Helping Catholics engage more fully with each Sunday's Scriptures, and thus enjoy a more complete celebration of thanks to our good and gracious God.

Connected-ness

Featured This Issue:   Sheep Sense - a double-header this week -- (gospel-based cartoons) also known as Agnus Day.

Pray and Learn ...

Pray through October's Scriptures

Good and gracious Lord, I enter in prayer with words and thoughts from our Scripture readings for this month of October.  I enter this simple prayer to increase my sense of connection to you, my ever loving and ever caring God.  Lord, I enter into this prayer in unity with the people of my faith community , my brothers and sisters in faith, trusting:  that our God may make us worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith. (2 Thes 1:11).

 Thank you Lord for the Scriptures this entire month of October.  Thank you for what they teach us about prayer and, through it, how to connect more fully with you.

 Your Scriptures remind us of your grace, and that we have already received it through our baptism and confirmation.  We hear you reminding us to rekindle our connection to your grace.  We are reminded as well, to be patient workers in your mission, for you are the Christ!

 Lord, you call us to give you thanks for your healing and redeeming grace.  The story of the healed lepers (Luke 17:11-19) reminds us to not grow lax in our relationship with you.  But rather, we are to put you first in all things, and to commit to no other God in our lives.  Through your grace we are spiritually healed and born into new life.

 As a faith community, and as individuals, Jesus you call us to pray consistently.  The Sacred Scriptures tell us of how God may honor our consistent seeking of connection through Jesus and the Spirit.  The stories of Moses’ uplifted hands (Sirach 35: 12-18) and the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) both speak to the Father’s engagement in the lives of those who show determination in their love of God.

 Lord, I pray from a position of humility and humblness, realizing that it is you who freely gives the gifts of grace and salvation.  It is only through my humble acceptance of your awesome gifts that our relationship can grow.  May the Spirit help both me, and our faith community, to enter our prayers with the certainty that we are not worthy of your gracious love.

 Lord, you spare all things because we are yours.  You rightly rebuke us when we offend you.  We thank you for your patience, rebuking us little by little, warning us and reminding us of our sins (Wis 11:22-12:2).  You remind us that we may, like Zacchaeus, abandon our wickedness and believe more fully in you (Luke 19:1-10).

 Good and gracious God, I pray for myself, and for my sisters and brothers in this parish.  I pray that you make us worthy of your calling, and that you powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, and that through our shared spirituality our Lord Jesus may be glorified in us and through us – and us in him – in accord with the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. (2 Thes 1:11-12).

 I ask for this growth in my prayer life, and that of our faith community, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Readings for this Sunday, from the Catholic Lectionary ...

October 3rd  — 27th Sunday of Ordinary Times

Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4      “How long shall I call for help?”

2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14    “Rekindle the gift of God that is within”

Luke 17: 5-10     “Lord, Increase our faith”

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 October 10th  — 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Give thanks for God’s grace – uniting with him

2 Kings 5:14-17      “I am committed to no other God”

2 Timothy 2:8-13    Fervently proclaim Jesus, and be willing to pay the price, for the sake of others.

Luke 17:11-19     Healing of the ten lepers

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 October 17th  — 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Pray always and consistently

Exodus 17: 8-13   Moses’ hands uplifted in prayer, the Israelites were successful in battle

2 Timothy 3:14-4:2    Scripture inspired for training in holiness

Luke 18: 1-8    Father gives justice to those who plead

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 October 24th  — 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18    The Lord is impartial, but listens to prayer

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18    Run the good race

Luke 18:9-14  Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector

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 October 31 -- 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transformed through prayer and grace

Wisdom 11:22-12:2    “Lord, you spare all things because they are yours”

2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2    Pray that we might be worthy of our calling

Luke 19: 1-10   Zacchaeus called and transformed

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