Sunday Sermon, November 10th -- The Maccabees, with pre-sermon note on the Sunday Obligation (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

[Pre-sermon note on the Sunday obligation, both to attend Mass as well as to rest from labor -- What circumstances excuse us from the obligation to attend Mass and what sorts of "work" violate the day of rest.]

The age of the Maccabees was a time of most intense persecution of the Jewish people by Antiochus Epiphanes, which foreshadows the great persecution of the Church at the end of time.

2 Maccabees contains many important Catholic Doctrines, including the intercession of the saints and praying for the souls in purgatory.  Martin Luther rejected this book, but there is no justification for excluding it from Scripture.

November 5th, Adult Ed Series on St Augustine's City of God, Session 13 of 16, The Book of Revelation (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

In this series which has extended over several months, we are discussing the City of God by St Augustine - certainly, one of the most important book in the history of Western Civilization.

In this session, we look to St Augustine's commentary on the Book of Revelation, with special focus on the following themes: The Beast and his Mark, the Whore of Babylon, the Thousand Years of peace, the First and Second Resurrection, etc.

Sunday Sermon, November 3rd -- Zacchaeus and the Lord, Lover of Souls (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

The story of the wee little Zacchaeus captures the Christian imagination as our Lord calls him down from the tree to reconciliation. This event is found only in St Luke's Gospel, and fits well with a number of other events and parables that are related only by St Luke (the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost prodigal son, the good samaritan, the conversion of St Mary Magdalene, etc). We consider the deeper meaning of the many details of this story, and especially the significance of this being the last personal encounter related in St Luke's Gospel prior to the beginning of Holy Week with Palm Sunday.

Zacchaeus climb the sycamore tree, but the Lord Jesus would climb the wood of the Cross to saved us all.

October 29th -- Adult Ed Series on the City of God, Session 12 of 16 - The Final Judgement (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

In this series, we are discussing The City of God by St Augustine, one of the most important and influential books in Western Civilization and in the theological vision of history and of the Church.

In this session, we begin our discussion of the final four books of the work, in which St Augustine discusses the end of time, the day of judgment, hell, and heaven.