2nd Sunday of Advent (Year C) - Luke 3: 1-6

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p⁠Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20 - 'Your peace will rest on that man.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 765 (in 'The Church - Instituted by Christ Jesus') - The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ's mission and his power, but also in his lot (abbreviated).- 2611 (in 'Jesus teaches us how to pray') - The prayer of faith consists not only in saying "Lord, Lord," but in disposing the heart to do the will of the Father. Jesus calls his disciples to bring into their prayer this concern for cooperating with the divine plan.- 2122 (in 'Irreligion') - The minister should ask nothing for the administration of the sacraments beyond the offerings defined by the competent authority, always being careful that the needy are not deprived of the help of the sacraments because of their poverty." The competent authority determines these "offerings" in accordance with the principle that the Christian people ought to contribute to the support of the Church's ministers. "The laborer deserves his food."Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pMatthew 9: 14-17 - 'When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast.'Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pMatt 9: 9-13 - 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 581 (in 'Jesus and the Law') - The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders viewed Jesus as a rabbi. He often argued within the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the Law. Yet Jesus could not help but offend the teachers of the Law, for he was not content to propose his interpretation alongside theirs but taught the people "as one who had authority, and not as their scribes" In Jesus, the same Word of God that had resounded on Mount Sinai to give the written Law to Moses, made itself heard anew on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Jesus did not abolish the Law but fulfilled it by giving its ultimate interpretation in a divine way: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old. . . But I say to you. . ."With this same divine authority, he disavowed certain human traditions of the Pharisees that were "making void the word of God"- 589 (in 'Jesus and Israel's faith in the one God and Saviour') - Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God's own attitude toward them. He went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet (abbreviated).- 2100 (in 'Sacrifice') - Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken      spirit...." The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (abbreviated).Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pJohn 20: 24-29 - 'My Lord and my God.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 644 (in 'The Appearances of the Risen One') - Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering." Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee "some doubted." Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up (abbreviated).- 645 (in 'The Condition of Christ's risen humanity') - By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion. Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm (abbreviated).- 448 (in 'Lord') - In the encounter with the risen Jesus, this title becomes adoration: "My Lord and my God!" It thus takes on a connotation of love and affection that remains proper to the Christian tradition: "It is the Lord!" (abbreviated).Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pMatthew 8: 28-34 - 'The Gadarene Swine.'Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pMatthew 8: 23-27 - 'Jesus rebuked the winds and the seas, and all was calm.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 2610 (in 'Jesus teaches us how to pray') - Jesus is as saddened by the "lack of faith" of his own neighbors and the "little faith" of his own disciples as he is struck with admiration at the great faith of the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman (abbreviated).Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pMatt 8: 18-22 - 'The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 2444 (in 'Love for the Poor') - "The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the      Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor. Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to      "be able to give to those in need." It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pMatthew 16: 13-19 - 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 424 (in 'The Good News: God has sent his son') - Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'8 On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church.- 881 (in 'The Episcopal Colleage and its head, the Pope') - The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head." This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.- 552-553 (in 'The Keys to the Kingdom') - Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Christ, the "living Stone",thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it. Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."287 The "power of the keys" designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: "Feed my sheep."288 The power to "bind and loose" connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles289 and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.- 869 (in 'The Church is Apostolic') - The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: "the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev 21:14). She is indestructible (cf. Mt 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.- 1444 (in 'Reconciliation with the Church') - In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head."Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850pLuke 2: 41-51 - 'Mary stored up all of these things in her heart.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 534 (in 'The Mysteries of Jesus' Hidden Life') - The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship: "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's work?" Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in faith. Mary "kept all these things in her heart" during the years Jesus remained hidden in the silence of an ordinary life.- 583 (in 'Jesus and the temple') - Like the prophets before him Jesus expressed the deepest respect for the Temple in Jerusalem. It was in the Temple that Joseph and Mary presented him forty days after his birth At the age of twelve he decided to remain in the Temple to remind his parents that he must be about his Father's business (abbreviated).- 503 (in 'Mary's Virginal Motherhood in God's Plan') - Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father. "He was never estranged from the Father because of the human nature which he assumed. . . He is naturally Son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally son of his mother as to his humanity, but properly Son of the Father in both natures."- 2599 (in 'Jesus Prays') - He learns to pray in the words and rhythms of the prayer of his people, in the synagogue at Nazareth and the Temple at Jerusalem. But his prayer springs from an otherwise secret source, as he intimates at the age of twelve: "I must be in my Father's house." Here the newness of prayer in the fullness of time begins to be revealed: his filial prayer, which the Father awaits from his children, is finally going to be lived out by the only Son in his humanity, with and for men (abbreviated).- 531 (in 'The Mysteries of Jesus' Hidden Life') - During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labour. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God, a life in the community. From this whole period it is revealed to us that Jesus was "obedient" to his parents and that he "increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man."Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠⁠For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p⁠Luke 15: 3-7 - 'There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner.'Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:- 545 (In 'The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God') - Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father’s boundless mercy for them and the vast “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life “for the forgiveness of sins.”- 589 (In 'Jesus & Israel's Faith in the One God & Saviour') - Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God’s own attitude toward them. He went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet (abbreviated).Got a Bible question? Send an email to [email protected], and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!