may give us some answers. Aquinas says that it was fitting that Christ be manifested in his glory because those who are walking an arduous path need a clear sense of the goal of their journey. The arduous path is this life, with all of its attendant sufferings, failures, setbacks, disappointments, and injustices, and its goal is heavenly glory, fullness of life with God, the transformation of our bodies. As he makes his way toward the cross, Jesus accordingly allows, for a brief time, his glory to shine through, the radiance of his divinity to appear. We are not meant finally

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) When I was a little boy and went to my catechism lessons the nuns, our teachers, used the famous Baltimore Catechism for their teaching guide. Many times they required us to memorize parts of the Baltimore Catechism and today I want to begin with its first section in which the question was asked: “Why did God make you?” The answer we memorized was: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.” Later on we had to memorize the Ten Commandments, and the first one was: “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me. In the Old Testament’s Book of Exodus we find God speaking to Moses about the covenant between God and His people. God tells the Hebrews: “You shall not worship any other god, for the LORD is the Jealous One; a jealous God is he.” (Exodus 34:14) In the New Testament’s Book of Acts w

The Naming of John the Baptist , Fra Angelico, 1435.  Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist June 24, 2017 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139; Acts 13: 22-26; Luke 1:57-66, 80 “John is his name.” (Lk 1:60) Have you ever considered yourself to be the most unqualified person to be placed into a situation where you were compelled to lead? Shortly after my ordination to priesthood, my first pastor died of cancer. In my mid-twenties, I was thrust into the leadership role of that parish until a new pastor was appointed. It was a daunting task as the parish was large and active. In the months leading up to the pastor’s death and the weeks after his funeral, the parish looked to me to lead and guide them through the daily parish activities and the transition to a new pastor. I was the most unlikely person to do so; at the time, I was the youngest and most inexperienced priest in the diocese. With God’s help and a lot of prayer, the parish an