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| Lent 2009 Reading Group; Reading together for Lent | |
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| Topic Started: Wednesday, 18. February 2009, 10:02 (561 Views) | |
| KatyA | Wednesday, 11. March 2009, 18:29 Post #46 |
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Interesting note from the reflection for 3rd Sunday of Lent posted in time for Reflections thread regarding the readings. [The readings for this Sunday are Exodus 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 and John 2:13-25. For use with RCIA, Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 and John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42] |
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| OsullivanB | Wednesday, 11. March 2009, 22:23 Post #47 |
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Going back to the cleansing of the Temple, I just wonder how the sale of animals for the sacrifice in the outer courtyard of the Temple was different in any real way from the sale of books/articles of devotion, catholic periodicals and votive candles in our churches or their foyers today. More generally, does the cleansing have any clear message for us today? It was clearly very important to the evangelists as it appears in all four Gospels. Edited by OsullivanB, Wednesday, 11. March 2009, 22:24.
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| Gerard | Thursday, 12. March 2009, 10:04 Post #48 |
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Very different OsB. The courtyard where the trading was going on was the Courtyard of the Gentiles. This was the place where gentiles were alloted to come into the Temple and pray. It was a place set aside for prayer. By taking up this space for crowds trading it was depriving the gentiles of their place in the Temple. Jesus was angry for us  I dont see that as comparable at all with selling things in the porch. Message for today ? Make more people welcome in the nave? Including non-catholics? Gerry P.S. The activity was not as lawful as you imply. The Temple would not accept any currency other than Temple currency so people had to change their money into Temple money - with commission. I think there was considerable elements of exploitation going on all of which impacted the poor the most. And there is a lesson there for today. Gerry |
| "The institutional and charismatic aspects are quasi coessential to the Church's constitution" (Pope John Paul II, 1998). | |
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| KatyA | Monday, 16. March 2009, 11:30 Post #49 |
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Lent Group Discussion Material 2009 - Week 4 Gospel of the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B): John 3:14-21
Selected text from St Paul: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
The Gospel is the account of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus ‘by night’. Jesus proclaims that ‘God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved’. This week we reflect on reconciliation – the term Paul uses to describe the process of salvation. Introduction After Paul’s initial missionary stay in Corinth, the newly converted Christians began to struggle with the many influences around them that contradicted the Christian way of life to which they had been converted. From Paul’s remarks in 1 Cor 1-2, it seems that many Corinthians confused their spiritual life with their intellectual life. Knowing about spiritual things became of paramount importance for the spiritual life, whereas how a person lived was regarded as of less importance. Divisions within the community quickly began to appear: groups formed allegiances to various leaders (1 Cor 1: 10-17) and there were disputes about the relative merits of celibacy and married life (1 Cor 7:1-40), the treatment of the poor (1 Cor 11:17-34), and competition for spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:1-31). All of these caused Paul to be in ‘agony of mind’ as he wrote to address the issues, attempting to bring about reconciliation in the community. Commentary The Greek word Paul used for ‘Reconciliation’ meant, in a secular sense, a change in relationship between individuals, groups or nations in either social or political life. In a legal sense it referred to what was required to mend a broken marriage. In a religious sense Greek literature used ‘reconciliation’ to describe the restoration of relationships between the gods and humans. When Paul uses the term, however, it always refers to the initiative of God in reconciling sinful, broken human beings to himself through Christ. Through Christ’s death on the cross (a death embraced out of love), and his resurrection, God shows mercy and unconditionally forgives and accepts the sinner. He does not hold anyone’s faults against them – he does not ‘judge the world’. This act of reconciliation is not dependent on any action of the sinner but is a free act of a loving God. For those who are ‘in Christ’ through their baptism, new life has been made possible. We only have to respond. That new life must be expressed in a turning away from selfishness towards a life lived for others, as was Christ’s, and a radical change in the way believers think of, accept, and treat other human beings. Paul sees his ministry as one of reconciliation, and implicitly challenges the Corinthians to be ‘ambassadors for Christ’ as he is himself. The ministry of Paul and the Apostles is now entrusted to the Church and to us, and if we are to be good ambassadors for Christ, we have to consider our own reconciliation. We cannot be reconcilers if we are not reconciled ourselves. To be reconciled means forgiving ourselves and seeking forgiveness from others for what needs to be forgiven. To be fully reconciled to God, we need to be reconciled to the people around us, which is often particularly difficult with those closest to us, and to our own selves, which can often take a long time. Without our realising it, even our daily circumstances can lead to continuing negative judgements, bad moods or irritations. These may be features to which we pay little attention, which can gradually become barriers to the peace, compassion and the joy of being in a right relationship with God and one another. This Sunday is known as ‘Laetare Sunday’ (Laetare meaning to Rejoice), a day to relax from Lenten observance and celebrate our faith that God has reconciled the world to himself. We can rejoice in the knowledge that we are loved and forgiven and that we share in the ministry of bringing reconciliation to others. members may wish to simply respond to the commentary or they may wish to discuss some of the questions below: 1. Some translations of 2 Cor 5:20 say: ‘let yourselves be reconciled to God’. God is always waiting for us to be open to the possibility of reconciliation with him. Are there any obstacles in my life preventing God’s work of reconciliation from being completed in me? 2. Paul was in agony of mind over the disputes and problems in the church at Corinth. Do I feel saddened today by divisions in the Church, among humanity, and in creation as a whole? Do I feel overwhelmed and helpless, or empowered as an ‘ambassador of reconciliation’? 3. ‘God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins ….’ (From the words of absolution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation) How can this Sacrament prepare and strengthen me in my mission as an ‘ambassador for Christ’? |
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| KatyA | Monday, 16. March 2009, 12:59 Post #50 |
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We haven't progressed much from there, have we? Plus ca change... Katy |
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| Rootfroot | Wednesday, 18. March 2009, 19:09 Post #51 |
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Thanks for posting the materials KatyA |
| www.rootfroot.com Catholic Online Lent Reading Group. Join us from February 24th 2009. Totally free and not-for-profit. | |
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| KatyA | Wednesday, 18. March 2009, 20:09 Post #52 |
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My pleasure. I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone.
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| Rootfroot | Friday, 20. March 2009, 23:02 Post #53 |
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I must say I have been experiencing a certain aridity concerning these passages. I wonder why that is. This week the phrases that leapt out at me were "every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" and "in Christ God was reconciling * the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them" Which do I respond to most? The harsh light / dark, good / evil imagery of St John? Or the account by St Paul of a God yearning for reconciliation with man. The gospel is sin viewed from the midst of the human condition. The Pauline passage is sin viewed from the standpoint of hope. The gospel passage makes me think of my own besetting sins and the daily struggle with them. It also makes me think of the television programme that I watched about Angola where oil and diamonds do nothing for the poor. St John is down in the thick of all this, labouring with the sense of distance from God that we all struggle with. The Pauline passage is confident in the knowledge that God yearns for reconciliation with us. Something I am never confident of, even in my good moments, for example after after confession or receiving Communion. The two poles of the life of prayer, right there. |
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| KatyA | Saturday, 21. March 2009, 23:14 Post #54 |
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I wouldn't call that aridity, Rootfroot. It certainly helped me to take something from the readings. Thank you KatyA |
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| Rootfroot | Sunday, 22. March 2009, 23:42 Post #55 |
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Next Sunday's Gospel John 12:20-33 20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. |
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| Rootfroot | Sunday, 22. March 2009, 23:45 Post #56 |
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Chosen Reading for week 5 Romans 6:3-11 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. |
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| Rootfroot | Sunday, 22. March 2009, 23:46 Post #57 |
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Commentary Week 5 “We have died to sin; how could we go on living in it?” Paul exclaims two verses before our reading begins. He is answering the objection that if justification is a free gift of grace, this is surely a green light to behave just as we feel inclined! In order to understand what Paul is saying, we need to take a look at his ideas of sin and salvation. Paul has two ways of looking at sin. One is Voluntary Sin through our actions, for which we can be held responsible. The other is Sin as a Power or Dominion which holds us 25 in thrall and from which we cannot escape by our own efforts; we quite literally need rescuing from its grip by a greater Power. Therefore, when Paul speaks of redemption he uses one of three Greek words that denote transfer from one ownership to another: he uses the language of the slave market. As Paul says in Rom 6:6, before Baptism we are under “the slavery of sin”. Plunging into the waters of Baptism with a heart that says YES to Christ as Lord is to share in his death on the Cross – death to the power of Sin. As we stand up again, shaking off the last few drops of water that cling to us, we are journeying with him into the experience of Resurrection. We have exchanged Sin’s suffocating dominion for the freedom of a fully human life in God’s Kingdom. In order to make this exchange, is all we have to do is say “yes”? One can see why some might object that this is just too easy! But that is to ignore the challenge of the Cross. In the Gospel passage, Jesus speaks of “hating” one’s life in order to keep it, (we have to allow for the semitic tendency to exaggerated expression here), and Paul himself exhorts his readers, in the verse following our reading, “That is why you must not allow sin to reign over your mortal bodies and make you obey their desires”. For Paul, anything – even something good in itself - that distracts us from making Christ the centre of our allegiance is wrong, and we need to ‘die to it’. This is why he can even speak of needing liberation from the Jewish Law (see Gal 3:13). We cannot leave this topic without reflecting that our new life in Christ’s Kingdom is both now and not yet. We will be fully liberated in eternity. “All that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us” (Rom 8:18). Take a look at 1 Cor 15:16-28 to see what Paul says there. Now, as we approach Holy Week once more, we look forward – with a hope born of “fear and trembling” – to “what we only vaguely sense 26 and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is ‘truly’ life”. (Pope Benedict XVI: Spe Salvi 31) |
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| Rootfroot | Sunday, 29. March 2009, 11:02 Post #58 |
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"unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." How we live day to day, in very small and subtle ways, is noticed by people around us. Children, colleagues, fellow commuters. Not just demonstrative actions - noticeable acts of selfishness or selflessness - but the truth of our natures. People are sensitive. If we love our lives, living the illusion of self-sufficiency, we are constantly sowing this seed in other lives, most not even known to us. If we know in our hearts that our lives belong to God, we will leave traces of this truth constantly and unconsciously in many many lives. Edited by Rootfroot, Sunday, 29. March 2009, 11:05.
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| KatyA | Sunday, 29. March 2009, 19:19 Post #59 |
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I must admit that I had been trying without success to connect the "the Greeks" wishing to see Jesus and His response (the seed that falls on stony ground). In his homily this evening, our priest suggested that Phillip must have been rubbing his hands with glee at the thought that Jesus fame was spreading and the possible consequences, and that Jesus promptly reminded him that wasn't the path ahead of him. |
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| OsullivanB | Monday, 30. March 2009, 10:37 Post #60 |
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And yet he said just that at Gethsemane, albeit with the proviso of submission. |
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