Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — This week we celebrate the Reformation and All Saints’ Day. These two feasts appropriately go together. Reformation celebrates the recovery of the Gospel, that sinners are justified (declared righteous) by grace alone, through faith, for Christ’s sake. This justification is what makes all saints “saints.” We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. This is the teaching of the epistle for Reformation: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law.” The Gospel for Reformation continues this theme in the words of Jesus: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). The Word of Jesus calls us to repentance and declares us righteous on account of what He has done for us in His death upon the cross. The righteousness of Christ—the forgiveness of all our sins—is received by faith alone and sets us free from the punishment and the judgment of the Law to live in the joyous freedom that only Christ’s forgiving Word can give us.CP231029

Catechesis Notes for the Week — St. James of Jerusalem, Brother of Jesus and Martyr—St. James of Jerusalem (or “James the Just”) is referred to by St. Paul as “the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19). Some modern theologians believe that James was a son of Joseph and Mary and, therefore, a biological brother of Jesus. But throughout most of the Church (historically, and even today), Paul’s term “brother” is understood as “cousin” or “kinsman,” and James is thought to be the son of a sister of Joseph or Mary who was widowed and had come to live with them. Along with other relatives of our Lord (except His mother), James did not believe in Jesus until after His resurrection (John 7:3-5; 1 Corinthians 15:7). After becoming a Christian, James was elevated to a position of leadership within the earliest Christian community. Especially following St. Peter’s departure from Jerusalem, James was recognized as the bishop of the Church in that holy city (Acts 12:17; 15:12ff). According to the historian Josephus, James was martyred in AD 62 by being stoned to death by the Sadducees. James authored the Epistle in the New Testament that bears his name. In it, he exhorts his readers to remain steadfast in the one true faith, even in the face of suffering and temptation, and to live by faith the life that is in Christ Jesus. Such a faith, he makes clear, is a busy and active thing, which never ceases to do good, to confess the Gospel by words and actions, and to stake its life, both now and forever, in the cross. (Treasury of Daily Prayer, page 841)CP231022

Catechesis Notes for the Week — St. Luke, the Evangelist — “St. Luke, the beloved physician referred to by St. Paul (Colossians 4:14), presents us with Jesus, whose blood provides the medicine of immortality. As his traveling companion, Paul claimed Luke’s Gospel as his own for its healing of souls. Luke traveled with Paul during the second missionary journey, joining him after Paul received his Macedonian call to bring the Gospel to Europe (Acts 16:10-17). Luke most likely stayed behind in Philippi for seven years, rejoining Paul at the end of the third missionary journey in Macedonia. He traveled with Paul to Troas, Jerusalem, and Caesarea, where Paul was imprisoned for two years (Acts 20:5–21:18). While in Caesarea, Luke may have researched material that he used in his Gospel. Afterward, Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:1–28:16). Especially beloved in Luke’s Gospel are the stories of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Only Luke provides a detailed account of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1-20) and the canticles of Mary (Luke 1:46-55), of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79, and of Simeon (Luke 2:29-32). To show how Christ continued His work in the Early Church through the apostles, Luke also penned the Acts of the Apostles. More than one-third of the New Testament comes from the hand of the evangelist Luke.” – Treasury of Daily PrayerCP231015

Catechesis Notes for the Week — We Bear Witness Through Our Infirmity — “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” 1 Corinthians 1:27. “Unless we are weak Christ cannot exercise His strength on us. If it were our strength and power with which we resist our enemies, we should have the glory and not Christ. But experience teaches us that we are not such as can help themselves, but God must do it. Thus God is glorified in our infirmity. The Lord Christ comforts us in that we know for certain that at times we shall be weak while our enemies are strong and boastful, but Christ wins the victory in the end. Thus God deals with us when we ourselves and all that we stand for are yielding and going to pieces before the world, when we are outwardly weak in the eyes of the world, or when each single Christian is hard-pressed, so that we are not afraid or dispirited. Here we learn that our Lord God does not jest when He feigns to be weak, but is in earnest, for He will cast down the mighty through the weak and will exalt the weak. But we must not look upon these things with the eyes of worldly reason, as is generally done, or we shall be lost. We must know that it is God’s will to overcome the mighty through the weak. We must believe this and straightway shut our eyes.” – Martin Luther   CP231008

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Holding Forth the Word of Life — “Give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). “I am often aware of temptation, and even today I cannot guard and cross myself against it too carefully. I confess this freely as an example to anyone; for here am I, an old Doctor of Theology and a preacher, and certainly as competent in Scripture as such smart alecks. At least I ought to be. Yet even I must become a child; and early each day I recite aloud to myself the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and whatever lovely psalms and verses I may choose, just as we teach and train children to do. Besides, I must deal with Scripture and fight with the devil every day. I dare not say in my heart, ‘The Lord’s Prayer is worn out; you know the Ten Commandments; you can recite the Creed.’ I study them daily and remain a pupil of the Catechism. I feel, too, that this helps me a lot, and I am convinced by experience that God’s Word can never be entirely mastered, but that Psalm 147 speaks truly, ‘His understanding is beyond measure.’” —Martin LutherCP231001