Oro Valley Catholic

The Scarlet Letter - The Wheat And The Weeds

Matthew 13 has Our Lord's parables about the kingdom of heaven being a sower sowing seed. In one story, weeds grow up among the weeds. Should they be destroyed? Jesus and the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne question the wisdom of bringing final judgment to Plymouth Colony and the world.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072323.cfm
Music by St. Mark Choir - "Adoramus te Christi" by St. Mark Choir pursuant to One License Annual License w/Podcasting # A-726294

The Furries And The Sower Of Seed

'Furry' is a term that describes that role play anthropomorphized animal character (fursona) with that serves as there identity and avatar within the community. What makes is so hard for people to hear the Gospel of the Crucified Christ? Well, look at all the ways people are disconnected from the reality of human existence by any number of difficult circumstances. This week on OVC - the sower of seeds and the Furries.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071623.cfm
Music: "I sing of love unknown" by St. Mark Choir pursuant to One License Annual License w/Podcasting # A-726294

Self-Creation, the Gospel and Humility

Tara Isabella Burton's new book, "Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians" explores the western concept of the self-made person. Hollywood celebrity culture and internet influencers are examined. Burton argues that people still believe in God, but have relocated the divine to within themselves. Christ offers a different perspective that has the advantage of being real and true. We bear his yoke or we are lost. Increasingly, Americans are wandering into chaos, but we don't have to. More on this week's OVC.
Readings for the 14th Sunday of OT: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070923.cfm
Music by St. Mark choir under license from One License annual license for podcasting.

Chaos, the Cross and Baptism

On the Second Day of Creation, God separated the waters by inserting a dome between them so that Creation of life and the human could take place. By Chapter seven of Genesis, God regrets this and opens the floodgates of chaos. When we are baptized we are baptized into Christ's death and called to support the work of the Church to hold back the waters of chaos. The 13th Sunday of Ordinary time this week on OVC.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070223.cfm
Music: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581 (Mozart) by Musicians from Marlboro is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

”The Women Come And Go Speaking Of Michelangelo” - T.S. Eliot

This week on OVC I speak about the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, human sin and the T.S. Eliot poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock
Readings for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the Solemn Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062523.cfm
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062423-Day.cfm
Music: William Byrd - Civitas Sancti Tui by The Tudor Consort is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 International License.
COMPOSER: William Byrd

Eating And Drinking Your Way To Heaven

Orvieto, Italy is the shrine to a Eucharistic miracle from 1263 - the relic is a bloody corporal. The Feast of Corpus Christi is rooted there as are various Eucharistic hymns composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Why is the Eucharist the "source and summit" of faith, tune into OVC and hear about the miraculous, everyday, supernatural Eucharist.
Readings for Corpus Christi: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061123.cfm
Music by the St. Mark Choir pursuant to One License Annual License w/Podcasting, A-726294

Atheism, Agnosticism, Theism And The Most Holy Trinity

Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there
and proclaimed his name, "LORD."Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity." Ex. 34.
Dr. Steven Hawkings, the atheist and cosmologist defended his atheism as follows:
"We are such insignificant creatures on a minor planet of a very average star on the outer suburbs of one of a hundred thousand million galaxies. So it is difficult to believe in a God that would care about us or even notice our existence."
Later he said, "What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?" Still, as from the beginning of time, the answer is a who, not a what - this week on OVC.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060423.cfm
Music: "I sing of Love Unknown" by St. Mark Choir under One License
Annual License w/Podcasting, A-726294

Christ In 10,000 Places - Pentecost

How would you describe yourself? We should be able to do that as we know ourselves intimately. Or do we? "Jesus stood up and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.” He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified." John 7 How to think about the modern self this week in OVC.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052823-Day.cfm
Music: "Holy God we praise they name" by St. Mark Choir under One License Annual License w/Podcasting, A-726294 for Aug 10, 2019 - Aug 09, 2020.

Miracles Are Doors Out Of This World - The Ascension

The Feast of the Ascension. Miracles, like the Resurrection and the Ascension, are doors out of this world. Dr. Peter Kreeft, Ph.D, professor of Philosophy at Boston College and a prolific writed wrote. "When you think about it logically, there are two and only two philosophies of life. For either there are or there are not doors in the walls of the world. Either there is Nothing or Something outside Plato’s Cave. That sounds very abstract and philosophical. Let me make it very concrete. Two people are walking down a street together. There is an old stone wall on their left, too high to see over. As they approach an intersection, the sidewalk and the wall curve around to their left. As they approach the curve, the first walker is absolutely certain that when they turn the corner they will not see an angel walking through the wall. The second walker is not. Which walker are you? Which would you like to be? Kreeft, Peter. Doors in the Walls of the World: Signs of Transcendence in the Human Story (p. 8). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.
Well, who do you want to be? The readings for the Ascension are found here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052123-Ascension.cfm
Music: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581 (Mozart) by Musicians from Marlboro is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

A Royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation

All through Easter, the second reading has been drawn from 1 Peter reminding us of God's call to each of us. The First Letter of Peter 3, "Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope..." What it means to dwell in God, this week on OVC.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051423.cfm
Music: 1 - Ave Regina Cælorum – Peter Philips (1560-1628) by St. Mark Choir under One License Annual License w/Podcasting, A-726294