Oro Valley Catholic

Mary, Mother Of God, Hammer Of The Mythic World

The village atheist is right - I don't believe in the gods of myth either. The Uranian gods, the Titans, the Olympians, Marduk, Tiamat and the Avengers. None of them exist. God exist only in the now - there is no time or space in God - he is not part of Creation. Learn more about Mary's smackdown of the mythic gods this week in Oro Valley Catholic.
The readings for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God and the Epiphany can be found here:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010122.cfm
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010222.cfm
Music provided by the St. Mark Festival Choir pursuant to One License # A-726294

Christmas and the New Age

Gnosticism is the ancient foe of Christ. God revealed himself publicly and sent out apostles to publicly preach the good news. Angels publicly announced the birth of the Messiah. God came not to help us escape bodily existence, but to raise our tortured human world into Divine life. That is the message of Christmas forcibly preached by St. Ireneaus. Still, the heresy of gnosticism remains, entrapping human freedom in the tiny prison of our minds aided by secret knowledge and shadowy elites.
The readings for Christmas can be found here:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122521-dawn.cfm
Music provided by the St. Mark Festival Choir pursuant to One License # A-726294

Bethlehem - Ephratha - Rachel and the Virgin Mother

Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin - to two last born sons of Jacob and Rachel, the wife of his heart. Explore the connections between Rachel's son Joseph and Mary's Son Jesus and Rachel's son Benjamin, her youngest, and her son, the Beloved Disciple.
Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121921.cfm
O Come All Ye Faithful by Roger McGuinn is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Hookup Culture - Ritual And Grace

"Hookup culture is about much more than the quest for pleasure. It offers an easy way out of real communication and lasting relationships. It also teaches us to treat each other as objects for personal satisfaction. Even those who reject the hookup culture can still be negatively affected by it and develop poor habits of relating to others." Timothy O'Malley, Off the Hook
What does studying the ritual of Catholic Marriage have to offer people caught up in the Hook Up Culture? Passion, tempered by virtue and infused with Grace! Today in Oro Valley Catholic, Fr. John discusses marriage and the hook up culture.
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121221.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 Immaculate Conception in Scripture - Our nature’s solitary boast

In 1822 William Wordsworth, the famous romantic poet wrote "The Virgin", about our Blessed Lady:
The Virgin
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied.
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
But is the Immaculate Conception in Scripture. The answer is obviously yes according to how the early Church Fathers read and understood Genesis, John, Luke, Acts and Revelation, not to mention St. Paul in Romans and 1 Corinthians.
Music by the great Gina McCann and Russ Ronnebaum pursuant to One License # A-726294.

The Zombie Apocalypse and Advent

As religious practice declines the culture tells religious stories in distorted ways. The proliferation of zombie movies in that last two decades showcases dehumanized creatures, devoid of meaning, endlessly and mindlessly consuming and can only be destroyed, ironically, by destroying the organ of meaning - the brain. As the culture of death gains steam, the capacity to understand the meaning of life, absent consuming, declines.
The readings for the First Sunday of Advent: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112821.cfm
Music: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Clive is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

The Secular World And Christ The King

“A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.” ― Czeslaw Milosz
The Feast of Christ the King was proclaimed by St. Piux XI in response to the rise of nationalism before and after the First World War. The bloody, cruel and brutal events of the 20th century would prove him prescient. What happens when government has no fear of judgment. In John's Gospel, Jesus is tried by Rome, a government:
"So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." John 18
Readings for Christ the King: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112121.cfm
Art:
Medallion with Christ from an Icon Frame
ca. 1100
Byzantine
This medallion of Christ is from a group of twelve that once surrounded an icon of the archangel Gabriel. The medallions may have been sent as a gift from the Byzantine court to the neighboring Christian state of Georgia.
Music: Arthur's Dream by Nutmeg is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

Cormac McCarthy, Jesus And The End Of The World

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
“All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” 
― Cormac McCarthy, The Road
The Road, Cormac McCarthy's dismal story of post-apocalyptic destruction is just the most recent retelling of the Gospel in Mark 13.  McCarthy imagines that when all human institutions are destroyed, life become unbelievably grim - cannibals, roving armies of brigands, nothing to eat. McCarthy's writing is beautiful:
“Years later he'd stood in the charred ruins of a library where blackened books lay in pools of water. Shelves tipped over. Some rage at the lies arranged in their thousands row on row. He picked up one of the books and thumbed through the heavy bloated pages. He'd not have thought the value of the smallest thing predicated on a world to come. It surprised him. That the space which these things occupied was itself an expectation.” 
― Cormac McCarthy, The Road
In Jesus' story, the institution of the Temple will be destroyed and cosmic destruction will follow. McCarthy's story just fleshes out the prophecy of Jesus. Both Jesus’ prophecy and The Road end on a note of hope. 
“Carry the fire.” 
― Cormac McCarthy, The Road
"And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds'
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky." Mark 13
Help is Coming!
The readings for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time are found here: bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111421.cfm
Music: O Fortuna by MIT Concert Choir is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Women, Men and God In The Gospel Of Mark

God as revealed to Israel is recapitulated in the Gospel of Mark. Like a closing argument, Mark's Gospel focuses on the nature of God revealed in the passion, death and resurrection of His Son. Men and Women are also revealed in the Gospel of Mark. Take a peek at yourself!
The readings for the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110721.cfm
Music: Arthur's Dream by Nutmeg is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

Friendship With God

Jesus calls us to be his friends. Here is how a friend prays, "Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices." - Prayer of St. Theresa of Avila
The readings for the 31st Sunday are here:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103121.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.