Entering the Season of Threefold Coming Advent begins. But not as our culture often imagines it - not primarily as a countdown to Christmas, not as premature celebration with nativity scenes and festive cheer. The Church invites us into something older, deeper, and far more urgent. Historically, Advent emerged in the 4th-6th centuries as a penitential season, sometimes lasting as long as Lent - a time of fasting, prayer, and preparation. Not...
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QUICK REFERENCE Date: November 23, 2025Liturgical Season: Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Last Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)Readings: USCCB Lectionary #162 One-Sentence...
"Ordinary" doesn't mean "less important." It means ordinary as whole—encountering Jesus complete, not through a seasonal lens. QUICK REFERENCE Date: November 16, 2025Liturgical Season: 33rd Sunday...
The Pharisee isn't a cartoon villain. He's exhausted. He's been showing up faithfully for YEARS while others flake. He fasts twice a week—do YOU? He tithes on everything—do YOU? His resentment...
QUICK REFERENCE Date: October 19, 2025 (Note: Date will vary each year) Liturgical Season: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Readings: Exodus 17:8-13 | Psalm 121 | 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 | Luke...
QUICK REFERENCE Date: November 20, 2025Liturgical Season: 1st Sundaynof Advent, Year A Readings: First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9 Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14 Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44 One-Sentence Theme:Like waiting for your beloved to return from a long journey, you go about your daily work, but your heart is oriented, and the longing keeps you awake. INTRODUCTION TEXT, which you are welcome...
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QUICK REFERENCE Date: November 23, 2025Liturgical Season: Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Last Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C) Readings: First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3...
If there were no Sunday obligation this year—no hell threat, no requirement—would we still come? Would we still show up to encounter God in our emptiness, or are we mostly trying to look like a...
There's a question haunting this Gospel: What happens Monday morning? The tax collector went home justified. And then what? Did he go back to the booth, back to neglecting widows and orphans, back...
QUICK REFERENCE Date: October 19, 2025 (Note: Date will vary each year) Liturgical Season: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Readings: Exodus 17:8-13 | Psalm 121 | 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 | Luke...
Quick Overview: Where Are We in the Bible? First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9 The Night That Changed Everything When & Where: Written around 50 BC by an Alexandrian Jew reflecting on the Passover...
Quick Overview: Where Are We in the Bible? A Jarring Shift: After last Sunday's tender invitation to call God "Abba, Daddy" in the Lord's Prayer, this week's readings might feel like spiritual...
Quick Overview: Where Are We in the Bible? After last week's readings following Moses through the desert, this Sunday takes us on a dramatic leap backward—almost 2,000 years before Christ—to...
A guided somatic meditation for post-communion adoration or personal Advent practice Introduction (spoken by the leader or read privately): In our Advent waiting, Christ invites us to keep watch with him. Not with anxiety, but with the peaceful vigilance of one who knows the beloved is coming. Let us place ourselves now in that liminal hour - the predawn time when watchmen stand guard, when night is ending but day has not yet broken. Find a...
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TWELVE NAMES FOR JESUS: CHOOSING HOW TO ADDRESS HIM THIS WEEK Introduction This is the last Sunday we will see Jesus in his wholeness for nearly two months. As we prepare to meet him next week as...
FOR THE LEADER: We're doing this practice WITH the community, not TO the community, so let us use "we" language throughout. Let us warm, even playful tone at the beginning. This isn't heavy...
Post-Communion Reflection - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) We have just received the Body of Christ. We did nothing to earn this gift - Christ came to us freely. He placed himself in our...
Reflection for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C Running in the Dark The city empties under evacuation orders. Every screen flickers blue against abandoned streets while mechanical voices...
Reflection for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C What if the most dangerous thing in the world isn't nuclear waste that stays lethal for 100,000 years, but a Gospel that stays troublesome for...
A Reflection for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C There are crossroads in this world that even biblical fathers never dared to leave behind, purposedly settling down between grief and...
A Reflection for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C What if Abel, the "good" brother in the Bible's first murder story, was actually disobeying God's instructions? What if Cain, the "bad"...
A Reflection for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time What Do We Remember from Our Baptism? I was three months and four days old when I was brought to the church for my baptism. Like most of us, I have...
Presider: As we begin this season of watchful waiting, let us bring our prayers before the Lord who comes to us in light. For Pope Leo and all who keep watch over the Church: that they may lead with wisdom and courage, guiding us to walk together in the paths of the Lord.Lord, hear us.All: Lord, graciously hear us. For our community of faith: that our lives may express the hope of Advent, waiting with joyful expectation for Christ's return,...
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NOTE FOR LITURGY PLANNERS These intercessions are offered as a complete set, but you are invited to choose 4-5 petitions that resonate most with your community's current needs. Select the prayers...
NOTE FOR LITURGY PLANNERS These intercessions are offered as a complete set, but you are invited to choose 4-5 petitions that resonate most with your community's current needs. Select the prayers...
Celebrant: Brothers and sisters, Moses raised his hands in prayer and his arms grew heavy, yet with the support of Aaron and Hur, Israel prevailed. A widow persisted in her cry for justice and was...
Celebrant: Brothers and sisters, Abraham left the crossroads of his father's journey and completed the path to God's promise. With the faith of those who know they are chosen and beloved, let us...
Celebrant: Brothers and sisters, we have learned that our life is hidden with Christ in God. With confidence in our Abba Father, let us bring our prayers before the One whose breath sustains us. For...
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C Celebrant: Like Abraham, we approach our loving God with bold confidence, bringing the needs of our world to the One who delights in our every prayer. Reader:...
