House Notes
1. We have Protestants in the group and sometimes members make unintentionally derogatory comments. Of course, differences must be explained but please be thoughtful and let’s use “non-Catholics” when making generalized statements.
2. The notes/recaps from our meetings are posted on our Catholic Catacombs Light website https://catholiccatacombs.wixsite.com/website/blog.
3. Remember that knowing Jesus Christ means being able to better relate to God. Check out The Chosen at https://thechosen.link/1Y1R7.
4. If you have questions about anything, you can email Ron at ron@hallagan.net.
Bible Study Format
Week 1: Oct 5 – Gospel for the upcoming Sunday Mass
Week 2: Sept 14 – Bible Narrative Exegesis: Noah & the Ark
Week 3: Sept 21 – Topic of Choice – Jesus’ Great Parables: The Two Lost Sons and the Prodigal Father
Week 4: Sept 28 – Open Mic – format TBD
Bible Study Format
Week 1: Oct 5 – Gospel for the upcoming Sunday Mass
Week 2: Sept 14 – Bible Narrative Exegesis: Noah & the Ark
Week 3: Sept 21 – Topic of Choice – Jesus’ Great Parables: The Two Lost Sons and the Prodigal Father
Week 4: Sept 28 – Open Mic – format TBD
10 Min Exegesis of the Mass
Week Three – Parable: Two Lost Sons and the Prodigal Father
Opening Prayer – intentions 7:05-7:10
Lord, you promised that when two or three of us are gathered in your name, you are there,
Well, we are here – multiples of 2 or 3, asking your blessings to be poured out
upon those for whom we have asked for your healing tonight...
– intentions –
Lord, bless the world with its many troubles so that your healing presence is felt especially
by those who are hurting, frightened, or meeting the end of this life.
Lord, we also ask for your blessings on all of us here tonight. Bless our lives, bless our work, bless our families, bless our friends,
and most of all, bless our relationship with you.
We also ask you to guide us in our understanding of our Antediluvian Patriarch, Noah, and the Flood.
Give us the meaning and truth that you wish for us to have from this incredible story of antiquity.
And, just as we pray at the start of each Mass, we pray together:
T
The Confiteor
I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do – through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
The Jewish faith was the faith of Jesus and so Jewish history is our history. It is useful to see the religious holidays they still celebrate.
Sept 15-16: Yom Kippur: Holiest day of the year. “Day of Atonement” commemorates the golden calf at Sinai.
Sept 20-27: Sukkot: Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths). 7 days of “living in booths” to commemorate when God provided sukkah (booths) for them to live in the wilderness. One of the three Biblically-mandated pilgrimage festivals (not since AD70).
10 Minute Journeys through The Mass: “The Source and Summit of Christian Life” – CCC #1324-27 9:10-9:20
1) The Sign of the Cross – we invite the Holy Trinity into ourselves and into our gathered community.
2) The Lord Be With You, And With Your Spirit – Jesus and the Holy Spirit are specifically interacting in the Mass, especially to bring the presence (incarnation) of Jesus into the Eucharist so we can receive Him personally.
3) Confiteor – in our preparation for our encounter with God, we confess our sins to Him and to each other.
The Confiteor (continued)
Last week, we discussed examples of how in both the OT and NT the people of God took preparatory steps for their encounters with God from ritual baths to confessing their sins, to washing their garments. Similarly, when we go to Mass are also called to prepare ourselves for this encounter. Yet our meeting with God is more profound than in ancient times, for we are not only entering into the midst of the Holy Trinity’s presence, but we will be having a One-on-One encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
Therefore, as in Biblical tradition, the priest invites us to “prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries” by humbly confessing our sins publicly before almighty God and the congregation.
Q: It’s easy to understand why we would confess our sins to God, but why to one another?
Because when we sin, we don’t just sin against God, we hurt others; and the hurt we cause often ripples beyond them. Remember, we are not separate from others, we are connected. “Separate” feels good for the ego, where we can be whatever we want to be and not be bothered; but such autonomy describes the Fall of Man – separate and divided. We are one human community, beginning with our own families, our communities, our work, and the “community of saints” (all of us who were baptized in Christ), and the rest of humanity who has been invited. Jesus enabled the Holy Spirit to come to us, and the Holy Spirit’s goal is to reunify humans – to themselves and God. The Fall of Man was/is the opposite of that.
So when we seek forgiveness, it isn’t just between us and God, it’s between us and all others. As written in the book of James:
“Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous man has great power to avail. – James 5:16.
Q: Who was the author of the Book of James?
James – the brother-relative of Jesus whom Paul called one of the three “pillars” of the Church (along with Peter and John) – is also called James the Less (apostle) and James the Just. He participated in the commissioning of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, he was considered the first bishop of the Church as he was the leader of the Christian Community in Jerusalem from AD42-AD62, and he presided over the Council of Jerusalem in AD51. He was martyred (stoned to death) by the Temple priests under high priest Ananus II, in AD62.
Next week: in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.
Parable: Two Lost Sons and the Prodigal Father (or The Prodigal Son) Luke 15:11-32
Context:
Jesus has been hanging with bad people.
Sharing a meal was a traditional sign of friendship and reconciliation. Therefore, to the Pharisees, Christ appeared to be accepting of sinners, and they complained, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2)
In response to this, Jesus tells them several parables that get to the heart of the Gospel itself: God’s limitless mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Also called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother, and the Parable of the Merciful Father,
Q: How can the younger son and the father both be called prodigal?
Prodigality – 1) wasteful extravagance in spending; 2) lavish abundance – prodigious.
In both cases, there is extravagance. The son’s extravagance is wasteful spending. The father’s extravagance is excessive love.
Jesus’ story becomes his most famous parable ever.
Because of who is telling the parable, we must be attentive to its deeper meaning – at several levels: not only in the words themselves, but how the story relates to his audience, how it relates to humanity’s quest for ultimate happiness and to God’s quest to bring us there, and how it might relate to us, personally.
During and after we read this parable, we should be asking:
- Who really is the younger, rebellious son?
- What is the distant country he goes to?
- Who is the older brother?
- Who is the father?
- What is the father’s home?
Luke 15:11-32
Jesus said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.
Not many days later, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
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 arise and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
So he arose and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.
He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’
He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
Let’s start at the beginning. In those days, people lived in small, compact villages called insulas and went out to work on their farms.
These insulas were made up of family members and close relatives and everyone knew each other well. Children grew up around their grandpas, grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as other neighbors. To understand this story in the proper context, we have to know that it took place in front of a watching community of family, relatives, and neighbors.
By the time Jesus arrives on the scene, the rules for inheritance in Jewish culture had been established for over a thousand years. The request (demand? “Give me”) from the younger son to receive his inheritance ahead of time would have shocked and disgusted his audience.
Q: The son may just as well have wished his father dead. Why?
Because that’s when inheritances were normally transacted – at the father’s death. Jesus’ audience would have seen the son’s request as a huge disrespect toward his father.
What would have been just as shocking was that the father agreed to it!
Q: Yet, there was one thing that was worse than the son demanding his inheritance and the father giving it to him. What was it?
The text says in Luke 15:13, “Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had.” The language implies that the son moved quickly and sold his inheritance, split the family farm, turned it into cash, and got out of the village as quickly as possible.
In those days, land was an extension of the family – in fact, it was part of the Promised Land. Where else would one go? The norm was that once you received your inheritance, you took possession of the land and continued to build your family, and your children’s families, on it. In this case, he cashed out and left town.
Q: What is the meaning of “a distant country”?
The secular world. A place/life where God isn’t. The self-indulgent young man leaves God for “greener pastures,” where he violates every good thing he ever learned.
By his selfish choices, he cuts himself off from his upbringing, his family, his future, from everyone who mattered. The son disowns himself.
According to Jewish custom, this young man would be disowned by the community. A ceremony called “Kezazah” (cutting off) would be performed if a Jewish boy lost his inheritance to a Gentile (which is what he is doing) and he would not be allowed to return or ever have anything to do with the community.
So far, we have learned how unusual and unthinkable it was for the son to ask for something that would cause so much pain and humiliation for him and his family.
We have also learned how impossible – and God-like – it was for the father to go ahead and grant the request.
However, in the process, the relationship between the father and the son is broken and his reputation in the community – at least to Jesus’s Jewish audience – is irreparably damaged.
Q: How does this part of the story compare to the Fall of Man?
God gives mankind free will, and mankind uses it to sell his inheritance, abandon God, and leave for a distant country. How long did the good feelings last?
The suffering of the world is the famine that accompanied our choice. Because we uniquely have spiritual and material natures, the “famine” strikes both.
In distancing himself from his father, the younger son initially felt the exuberance of misguided liberty. Many of us have felt, or experienced, this exuberance at some point in our lives: breaking free from authority and responsibility to be all on our own, answering only to ourselves.
Q: Does this remind you of our current times in any way?
Our secular world seems to believe that this is the definition of freedom: to be able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want. In truth, freedom means accepting responsibility all by ourselves to do the right thing – because it is the right thing to do, regardless of the cost to us. Freedom is choosing to love, knowing full well that real love requires sacrifice. Freedom is not cheap, nor free.
“When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed." (Luke 15:14-16)
Jews were not allowed to eat pork. The fact that the prodigal son not only lived with the pigs, but longed to eat their food would have further disgusted Jesus’ audience. Moreover, living among the pigs signifies a defilement of our appearance (exterior), while wanting to eat their food illustrates defilement within.
Q: If we study the sinful conditions of this young man, what characteristics might be discerned?
1. Exile. From God, from others, from community.
2. Suffering. Physical/spiritual famine.
3. The sense of unworthiness from betrayal. One with the swine – “I can’t go any lower.”
Metanoia/Repentance – change of mind and heart.
“I shall arise and go to my father and I shall say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
Q: How do you think the Jewish community will judge the prodigal son?
They already would have cut him off. Jesus’ audience is already thinking the same thing.
Would we have been any different?
“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
The embrace of the father seems unjust. However, this does not stop the father—who has been looking out for his lost son—from running out to embrace him.
It appears the father was looking out for him. Almost anticipating him. To the Jewish audience, this be highly inappropriate – not to speak of running out to greet him.
His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
His father doesn’t even listen to him but is overwhelmed with joy. Notice the ring the father gave the son was a signet ring bearing the family crest. By allowing the son to wear this ring, the father is inviting him back into his home as part of his family.
"Now the older son … became angry, and when he refused to enter the house1, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you2 and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son3 returns…”
1 The younger son has been readmitted into the house – the kingdom – but notice how now the older son is outside the kingdom and refuses to come in.
2 Serving God is good – in fact, Paul says he is a slave to Christ. But a relationship with God – which comes by faith – must precede service. What is the older son’s relationship with the father? Is it based on love? It doesn’t seem so. Service without faith/relationship is like trying to earn heaven all on your own – and it will leave you outside.
3 The older son doesn’t refer to his brother, he calls him “your son.” Where did we hear this kind of thing before? Recall when God asked Adam why he ate from the tree, he said “the woman who you gave to me gave me the fruit….” Adam not only blames the woman, he blames God for giving him the woman. The older brother blames the brother and the father. When we are in “cover your butt” mode, notice how we will sometimes throw those who are closest to us under the bus.
Recap/discussion
Q: Who really is the younger, rebellious son?
1) The Gentiles 2) Us
Q: What is the distant country he goes to?
The secular world
Q: Who is the older brother?
1) The Pharisees 2) Us
Q: Who is the father?
God
Q: What is the father’s home?
The Kingdom of Heaven
Closing Prayer
Gracious God, In the busy-ness of my day,
We sometimes forget to stop to thank you for all that is good in my life.
My blessings are many and my heart is filled with gratefulness for the gift of living,
for the ability to love and be loved, for the opportunity to see the everyday wonders of creation,
for sleep, for the sun, for water, for a mind that thinks and a body that feels.
I thank you, too, for those things in my life that are less than I would hope them to be –
things that seem challenging, unfair, or difficult.
When my heart feels stretched and empty, and tears form in my weary eyes,
still I rejoice that you are as near to me as my next breath and that in the midst of turbulence, I am growing and learning.
In the silence of my soul, I thank you most of all for your unconditional and eternal love.
Amen
Wisdom Prayer
O Divine Wisdom and eternal Word of the Father,
I humbly ask you, by your grace,
to purge all harmful and unprofitable words from my mind and lips,
so that my mouth may never open but to the benefit of others,
and to your praise and honor. Amen..
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