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Showing posts from October, 2019

First Sunday of Advent (A)

The Unknown Day and Hour   Lectionary: 1 Reading 1 -  Isaiah 2:1-5 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 122: 1-9 Reading 2 -  Romans 13:11-14 Alleluia -  Cf. Psalm 85:8 Gospel -  Matthew 24:37-44 '... Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.' Introduction  As we gather on this First Sunday of Advent , we also mark the beginning of the Church’s new liturgical calendar and a four-week preparation period leading up to Christmas. The word Advent comes from either of two Latin words, which simply mean “to come” (Ad-venire) or “to arrive” (Ad-ventus), and as early as the fourth (4th) century, Christians have had this special time of preparation towards Christmas. Of course, Advent is not merely a countdown to Christmas; Even as we begin the material preparations for the social celebration of Christmas, the liturgical celebrations of these weeks invite us to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. But what does the co...

Dominican Inquirer

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  Technically speaking, this is really more of an independent, unstructured, investigation of a particular Lay Dominican Fraternity, where you can attend meetings as a guest with no particular commitment ... so of a "try it before you buy it" approach to see if you and the fraternity members are even remotely compatible.  Given some of the conflict within the American Church today ... this might not be a given.  As might be expected, there can be strong personalities and intense beliefs about how to approach the faith within the fraternities that can reflect the same divisions that are seen in the Church at large.   However, there are also some additional questions to contemplate to see if you might be a fit for the Dominical Family in general.  Each of the Major Orders that have tertiaries (third orders) share their specific charisms (gifts) with their lay members, so in addition to a general desire for a deeper spiritual devotion to the faith, there are elemen...