Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 1st Sunday of Advent Cycle B

1st Sunday of Advent

Introduction There is evidence from the mid-4th century on concerning some period of preparation for the Christmas-Epiphany celebration. Length and emphasis varied from place to place. Some regions kept a relatively long Advent (from St. Martin’s feast – November 11); others, a rather brief one. In Rome the season evolved to a four-week preparation whose […]

Liturgical Bible Study Guide: Solemnity of Christ the King Cycle A

Solemnity of Christ the King

Introduction Instituted by Pius XI in 1926, this feast was celebrated on the last Sunday of October to foster the awareness of Christ’s dominion over all people and to establish peace among nations. After Vatican Council II the feast was transferred to the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, the Sunday before Advent, on which the human […]

Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading – Exodus 22:20-26 Like his forebears, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob led a semi-nomadic existence in Canaan. He was forced by a severe famine to emigrate with his entire family to Egypt, where they settled around the beginning of the eighteenth century before Christ. Over the next 400 years the Scriptures tell us nothing about […]

Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

29th-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time

1st Reading – Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 Cyrus was the founder of the Persian empire and as King of Persia he led the overthrow of the occupation by the Babylonians of Syria and Palestine in 539 B.C. The name Cyrus means shepherd, in Hebrew the name is koresh (from which David Koresh of Branch Davidian fame coined his […]

Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading – Isaiah 25:6-10a The first twelve verses of the 25th chapter of Isaiah are psalms (songs) of thanksgiving and prayer. The first of these psalms (verses 1 through 5) is a hymn to Yahweh for safe refuge. It celebrates the victory of Yahweh as something that has already taken place. The third (the last half of […]