The Christmas Story

An Advent & Christmas Treat

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. This event is one of 1,000 "Random Acts of Culture" to be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over the next three years. The initiative transports the classical arts out of the concert halls and opera houses and into our communities to enrich our everyday lives. To learn more about this program and view more events, visit http://www.randomactsofculture.org. The Opera Company thanks Macy's and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ (http://www.wanamakerorgan.com) for their partnership, as well as Organ Music Director Peter Conte and Fred Haas, accompanists; OCP Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden, conductor; and Sound Engineer James R. Stemke. For a complete list of participating choirs and more information, visit http://www.operaphila.org/RAC. This event was planned to coincide with the first day of National Opera Week.

Enjoy!

Lesson Five: Living by Faith

Thank goodness, this lesson isn't as big of a challenge as the last one was. We should be able to get through it and still have time to have a good discussion about our Catechism chapter.

While you're working on this lesson, I would suggest that you think about the title, "Living by Faith" and what that means. What kind of faith are we talking about here? Paul refers to Abraham as an example of faith, so if you aren't familiar with his story, you might want to get out your Bible and read some of Genesis.

Study Guide: Lesson Five

I'm posting this during the weekend of the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, so Advent is just around the corner. If you scroll down, you'll find an article about Advent that you might want to read. It's awfully easy to get caught up in Christmas madness, and it seems to come earlier every year, but we don't have to succumb. Remember, we live by faith.

Observing Advent 2010

In the last few years, it seems to have become the obligation of many Christians to whine about the lack of Christ in Christmas—“Merry Christmas” replaced with “Happy Holidays”, etc. While there may be something to their complaints, the obvious relish some take in this perceived victimhood is hardly a positive substitute.

In the Catholic Church there appears to be a trend towards a better response. There is a call for Catholics to turn their observances of this season away from a secular schedule and back to the liturgical calendar. If you really love Christmas, this is great because we get to celebrate Christmas from December 25 to January 9, which is the length of this liturgical season in our Church. When everyone else has the post-Christmas blues, we’re just getting the party started! Prior to the Christmas season, however, is the often-neglected season of Advent. This year Advent begins on November 28.

In Christmas to Candlemas in a Catholic Home, Helen McLoughlin wrote:

It is to our [Holy Mother Church] that Christian families must look for help to reestablish Christmas as a season of festivities marking Christ's birth. Either we live the liturgical year with its varying seasons of joy and sorrow, work and rest, or we follow the pattern of the world. Nor is it an easy task to break with the world and the powerful influence of advertising. Their season of Christmas begins around Thanksgiving Day when stores display wares for holiday gift-giving. It lasts until December 24.

Families, who would not dream of eating their Thanksgiving turkey a week in advance or of having their 4th of July picnic in June, give no thought to the fact that, when they awake on December 25, there is not a shred of Christmas left. Every present has been opened. Every carol has been sung. The tree has dried out. Christmas is apt to be a dull day given to over-eating. There was no fast in Advent, so it follows that there can be no feast.

How should this affect our celebrations? Let’s face it, it’s a pretty unrealistic expectation for most of us to wait until Christmas Eve to begin to deck the halls, but maybe we could put it off just a bit. Instead of trimming the tree before Advent even begins, we could take that time to create an Advent wreath to use during the coming weeks in prayerful anticipation, and when we do begin our Christmas preparations, maybe there are a few traditions that we could save until the big day gets closer.

In the essay, Advent: Four Ways to Pray the Wait, Beth Davis observed:

This is the 21st century! We can drive 70 miles per hour. DSL lets us surf the Net without a wait. FedEx can deliver in 24 hours. The Concorde can fly us to Paris in less time than we can drive to Aunt Jean’s for holiday dinner. [Well, it used to.] The grocery sells the ingredients to create a gourmet meal in less than 20 minutes. Why wait?

Why not just jump right to Christmas? Because waiting is a good teacher.

So, instead of complaining about how someone else is changing Christmas, let’s first look to our own observances of the season. This is a good year to begin to make the Advent season a priority in your Catholic household and to save some Christmas for Christmas.

(This essay was given out a few years ago, but I thought I'd bring it back one more time. It's a good reminder.)

Lesson Four: Contending for the Truth

Word to the wise: This is a complex lesson! Be sure that you allow enough time to cover the material adequately.

As you read these passages, consider the irony of the situation. Paul, a Jewish zealot who once condemned Christians, finds himself in the position of admonishing the leaders of the Christian faith for practicing Mosaic Law.

True to form, Paul logically and methodically defended the truth of the gospel--even when it meant taking on Peter, the man whom Jesus personally selected to lead his Church on earth.

Study Guide for Lesson Four

In addition to Lesson Four, I have also assigned Chapter 2 in the US Catechism for Adults. This may be an optimistic agenda. We'll do our best. Come prepared to discuss both, and we'll see how it goes.

See you on November 11.

Lesson Three: Confirmation of the Truth

Paul is convinced that he is teaching the true gospel. And Paul is convinced it is the true gospel because he was given this gospel by Christ himself. Even so, because he has encountered some conflict over his teachings, he decides to consult with the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem to settle the matter.

This lesson can teach each of us something about how we are to handle conflict regarding our faith. When are we called to speak up or to keep silent? And when we do speak up, how are we to do so? What are our responsibilities? How do we know when we are acting out of God's will or our own? Better to think about these things ahead of time, before you get caught up in the heat of the moment, than to respond out of reflex and regret the outcome.

Study Guide Lesson Three

In addition to Lesson Three, we will also be discussing Chapter One of the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

See you on October 28!

Lesson Two: The Source of Truth

I did say that you shouldn't get used to my posting our study guide early, didn't I?

Here's my defense:
1. We went to Duluth for a few days.
2. It's been really nice outside.
3. The Twin's have been playing post-season baseball games. (Although that's not working out too well.)
4 And it's been really nice outside.

Enough excuses! I finally have the study guide finished.

Study Guide: Lesson Two

If you still have difficulty printing this guide, could you please let me know? I think that the key to success is to send the file to your printer by using the print command on the Google page instead of the one from your browser. Just follow the steps that I sent earlier in an email to the group.

Don't forget, we're also going to cover the Preface and Introduction in the US Catholic Catechism for Adults.
See you on Thursday!

Lesson One: Historical Background and The True Gospel

Look at that! The first week and I get the lesson done a day earlier than I said I would. Don't get used to that.

This first lesson gives us the opportunity to cover a lot of material. We will talk about Paul, his personal story and his writings, the Galatians, the reason Paul wrote the letter, and we'll even give an overview of some of the main themes of the letter.

If possible, please print out a copy of the study guide and use it as you complete your lesson. We will also use the guide in our group discussion, so bring it along to our meeting. Let me know if you have any problems accessing this document.

Lesson One Study Guide

In religious art and icons, St. Paul is usually depicted holding a book. In part, this it may indicate that he was a well educated man, but it primarily speaks to the fact that this guy gave us a good share of the New Testament!

Depending on who you talk to, Paul is credited with authoring between thirteen to fourteen letters of sacred scripture. (There's some argument over the authorship of the Letter to the Hebrews.)

Either way, we have Paul--and the Holy Spirit, of course--to thank for some of the most beautiful and eloquent passages of theology that have ever existed.

St. Paul, pray for us.

Kick-off and Life of Christ Discussion

Thanks for everyone who made it to this year's first Bible study meeting! I'm so glad to see a mix of old (as in familiar) and new faces. I think we're going to have another great year.

We spent some time talking about the year ahead, and then took the rest or the morning to talk about our summer book, Archbishop Fulton Sheen's Life of Christ. There was a definite consensus that this is one powerful book, so if you haven't had a chance to read it yet, be sure to get it on your list.

During our discussion, we used a study guide that I had prepared for that purpose. If you would like that guide, you are welcome to print a copy. I will also provide a link to the file of this same guide that I used to make my personal notes.

Life of Christ Study Guide

Life of Christ Study Guide w/Notes

Our next meeting will be on Sept. 30. Hopefully, I will have the study guide for that lesson available for you at this site before mid-week. Check back.

Solid Grounds Bible Study 2010-11

Welcome!

In just a few short weeks, we will begin another season of our morning Bible study. This year we are going to be reading St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians. And since this is one of Paul's shorter letters, we are going to supplement our discussions with a study of the US Catholic Catechism for Adults.

Our first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 16. We meet at St. Patrick's and begin our meetings promptly at 9:00AM. Most meetings last from 1 1/2-2 hours.

At our first meeting, we will cover the ground rules for our meetings, introduce one another to the group, and receive our class schedule for the year. It has also become our tradition to open the year with a discussion about a book that we have read over the summer. This year's selection is Archbishop Fulton Sheen's wonderful work, Life of Christ. We encourage all members to attend the first meeting, but the book discussion is optional.

If you would like to join us this fall, you will need the following materials:

Life Change: Galatians













Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Galatians & Ephesians (only)

Or

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament (Available in paperback, hardcover, or leather)




US Catholic Catechism for Adults












Optional:
US Catholic Catechism Study Guide











These books may all be purchased on your own at Amazon or any other online provider or may be special ordered through St. Patrick's Book & Gift.

We hope that you'll consider joining us this year. Some of us are beginning our tenth year together, but we are always happy to welcome new members. See you in September.

Life of Christ Study Guide

Summer is flying by, isn't it? Even though there have been lots of fun distractions, I was finally able to complete a study guide for our discussion of Life of Christ on September 16.

The hardest part was to narrow this all down to something that can be reasonably discussed in one session. In the end, I went with fewer, broader questions in order to cover the most important aspects of the book. Let's face it, we could spend the entire year going over this incredible work, but we have other wonderful things planned for the rest of our time.

If you haven't already done so, be sure and pick up your books in the church bookstore soon. We are going to be closing the store for a few weeks to do inventory and move into our new digs, so keep that in mind.

Enjoy the rest of your summer! See you on September 16.

Study Guide: Life of Christ

Summer Break

Thanks to everyone for another great year!

Enjoy your summer break. When we get back together in the fall, we'll plan for an interesting discussion of Life of Christ. I'm working on a study guide and will post it when I'm done.

(Don't look for it too soon though.)

See you in September.

Lesson Thirteen: Final Appeal, Admonitions, and Farewell

I just finished the study guide for our final lesson of Second Corinthians, and I'm not going to lie to you, I might do a little happy dance. Don't get me wrong, I love doing this, but a break will be nice.

This lesson is quite a bit easier than the final lessons for these studies have been in the past. There isn't the long review at the end of the entire work, so it shouldn't take any more time than an ordinary lesson.

Study Guide for Lesson Thirteen

For those of you who turned in your book orders, I placed the orders last week. I will let you know when they have arrived. If you have not turned in an order, and you would still like me to order your books for you, we can fill out order forms before our next meeting begins. (All book information is available if you scroll down to the post "Decisions, Decisions.")

See you on May 6.

Lesson Twelve: Boasting in Weakness

Sorry that this is getting posted so late. I've been working outside and kept thinking that I'd wait for a rainy day to work on this lesson. Still no rain, but I have finally gotten around to Lesson Twelve. With our fabulous spring weather, it's probably good that we only have one more left!

Study Guide for Lesson Twelve

We will also finalize our book orders at Thursday's meeting. You can find all the information about these materials in the post just below this one.

See you on Thursday!

Decisions, Decisions

This morning we spent the beginning of our meeting making some decisions about what we are going to be doing in the next few months in our morning Bible Study. Here's how things worked out:

1. Our summer book is going to be Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

2. Beginning September 2010, we are going to begin studying St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians. We will be using LifeChange: Galatians and the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible for our scripture text. This can be purchased in a single booklet that contains both Galatians and Ephesians, or you may want to purchase the New Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament that comes in either paperback, hardcover, or a leather edition.

3. We will be supplementing the shorter lessons for this letter by adding The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults to our study. There is also an accompanying workbook for this text that is optional. (I see that there is also a Reader's Guide that has been published for this Catechism. I have not seen this guide, but thought I should mention it in case someone is interested.)

Since we are one of the few--if not the only--adult formation class at our church that does not charge a tuition fee, I have decided that, as a group, we will be placing our book orders through the church bookstore. This way the church will benefit from the profit that is made on the books. You are certainly welcome to purchase your books wherever you would like. If you would like to place your orders through St. Patrick's Book & Gift, let me know which books you would like by either emailing, calling, or giving me your list at an upcoming meeting. I will call you when your order has arrived, and you may pick up and pay for your books at your own convenience.

Just as an FYI, the book Life of Christ happens to be the Spring selection for St. Patrick's Seasons of Reading Book Club. It is available for purchase or special order at 20% off the regular retail price through the month of April, so you may want to hurry and get that book right away.

I think next year should be an interesting one. I am excited to explore the Catechism along with Paul's letter. And you can't go wrong with a book by Fulton Sheen! Now that we know what we're going to be doing next year, don't forget to mention our group to anyone you know who may be interested in joining us.

Lesson Eleven: Paul Chastises His Opponents

Happy Easter Everyone!

Sorry I'm a little late with this week's study guide. Kind of a crazy week. (What's new.) I have to confess that this guide was completed with several interruptions and plenty of distractions, so here's hoping it makes sense.
Lesson Eleven Study Guide

At the beginning of this week's discussion we are going to make some decisions about next year and the book we are going to read over the summer break. I will try to answer any questions that you might have, but then I would like to get right to it. If you could come with a clear idea of what you would like to do---as well as a willingness to compromise, it will help expedite the process.

See you on April 8.

Lesson Ten Update

This was such an interesting lesson. It's been a rough time to be a Roman Catholic, and I know I struggle with having this strong urge to defend the Church that I love while keeping the virtues that the Church professes. When we take the time to examine what some of these virtues mean--in this case "meekness"--we get a better idea about how we are to respond. Spiritual warfare with spiritual weapons!

In case you weren't able to make it this week, here is a link to the notes I made for our lesson.
Lesson Ten Notes

I'll remind everyone in the next post as well, but be prepared to come to our next meeting to make a decision about what we are going to read over the summer and how we are going to conduct our Bible study next year. If you would like to do your own research, there are some links in a post below that will take you to some pertinent web sites.

Have a blessed Holy Week and a Happy Easter!

Lesson Ten: Paul Defends His Apostolic Ministry

If you are in the habit of printing out our study guide after you have done your lesson and just before we meet as a group, I would ask that you change up your routine this week. It will help our discussion tremendously if everyone could follow the suggestion to do a little pre-meeting research and reflection about the Christian definition of the quality of "meekness."

Don't forget, there's an extra week between our next meeting. We will be gathering to discuss Lesson Ten on March 25. We also need to make a decision soon about what we want to do next year, so review those options we talked about last time. In the post just below this one, I have provided some links to information about the materials we are considering. Hope they are helpful.
See you on the 25th!

Study Guide for Lesson Ten: Paul Defends His Apostolic Ministry

Lesson Nine Update

Just a couple of quick notes regarding our last lesson...

If you are interested, I have posted my own notes for the lesson.
Lesson Nine Notes

And if you would like to learn more about the Shakespeare/Bible class lead by Jim Bofenkamp that Winnie had mentioned, I was able to locate a copy of the article online.
Shakespeare, Bible Meet in Class

Finally, here are a few links to some of the items we might want to consider using in our study next year:
Journey Into the Bible by Liguori Publications

Liguori Publications (Check out the section on "Pamplets" in the menu @bottom left)

Adult Catechism of the Catholic Church

Summer Book Suggestions:
Silence by Shusaku Endo

Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

We'll see you again on March 25th.

Lesson Nine: The Collection for the Saints at Jerusalem

Almsgiving is an important part of our Catholic observance of the season of Lent. As luck would have it, this next lesson is all about generosity. We will be discussing the responsibilities that we have to be generous, the ways that we can demonstrate true generosity, the results of being generous, and how a generous spirit reflects our faith.

In addition to our lesson, I also want to spend some time at the beginning of our meeting discussing some plans for our 2010-11 study. We will had lots to cover, so come to the meeting ready to get right to work. See you on March 4.

Study Guide for Lesson Nine: The Collection for the Saints at Jerusalem

Lesson Eight: Effects of Spiritual Discipline

This lesson covers the transitional verses of Paul's letter that closes out the first section and leads us into the next. It isn't a complicated lesson, but it does address some important issues about repentance and conversion as well as our responsibilities in the processes of repentance and conversion in others. (You'll see what I mean when you get going on the lesson yourselves.)

Because this is a shorter lesson, I am hoping that we will have time at the end of our discussion to cover an extra topic. It's been a long time since we've been able to cover any extra catechism. Our topic will be cremation. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the teachings of the Catholic Church about cremation, bring them to the meeting, and we'll do our best to find some answers.

Our next meeting will be held on February 18. See you then.

Study Guide for Lesson Eight: Effects of Spiritual Discipline
(I increased the size of the font on the Google document for this lesson. Let me know if it prints out at a more readable size.)

Lesson Seven: A Pastor's Plea to His Troubled Flock

A blustery Minnesota day is a great day to work on our next Bible Study lesson. I think I'm getting back into the groove after our long break. This lesson seemed easier to grasp than the last one. I'm sure that it doesn't hurt that I have the house all to myself again during the day.

Our next meeting will be held on February 4. See you then.
Study Guide: Lesson Seven
(There is a new and easier way for me to upload the study guide to Google. Let me know if there are any difficulties in printing the guide for your own use.)

For those of you who may not have already heard, our former pastor, Father Michael Kennedy died suddenly on Saturday, January 23. Please remember him and all the priests who have dedicated their lives in service to God in your prayers.

Lesson Six: The Ministry of Reconciliation

Happy New Year, everyone! Our long break is slipping by quickly, so I thought I'd better get going on posting the study guide for our next lesson. This was a tough one. I'm not sure if it was the lesson that was difficult, the fact that I had to kick start my brain again, or that there are too many distractions at home right now for me to concentrate as I should. I just hope this guide will make some kind of sense.

Our next meeting will be held on January 21. We will be missing some of our snowbirds, so those of us who are left will have to be prepared to share. See you soon.

Study Guide for Lesson Six: The Ministry of Reconciliation