Liturgy Live

This week we talk about the readings for the 14th Sunday. In the first reading we talk about the imagery of the comforting mother that Isaiah gives us and how it prefigures our comfort being delivered from the Blessed Mother, and also our Mother the Church. In the second reading we talk about boasting in the cross of Christ. Living in Christ and bearing your sufferings has more to do with your salvation than whether or not you have been circumcised. In the Gospel we talk about how Jesus sends out the 72 elders to go out and harvest for the Lord the prepared "crops". We are both the labourers and the crop. Jesus is giving a lesson also in how to take rejection, and also how to handle rejoicing in success. Follow us on Twitter. @LiturgyLive

This week on the Podcast we talk about Discipleship and zeal. In the first reading we talk about how Elijah throws his cloak over Elisha while he is farming. This seems quite strange to our ears, but it is a call to discipleship that Elisha would have understood in his time. Elisha was allowed time to slaughter and cook the oxen and feed his people before leaving, he destroyed the temptation of ever looking back from this choice to follow Elijah. In the second reading we talk about how the political climate resembles the words of St Paul when he says if you keep biting at one another you will soon be devoured by one another. We have to be careful to not destroy each other. In the Gospel we talk about how, again in a moment of zeal, James and John are clearly wrong. The teaching this week tells us that there will be groups of people who will not welcome us because of Christ, and we are to keep moving forward and not bring down destruction upon them.

This week we discuss Gods love. Through the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ. Fr Ian talks about the thought of earning God's love as a motivation for working harder and digging deeper in life. Alanna reminds everyone that technically you can not earn God's love because He loves us perfectly from eternity and cannot love us any more than He does now. It was an interesting conversation thinking about what motivates people to work hard for their sanctification. We talk about the Priesthood of Melchizedek and the sacrifice of thanksgiving using Bread and Wine that continued through the temple eras of Judaism. We talked about the Jewish concept of remembrance in the Exodus Passover liturgy, that ties into the meaning of Christ's command of the liturgical remembrance of the Eucharistic celebration. And finally we talk about the feeding of the 5,000 as a prefigurement of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is also a communal meal.

This week on the podcast we talk about pondering the Trinity. How it is so difficult to teach the mystery of the Trinity because all examples that we try to use fail. Trying to describe the Trinity is the easiest way to accidentally stray into heresy. We accept by faith and ponder the mystery, and allow it to inform and inspire us. The first reading we talk about how Christ is created wisdom, and how in the mystery and wonder of creation he delights in us. Even in our brokenness. God sees that we are searching for Him even if we are looking in the wrong places. In the second reading we discussed the Theological Virtues of Faith Hope and Love, and how it is a continual process. Suffering creates endurance, this process helps us understand the hope and can finally see the Love that the Holy Spirit has poured into our lives. In the gospel section we discuss how the Holy Spirit informs our hearts and minds, we are not alone in the Church.

The waiting period is over and the apostles receive the gift promised! So too, do we receive the Holy Spirit, especially in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. This week on the podcast we talk about how not all experiences with the Holy Spirit are dramatic, some feel like nothing, but we can trust in the power of the grace transmitted in the sacraments. We discuss how the Jewish feast of Pentecost was a celebration of Moses receiving the law on Mount Sinai, and how the new Pentecost is the celebration of the apostles receiving the law of the New Covenant, written on their hearts by the Holy Spirit. We discuss the differences in the Charismatic movement and the contemplative live and the influence of St John of the Cross. The conclusion of that discussion was that our end goal is unity with God, and if those spiritual ways of life become the end, they become corrupted.

This week on the podcast we discuss a lot about waiting for the Holy Spirit. Discussing the first reading we ponder the Ascension from the perspective of the Apostles. How did they feel? What were they going through? We discuss how hard discernment is, and how hard it is to wait for the Holy Spirit to act. We discuss the gifts given by the Holy Spirit "so that we may know". We, as humans, have spiritual amnesia, God is always giving His people gifts so that they will "know" Him. This ties into the discernment of spirits and how silence is so important to open the "eyes of our hearts" so that we can come to know God. In discussing the Gospel we go back to the topic of Discernment in daily life and in direction of life in general. How do we know what God wants from us?

This week on the Liturgy Live Podcast we talk about the fulfilment of the prophesy of Amos with the inclusion of the Gentiles into the church without Old Covenant necessities. We discuss that there is a difference between some of the laws in the OT that are covenant based, which are erased by the new covenant in Christ, and the laws that are based in Natural Law that can never be changed. We then go into the idea of contemplating Heaven from our second reading in Revelation. Fr Ian suggests in the Easter season we should be contemplating our heavenly destination. The Gospel takes us into the correlation of loving God and being obedient to Him. The Holy Spirit is sent to those who love Him and keep his commandments.

This week on the podcast we talk about how in the first reading, Peter is no longer under the authority of the Sanhedrin. He is in the Spirit and has the courage to face the punishment that comes from proclaiming the Gospel. We talk about fear of being publicly Christian and how we can process that fear, Imagine and explore the fear, analysing it, and then turning it over the Christ in the Jesus prayer. In the second reading we talk about how the entirety of creation is worshipping the Lamb, and the One who sits on the throne. We touch on the importance of numbers in Salvation History and the Book of Revelation. Then we move to the Gospel and explore Jesus' asking Simon (Peters given name) if he loves him. Jesus accepts the imperfect love of Peter and gives him his mission.

This week on Liturgy Live we talk about the closing of Lent and the finishing of the race. That we do not enter Easter rested, we enter Easter exhausted and tested. The first reading we go into the Preaching of Peter to the Gentiles and how important it is for us to hear this Kergyma, Gospel, like we are coming to church for the first time. The Holy Spirit has the power to move hearts this Sunday and we need to pray that He does. Going into the second reading we discuss the responsibility we have to keep our minds on Christ and on the things that are above. That some reject Christ because they do not want this responsibility to change how they think, and then change how they act. In the Gospel we talk about John waiting for Peter and how it is a allegory of the mystical/contemplative life in the church arriving at faith first but having to be patient for the Magisterium and it's teaching.

This week on the podcast we go over the entrance into Jerusalem and the problem of suffering in our faith life. How our Baptism, or conversion, is a joyful entrance in to the life of faith, but it is the suffering of the cross that is our path to unity with God. In the reading from Isaiah we discuss the prophesy fulfilled in Christ and how Jesus knew he wouldn't be put to shame, at the same time as the world viewed it as shame. Our perceptions in the world are twisted and the understanding from eternity is what we need to look for. Book suggestion this week is "Consoling the Heart of Jesus" by Fr Michael Gaitley.