CBS Classes Cancelled Monday 1/12/15

Because icy conditions are likely to make the roads dangerous tonight, the Hartford Catholic Biblical School is cancelling all CBS classes this evening.

Tonight's classes are rescheduled for Monday, 1/19/15, at their regularly scheduled times.

Most classes will not meet next week (our midwinter snow make-up week), but Monday and Friday classes will be in session to make up for missed classes.

CBS Alums - Living and Leading God's Word

Holy Angels, Meriden

This past fall, Jeanne M. Smith, Class of 2012, began leading adult Scripture study in Meriden, using the Little Rock program, Introduction to Bible Study. She intends to resume this winter with Exodus. If you're interested in attending, contact the staff of Holy Angels Parish at 203-235-3822 or hangels@snet.net.

Weekly Bible Study - 1 John 5:1-9 + Mark 1:7-11

11 January 2015

Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord

 

Have you ever wondered why Jesus even had to be baptized? After all, wasn’t he “like us in all things but sin” as we hear in some of the liturgical prayers? The fact of Jesus’ baptism caused some confusion among early Christians, as baptism is associated with cleansing from sin.

In the gospels the baptism of Jesus is regarded not as the act of repentance encouraged by John the Baptist. Rather, this event is the inauguration of Jesus' mission of preaching, healing and forgiving.

What the people witnessed that day was earth-shattering. The Greek text describes the heavens being literally “torn apart" as the voice of God was heard acknowledging his beloved son. Jesus was plunged into the primordial chaos of the water and emerged to signify a new cleansing of heart and spirit. In this act he revealed his solidarity with sinful humanity (though he was without sin personally) and prefigured the final cleansing that would take place at his death. Christ’s emerging from the water is a figure of his rising from the dead.

Today’s second reading reflects on the same mysteries. “This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth. So there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.”  As Jesus emerges from the depths of the Jordan River, he is joined by the Father and Spirit revealing their common being (consubstantial nature, from the Latin)--the communion that is the Holy Trinity.  

Like that of Jesus, our baptism was a public event witnessed by fellow believers. The life of the Trinity entered our being as we received our divine childhood.  We are the handiwork of God’s creation, and in us the Father sees the Body of Christ and is well pleased.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, Class of 2001, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

Weekly Bible Study - Isaiah, Ephesians, Matthew

The Epiphany of the Lord

4 January 2015

Writing centuries apart, Isaiah, Paul and Matthew illuminate a common theme in today’s readings: Christ will be a light to all nations.

Isaiah assures the people of ancient Judah that the darkness of their sufferings will end in a glorious new day of hope, light and victory. The imagery in this passage is stunning. Splendor, brilliance, light, glory, radiance suggest a brightness beyond human imagination. It is Christ who will illuminate Judah’s “new day."

Nations shall walk by your light and kings by your shining radiance.

The New Testament letter to the Ephesians builds on this theme. In those early days in the church, it was a blinding, astonishing challenge for Jewish Christians to believe (as the apostles taught) that Christ extends God's promise of salvation to the Gentiles. Foreigners become co-heirs of the kingdom along with the Jews! Inconceivable (for many, at that time).

In a similar vein, Matthew's gospel paints a picture showing that “all of Jerusalem” was greatly troubled by news of a divine birth. The ones who first seek out the long-awaited Messiah are outsiders, non-Jews (Gentiles). Matthew's troubled, mainly Jewish-Christian community was surely astonished at the irony. How can it be that foreigners could be among the first to seek and find Jesus, to offer gifts, pay homage and announce this revelation to distant lands.

The universal availability of salvation was surely part of God’s plan from all eternity.

Food for thought: Do we put limits on God's salvation? Is anyone excluded from God's kingdom on the basis of their birth or culture alone?





The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, Class of 2001, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.