Student "Blown Away" by the Biblical School

"I just wanted to thank you for this program and these classes. I just read the assigned reading, "The Desert" by Rev. Robert Wild. Amazing! The Holy Spirit just blew me away with this. I can't begin to articulate the different meanings for me and the new depths that I have been taken to."

Want to be "blown away" in the Spirit? Consider giving yourself a gift this holiday season! Find out about the Catholic Biblical School and how a deeper understanding of God's Holy Word, Jesus Christ, can "make" your day, your lifetime and your everlasting life!

Click here then click on "Our Programs" and "Catholic Biblical School" to get the details: www.orehartford.org.

Catholic Bishops' Interactive Advent Calendar

Consider using the internet to deepen your relationship with Jesus this Advent season. Young children will feel the anticipation of Christmas when clicking open the online doors of this advent calendar. Family-friendly reflections from the shepherds of our faith in the US include ideas like this one, slated for Christmas Eve:

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

• Finish decorating your Christmas tree and light it as a symbol of Christ, Light of the World.
• Reflect on how your family can bring light to others as agents of the New Evangelization.

Links to educational resources will challenge adult Catholics to a deeper understanding of our rich faith tradition, enabling them to pass their faith to their children more authentically. Additional Advent resources for families are also found on the same webpage.

Click here and bookmark this link to celebrate a holy and fulfilling Advent season: http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-resources/advent/index.cfm

A Weekly Bible Study - Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Living in a democratic society we find it difficult to identify with a rule of monarchy.  We may find ourselves asking: Is the “kingship” of Christ a somewhat archaic notion?  Let’s consider.

It may help us to look first at the historical idea of kingship that shaped Israel’s identity in the Old Testament. Jews believed that the coming of God's kingdom meant the destruction of Israel’s national enemies (Persia, Greek, Rome...).

Only gradually would Israel understand that Yahweh’s kingdom would come through the defeat of humanity’s real enemies: sin and death. The kingdom of God would be made known not in power but in humility, not in domination, but in forgiveness. True kingship would come through the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Perhaps Christ’s own words provide the best clue to our understanding of kingship: “My kingdom is not of this world.” And thank God! When we examine contemporary political structures we recognize their shortcomings and the many ways governments fail their people.

God’s kingdom is not of this world. God will never fail us nor renege on the promise of eternal life. In the heavenly kingdom the faithful will live in the fullness of God’s glory. It will be a peaceable kingdom beyond human construction or imagination.

Is God’s kingdom something we have to wait for, some future event? Not at all. God’s kingdom may not be of this world, but it is in this world. The Lord tells us that the kingdom of God is within us.

We may need to live within a human political structure with all its ramifications for good or evil. But our true life is one lived out of the kingdom already within our hearts, within our midst, brought to fulfillment in eternity.

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.

To You Who Bring Small Children to Church

Here is a post on another website I want you to look at: http://veritasvenator.com/2013/09/25/to-you-who-bring-small-children-to-church/

It begins like this: "There you are sitting in worship or Bible study. Your child, or toddler, is restless...I want you — you mothers and/or fathers — to know just how encouraging you are to so many. The little elderly woman...The older man...The family who’s unable to have children."

We want to hear your children being children, even if it's a little distracting. In their own way, your children are reminders from God, saying, "HEY YOU GUYS! I'm right here. I love you!"

A Weekly Bible Study - Malachi 3:19-20

17 November 2013
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time    

As we near the end of our liturgical year (the new year begins with Advent), we are offered striking, maybe frightening warnings about the "last things" of our world. But this week the prophet who calls himself "Malachi" (Hebrew: "my messenger") softens the message just a little:

But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

But wait! Is God, Jesus' loving father, telling us to be afraid of him?

Fear. This word hardly seems to characterize a relationship with a loving God. But the Bible tells us that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

So what is this "fear of the LORD" all about?

In English, the word "fear" is wholly negative. It is a synonym of "terror," "dread," "horror." But  the word translated in the Bible as "fear" has a different sense in its original Hebrew. "Fear" speaks not of "dread" but of "reverence." It has to do with the respect and awe owed to God as our Creator.

"Fear of the Lord" reminds us that we are not in charge of the universe, and that we need to defer all power to our Creator. When we approach God with this attitude we recognize, deep in our being, that God has in hand everything and all time. Fear of the Lord recognizes the infinite power, majesty and goodness of God, as well as our place in creation: adopted children of a loving parent.

This fear of the Lord, then, is the necessary foundation of really knowing and loving God. It is the attitude that makes possible our living in God's Spirit. One who reverences God not only strives to avoid sin, but also lives with a profound sense of the sacramentality of all life, especially the Sacraments of the Church. And one who recognizes fear of the Lord as one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit freely lives by the fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Fear of the Lord allows us to know and love the One True God, not the false gods we set up in God's place. As we consider our own attitude toward this gift of the Spirit and foundation of wisdom, we might want to ask ourselves:
Do we love God out of fear, or do we fear God out of love?

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.

Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., 1935–2013

"Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., passed away peacefully on Monday, November 11, 2013. He was 78 years old.

"Fr. Murphy-O’Connor taught for more than four decades at the École Biblique et Archéologique in Jerusalem. He was a world-renowned biblical scholar and author of numerous books on St. Paul and the Holy Land. Many throughout the world counted him their friend.

"A funeral Mass" was celebrated "at the Basilica of Saint-Etienne, Jerusalem, Wednesday, November 13, 2013 at noon."

The text of this post was taken directly from the website of the École Biblique, http://www.ebaf.edu/?cat=3&lang=en. The photo is from www.terrasanta.com.

Living and Leading in God's Word—Maura Pauli, Class of 2012

Over fifty adults are studying the Gospel of Matthew on Thursdays this fall at St. Francis Xavier in New Milford, using Threshold Bible Study (Twenty-Third Publications). Two classes began meeting weekly on Nov. 7, 2013. 

Maura’s pastor, Fr. Lawrence Parent, tells us that Maura is filling a deep-seated hunger among adults at St. Francis with her thorough knowledge of Scripture and careful preparation.

Devotion to God’s Word is contagious! Catch it now, and spread it in your faith community. Or contact us in the Office of Religious Education and Evangelization to find a Bible study or to learn about the Catholic Biblical School.

Encountering God's Word in Art? An Icon Exhibit in New Haven

"Icons are often called windows into heaven because they are said to give the viewer a glimpse of the eternal realm," as described on the Knights of Columbus Museum website.

Icons, like other forms of sacred art, can help us encounter God in visual form. Often scriptural heroes, themes, stories and poetry can take on new meaning by meditating on paintings, stained glass windows, and especially icons.

You can visit the Knights of Columbus museum to view more than 225 icons from the Russian Orthodox tradition. To find out more, go to: http://www.kofcmuseum.org/km/en/exhibits/2013/windows/index.html

Jesus' Resurrection and Our Resurrection - with Fr. Frank Matera

If you haven't signed up to attend the Catholic Biblical School program on the Resurrection, we've extended the registration deadline to Friday, November 8. There is no charge for this event, but we do need to know you'll be attending.

Saturday, November 16

9:30 am to Noon

St. Thomas Seminary 

To register, simply print and send your name, address, parish and city, phone and email to the Office of Religious Education and Evangelization, 467 Bloomfield Ave., Bloomfield, CT 06002; Fax: (860) 243-9690; Email: jcosta@adh-ore.org.

Weekly Bible Study - Wisdom 11:22-12:2

3 November 2013
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time  

It is often said that we “identify” God, imaged as a father or mother, based on our human experience of parenthood. In that regard our perception of God differs from person to person, usually ranging from images of God as Creator to just judge to loving parent and much more, depending on how a person experiences both God and parenthood in his or her own life.

The reading from Wisdom adds much to our notion of God, offering us additional ways of thinking about God that are related to God's creative power, loving care of creation, and merciful love. Spending time with this passage can move us beyond its descriptions of God’s actions to experience even more.

Step into the first verse, for example, and experience the vastness of creation beyond our imaginings.

Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.

Then stop, in silence, and allow the awe and wonder of God's immensity take hold of you.

 Next, immerse yourself in the verses that follow and begin to sense something of the infinite love of God for all creation, and to realize why God has pronounced it “good.”

Offer a prayer of praise to the Creator who established the great order and harmony of our world and the magnificence of its creatures. 

Dare to plunge further into the mystery captured in these verses. Let it sink into your heart, how much we truly matter to God and how much a part of God we are. Join with the psalmist who answers the question: Who are we that you, O God, should even care about us? You have made us little less than the angels and crowned us with glory and honor (Ps 8).

Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the One to whom we are intimately connected and who keeps us forever in his care.

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.

Archeology News from Dr. Richard Freund

CBS friend and world-renowned archeologist, Dr. Richard Freund, sent me the following interesting information:

Yoram Haimi of the Israel Antiquities Authority will speak about his work excavating the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland. The event is free and open to the public but requires ticketing for entrance. Call 860-768-4228, the box office, for your tickets.

CBS Classes at St. Mark Moved to St. Thomas Seminary

For the two weeks beginning November 3 and continuing through November 15, all classes that usually meet at St. Mark the Evangelist in West Hartford are being held at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield instead. The two classes affected are:

Advanced Year (BJ Daly Horell)
Thursdays, 10:00-noon

Graduate Course on the Passion Narratives (Thomas Casey)
Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00 pm

Directions to the Seminary can be found by clicking here: http://www.stseminary.org/directions.html