The Bible's Prayer Book: The Psalms

Tuesday, October 1
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Caritas Christi Center
Sr. Janet Kofron, ASCJ
Donation: $40
Please call 203-281-2569 to register.

All of us are called to pray. Whether we do this publicly in liturgical worship or privately we have a wonderful resource for prayer in the Book of Psalms. By attending these sessions you will: a) become better acquainted with the purpose and poetry of the psalms; b) learn how to pray with and from the Psalms; and c) learn how Jesus used and prayed the Psalms. Bring your bible, notebook or journal, pen and your listening heart.

This event is not sponsored by the Catholic Biblical School but could be an authorized make-up for certain requirements towards archdiocesan and seminary certificates in biblical studies. Only contact the Office of Religious Education and Evangelization about this program if you wish to request it as a make-up for missed requirements.

Weekly Bible Study - Amos 8:4-7

22 September 2013
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Injustice, immorality, complacency, corruption.  Sound like today’s headlines? These are the very practices that the prophet Amos preached against in the 8th century B.C.!

So what manner of man (or woman, in some cases) was a prophet in ancient Israel? It is a common misconception that the role of these religious leaders was to foretell a future event.  (Many Old Testament prophecies do, in fact, reach their greatest fulfillment in the New Testament, but they were always directed first to an immediate purpose in their own time.)

Let’s examine some of the characteristics of these “gadflies” who often irritated the religious sensibilities of God’s people.

With an ear inclined to God, the eye of the prophet was always on society. The prophet's words were often an indictment against faithlessness, corruption and the kind of exploitation of the poor we see in today’s first reading. Acting as God’s messenger, the prophet said “no” to societal corruption, condemning bad habits, waywardness, and sprawling pride. The prophetic word is often designed to shock rather than edify us.

 

The "corporate" dimension of the prophet’s message often rang out as well: few may be guilty, but all are responsible! The greedy merchants of today’s reading may be tipping the scales and cheating the poor, but those who stand back and watch are just as complicit. Society was constantly called to task for its empty observance of God’s commandments as not reflected in love of neighbor.

Lest we think of prophecy only in terms of “doom and gloom,” we need also to recognize that in many ways Christ patterned himself after the prophets. Like the prophets, Jesus sought to reconcile humanity with God, calling the faithful to their covenant roots.

The prophetic message was often a message of warning, but prophets also provided words of comfort and consolation, promise and hope to a people struggling to find redemption.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

Fr. Frank Matera Presents The Church, Communion and Community in the Letters of Paul

For details, contact the Pastoral Department for Small Christian Communities at 860-761-7450. RSVP required by September 25, 2013.

Student Reminder: Check OSD make up assignments with BJ

Our Opening Scripture Days and Lenten Scripture Days (OSDs and LSDs) are an integral part of your course, so if you are planning to work toward a Certificate, you'll need to arrange a make-up with BJ. Please refer to the handout given at the Year One OSD each year in order to see what's needed to make up a Scripture Day. Contact BJ BEFORE completing any Scripture Day make-up.

Weekly Bible Study - Exodus - Psalms - 1 Timothy - Luke

15 September 2013
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

It’s a contest of wills! Moses versus Yahweh, Paul versus Christ, son versus father…. Ourselves versus God? Can we can find ourselves in today’s three readings? We must be in there somewhere.

The Israelites have grown impatient waiting for God while Moses spends countless days “on the mountain.” They take steps to fashion an “instant” idol to take God's place. Yahweh threatens to leave the stubborn, beloved people to their own devices, but Moses boldly reminds God of His covenant obligation to “be with” Israel. Moses appeals to the Lord’s patience and mercy in dealing with His wayward children.

The theme of God’s mercy continues in the psalm and the second reading. In spite of early ignorance and arrogance in opposing Christ, Paul's story ends in God's mercy. The writer of the letter to Timothy recognizes how mercifully the Lord has dealt with Paul. And the "right" response to God's mercy is praise and thanksgiving for the abundance of grace given Paul, who came to appreciate the immense wellspring of Christ’s patience.

Likewise, in the familiar parable of today's gospel we encounter the mercy of God that knows no bounds.

The father looks longingly for his lost son

The rebellious son, impatient and cocky as the Israelites, eventually falls into the arms of his loving father. And what of the elder son? Is he not as ignorant and arrogant as Paul had been before entering into relationship with Christ? Does the father's patience and mercy not extend to both sons in the story?


Have we found ourselves yet in these illustrations?

Somewhere deep within our hearts we know that God will always win. But it is not really a contest after all. It is a fundamental relationship: we belong with God and whether we recognize it or not, appreciate it or not, God’s mercy is always reaching out to us, showing us a better way, opening our hearts to deeper realities of his love, leading us home to where he is.

Our free will may indeed be one of God’s most mysterious gifts, but his unconditional love and vast reserve of mercy will always find its way into our wayward hearts.


The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

A Word of Wisdom

Fr. Jim Hast, OFM Cap., Associate Director of the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit, MI, recently reflected: “Humans,” he says, “spend eternity drawing lines that include and exclude, and God spends eternity erasing those lines.”

What is behind all the energy spent to draw lines and erect fences? What drives us to let some in and keep others out? Do we fear harm? Do we worry that we will experience some kind of danger or loss?

What is behind God’s desire to erase those lines and unite people? God’s nature seeks to include and draw all into His love where there is no dividing line. Perhaps the more we move into God’s love, the less we find a need to notice the fences in our life that divide us.

Prayer: Let us grow to look at the world with the eyes of Christ, who suffered, died and rose that ALL might be saved.

Excerpts from a blog by Sally McCuen
Hospitality Coordinator of Solanus Casey Center
Copyright 2013 Solanus Casey Center

Weekly Bible Study - Wisdom 9:13-18

8 September 2013
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is there a better way to usher in the new school year than by immersing ourselves in God’s wellspring of “wisdom”? The insightful words of the human author of today's first reading seem to lead us deep into the very mind of God! The beautifully poetic Book of Wisdom helps us gain access to some of the ways God reveals God's self in the Wisdom Tradition of the Bible, specifically during the time just prior to the time of Jesus. It is well worth a read!

Solomon is the patron of wisdom in the Bible. 1 Kings 3 tells that, even as Solomon ascends the throne of his father David, he asks not for long life, riches, nor conquest of his enemies. Rather, with deep humility, he asks for a listening heart, one that will bring him closer to God. He seeks discernment to know what is right that he might be a king pleasing to the Lord.

Living almost 1000 years before the author of the Book of Wisdom, Solomon invited scholars (scribes) and teachers (sages) into his royal court. He seems to have provided them with opportunities not only to become versed in languages and literatures of the ancient near east, but perhaps also for the beginning of biblical writing itself.

And this may have been both his glory and his downfall: His glory, in that he is the founder of an important movement that reveals wisdom indispensable in the Old Testament and the Jewish-Christian tradition; his downfall, in that his seeking the wisdom of foreign courts probably introduced idolatrous practices in Israel and, according to the Books of Kings and Chronicles, even led Solomon himself astray.

But Solomon remains inseparable from the idea of Wisdom, a gift that must be humbly requested and abundantly given. (Read 1 Kings 3.) Wisdom “sets our earthly path straight.” We have only to take the advice of Wisdom 7: "I prayed and wisdom was given to me."

Let us make this our prayer.

The Wisdom Woman by Susan Weed (see Prov 1:20-33 and Prov 8)

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

Stephen Binz in the Archdiocese of Hartford

Over the weekend, Catholic biblical teacher and author Stephen J. Binz spoke to two groups of the Catholic Biblical School. On Saturday, Mr. Binz was the presenter at our Year One Opening Scripture Day, and on Sunday, he led a virtual tour of the Holy Land for CBS alumni and guests entitled, "Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Jesus." Over 100 individuals participated in these two events sponsored by the Archdiocesan Office of Religious Education and Evangelization and St. Thomas Seminary.

Stephen Binz continues his work in the Archdiocese, delivering presentations on Evangelization and the Word of God in two parishes: St. Mary in Windsor Locks this evening (9-8-13) and tomorrow evening at St. Timothy in West Hartford (9-9-13). All are welcome! Call the parishes for more information: St. Mary 860-623-2524; St. Timothy: 860-233-5131.

To find out more about Stephen Binz, his teaching and writing, go to www.Bridge-B.com or check out his facebook page "Stephen J. Binz."

CBS CLASS REMINDER--NO CLASSES SEPT 9-13!

Remember, all weekly CBS classes begin during the week of September 16-20, 2013--not September 9, as originally scheduled.

Enjoy a little "Indian summer" (and complete those summer assignments)!

Opening Scripture Day for Years 2, 3 and 4: September 14, 2013, 9:00 (sharp) at St. Thomas Seminary.

September 7 Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace

Pope Francis calls. Will you follow?

Here, translated, is a portion of the Holy Father's address of Sept 1st:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters, Hello!

"Today, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: It is the cry for peace! ... Never again war!

"... In these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming.... I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from deep within me.

"... To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite ... all people of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

"On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 7:00 pm until midnight [Vatican Time], we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.

"Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: May she help us to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!"

Note from BJ: At the liturgy for our Year One Opening Scripture Day (OSD) we will pray for peace in the words of the pope. I also invite our students to join me in the modified fast Catholics use for Holy Days: One large meal and one small snack, throughout the day. A full mid-day meal will be offered at the OSD: This will be my only significant meal for the day.

Pope John said, it pertains to each individual to establish new relationships in human society under the mastery and guidance of justice and love (cf. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, [11 April 1963]: AAS 55, [1963], 301-302).

The entire address can be read at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/angelus/2013/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20130901_en.html

Weekly Bible Study - Looking back and moving forward

1 September 2013
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

As summer winds down and new beginnings take shape, we pause to offer some reminders and helpful hints for Bible study and reflection. Let us give ourselves permission right now to be “takers.”

Take yourself into the passage.  Place yourself at the feet of Jesus as one who finds comfort, healing, enlightenment. Respond to the Lord from this experience. Immerse yourself in the faith struggles and triumphs of the men and women of the Hebrew Scriptures. Join in the sentiments of the psalmists as they cry out in joy, anguish and gratitude.

Take time to understand the passage you are reading. Consult footnotes and commentary to help put the passage in its proper context, enhancing its meaning.

Take the opportunity to “sleep on the Gospels” as the monastics tell us. Prepare your heart for receiving the proclaimed word by reading the passage before bedtime. This practice allows the sacred word to gracefully "seep into" the subconscious mind, allowing you to hear the word more deeply when you hear it proclaimed at Mass.

Take a specific phrase with you as the reading is concluded. Listen for the prompting of the Holy Spirit who may speak a word of comfort, encouragement or chastisement directly to your heart. Continue to ponder this message throughout your day. Let it lead you more deeply into the Scripture reading, into deeper self-knowledge, conversion of heart, prayer and action.

Renewed and refreshed we return next week to our continuing study of the weekly readings.

Year One Opening Scripture Day Is Nearly at Hand!

Stephen J. Binz, author

Reminder: The required Opening Scripture Day (Orientation) for first-year students is Saturday, Sept. 7, 9:00-3:00 pm. Please arrive by 8:50 am--or, if you wish to have time to meet your new classmates, come for coffee and refreshments beginning at 8:30 am.

You should have received a letter recently with information you'll need to prepare for Scripture Day. If you did not receive that letter, contact Jill Costa in the Office of Religious Education and Evangelization (jcosta@adh-ore.org; 860-243-9465) right away.

Remember to bring your Bible and your written, completed summer assignment with you on Sept. 7 (your written answers to the questions on the "blue sheet" you received at your interview).

And don't forget to bring your Bible!

The author of the summer reading assignment, Stephen J. Binz, will be our presenter for the Opening Scripture Day. He will sign books and have some of his other writings for sale.

See you on September 7 at St. Thomas Seminary! For directions, click here.