Some readings at the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of Advent are from apocalyptic books such as Daniel and the little apocalypses in the Synoptic Gospels These passages refer to cosmic disturbances sun and mood falling out of the sky wars and terror-stricken people giving th

1 Coming of Jesus for the Final Judgment The first two weeks of the Advent liturgy focus heavily on the Last Judgment with its consequent rewards and punishments If a person centers himself on this aspect of Advent he deepens his awareness of his own death and the ultimate evaluation of what he

Eschatology the study of the end times tends to get people fired up To get a discussion going about eschatology simply ask the question What would you do today if you knew that the world would end tomorrow and people will talk Changing the word tomorrow to next week or next year and t

The reading from Isaiah nicely picked up by the response--Psalm 122--takes us to Zion the hill on which Jerusalem sat where the temple rested whence royal Davidic enterprises worked and most important of all where stood God s cosmic throne rooted deep in the earth and brushing the heavens

The First Sunday of Advent December 2 2007 marks the start of a new liturgical year when we will again use the readings from Cycle A of the Lectionary for Mass Most readers of America are certainly familiar with the basic structure of the three-year Sunday Lectionary in which the Gospel readin

In last week s second reading Paul held himself up as a model for imitation to the Thessalonians 2 Thess 3 7-12 For Paul imitation is neither the sincerest form of flattery nor a cheap copy but a means to model oneself in the life of Christ Paul holds himself up as a model of imitation st