Background:
A.1- new liturgical cycle no2
A new liturgical cycle no2 is commenced from this sunday. A new season of advent also started. Catholic church clearly organized these sunday readings from Pope St Pius V who organized these in 1570. From that time onwards Catholic church universally adopted these sunday readings. These readings were again reorganized in 1970 by Bl paul VI after vatican II council.
A.2-Jesus' teachings
Total liturgy will be analyzed in 3 consecutive years!.So study about the teaching of Jesus is only thru' New Testament! Church has beautifully laid down the sunday readings in 3 Cycles, for us to learn systematically about teachings of Jesus.
Last year we started from matthew.(Year/3= qotiont+ residual, the residual gives the liturgy cycle. Ex 2014/3= 671(Q)+1(R). This year we start from mark Gospel. Please note liturgical cycle always commence from advent season. For Example this year is year 2015 advent.
A.3- WHY SUNDAY READINGS ARE IMPORTANT?
You don't hear your heart beat, when your walking down a street,but you can hear it when you try to hear it. When you become conscious of something that previously unconscious, you become aware of it. Similarly you are attending God's banquet every sunday. You have to dress properly to participate the heavenly meal. Your dress will be Sunday readings. How Gospel reading related to you. How gospel message has been implemented during early church(2nd reading), how that message is foretold by God before to christ(1st reading).
God say's if you are NOT properly dressed for His banquet, you will be thrown away. Similarly, if you don't study these readings, you are not aware about Jesus message to your life, you lead your religion according to your own convenience. It is not the responsibility of your priest but you, as baptized catholic, fully responsible!(For your own dress!).
A.4. 1st Sunday of advent:
This new liturgical year, we were reminded about the important factors, that we should be aware about catholicism. Other wise we will be sleeping!
It is like a house resting it roof with 4 pillars
4 pillars are (1) our belief (2) our worship(3)our behavior and (4) our connection with God. Once we practise these
Will lead to love yourself, love God, love thy neighbor with happiness of life!
B.
Preamble for today's readings:
B.1 BASIC THEOLOGY OF HUMAN
God is overall control of human life. ie Birth & death. You cannot decide from which parents you are coming to this world & what time you leave this world,only God decides!.Modern science cannot override this!.
B.2 BASIC PILLARS OF CATHOLISM
Pope francis in his 1st en cyclical "The light of faith" says(ref ch 46); there are four elements which comprise the store house of memory which the church hands down: the profession of the faith, the celebration of sacraments, the path of the ten commandments and prayer.
In summary: 4 pillars of catholism are
(1)Doctrine-what catholic believe-Creed-our faith-Holy Trinity
(2) Liturgy-How catholic worship God- receiving sacraments
(3)Prayer- Catholics relationship with God-How we establish connection with God: Lords prayer+ our father+thru' the intercession of mary+saints
(4)Morality- how Catholic Behave-How we live- 10 commandments with pardoning
B.3 Creed
The creed is subdivided into sections. Conveniently there are 12 parts, which correspond to number of apostles.(Hence the reason that the name Apostles' creed became so popular. Before the printing press and many of faithful were ill literate, the only way to teach the faith was to have them memorized the creed. After knowing them by heart, a catechist would later explain and flesh out the fuller meaning of each article contained in the creed.
Present scenario:
Articles 1-1065 of THE CATHOLIC CHURCH focus on the Apostles' creed and the Nicean creed. A creed is a formal statement of a religious belief that summarizes the essential tenets and doctrines of a religion. The Apostles' creed was not necessarily formulated by the original 12 Apostles but originates in what is called the Apostolic era( first century AD) later, in 325, the ecumenical council of Nicea further elaborated on the articles of that creed in response to the heresy of Arianism. That Nicene creed is now recited every sunday and Holy Day in the catholic church.
Let's examine how the creed developed.
(1) Ap; I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth
Nic; We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is, seen and unseen
(2) Ap: I believe in Jesus Christ, His only son, our Lord
Nic; We believe in one lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God, eternally be gotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, be gotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven.
(3) Ap: He was conceived by the power of Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary,
Nic; by the power of the Holy spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
(4) Ap; He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,died and was buried; He descended into hell;
Nic; For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered died and buried.
(5) Ap: on the third day He rose again
Nic; on the third day He rose again In the fulfilment of the scripture
(6)Ap; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Nic; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
(7) AP; I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen
Nic; We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and Apostelic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for resurrection of the dead, and the life of world to come. Amen
(1)Apostles' creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, and His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
B.4 Sacraments(liturgy)
Before to Jesus,worshiping to GOD, was carried out with spreading the blood of the animals, at the offering table. In catholism this has changed to 7 sacrament, which consists of 3 major parts: INITIATION to the church(BAPTISM, HOLY EUCRASTIC & CONFIRMATION): PENANCE (also called confession or reconciliation ) and ANOINTING of the sick are sacrament of HEALING. Matrimony and Holy orders are sacrament of COMMUNITY. Sacraments are sacred rites. The catholic living mainly centered on two sacraments, PENANCE,(their SINS can be erased), HOLY EUCRASTIC(where they participate, the LAST SUPPER of JESUS).The elements water, olive oil, Wheat Bread, 14% strength grape wine,is used for sacraments and cannot be changed even by POPE!.Catholic believes the conversion of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, at the HOLY MASS. Hence only WORSHIP is given to HOLY EUCRASTIC.
B.5. Praying of faith- Lords Prayer-SPIRITUALITY
Articles 2558 through 2865 of the catechism conclude the book with the OUR FATHER(or LORDS PRAYER). This whole section is on prayer and uses what christians call the perfect prayer( BECAUSE IT WAS GIVEN BY CHRIST HIMSELF) as the launching pad to discover other forms of prayer. Prayer is seen as communication with God but it is a two way dialogue. God gives us insights and grace, and we offer adoration (praise), petition(intercession),
We can adore and praise HIM; we can thank HIM. We can express regret and sorrow in offending HIM, and we can ask HIM for ourselves or others.
Intercessory prayer, where someone ask God's help for someone else, is not only encouraged but also used to explain the catholic custom of praying to the saints. The first commandment forbids giving worship or adoration to anyone or anything other than God himself. Yet ,adoration is only one form of prayer. There is also intercessions or petition,where someone ask for help. There is no worship been done,just a request being made. Because living people have no trouble asking each other for prayers, like I am having surgery tomorrow, can you pray for me" No one objects or interprets it as if the person making the request is circumventing Christ as sole mediator. Even the Gospels have other people making intercession on behalf of others. When the daughter of Jairus, a synogogue official, is deathly ill. Her dad goes to jesus make intercession on her behalf that she be healed(luke8;40-56). His request is granted, and Jesus healed little girl even though she has died. Like wise even the Roman centurion approached Jesus in Matthew 8:5-13, he also made a prayer of intercession(petition) on behalf of another, his servent, that he, too to be healed. That request was equally granted. The catechism then points out that the saints in heaven, including Holy Mary, can intercede for living on earth with their prayers just as you and I can do for each other. PRAYING TO THE MARY/SAINTS IS NOT ADORATION OR WORSHIP,MERELY ASKING FOR THEIR INTERCESSION THAT THEY PRAY TO THE ONE MEDIATOR, CHRIST, ON OUR BEHALF. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE LIVING ON EARTH,THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN, AND THE DECEASED SOUL IS CALLED THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.
B.6 .morality- The living of faith: 10 commandments:
Articles 1691 through 2557 of the catechism of the catholic church look at all 10 commandments as the spring board for moral teaching and ethical behavior for the believer. There is a difference in numbering between 10 commandments cited by catholics and Lutherans and the ones cited by other protestant traditions. The bible itself never assigns a number to any one of the 10 commandments. They are listed twice in the scripture, in exodus 20:2-17 and deuteronomy 5:6-21. St augustine(354-430), bisop of Hippo,was the first to assign numbers to the ten commandments.
(1) Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me
(2) Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
(3) Keep holy the Sabbath Day
(4) Honour thy father and mother
(5) Thou shalt not kill (means only HUMANS)(reson: 10 comandment exist before to JESUS, during that time one of the method of WORSHIPPING GOD was, slaughtering of animals, spreading of blood over the offering table.)
(6) Thou shall not commit adultery
(7) Thou shall not steal
(8) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
(9) Thou shall not covert thy neighbour's wife
(10) Thou shalt not covert thy neighbours goods
Note: Obs: there are 3 parts, com 1- 5 God & you, com 6-8 deals personal to you, com 9-10 deals with you & society.
In addition to covering the 10 commandments in depth, showing how many sins can actually be traced back to breaking one or more these divine laws, the catechism also high lights the beatitudes from Jesus' sermon on the mount(mat5:3-12) and expounds on the moral virtues(faith,hope, and love). The moral and ethical life of a christian is not limited to just avoiding sin by not breaking a commandment but also demands a conscious effort to practice virtue and do good for others. It also high lights the complete adherence to the natural moral law, that informs every one with reason that genocide, murder,rape,racism, and anti- semitism are evil.
B.7 Out come of Catholicism:
1st step
When you follow catholism, you will develop a PEACEFULL MIND then A WORRYLESS MIND. Then you start loving yourself
2nd step
You develop happy mind, THEN YOU START LOVING GOD
3rd and last step-
You convert your talents to energy for the benefit of the society!.
B.8- Basic action need to achieve the outputs of catholism:
Step 1: avoid anger/laziness/judging others
Step1a: handover your fears/sorrows/disagreements thru' mary and saints to God, carryout actions happily with the concept, if other is correct, to give you the courage to carryout the work otherwise correct the other
Step2: avoid or remove Pride,lust,glutonny,envy and avarice from your life
Step3: always identify your God given talents and develop your talents to be used by the society!.
C. Today's reading:
Gospel Mk 13:33-37 says:"......IF HE COMES UNEXPECTEDLY HE MUST NOT FIND YOU SLEEP....." Reminds very basic truth of life(1) you don't know from which parents you will come to this world and you cannot decide at what time to come to this world (2) you cannot decide at what time your death is(unless you try to commit suicide!). Birth & death of a person is decided by the God, the Creator!. Today Jesus invites us to be cautious about the theories that has to be practice to follow Catholicism, for us to be always wake up!
(Last year same sunday(cycle1)-Gospel:Mt24:37-
More less we have been drawn for similar attention!
Paul(1cor1:3-9) reminds how God is faithful, for your happy life.
Isaiah (Is 63:16-17;64:1.3-8) reminds how God will tear the heavens and come down to relieve us from fear and sorrow
D. conclusions:
During this season, we concentrate on the major change God has imparted for human been. God created you to lead a happy life. Through old testament he trained human how to live. With Jesus HE introduced the new easy life to achieve happiness!. This sunday, He invited to analyse the factors that need to be considered for us to be vigilant. Next sunday, our attention is drawn the deviation (difference) of catholicism to Judaism or specifically the difference between old testament to new testament. This is very important since most of catholics without their knowledge practice Judaism, rather than Christianity!. We might go to church,but if we are not aware how to reach happiness from the new message of Jesus, we will be sleeping or sleep walking in our life!
GBU
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