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Themes:
Exodus: A Kingdom of Priests, A Holy Nation
Romans: Life through Christ’s death
Matthew: The
12 Shepherds for the Kingdom
Exodus 19:2-6a - the Lord speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai
"You
have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on
eagle wings and brought you here to Myself.
Therefore,
if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special
possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine.
You shall
be to me a kingdom of priests. a holy nation."
Romans 5:6-11 - we live because of Christ’s death
The Appointed Time
“Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.”
“But God proves His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
“How much more then, since we are now justified by His blood, will we be saved through Him from the wrath.
Boasting
“Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Matthew 9:36-10:8 - Shepherds for the troubled and abandoned
Pray for Shepherds
"The
harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.
So ask the
Master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest."
Authority for His
Twelve Disciples
“Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.”
The Naming of the
12 Apostles
The names of the twelve apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Their Message
`The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'
The Duties
“Cure the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse lepers. Drive out demons.”
Questions:
Exodus: What did the Lord say to Moses? What does He mean when He said He bore them up “on eagles wings”? What does “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” mean? How does Preface One in Ordinary Time use this quotation from Exodus?
Romans: Why did Christ die for us? When did this happed? What has it done for us? What does “reconciliation” mean?
Matthew: Why did Jesus appoint 12 Apostles? What did He tell His Apostles to pray
for? Were they “disciples” or “apostles”
or both? What each term mean? What authority was given to them? What duties did He give them? How does this authority exist now in the
Church? What was their message to be? Who are the successors of the Apostles? What were the names of twelve Apostles? What do we know about them? Which one of them was also know as “Jude”?
Petitions:
Exodus: That we appreciate the holiness we have through baptism, we pray to the Lord.
Romans: That we appreciate the life we have because of the death of Christ, we pray to the Lord.
Matthews: That God send more workers into His harvest, we pray to the Lord.
Job 38:1, 8-11: Lord
of Creation
The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:
Who shut
within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb:
when I made
the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?;
when I set
limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,
and said:
Thus far
shall you come but no farther,
and here
shall your proud waves be stilled!
when I made
the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
when I set
limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,
and said:
Thus far
shall you come but no farther,
and here
shall your proud waves be stilled!
Corinthians 5:14-17:
A New Creation
The love
of Christ impels us,
once we
have come to the conviction that One died for all.
therefore,
all have died.
He indeed
died for all,
so that
those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him
Who for
their sake died and was raised.
Consequently,
from now on we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even if we
once knew Christ according to the flesh,
yet now
we know Him so no longer.
So whoever
is in Christ is a new creation:
the old
things have passed away.
Behold,
new things have come.
Mark
On that day, as evening drew: on, Jesus said to His disciples:
"Let
us cross to the other side."
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus
with them in the boat just as He was,
and other boats were with Him.
A violent squall came up and waves
were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a
cushion.
They woke Him and said to Him,
"Teacher,
do you not care that we are perishing?"
He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
"Quiet! Be still!"
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then He asked them,
"Why
are you terrified? Do you not yet have
faith?"
They were filled with great awe and
said to one another,
"Who
then is This whom even wind and sea obey?"
YEAR
1
2
Corinthians 6:1-10 - Paul's encouragements and self-defense
Now is the day of salvation
"Behold now is a very
acceptable time. Behold now is the day
of salvation."
YEAR
2
1 Kings 21:1-16 - The
Vineyard of Naboth taken by Jezebel to Ahab
“Go on, take possession of
the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite
that he refused to sell you, because Naboth is not
alive, but dead.”
Matthew
5: 38-42 - Sermon on the Mount
Do not resist; give
"I
say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil."
Unselfish
Generosity
"Give
to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to
borrow."
YEAR
1
2
Corinthians 8: 1-9 - The collection for the Church in Jerusalem
Macedonia; Titus; generosity
"Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse,
knowledge, all earnestness and in the love we have for you, may you excel in
this gracious act also."
YEAR
2
1 Kings 21:17-29
-
Elijah
confront Ahab
‘The
Lord says: After murdering, do you also take possession? For this, the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked up the
blood of Naboth,
the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’”
Against
Jezebel, too, the Lord declared,
“The
dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel. “When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city,
dogs will devour him. When one of them
dies in the field, the birds of the sky will devour him.”
Summary
Indeed, no one gave himself
up to the doing of evil in the sight of
the Lord as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel.”
The
Lord to Elijah
“Have
you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I
will not bring the evil in his time. I
will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.”
Matthew
5: 43-48 - Sermon on the Mount
Love
of enemies
"I
say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you that your
may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes His sun rise on the bad
and the good."
Perfection
"So
be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
YEAR
1
2
Corinthians 9: 6-11 - The collection for the Church in Jerusalem
“sowing” sparingly
"Whoever sows sparingly, will also reap sparingly, and
whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without
sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
YEAR
2
1 Kings 2:1, 6-14 - The
assumption of Elijah
Elisha’s
Request
“When
they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask
for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’
Elisha
answered, “May I receive a double portion of your
spirit.”
Elijah’s Reply
“You
have asked something that is not easy,” … Still, if you see me taken up from
you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.”
As they walked on conversing,
a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to
heaven in a whirlwind.
Elisha
“My father! my
father! Israel’s chariots and drivers!” But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two. Then he picked up Elijah’s mantle that had
fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan. Wielding the mantle that had fallen from
Elijah, Elisha struck the water in his turn and said,
“Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”
When Elisha
struck the water it divided and he crossed over.”
Matthew
6: 1-6, 16-18 - Sermon on the Mount
Religious
acts done to be seen: “Pharisee-ism.”
"Take
care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them. Otherwise, you will have no recompense from
your heavenly Father.
YEAR
1
2
Corinthians 11: 1-11 – defense of his Apostleship
His foolishness & jealousy;
their marriage to Christ
"If only you would put up with a little foolishness
from me! Please put up with me, for I am
jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you one husband to
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
YEAR
2
Sirach
48:1-14 - Eulogy of Elijah & Elisha
Elijah
Like a fire there appeared
the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace.”
“You were taken aloft in a
whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to
come to put an end to wrath before the
day of the Lord, to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to
re-establish the tribes of Jacob.”
Elisha
“Then Elisha,
filled with the twofold portion of his spirit, wrought many marvels by his mere
word. During his lifetime he feared no
one, nor was any man able to intimidate his will. Nothing was beyond his power. Beneath him flesh was brought back into
life. In life he performed wonders, and
after death, marvelous deeds.
Matthew
6: 7-15 - Sermon on the Mount
How
to pray: the Lord’s Prayer
"Our
Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread, and forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
YEAR
1
2
Corinthians 11: 18, 21-30 – defense of his Apostleship
Paul boasts
"Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not
indignant? If I must boast, I will boast
of the things that show my weakness."
YEAR
2
2nd Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20
Joash saved from Athaliah;
Jehoiada reveals him & he becomes the king
They proclaimed him king and
anointed him, clapping their hands and shouting, “Long live the king!”
Athaliah killed
“He had given orders that she
should not be slain in the temple of the Lord.
She was led out forcibly to the horse gate of the royal palace, where
she was put to death.
“Then Jehoiada
made a covenant between the Lord as one party and the king and the people as
the other, by which they would be the Lord’s people, and another covenant,
between the king and the people.”
Matthew
6: 19-23 - Sermon on the Mount
One's
treasure
"Store
up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves
break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there also will your heart
be."
Seeing
Light
The
lamp of the body is the eye. If your
eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light, but if your eye is
bad, your whole body will be in darkness."
YEAR
1
2
Corinthians 12: 1-10 – defense of his Apostleship
his boasts & his thorn for the
flesh.
"Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn
in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from
being too elated. "
"Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might
leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is
made perfect in weakness." I will
rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ
may dwell with me."
YEAR
2
2 Chronicles 24:17-25
After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage
to King Joash, and the king then listened to
them.
They forsook the temple of
the Lord, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the
idols; and because of this crime of theirs,
wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Although prophets were sent
to them to convert them to the Lord, the
people would not listen to their warnings.
Then the Spirit of God
possessed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the
priest.
He took his stand above the people
and said to them:
“God
says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands, so that you cannot prosper?
Because
you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’”
But they conspired against
him, and at the king’s order they stoned him to death in the court of the
Lord’s temple.
Thus King Joash
was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada,
Zechariah’s father, and slew his son.
And as Zechariah was dying,
he said, “May the Lord see and avenge.”
At the turn of the year a
force of Arameans came up against Joash.
They invaded Judah and
Jerusalem, did away with all the princes of the people, and sent all their
spoil to the king of Damascus.
Though the Aramean force came with few men, the Lord surrendered a
very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the Lord, the
God of their fathers.
So punishment was meted out
to Joash.
After the Arameans
had departed from him, leaving him in grievous suffering, his servants
conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada
the priest.
He was buried in the City of
David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
Matthew
6: 24-34 - Sermon on the Mount
One
master, not two;
"No
one can serve two master. ... You cannot serve god and mammon.
Worrying and Trusting
Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about
your body, what you will wear. Is not
life more than food and the body more than clothing?"
"All
these things the pagans seek. Your
heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given you besides.
Do
not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will
take care of itself.
Sufficient
for a day is its own evil."