Father Denny Dempsey

First Sunday of Advent December 2, 2007

Reading 1, Isaiah 2:1-5  Isaiah received his call (recounted in Isaiah 6) while at prayer in the Temple of Jerusalem in 742 B.C., the year Uzziah, King of Judah, died. Uzziah had begun his 41-year reign as a reformer dedicated to the service of God. In his final years, pride had gotten in the way. The history of kings in both Judah and Israel had been a roller coaster ride with only a few truly faithful god-fearing men in the whole lot. Isaiah had been a scribe and had been responsible for chronicling the acts of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:22). In his concern and prayers for the future of Judah, Isaiah receives this vision. If all Jewish people, their kings included, let God be the true King, they would live in peace. With the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 and of Judah in 587, this prophesy was seen as an interpretation of a future messianic kingdom.

Christ the King Sunday November 25, 2007

Reading 1, 2 Samuel 5:1-3  David (see 2 Sam 5:4-5), now thirty seven years old, had already been king of Judah for seven and a half years. Here representatives from Israel come to anoint him as their king as well. David’s capital was at Hebron about 20 miles south of Jerusalem which he did not yet control. He proceeded to take Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5:6-8) as the new capital for the United Kingdom. It was near the border between Israel and Judah and was a neutral city, having belonged to neither country previously. For most of their reigns, Saul, David and Solomon ruled both countries at the same time as many centuries later Spain and Portugal would share the same king. After Solomon, however, the two no longer had a king in common. Sometimes they worked together as allies, while at other times they battled one another.

Readings Preview, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1, Malachi 3:19-20a  It’s easy to find the book of the prophet Malachi. It is the very last work included in the Old Testament. Although it was probably written four and a half centuries before the birth of Jesus, its message points to a new age and ends by predicting the return of Elijah, interpreted by Christians as being fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist.

Sunday readings for November 11, 2007

Reading 1, 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14  Although the Jewish feast of Hanukah resulted from the Maccabean revolution, you won’t read about it in non-Catholic Bibles. The two books of Maccabees are among the seven OT books included in the Greek Septuagint but not included in the more limited Hebrew canon. The immense territory conquered by Alexander the Great was divided among his generals, each of whom had a different manner of relating to the areas under their control. The Seleucids, whose territory included Judea, attempted to replace the culture and religion of those conquered with the Hellenistic or Greek culture. When the Jerusalem temple was converted into a pagan temple, the Maccabees family led a revolt which eventually resulted in Jewish independence. This vignette recounts the amazing conviction of a mother and her sons. Would it have been so bad for them to eat a little bit of pork and save their lives? To what extent would you be willing to compromise your faith for some worldly gains?