Sunday Readings in Context: Year C - Advent to Pentecost

By Chris Oliver

A short note - no more than 250 words - gives the context for each Sunday's Scripture readings in the Roman Catholic Lectionary - who, why, and for whom.

This volume contains notes for the Sundays and principal feasts in Year C from Advent 2015 to Pentecost 2016.

Similar volumes for Years A and B have already been published. The final volume with notes for Year C from Trinity Sunday 2016 to Christ the King 2016 will be published in 2016.

The notes may be freely reproduced in parish newsletters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Oliver
• Release date: Nov 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310214677

Chris Oliver

I am married with four grown children and seven grandchildren. We have moved around several parishes in England - a good way to explore this lovely country.I have been involved in contributing to and leading Bible Groups for over 20 years, and the more I read the more fascinating the Bible becomes.For these groups I found a digest of thoughts from many different commentaries prompted interesting discussions."Sunday Readings in Context" started in 2013 when I realised I knew nothing about the first readings from the Old Testament, and often received little help towards making sense of them from the priest's homily. Few priests studied the Old Testament before ordination. So I started contributing a short note to our parish newsletter - and it has grown ever since.Gradually the notes were consolidated into ebooks. Six altogether, appearing every 6 months. These were later combined into one ebook covering the full three year cycle.Before each Sunday I revise the note for the coming Sunday, now including a comment on the psalm, for inclusion in several church newsletters. The ebooks are revised from time to time, becoming available to earlier buyers.I hope you find them helpful. Comments welcome!

Book preview

Sunday Readings in Context

Year C – Advent to Pentecost

Notes on the Sunday Scripture Readings in Catholic churches

By Chris Oliver

Copyright © 2015 Chris Oliver

Smashwords Edition

Revised 2nd May 2016

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover Design by Debbie Oliver

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for use in parish newsletters or brief quotes for use in reviews.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

See details of other books by Chris Oliver

***

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Advent

Chapter 2 – Christmas Season

Chapter 3 – Ordinary Time Part 1

Sundays 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Chapter 4 – Lent

Chapter 5 – Easter Season

Appendix 1: The Roman Catholic Lectionary

Appendix 2: Precedence of Feast Days

Introduction

Since the introduction of the revised Lectionary after Vatican II there are three readings from Scripture during each Sunday Mass. These are normally from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and one of the Gospels.

This book contains a short note on the context of these Scripture readings – the when, why, how, where, who by and who for. It is hoped that this will help hearers better understand what they are hearing. The notes are based on a wide range of Bible commentaries and several translations.

While Catholics may be fairly familiar with the Gospels, most are unfamiliar with the Old Testament, which was never read during Sunday Mass before Vatican II. And often priests, perhaps also less familiar with the Old Testament, base their homilies mostly on the New Testament readings, especially the Gospel. So the significance of the first reading, which always relates to that day’s Gospel, may be missed.

The second readings, from the New Testament, would also often benefit from being placed in context. There are many examples where being aware of why Paul was writing, or what came before or after the excerpt being read, can help the hearer to make more sense of the reading.

Even with the Gospels, apparently so familiar, some indication of what has gone before, or of the writer’s community, can aid understanding.

Each note covers all three of the readings for that Sunday,