The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent is about the people asking what they need to do to receive God's mercy. To give away half of what they possess to someone who has none is the kind of mercy John the Baptist tells them they must have. He does not tell them to give away everything. They get to keep half their stuff! Will that be enough?

Rabbi Fruithandler shares a beautiful prayer from the Talmud that it is God in first person praying that He have mercy on His people. John tells those who ask the same thing. Have mercy on the most vulnerable.

Gaudete Sunday reminds us that as we rush around "getting ready for Christmas" in the secular sense, the giving and receiving we do is born of joy and gratitude and mercy. We offer what we have trusting that what remains will be all we need. Forget the duty of “season” and remember the gift of life and salvation that is here now and is coming into the world.

Welcome with joy the gift of God’s mercy!

The readings for Second Sunday of Advent are filled with joy and hope. They speak of God's promise that the valleys will be raised up and the mountains will be lowered and the winding road of our lives will be made straight through the Gospel that preaches the love of God, neighbor and self. It brings an increase in our love in all "knowledge and all perception". Join us in this conversation about the love God has for us so that we might be complete.

Advent is the promise of God coming into the world, the promise of love fulfilled. Paul said to the Thessalonians: "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all..." This love for God and for each other will be the way we are able to raise our heads and find purpose and meaning in life. How do we find our way through the "roaring of the sea and the waves"? Abound in love for all.

"Let everything that has breath give praise to the LORD! Hallelujah!"

Psalms 145-150 are known as the Hallelujah Psalms. Through them the generations of faithful tell of God's patience, kindness and abounding mercy.

"How good to sing praise to our God; how pleasant to give fitting praise!"

It is difficult to read a passage like the one in Genesis 34 and find God’s inspiration. It is a hard story to comprehend when we believe it to be the revealed word of God and yet struggle to find any hope in it. Catholics and Jews find this one particularly vexing and would just as soon skip over it. Because it is so difficult we confront it. Rabbi Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy wrestle with the question, where is God in this?

Cain made an offering of some fruit while Abel offered the choicest of his flock. God paid heed to Abel's proper sacrifice, and when God did not pay heed to Cain's, Cain became angry and jealous. God told him all you have to do is what's right and things will be well. Instead, Cain killed his brother. He chose exile from God rather than humility. How do our envies and anger keep us out of God's sight? We talk about this and more dimensions of Cain's, and our, choices. Please join Rabbi Jason Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy on the 'From Sinai to Bethlehem' playlist in Connecting Scripture and Life Podcast.

The Transfiguration of Jesus before the eyes of Peter, James and John is a profound experience of something deeply private and immensely public. The three closest to Jesus did not understand the meaning of the theophany until the Holy Spirit in the upper room glorified Christ within them. Then the few set out and changed the world one person at a time. We do not know what Moses and Elijah spoke about with Jesus, but we believe the word of God first spoken through them is fulfilled in the resurrection of which the Transfiguration is a glimpse.

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement - a day that reveals God's great and inexhaustible forgiveness. To know there is always a way back from our wanderings off the true way is a gift from God that is for all time. Catholics understand this ritual of forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. Leviticus 16 is a beautiful chapter about return, repentance and forgiveness. Join us for this moving conversation about God's incredible love for His people.

Join us for this special podcast about Rosh Hashanah, the holiest day of the Jewish liturgical calendar. Rabbi Fruithandler shares the meaning of this special day and time of year. Click the following link that will take you to the video, Shofar 101, for Jason's teaching about the blasts of the ram's horn.

https://youtu.be/iDr53o23u14

We complete our conversations about the Commandments, the Tablets given to us from God. They are a gift for a good life for us as individuals and as a community, as a society that understands that without boundaries, with these laws we have no true freedom.