Ephraim

by David Lins  |  10/24/2021  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

This Sunday’s First Reading ends with the line, “For I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my first born.”

Pop quiz! Who (or what) in the world is “Ephraim?” If you know. Well done.
If you don’t—do something about it.

Step One: Stop blaming the priests and deacons who do their best to provide challenging, educational, original, and timely homilies each week. If they don’t touch on Ephraim, it is because there were other aspects of the readings that they felt compelled and inspired to preach on.

(Note: I did not say they do their best to be “uplifting.” That is appropriate some of the time, but not all of the time. If you’ve ever had a direct report, you know your primary responsibility wasn’t to make them feel good, it was to help them succeed. That isn’t always the same thing. A great pastor recognizes this and is less concerned with you always feeling great on earth and more concerned with helping you find your way to heaven.)

Step Two: Prepare yourself for Mass by reading the readings in advance. Discovering their deeper meaning and context.

You can join us every Monday in Room One of the Parish Hall (10AM-11AM) where we learn from Dr. Brant Pitre about the coming Sunday’s readings. Complete with study guides, we dive into the cultural and historical context, discovering the links between the readings.

If you can’t make that, you can listen to (or read) short reflections from Scott Hahn at https://stpaulcenter.com/ studies-tools/sunday-bible-reflections/

Step Three: You can arrive to Mass 5-10 minutes early and ask the Lord to open your heart to what He has to say to you. Ask the Lord to give you the ears to hear.

In the end, claiming it is solely the preacher’s job to educate you is a cop-out.

We must take responsibility for our Faith and prepare for Sunday Mass like it is the most important hour of our week...because it is.