Schedule Change for CBS Classes 2013-14

CBS/STS Students Take Note

Weekly classes will start one week later than usual this fall, in order to accommodate a late Thanksgiving holiday (11/28). We will break for only two weeks at Christmas so the academic year can end as usual in mid-May.

This also means that Year 2 and Advanced Year students will NOT meet in advance of your Scripture Days on Saturday, September 14, 2013, as had previously been reported (on your Summer Reading Assignment sheets).

Complete schedules and calendars will be sent to all students in August.

Please note the meeting day for your first class, as follows:

If your class meets on Mondays, your first meeting is scheduled for September 16, 2013.

If your class meets on Tuesdays, your first meeting is scheduled for September 17, 2013.

If your class meets on Wednesdays, your first meeting is scheduled for September 18, 2013.

If your class meets on Thursdays, your first meeting is scheduled for September 19, 2013.

No classes meet on Fridays this year.

Year One Study Aide

For students in Year One of the Biblical School, we have published a Powerpoint document aimed to help you prepare for your Comprehensive and Unit Three "Memory Exercise." Click here to go to the correct webpage of the Office of Religious Education and Evangelization website, and click "CBS 100 Unit 3 Review."

If the link isn't working for you, cut and paste this URL into your web browser: http://www.orehartford.org/joomla3/index.php/our-programs/catholic-biblical-school/cbs-study-guide.

From Fr. Tiano and all of us at the Office of Religious Education and Evangelization, good luck to CBS students as you complete this year of study.

A Weekly Bible Study - Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23

Sixth Sunday of Easter



Even before its capture by King David in the tenth century BC, Jerusalem has had a special place at the heart of Sacred Scripture. The massive,

opulent temple built by King Solomon (and the more modest Second Temple) was central to the life of God’s people, the Israelites.

More than a physical place, Jerusalem has often symbolized the soul and conscience of humankind. In the 8th century BC the prophet Isaiah spoke of Jerusalem’s significance: “In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain … All nations shall stream toward it.” Here Jerusalem becomes a symbol of hope that the reign of God would blossom throughout the world.

In today’s reading from Revelation the biblical writer imagines a “new Jerusalem” descending from heaven. No longer a city of earthly concerns, it is imagined radiating the splendor of God and God's messianic kingdom.

The Book of Revelation adds to this image. It describes the New Jerusalem to be founded upon the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the gospels. It incorporates the whole of God’s rich tapestry of salvation history by linking the ancient People of God, Israel, with the People of God affirmed Christ, the Church pictured in our reading being opened up to the four corners of the earth.

So, for the Book of Revelation, the dwelling place of God is no longer limited to an earthly temple in Jerusalem. Rather, our reading envisions the glory of God residing in the New Jerusalem and pouring itself lavishly over the whole of the earth.

Could it be that the Church and the world are not so far apart, in God's estimation? Can we reach out to the world - humanity and all of creation - and recognize that this is precisely where God is already being poured out?


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.

God and the Problem of Evil

Adam and Eve ... David and Bathsheba ... Exile (Judah) and Extinction (10 tribes of Israel) ... and the biggie:

JESUS AND THE CROSS!

Does God ever WILL real evil? Impossible. First and most obviously: Sometimes what we judge as evil might not actually be real evil. But does that mean that God always WILLS what we think of as evil?

Hitler and the concentration camps? The Cambodia of Pol Pot? Darfur in the Sudan? Is there "a reason for everything"? I don't think so. This popular philosophy sticks in my craw.

Is it possible that real evil is not willed by God? Of course! God never wills real evil! But freedom is part of the nature of love and life, so it is in God's own nature and the nature of the world that our will remain free. Otherwise we could not freely choose to love!

So, it is in the nature of the world that REAL EVIL, unwilled by God, happens. It happens all the time, it seems to me.

How does love respond to evil? Never with destruction or slavery. Take that, terrorists. Love responds to evil by bringing good out of evil.

We mourn real tragedy. Hurricane Sandy. Sandy Hook. Bombings in Boston.

And the Bible shows us GOD mourning real tragedy!

 "How can I give you up, O E′phraim!
    How can I hand you over, O Israel!...

My heart recoils within me,
    my compassion grows warm and tender." (Hos 11:8)

Despite the evil that God condemns in Israel, here, his love mourns the tragedy of love lost. Imagine how God's heart broke when the Assyrians actually DID obliterate the ten tribes of the Northern kingdom in the 8th century?

The point of all this can be summed up in the picture of this daffodil. I came across this

daffodil a few weeks ago while it was still in bud in my garden. A piece of debris had fallen on it and nearly crushed it. I mourned because I believed it to be ruined. But I let it lie, too sad to finish it off. Imagine my joy a week later when I noticed that it had bloomed nonetheless!

If God cares as much about daffodils as the gospels tell us God cares about sparrows, then I'm certain God did not WILL my lonely daffodil to die. (Think: the little ewe lamb of 2 Samuel 11.) But because my daffodil was crushed, it became more to me than any of the other daffodils in my garden!

I call that bringing good out of evil. There was no reason for the daffodil to be crushed. There is not "a reason for everything." But the joy I had at its blooming was greater than the joy I had over any other blossoms this this spring.

So I say, "Bloom where you're planted," but by all means also, "Bloom where you're bruised."

More eloquently, Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey reminds us to "thank God ahead of time for whatever ... we suffer ... including with all its circumstances ... our death."