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ICCH Bulletin of April 7, 2024
April 7, 2024 Second Sunday of Easter Sunday of Divine Mercy Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Acts 4:32-35 | 1 Jn 5:1-6 | Jn 20:19-31 Introduction: The readings for this Sunday are about God’s mercy, the necessity for trusting Faith, and our need for the forgiveness of our sins. The opening prayer addresses the Father as “God of everlasting Mercy.” In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 118), we repeat several times, “His mercy endures forever!” God...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 14, 2024
April 14, 2024 Third Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 | 1 Jn 2:1-5a | Lk 24:35-48 ###The Rest of the Story We have all heard the story before. Two disciples walked to a small town, about seven miles from the center of Jerusalem, Emmaus. They were sorrowful—I suppose in the same way all people tend to be when a relative has died. Their hero was dead, the man they...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 31, 2024
March 31, 2024 Easter Sunday - The Resurrection of the Lord Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43 | Col 3:1-4 | Jn 20:1-9 ###Holy Saturday with Mother Mary The Savior of the World died a cruel death upon the Cross. His broken body was laid in the tomb. His disciples scattered and were fearful that they would be next. But our Blessed Mother kept vigil in the perfect hope that her Son would...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 10, 2024
March 10, 2024 Fourth Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23 | Eph 2:4-10 | Jn 3:14-21 In today’s Gospel John gives us the nocturnal conversation which Jesus had with a leading Jew, a man of wealth and position. This man whose name was Nicodemus had been impressed by the preaching and miracles of Jesus but was afraid of fellow Jews in whose circle he moved. He was a man...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 17, 2024
March 17, 2024 Fifth Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Jer 31:31-34 | Heb 5:7-9 | Jn 12:20-33 “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” John 12:27–28 Our Lord’s human soul was “troubled.” Other...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 3, 2024
March 3, 2024 Third Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Ex 20:1-17 | 1 Cor 1:22-25 | Jn 2:13-25 The opening declaration of God to the Jewish people, in our First Reading from Exodus, is a profound, yet simple identification. “I am the God Who saved you from the slavery of Egypt.” “You, Israel, are the nation and people saved by My love for you.” The commandments are guides by which they will...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 18, 2024
February 18, 2024 First Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Gn 9:8-15 | 1 Pt 3:18-22 | Mk 1:12-15 ###What Is Lent? Ash Wednesday was a few days ago, starting the Lenten countdown toward Holy Week and Easter. But maybe some of us are not completely clear as to why these weeks of preparation are there in the first place. One opinion is that Lent is a time to deprive yourself. You give...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 11, 2024
February 11, 2024 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: | Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11 | Mk 1:40-45 Today’s passage is in three sections: verses 40-41: Jesus heals a leper; verses 42-45a: Jesus protects his identity; verse 45b: the people still come to him. As with last week’s passage, we are free to focus on one section alone or to see the three sections as a unit, one moving into the other....
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ICCH Bulletin of February 4, 2024
February 4, 2024 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Jb 7:1-4, 6-7 | 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23 | Mk 1:29-39 The Gospel of Mark 1:29-39, presents a powerful account of Jesus’ healing and preaching ministry. In this passage, we witness Jesus healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and then the many others who were brought to him. After this, Jesus goes to a deserted place to pray, and when his disciples find him,...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 21, 2024
January 21, 2024 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Jon 3:1-5, 10 | 1 Cor 7:29-31 | Mk 1:14-20 Running Away Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had a direct summons specifically for you from God? Instead of going about in a fog and trying your best to remember how to live, maybe how to pray once in a while, and perhaps to make an effort and to get to Mass...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 14, 2024
January 14, 2024 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Daniel Today’s Readings: 1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19 | Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10 | Jn 1:35-42 Having celebrated the Baptism of the Lord last Sunday and the feast of the Epiphany the Sunday before, the Church now sets off into the still fresh new year with a series of what could be termed “call narratives.” Today we hear Samuel and Peter being called to...
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ICCH Bulletin of December 10, 2023
December 10, 2023 Second Sunday of Advent Welcome Father Chinedu Today’s Readings: IS 40:1-5, 9-11 | 2 PT 3:8-14 | MK 1:1-8 “Comfort, comfort my people.” The prophet of the first reading is told that the time of misery is coming to an end.Comfort the people. Let them know that God is going to come to free them from their sadness and their pain. Right now, we need comforting. We are living in very difficult...
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ICCH Bulletin of December 3, 2023
December 3, 2023 First Sunday of Advent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: IS 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7 | PS 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 | MK 13:33-37 An essential part of the ministry of a parish priest is to care for people in hospitals. I want to begin today by speaking about one of the rooms in the hospital, the critical care waiting room. This is the room where family and friends wait while the doctors care for...
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ICCH Bulletin of December 17, 2023
December 17, 2023 Third Sunday of Advent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 61:1-2A, 10-11 | 1 Thes 5:16-24 | Jn 1:6-8, 19-28 “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said.” John 1:23 In the passage above, Saint John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:3: “A voice proclaims: In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 26, 2023
November 26, 2023 Solemnity of Christ the King Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Ez 34:11-12, 15-17 | 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28 | Mt 25:31-46 ###Your choice? This will be the last Sunday of the Church year. We will begin a new one, starting with Advent—which is our time of awaiting the birth of Jesus. On this last Sunday, the Church appropriately overviews the career of Christ the King. Here is the story. God has continually...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 19, 2023
November 19, 2023 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 | 1 Thes 5:1-6 | Mt 25:14-30 The parable of today gives us four important lessons. First, it tells us that God gives each person different gifts. Despite our tendencies always to compare ourselves with others, the actual number and quality is not important. We are only asked to make full use of what we have been uniquely...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 12, 2023
November 12, 2023 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Wis 6:12-16 | 1 Thes 4:13-18 | Mt 25:1-13 ####The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. […] both Jesus and his New Testament interpreters are quite clear that the times and seasons of God’s future end-time activity are none of our business. Mark 13:32 should be enough to make...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 5, 2023
November 5, 2023 Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10 | 1 Thes 2:7b-9, 13 | Mt 23:1-12 Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.” Matthew 23:1–3 Sometimes people’s words inspire us, but more often it...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 29, 2023
October 29, 2023 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Ex 22:20-26 | 1 Thes 1:5c-10 | Mt 22:34-40 The Old Testament reading at this Sunday’s mass is drawn from a long passage of the Book of Exodus which recounts the giving of the Mosaic law at Mount Sinai. At first the words of Exodus are reassuring, reminding us that God is a faithful protector of the innocent and the vulnerable: “You...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 1, 2023
October 1, 2023 Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Ez 18:25-28 | Phil 2:1-11 | Mt 21:28-32 For the past two Sundays the readings have focused on sin and forgiveness. The theme continues today. In the Responsorial Psalm we recalled God’s mercy and God’s steadfast love. The Hebrew word translated here as ‘mercy’ comes from the word for a womb. The Psalmist believes that God feels for us the way a...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 15, 2023
October 15, 2023 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 25:6-10a | Phil 4:12-14, 19-20 | Mt 22:1-14 “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.” (from today’s Gospel) […in the First Reading today, we hear about a huge feast.] There we find the famous invitation from the Lord of Hosts, full of unstinting promise. “A feast of...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 24, 2023
September 24, 2023 Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Is 55:6-9 | Phil 1:20c-24, 27a | Mt 20:1-16a “When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 17, 2023
September 17, 2023 Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Sir 27:30—28:7 | Rom 14:7-9 | Mt 18:21-35 The great sage Jesus ben Sirach advises us today regarding the common trap of anger. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he writes: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight,” and later, “If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?” (Sir 27:30; 28:5). We have...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 10, 2023
September 10, 2023 Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Brandt Today’s Readings: Ez 33:7-9 | Rom 13:8-10 | Mt 18:15-20 This Sunday’s first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel and the Gospel passage both consider the difficult topic of “fraternal correction,” as it is often called; that is, brotherly or sisterly correction. Who of us likes to be corrected? Didn’t we have our full-share of that as children and adolescents? Maybe, or even likely so,...
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ICCH Bulletin of August 27, 2023
August 27, 2023 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Is 22:19-23 | Rom 11:33-36 | Mt 16:13-20 Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans is one that is filled with rich teachings and images as is the portion we hear today. While describing the great love of God in sending his Son to save both Jew and Gentile he breaks into a prayer about the greatness of God. In Paul’s letters it...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 3, 2023
September 3, 2023 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Jer 20:7-9 | Rom 12:1-2 | Mt 16:21-27 “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or...
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ICCH Bulletin of August 20, 2023
August 20, 2023 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 56:1, 6-7 | Rom 11:13-15, 29-32 | Mt 15:21-28 ###Food for Dogs? Sunday’s Gospel can give a headache both to preachers and to people in the pews. Jesus refuses to hear a Canaanite woman because she is, in his metaphor, one of the “dogs.” OUCH. You know the story. The Canaanite woman cries out for help and Jesus at first will...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 30, 2023
July 30, 2023 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: 1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12 | Rom 8:28-30 | Mt 13:44-52 Today’s readings drove me to the dogmatic theology books. The first reading from 1 Kings speaks about wisdom. The second from Romans speaks about predestination, the gospel from Matthew speaks about the Christian life. Starting this column using the word “dogma” is about as popular as beginning with a sentence using the...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 23, 2023
July 23, 2023 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Wis 12:13, 16-19 | Rom 8:26-27 | Mt 13:24-43 Today’s readings give us insight into the mercy and patience of God. As humans subject to finite boundaries of time and resources, we are hard wired to seek timely results. Waiting patiently is not our strong suit. When our timeline seems compromised, we express angst and frustration with others, even with God. Perhaps...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 16, 2023
July 16, 2023 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Is 55:10-11 | Rom 8:18-23 | Mt 13:1-23 The Parable of the Sower is featured in 3 of the 4 Gospels so it’s a really important parable to pay attention to. […] Jesus’ people were a subjugated people, living under Roman imperial oppression, occupying their ancestral lands. […] Can you imagine what Jesus might have felt seeing his community experience a great...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 9, 2023
July 9, 2023 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Zec 9:9-10 | Rom 8:9, 11-13 | Mt 11:25-30 How can we possibly know the mind and heart of God? Undoubtedly the best way is to listen to our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we hear in the Gospel today thanking his Father in heaven for revealing to the merest disciples the wisdom and knowledge of God. The prayer that Jesus prays tells...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 2, 2023
July 2, 2023 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: 2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a | Rom 6:3-4, 8-11 | Mt 10:37-42 In the Gospel today Jesus asks a very difficult question. Who do we love most? If one were to pose this question to people on the street most would likely answer; my husband/wife, mother, father, children, fiancé’, etc. These are the people we have close contact with and hold close to...
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ICCH Bulletin of June 18, 2023
June 18, 2023 Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Ex 19:2-6a | Romans 5:6-11 | Matthew 9:36—10:8 Occasionally the required readings make it difficult to prepare a homily, but today’s readings provide many possibilities - I didn’t go past the first sentence of the gospel. Some scripture words are better left untranslated: Hebrew - amen, alleluia, abba. Greek - agape, metanoia. The Greek verb, splagchnizomai, appears today and needs some unpacking....
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ICCH Bulletin of June 25, 2023
June 25, 2023 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Jer 20:10-13 | Rom 5:12-15 | Mt 10:26-33 Taking Life Seriously In the Gospel, Jesus encourages us as follows: “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid.” God pays attention to each of us....
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ICCH Bulletin of June 11, 2023
June 11, 2023 Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Hos 6,3-6 | Rom 4,18-25 | Mt 9,9-13 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. (Mt 9:9) Matthew would have been a very unpopular person. He would have either been a private contractor of the Roman government or a...
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ICCH Bulletin of June 4, 2023
June 4, 2023 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9 | 2 Cor 13:11-13 | Jn 3:16-18 Today the entire Church celebrates the great Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is such a special feast day we will, as we did last week, use this space to talk about the Trinity rather than the individual readings. In this way I believe that you will get...
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ICCH Bulletin of May 28, 2023
May 28, 2023 Pentecost Sunday Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Acts 2:1-11 | 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 | Jn 20:19-23 ####Runaways Blessed And Missioned Resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, plus mission: Luke spreads these events across fifty days in Luke-Acts, but the Fourth Gospel concentrates them into the scenario of a single day. This is one of the places that frustrates the historical literalists who insist on finding answers to the question...
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ICCH Bulletin of May 21, 2023
May 21, 2023 Seventh Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Acts 1:12-14 | 1 Pt 4:13-16 | Jn 17:1-11a Several things are going on in the readings for this next to the last Sunday of the Easter Season. (Next Sunday we celebrate Pentecost and then return to Ordinary Time for the next six months.) Each of these moments in the readings can be very fruitful for us. In the Acts of the Apostles,...
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ICCH Bulletin of May 7, 2023
May 7, 2023 Fifth Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Acts 6:1-7 | 1 Pt 2:4-9 | Jn 14:1-12 […In this Sunday’s Gospel,] Christ is explaining the very deepest meaning of Christianity. “There are many rooms in my Father’s house,” Jesus says. “I will come back and take you there. You know the way to where I am going.” Thomas asks rather naturally, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 23, 2023
April 23, 2023 Third Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Acts 2:14, 22-33 | 1 Pt 1:17-21 | Lk 24:13-35 ####”Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” Ah, discipleship. It is such a central component of the Christian life. The Gospel reading this Sunday about the Risen Christ and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus often takes...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 5, 2023
March 5, 2023 Second Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Gn 12:1-4a | 2 Tm 1:8b-10 | Mt 17:1-9 In this gospel we see two great signs of the Transfiguration that “predict” Easter. The first and fundamental, is that of the divine voice: “This is my beloved Son.” In the gospel this voice resounds with the same words in three scenes well arranged to constitute almost a narrative thread within the earthly existence...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 26, 2023
February 26, 2023 First Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7 | Rom 5:12-19 | Mt 4:1-11 For the first Sunday of Lent the reflection practically has to be on the theme of sin. This is not simply because we began the penitential season of Lent this past Wednesday as we received our ashes, but because the scripture readings demand it. The first reading today is from the Book of Genesis...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 12, 2023
February 12, 2023 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Daniel Today’s Readings: Sir 15:15-20 | 1 Cor 2:6-10 | Mt 5:17-37 Today’s scripture readings engage us in a reflection on the nature of sin and law, and they begin with a biblical author for whom the Torah and its commandments were life-defining. We hear from this author, Jesus ben-Sira, on Sundays at least twice each year. His advice is sometimes quite specific, for instance,...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 29, 2023
January 29, 2023 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13 | 1 Cor 1:26-31 | Mt 5:1-12a When we, as priests, meet with a family who have lost a loved one to choose the readings for the Funeral Mass, sometimes the family will choose today’s gospel reading. What is it that draws people to this gospel reading as they plan the Funeral Mass of a loved one? I suspect...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 22, 2023
January 22, 2023 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Brandt Today’s Readings: Is 8:23—9:3 | 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17 | Mt 4:12-23 or 4:12-17 Today’s Gospel Reading tells us about the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. The Evangelist tells us that after John the Baptist had been imprisoned by Herod Antipas, and as spoken by the prophets, Jesus withdrew “to Galilee” and began His own proclamation. The motive for Jesus making this move...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 8, 2023
January 8, 2023 Baptism of the Lord Welcome Father Daniel Today’s Readings: Is 42:1-4, 6-7 | Acts 10:34-38 | Mt 3:13-17 Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the river Jordan by John the Baptist. The baptism of Jesus ushered him into his earthly ministry. Our focus is on the effects of Christian baptism as it was in the case of Jesus. According to today’s gospel, ‘As soon as Jesus was...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 9, 2023
April 9, 2023 The Resurrection of the Lord Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43 | 1 Cor 5:6b-8 | Jn 20:1-9 On Good Friday, there was no Eucharist - simply a communion service, with the Body of Christ from the Holy Thursday Eucharist. On Holy Saturday, there is no liturgy at all. The liturgy this evening is the vigil - the preparation for and entry into the celebration of Our Lord’s Resurrection. It...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 2, 2023
April 2, 2023 Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 50:4-7 | Phil 2:6-11 | Mt 26:14-27:66 Writing a reflection for Palm Sunday is intimidating because the Scriptures are so rich and complete that reflection could (and should) go on for hours, days or even weeks. In fact, the Church generally gives us the content of these texts in smaller bites throughout the year just so we can begin to...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 19, 2023
March 19, 2023 Fourth Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Daniel Today’s Readings: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a | Eph 5:8-14 | Jn 9:1-41 When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 12, 2023
March 12, 2023 Third Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Chinedu Today’s Readings: Ex 17:3-7 | Rom 5:1-2, 5-8 | Jn 4:5-42 ####Cravings The readings for Sunday speak of a key desire within us, a longing, a craving. The best symbol for this desire is the thirst for water. […] You can fast from food for but not from water. In the Gospel Jesus uses a water as a symbol to the Samaritan woman about slaking...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 19, 2023
February 19, 2023 Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Lv 19:1-2, 17-18 | 1 Cor 3:16-23 | Mt 5:38-48 ####Homily by Pope Francis in Bari (Feb. 2020) Jesus quotes the ancient law: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Mt 5:38; Ex 21:24). We know what that law meant: when someone takes something from you, you are to take the same thing from him. This law of...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 5, 2023
February 5, 2023 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 58:7-10 | 1 Cor 2:1-5 | Mt 5:13-16 ####Following Jesus In the Gospels of the last four Sundays we have been following the story of Jesus’ early career. He went to be baptized. Then he moved to Capernaum from Galilee when John the Baptist was killed, and there he chose his apostles (who somehow knew him as the one to follow)....
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ICCH Bulletin of January 15, 2023
January 15, 2023 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 49:3, 5-6 | 1 Cor 1:1-3 | Jn 1:29-34 ####Ordinary Time It has always befuddled me that a season of the liturgical year should be called “Ordinary Time”. It comes from the Latin “Tempus per annum, or time through the year”. These numbered Sundays between the liturgical seasons: Christmas and Lent, and Easter and Advent. Still, for those of us in...
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ICCH Bulletin of December 18, 2022
December 18, 2022 Fourth Sunday of Advent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 7:10-14 | Rom 1:1-7 | Mt 1:18-24 “She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt 1:21) ####Joseph’s Dream The message of Christmas is so simple and powerful — the eternal Word of God becomes our kind of flesh — that we can easily slide unthinkingly over some of...
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ICCH Bulletin of December 11, 2022
December 11, 2022 Third Sunday of Advent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 35:1-6a, 10 | Jas 5:7-10 | Mt 11:2-11 “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, «Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?»” John the Baptist had been put in jail by Herod: he did not tolerate John the Baptist’s constant reproaches...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 20, 2022
November 20, 2022 The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: 2 Sm 5:1-3 | Col 1:12-20 | Lk 23:35-43 The feast of Christ the King has a long history in various countries of Europe but only came to its current prominence throughout the universal Church in 1925, when Pope Pius XI established the feast as a counter-witness to the collapse of royal families across Europe in...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 13, 2022
November 13, 2022 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Mal 3:19-20a | 2 Thes 3:7-12 | Lk 21:5-19 In November, not only the Germans visit the graves of their relatives. The Celts commemorated the dead in the transition from autumn to winter. With Halloween on the eve of November 1st, their customs return to the mainland. In this period of transition to winter, before nature seems to die, according to the...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 30, 2022
October 30, 2022 Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Wis 11:22-12:2 | 2 Thes 1:11-2:2 | Lk 19:1-10 In the Gospel, we have another example of Jesus’ interests in the conversion of sinners. During the time of Jesus, Jericho was a beautiful town and important trade centre. It was the last stop for Pilgrims from the East before they started their final steep climb to Jerusalem. It was a rich and...
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ICCH Bulletin of November 27, 2022
November 27, 2022 First Sunday of Advent Welcome Father Eckhard Today’s Readings: Is 2:1-5 | Rom 13:11-14 | Mt 24:37-44 Advent blessings to all of you! Everything reminds us Advent is here […] We need the festive, hopeful tones, the feel-good movies, and the cookies; if we are honest, it has been a foggy, gloomy kind of year. Yet, even if we must “escape” into the folly, let us pray with our Church this season....
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ICCH Bulletin of October 23, 2022
October 23, 2022 Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Vicar Johann Today’s Readings: 2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14 | 2 Thes 2:16-3:5 | Lk 20:27-38 Love After Death I have been with a fair number of people in the midst of their dying. Each time the event has seemed miraculous. Someone I had known and spoken with, and loved, someone whose every movement came from a mysterious source of life within them–burning bright as a candle...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 23, 2022
October 23, 2022 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Sir 35:12-14, 16-18 | 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18 | Lk 18:9-14 Psalm response: The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Both our first reading today and our Gospel reading clearly indicate that God looks past the heroic and successful, those who think that they are the beautiful people, to pour his love on the underdogs, the unsuccessful, the disposable people. At...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 16, 2022
October 16, 2022 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Ex 17:8-13 | 2 Tm 3:14-4:2 | Lk 18:1-8 In today’s Gospel, we have a parable about a judge and a poor widow who is seeking justice. The point of the parable is to teach an important lesson about the necessity of perseverance in prayer. Luke in the Gospel tells us not to be discouraged if we do not receive an immediate...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 9, 2022
October 9, 2022 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: 2 Kgs 5:14-17 | 2 Tm 2:8-13 | Lk 17:11-19 ###“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Luke 17:17-18 These words were spoken by Jesus after He healed ten lepers and only one of them, a foreigner, returned to Jesus to thank Him. Ten were healed physically...
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ICCH Bulletin of October 2, 2022
October 2, 2022 Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Johann Today’s Readings: Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4 | 2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14 | Lk 17:5-10 Like unpacking an old trunk, we need to unpack today’s Gospel and take out the hidden treasures within it and then appreciate them. We are dealing here with the reality of faith, the substance of things not immediately obvious. It takes a bit of courage to do that because we are...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 25, 2022
September 25, 2022 Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Johann Today’s Readings: Am 6:1a, 4-7 | 1 Tm 6:11-16 | Lk 16:19-31 The parable in the Gospel of today generally termed as the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus was directed towards the Pharisees. This parable contains the all-important parabolic dynamic of reversal. It begins with the state on earth of the rich person and the poor man and at the end, the...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 18, 2022
September 18, 2022 Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Bieger SJ Today’s Readings: Am 8:4-7 | 1 Tm 2:1-8 | Lk 16:1-13 ###The Unjust Steward The parable long known as “The Unjust Steward” may be the most puzzling of all the stories of Jesus. Since it appears to present an immoral person as a model, the story has been used by Christianity’s enemies to denigrate Jesus as teacher. But there is a way of...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 11, 2022
September 11, 2022 Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14 | 1 Tm 1:12-17 | Lk 15:1-32 In this Gospel passage of today Luke has put together three parables all stressing the dynamic of lost and found. The point the evangelist is making in each case is the generous willingness God demonstrates in accepting back the repentant sinner. In the first parable, the repentant sinner is symbolized in the...
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ICCH Bulletin of September 4, 2022
September 4, 2022 Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Wis 9:13-18b | Phmn 9-10, 12-17 | Lk 14:25-33 ####From a sermon by Pope St. Gregory the Great(*) on the Gospel of Luke 37:2,3,5 May we ask how it is that the Lord commands us to hate our parents and our biological relatives, when He gives us the commandment to love even our enemies? Paul speaks: “Husbands, love your wives as Christ...
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ICCH Bulletin of August 28, 2022
August 28, 2022 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Sir 3:17-18, 20, 28-29 | Heb 12:18-19, 22-24a | Lk 14:1, 7-14 „For one day in your halls is better than a thousand others.“ - Men desire a thousand days, a long life. But they should rather despise that and long for the one day that knows no morning and no evening, the one day, the eternal day, to which the previous...
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ICCH Bulletin of August 21, 2022
August 21, 2022 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Is 66:18-21 | Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 | Lk 13:22-30 ####From the commentary of the holy bishop John Chrysostom on the Gospel of Matthew 26:4-8 Christ helps us by speaking of the kingdom of God in all his miracles and seeking to win all to it. He threatens some that they will be excluded from the kingdom of God, but he threatens only...
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ICCH Bulletin of August 7, 2022
August 7, 2022 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Wis 18:6-9 | Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 | Lk 12:32-48 […] Being a Christian also has to do with a change of view. Christians have the same life to live as everyone else, the same happiness, the same hardship. But everything that comes into being, that passes away, that is lived and suffered, still has something ahead of it. Everything we do and...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 24, 2022
July 24, 2022 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Gn 18:20-32 | Col 2:12-14 | Lk 11:1-13 One day the disciples saw Jesus praying. When he had finished, one of them asked him: Lord, teach us to pray. Jesus follows this request and entrusts the disciples with five petitions - five petitions that could not be more unexpected. Who would think of talking to God like that? When you pray, say:...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 17, 2022
July 17, 2022 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Gn 18:1-10a | Col 1:24-28 | Lk 10:38-42 According to our sacred doctrine, there are two forms of life, the active and the contemplative. The active form of life is prior to the contemplative form, because one arrives at contemplation from good work. But the contemplative form of life beckons a higher reward than the active one. The active life labours by...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 10, 2022
July 10, 2022 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Dt 30:10-14 | Col 1:15-20 | Lk 10:25-37 Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Lk 10) We have heard the parable of the man who came from Jerusalem and went down to Jericho. He fell among the robbers...
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ICCH Bulletin of July 3, 2022
July 3, 2022 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Matthew Today’s Readings: Is 66:10-14c | Gal 6:14-18 | Lk 10:1-12, 17-20 Sometimes our Lord and Saviour admonishes us with words, sometimes also with deeds. For his deeds are also instructions. By he does something without words, he reveals to us what we are to do. Look, he sends the disciples two by two to preach, because there are two commandments of love: love of...
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ICCH Bulletin of June 26, 2022
June 26, 2022 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: 1 Kgs 19:16b, 19-21 | Gal 5:1, 13-18 | Lk 9:51-62 Toward Jerusalem Jesus is fierce in Sunday’s Gospel. He is on the march and will not be turned back. Sometimes the readings startle us. He “rebukes” the disciples. He shouts “let the dead bury the dead” to a man who wants to bury his father and then follow Jesus. Jesus is...
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ICCH Bulletin of June 19, 2022
June 19, 2022 Feast of Corpus Christi Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Gn 14:18-20 | 1 Cor 11:23-26 | Lk 9:11b-17 Catholic Christians celebrate Corpus Christi today. Some people find the feast a little suspicious (especially in northern latitudes) and pass it over. Perhaps they suspect that relics of denominational acts of profiling might haunt the celebration or that the whole thing is too sensual for them: the procession, the Eucharistic blessing and all that....
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ICCH Bulletin of June 12, 2022
June 12, 2022 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Prv 8:22-31 | Rom 5:1-5 | Jn 16:12-15 We Christians begin every prayer and every service in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And in the Creed, we confess God’s Trinity. Do we know what we are saying when we speak like this? What do we believe when we confess like this? God only knows...
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ICCH Bulletin of June 5, 2022
June 5, 2022 Pentecost Sunday Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Acts 2:1-11 | 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 | Jn 20:19-23 Pentecost means fiftieth day. It was the second of three great Jewish Feasts. For the Jews, it was a day of gratitude. It was a day of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest. However, on this day a great transformation took place in the small group of disciples. They were persons perplexed, scared, dumbfounded,...
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ICCH Bulletin of May 29, 2022
May 29, 2022 Seventh Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Acts 7:55-60 | Rev 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 | Jn 17:20-26 Just a week before the Pentecost the theme of unity reechoes in today’s gospel reading of the highly priestly prayer of our Lord: ” Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one” In this...
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ICCH Bulletin of May 22, 2022
May 22, 2022 Sixth Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 | Rev 21:10-14, 22-23 | Jn 14:23-29 For seven times seven days we celebrate what happened at the Easter Vigil. We need this long time not least to reflect on the diverse, often disparate Easter stories in the Bible. And their polyphony is no wonder. For if what is confessed in the original formulas of the Christian creed and what...
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ICCH Bulletin of May 1, 2022
May 1, 2022 Third Sunday of Easter Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41 | Rev 5:11-14 | Jn 21:1-19 […] There are many stories about the search for the treasure of life. And they all say: Whoever wants to win this treasure must set out, engage in the unknown, in adventure. And at the same time, he must never be deceived into thinking that something he has found is already this treasure. Even...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 24, 2022
April 24, 2022 Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Acts 5:12-16 | Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19 | Jn 20:19-31 These days we celebrate Easter - the resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection is the greatest miracle we Christians know. […] This is precisely the way God has always done and continues to do miracles: not by intervening from above, but by transforming from within the one who needs the miracle and...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 17, 2022
April 17, 2022 Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of the Lord Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43 | Col 3:1-4 | Jn 20:1-9 Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad,...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 10, 2022
April 10, 2022 Palm Sunday Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Is 50:4-7 | Phil 2:6-11 | Lk 22:14—23:56 “Let us go together to meet Christ on the Mount of Olives. Today he returns from Bethany and proceeds of his own free will toward his holy and blessed passion, to consummate the mystery of our salvation. He who came down from heaven to raise us from the depths of sin, to raise us with himself, we...
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ICCH Bulletin of April 3, 2022
April 3, 2022 Fifth Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Is 43:16-21 | Phil 3:8-14 | Jn 8:1-11 The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah and this section begins with a brief recollection of all the great things the Lord had done for the Israelites, but it quickly moves to the present and we are told; “See, I am doing something new!” The reading goes on to describe how the beautiful and...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 27, 2022
March 27, 2022 Fourth Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Jos 5:9a, 10-12 | 2 Cor 5:17-21 | Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 Coming to his senses he thought, “How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 20, 2022
March 20, 2022 Third Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 | 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 | Lk 13:1-9 Th[e] conversion to being set on fire by God’s concern for his people is also at the heart of the Gospel. To prepare the ground for understanding the parable of the barren fig tree, Luke reports how Jesus reacts to the news of a particularly cruel bloodbath by the Roman governor in...
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ICCH Bulletin of March 6, 2022
March 6, 2022 First Sunday of Lent Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Dt 26:4-10 | Rom 10:8-13 | Lk 4:1-13 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1–2a What a painful experience for Jesus. If you really think about this, it can be difficult to understand…at least at first. Jesus, the Son of...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 27, 2022
February 27, 2022 Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Sir 27:4-7 | 1 Cor 15:54-58 | Lk 6:39-45 [Jesus Sirach] is a wisdom teacher. He stands on the shoulders of the bodily experiences of his ancestors and their testimonies. King Solomon is the most famous among them. Generations before him wrote down what they experienced and suffered in their dealings with their kind, with our kind. How they became wise from...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 20, 2022
February 20, 2022 Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: 1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 | 1 Cor 15:45-49 | Lk 6:27-38 This gospel just heard brings us to the crucial point to our life as christians. All that Jesus says hits us a blow over our head. We all know and make, needless to say, almost day by day, the experience, the hurtful experience that violence, egoism and revenge rule...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 13, 2022
February 13, 2022 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Jer 17:5-8 | 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20 | Lk 6:17, 20-26 ###”Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” […] For the most part, beatitudes were an ancient formula that encouraged people to do good. For instance, in our Responsorial Psalm we read, “Blessed is the one who does not take the wicked for his guide, nor...
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ICCH Bulletin of February 6, 2022
February 6, 2022 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Is 6:1-2a, 3-8 | 1 Cor 15:1-11 | Lk 5:1-11 How do we respond when God asks us to do a seemingly impossible task? We can learn a lesson from the Old Testament and Gospel readings for today. Isaiah has a vision of the Lord in which the angels cry out “Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 30, 2022
January 30, 2022 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Jer 1:4-5, 17-19 | 1 Cor 12:31—13:13 | Lk 4:21-30 Contemplating the scriptural readings of today we are able to perceive how God manifests His Divine love in a very personal way. Through the incarnation in Jesus Christ, God came to dwell among us. What great love God has for us, that He set aside His divinity, took human form upon Himself,...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 23, 2022
January 23, 2022 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 | 1 Cor 12:12-30 | Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Nehemiah 8 describes the transformation process that God repeatedly calls us to our whole life long. On their return from exile in Babylon, the people find the Jerusalem temple in ruins, the city in disrepair. They are not welcomed by those residing there. Ezra, a priest-scribe, brought the law to...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 16, 2022
January 16, 2022 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Is 62:1-5 | 1 Cor 12:4-11 | Jn 2:1-11 Although the Church’s annual cycle of worship began with Advent, some six weeks ago, today’s readings re-launch the Church into the “ordinary time” of the year following our celebration of the Advent and Christmas seasons. They do so on a note of joyful missionary zeal: the first reading from Isaiah conveys a sense...
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ICCH Bulletin of January 9, 2022
January 9, 2022 The Baptism of the Lord Welcome Father Martin Today’s Readings: Is 42:1-4, 6-7 or Is 40:1-5, 9-11 | Acts 10:34-38 or Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7 | Lk 3:15-16, 21-22 We have just celebrated at Christmas the arrival of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. The incarnation of Jesus implies that he had to learn everything as we do, without being able to spare himself any process of growth. He learned to walk hand...
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Our program for the seasons of Advent and Christmas
You are invited to join us at ICCH in worship and more at the following times: December 3 Sunday Mass, followed by Social Gathering December 10 Sunday Mass December 17 Sunday Mass December 24 Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent (no Christmas Vigil in English) December 25 Christmas Mass December 31 Sunday Mass (Holy Family) January 1 Mass on the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God January 6 Mass on the Epiphany January 7...