Category: Spirituality

RCIA Inquiry

Are you an adult (18+) Catholic who has not received the Sacraments of Eucharist and/or Confirmation?

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is the normative way in which non-Catholics – those unbaptized as well as those baptized into other Christian denominations – enter the Church.  It is also the way baptized Catholics who never received any catechesis and did not receive Eucharist and Confirmation, can complete their Sacrament of Initiation.  The Inquiry Period is October 1, 8 and 15 when we will have weekly Thursday evening sessions for those who want to explore the process.  To express interest or to learn more, please call the rectory office of St Peter Church, Danbury, CT at 203-743-2707.  If you are not in the area, you can also contact CatholicsComeHome.org for information as well.

@StPeterdanbury1 @CatholicsComeHome

Everyone Can Be in His Family

Today’s readings are very cohesive in their message. Many times over the centuries, and in modern times as well, faith has been manipulated as a tool to divide people for political ends. This has never been the message of Jesus. The Daily Meditation by Word Among Us is a fitting description of God’s teaching spanning both the Old and New Testaments.

DAILY MEDITATION: ISAIAH 56:1, 6-7

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (Isaiah 56:7)

All of today’s readings tell us that God’s salvation is meant for everyone. The prophet Isaiah speaks of foreigners who will join themselves to the Lord (56:6). The psalmist declares, “May the peoples praise you, O God” (Psalm 67:6). Jesus praises a Canaanite woman’s faith (Matthew 15:28). And Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, proclaims that God wants to “have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:32). 

For the Jewish people in today’s first reading, this must have been difficult to accept. They had just returned from exile to discover foreigners living in their holy city, Jerusalem. Their covenant told them that they were set apart as a holy people chosen by God. So how could “impure” Gentiles be living on their land? They forgot that God had chosen them by his grace, not just for their own sake, but to bring his light to every nation. 

This call became increasingly clear in the early Church. Initially, all of Jesus’ followers were Jewish. But as Gentiles came to believe in the Lord, the Jewish Christians began to understand that God’s plan of salvation was far bigger than they had expected. Learning to live and work and pray alongside Gentiles could not have been easy. But they, like us, had to allow God’s grace to help them love each other. The result? The diverse, beautiful, sometimes messy Church we know today. 

Jesus wants his Church to be a house of prayer for all nations so that every person can belong to his family. He sees people who are searching for hope, meaning, and a place to meet God, and he is asking us to draw them in, to be the loving, welcoming face of the Church. May we always be open to everyone who is seeking the Lord, and through us, may God’s grace flow out to the entire world!

“Jesus, help me to show everyone the love that you have given me.” 

Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28

@StPeterDanbury1

@CatholicRites

“Good Person” Christianity — BeautyBeyondBones

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently. About a lot of things: life, family, relationships, the state of the world. Frankly, for an overthinker like me, there’s… 1,213 more words

“Good Person” Christianity — BeautyBeyondBones

I am a follower of Caralyn’s blog BeautyBeyondBones and her thoughts here are very much worth sharing.

#StPeterDanbury1

So How Am I Supposed to Be Perfect?

The daily reading on Tuesday of this week includes one of Jesus’ most astounding and difficult teachings. In Matthew 5: 43-48, He tells us it is not enough to love our neighbors. Jesus tells us that we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us! And not only that but that we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect! People who are perfect!? How can this be? Just read a history book or even just the news lately. Perfect? We are only human hence my question as the title of this piece. Below is the meditation from Word Among Us ( June 16th) which actually addresses this question beautifully.

DAILY MEDITATION: MATTHEW 5:43-48

Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

According to the dictionary, “perfect” means “entirely without flaw or defect, meeting supreme standards of excellence, satisfying all requirements.” To which many of us would respond, “Really, Lord? I’m struggling just to hold my life together! Now you want me to be perfect? That’s impossible.”

One reason that perfection can seem so unattainable is that it sounds like an either-or proposition: you’re either perfect or you’re not. But as Scripture scholars point out, the Greek word translated as “perfect” in Matthew 5:48 carries a more dynamic meaning. It indicates something you are always growing into—a process of becoming whole and complete. From this perspective, we can imagine Jesus saying, “Don’t stop! Keep working on becoming the person I created you to be. Don’t settle for anything less than the holiness that comes from wholeness!” The more you become the unique person God made you to be, the more you will resemble Jesus, the perfect One.

So how do you grow into this perfection? Self-improvement programs won’t produce the right kind of change, and neither will piling on acts of self-denial and spiritual calisthenics. It comes as you work on using your talents and gifts in a way that glorifies the Lord and lifts up the people around you. It comes as you focus on one or two roadblocks in your life and ask for Jesus’ grace to help you resolve them: a lingering resentment, an unhealthy habit, or a skewed way of thinking about life.

Today, ask Jesus how he wants you to grow into the perfection he has set aside for you. Let him shine the light of his love on your heart. Let him show you both the person you’re meant to be and the person you are right now. Then come up with one or two things you can do to help bridge the gap between these two visions.

Blessed John Henry Newman once said, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” As you seek to hear and follow Jesus, may you change—and often—day after blessed day!

“Jesus, I trust that you are leading me to wholeness and holiness!”

1 Kings 21:17-29

Psalm 51:3-6, 11, 16

My own comment is to remind you of the importance of receiving the graces of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist to help you in your journey. – John

#LoveYourEnemies

@StPeterDanbury1