Biblical Background Archives - Full-of-Grace

Full-of-Grace

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Category: Biblical Background

A quick overview of where and when we are in the Scripture each Sunday.

The Last Ordinary Sunday – Biblical Background

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 well-adorned temple? QUICK REFERENCE Date: November 16, 2025Liturgical Season: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C (Last Sunday in Ordinary Time before Christ the King) Readings: First Reading: Malachi 3:19-20a Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:5-6, 7-8,...

Be the Parable – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) – Biblical Background

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 to the life that required putting his heart to sleep? Because the tax collector knows he's damaging people. Daily. So what will he do this Monday? QUICK REFERENCE Date: October 26, 2025 Liturgical Season: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Readings:...

Look Up! – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) – Biblical Background

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 18:1-8 Theme: Persistent prayer requires exhausting work, community support, and the counterintuitive choice to keep looking up when everything pulls our gaze down. INTRODUCTION TEXT, which you are welcome to read aloud before the Liturgy of the Word, is...

Celebrating the Promise – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) – Biblical Background

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 night when God delivered Israel from Egypt. The Hidden Celebration: "The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage." This isn't just historical...

Who Is Breathing in Me? – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) – Biblical Background

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 whiplash. We leap from Jesus teaching us intimate prayer to Ecclesiastes declaring "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!" From intimate prayer to existential crisis? What's going on here? First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 The Preacher's Shocking...

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) – Biblical Background

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 meet Abraham, the father of our faith. Think of it as jumping from Egypt's liberation story to the very beginning of God's chosen people. First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32 Abraham's Bold Negotiation with God When & Where: Around 2000 BC, on the road...