The Hebrew name Emmanuel which means God is with us combines the Hebrew expression for with us and one of the words for God El It refers to the presence of God among usthe great Advent hope Psalm 24 todays responsorial psalm was part of a liturgy carried out at the Jerusalem temple the mou

The second Sunday of Advent

The Scripture readings for Advent promote a promise-and-fulfillment approach to the Bible Most Christians view the Old Testament readings as divine promises that have been fulfilled in Jesus Almost every official Catholic document on biblical interpretation including the Second Vatican Councils D

The First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a period of preparation for the celebration of Christmas In contrast to the commercialized celebrations of the holidays it is meant to be a quiet and reflective time Todays readings suggest that Advent is a time to hope for lasting peace among nat

It has become customary to celebrate the feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday in the church year Our main guide during this past year has been Luke a master of Christian spirituality We have covered many topics pertaining to Christian spirituality and placed them in the context of Lukes na

From time to time someone predicts that the world is going to end on such-and-such a date These predictions are typically greeted with a mixture of fear ridicule and bemusement In New Testament times many people seemed to have been concerned if not with the end of the world then at least with t