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09/07/2026

Commentary on the Readings for Sunday, September 6, 2026, the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time:

The first reading from Ezekiel 33: 7-9, presents the quintessential problem facing the both the good man and the wicked man. The good man wonders if he should risk telling the wicked man to reform his life because doing so might earn either the wrath of the wicked one who does not want to reform and/or the loss of his friendship. The wicked man must also make a choice when confronted with his evil ways. He must either look upon the correction he receives as a chance to reflect and reform his life, or keep on marching down the road to destruction (i.e., the loss of his eternal salvation).

Ezekiel is a Prophet called upon to warn the people and especially their rulers, of the wickedness of their behavior. He uses the watchman metaphor in time of war. He must blow the trumpet to warn the people before the enemy’s sword comes down upon their heads. If he does not warn the people, God will hold him accountable. If he blows the warning and it is not heeded by the wicked, then, they will be held accountable, but he will save his own soul because in this he showed his love of his neighbor.

Do we love our neighbor enough to risk the consequences to warn them? They are promoting abortion, trans-sexual and gender mythology, violence and any other number of wicked or evil choices. The warning must be charitable, but even if charitable, it might be met by raw emotion and anger. Do we love our neighbor enough to find a way to reach them?

Psalm 95 shows us the path of the happy soul, who is joyfully singing the praises of the Lord, bowing down in worship, and opening his heart to the word of the Lord. Thus, we proclaim, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

In the second reading, which is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 13: 8-10, he underscores our obligation as followers of Christ, to love one another. This injunction sums up the commandments. St. John of Avila said, “Those of you who should not think that this means you cannot enter paradise; study these two commandments, and when you have fulfilled them, realize that you have done everything laid down in the Law and the Prophets, and everything taught by the Gospel and the Apostles and whatever you are admonished to do by all the countless books that have been written, for the Lord has sent his word to us in (this) manifold form” (cf. Romans 9:28).

As St. Josemaria Escriva wisely commented: “Be convinced that justice alone is never enough to solve the great problems of mankind . . . Charity must pe*****te and accompany justice because it sweetens and defies everything: ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:16). Our motive in everything we do should be the Love of God, which makes it easier for us to love our neighbor and which purifies and raises all earthly loves on to a higher level.”

The Gospel (Matthew 18: 15-20), is all about the Lord’s call for us to work with him in love for fraternal correction, which is an obligation. Jesus identifies three stages of correction, namely, one on one, with others as witnesses and by the Church. When there is scandal or secret/private sins, we charitably try to dissuade the one ensnarled in sin with fraternal correction, always aware, however, that we too are guilty of sins. This should create a certain humility on our part, rather than a haughty sense of being better than the one we are counseling. If the person does not listen to charitably given correction, we should try an intervention with witnesses in the hope that this will result in a desire to change and reform. If this too fails, we move to the judicial stage wherein for a mortal sin, a person might be excluded from communion (i.e., excommunicated).

This is apparently difficult to do for we see even some Bishops unable to provide the fraternal correction necessary for politicians who openly support abortion and even infanticide. One can find reasons not to risk fraternal correction, but one does so at the risk of their own salvation in the case of serious sins.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090626.cfm

Audio: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-september-6-2026

09/04/2026

Commentary on the Readings for September 3, 2026, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church:

Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604) serving between 570-573 as prefect or praetor of Rome, a leading civil official. In the year 574 he renounced all his worldly goals, sold all his possessions and distributed the proceeds to the poor, but still had enough left over for the construction of seven monasteries (on family property in Sicily and one in Rome). He became a monk after the rule of St. Benedict.

Later he was called into service of the Church under Pope Pelagius II as a deacon and later as a papal ambassador to Constantinople to seek help against the Lombards who were threatening Rome. There he began his 35 volume work entitled Magna Moralia (An Extensive Consideration of Moral Questions) not completed until 595. But when Pope Pelagius died of the plague in February 590, Rome was suffering from inundation by the waters of the Tiber River, destroying the stores of the granaries, and fighting the plague then sweeping the city. Gregory, who had been serving as his chief adviser, found that he was unanimous choice of the Roman clergy, senate and people to become Pelagius’ successor. Despite his poor health, he became one of the greatest and most influential of all the popes (resulting no doubt from excessive fasting).

Gregory, who had been reluctant to become pope, wrote the Emperor Maurice requesting he withhold his consent, but to no avail. While awaiting the Emperor’s decision, Gregory called for the people to join in a vast procession from the seven hills of the city and march together with the clergy to the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin, praying all the while for pardon and relief from the plague. Thereafter the pestilence abated and conditions were transformed and the Emperor confirmed him as pope.

One of his first works as pope was to write a kind of a handbook, The Pastoral Care, setting the moral code for the conduct of bishops, which became a classic in the Middle Ages. He enforced clerical celibacy, which had been the rule for bishops, priests and deacons since the reign of pope Siricus (384-399). He was the first pope to use the phrase “ex cathedra” and boldly held the Church’s ground in disputes with the Emperor. On the other hand reflecting his own humility, Gregory habitually referred to himself as the “servant of the servants of God.” As the first monk to become pope, he did much to foster the spread of monasticism.

He used papal funds to pay for the defenses of Rome in the absence of the necessary imperial troops and twice bribed the Lombards to cease their destructive siege of the city. The first occasion was in 591, in the absence of imperial concern for Rome or local civil or military authority, he appointed regional governors, issued orders to Roman generals and negotiated a peace settlement with the Lombards. The Emperor finally sent forces but then withdrew them, forcing Gregory to again negotiate with the Lombards in 593, meeting with their warrior leader Agilulf outside the city’s gates, much as St. Leo had met with Attila the Hun. He persuaded him to lift the siege apparently in return for a promised subsidy and he alone signed the treaty.

Gregory half joking referred to himself as “the paymaster of the Lombards.” He is also given credit for influencing the Bavarian Catholic princess, Theodelinda in her decision to marry Agilulf, which led to his conversion and that of the fierce Lombards gradually in the seventh century.

But his greatest glory was his evangelizing efforts in Britain, where the Angles, Jutes and Saxons had invaded about the middle of the fifth century. There is a well-known story told by the Venerable Bede how Gregory came upon a slave dealer selling Angles, whom he said looked like angels. Years later in 595 he tasked his steward with purchasing English slave boys in Gaul, who might be future missionaries to their own land after training in monasteries Hence Gregory sent Augustine of Canterbury and his monks to Britain (40 of them) in 596. They were fearful and wanted to turn back rather than go to a strange land whose language they did not know, but the Pope encouraged them to go on and they were very successful, converting their king, Ethelbert. This was the beginning of the Church of England in Canterbury. The first great papal church was planted and the monks baptized 10,000 at Christmas in 597. Miracles assisted Augustine who was sent more priests in 601. Caesar landed in Britain with six legions, Gregory sent only 40 monks, but the apostle of England achieved far more on the eternal ledger.

If he did nothing more he would be a great Father of the Church for his writings. In Moralia, he explained the literal meaning of the Scriptures, dived into the mystical and allegorical or spiritual sense, and then explored the moral sense. It has been called a summa of dogma containing a balance between moral teaching and asceticism. His Dialogues provided sustenance to Christians for centuries to come as did his Pastoral Care for clergy. He is the most cited of all the Latin Fathers in the area of moral theology. His liturgical contributions were great, including adding the Our Father to the Mass, giving ashes to the people (previously only clergy) during Lent and He shaped the medieval papacy as a Father of the Church.

Like Gregory we live in troubled times where the moral fiber of our culture is in decline and the world is torn by conflicts. Like Gregory we must attend to our salvation and those around us or those whom we can influence by our faithful example. We too trust in the Providence of God, doing all that we can to be faithful servants. We need the spiritual milk St. Paul speaks of in the first reading and the healing Christ gives to those who approached Him in the Gospel from Luke 4:38-44. Let’s not fail to ask Him for the remedies we need with a faith like unto that of Pope St. Gregory.

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090314.cfm

Audio: http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/14_09_03.mp3

09/02/2026

Commentary on the Readings for Wednesday, September 2, 2026:

Thus, in the first reading from 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9, St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that even though they have been baptized, they have not taken hold of spiritual life and truth and still are caught up in “the flesh,” by which he means the things of this world. Therefore, he tells them they are “babes in Christ,” caught up “in jealousy and strife among you.”

The proof of this is they were forming factions amongst themselves according to whether they were instructed by Apollos or St. Paul. St. Paul says this is petty strife and matters not because Paul “planted” the seeds of faith and Apollos “watered” them by providing additional evangelization, but the reality is that there can be no growth without the Holy Spirit of God.

St. John Chrysostom, an Early Church Father and Archbishop of Constantinople, summed it up this way:

“. . . unclean living makes it difficult for a person to know the truth. Just as a man who is blinded by error cannot for a long time keep to the right road, so too it is difficult for someone leading a bad life the demands our sublime mysteries make on us. To embrace truth one needs to be detached from all our passions . . .”

We are all called to be co-workers with God (and Paul and Apollos) even if only in our families but to live the Christian life fully.

In the Responsorial Psalm (from Psalm 33) the psalmist writes about God’s providential care for His people. The nation who embraces God is blessed, for God is “our help and our shield.” Our hearts rejoice as we say, “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

In today’s Gospel (Luke 4: 38-44) we see Jesus bringing the good news of salvation to the villages of Israel, healing those who presented themselves to him in faith, beginning with Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus had just left the synagogue in Capernaum of Galilee. Early in Luke 4, while in Nazareth, he announced that he would preach the good news, give sight to the blind and free the oppressed in an “acceptable year of the Lord” (meaning a jubilee year in which mercy is foremost).

His mission was not to merely remove suffering and heal people, but rather to provide for our eternal salvation. Thus, our Lord healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, which the Church Fathers saw as a symbol of our concupiscence (involving the weakness of will and tendency to sin inherited by all men as a result of original sin, which is an important doctrine of St. Paul discussed in Roman 7).

Notice St. Peter's mother-in-law then rises to wait on them. If his wife were still alive that would be her role so this suggests she may have been deceased.
St. Augustine referred to the three-fold weaknesses of concupiscence of the flesh, the eyes and worldly pride as did St. John in 1 John 2:16. St. Ambrose writes that the, “fever represents our flesh affected by various illnesses and concupiscences; our fever is passion, our fever is lust, our fever is anger—vices which, although they affect the body, perturb the soul, the mind and the feelings.” Thus, when we too receive Jesus in faith we too are healed and are freed to serve him as Peter’s mother-in-law did.

Truly, if we are converted, we must serve our Lord whose humility, prayer to the Father and love are evident in the Gospels. Our purpose in life is to come to know, love and serve God. Jesus left them to preach to other towns in Judea and fulfill the will of His Father in heaven. Our we fulfilling God's will in our lives?

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090226.cfm

Audio: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-september-2-2026

09/01/2026

Commentary on the Readings for Tuesday, September 1, 2026:

In 1 Corinthians 2:10b-16, St. Paul refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in baptized Christians, who can reveal divine truth to us, which is not known by other men. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity and as such, is consubstantial with the Father and Son. Since no one but the Holy Spirit comprehends the depths of God, we can rejoice that Christians can come to know God better by these gifts of grace bestowed upon them through the sacraments.

Jesus told the Apostles that “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Pope Leo XIII wrote:

“The Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of truth, because he proceeds from the Father, eternal Truth, and the Son, substantial truth, receives from each of them, along with his essence, all truth, which he then communicates to the Church, helping [her] never to err” [in what she formally teaches] (Divinum illud munus or “On the Holy Spirit,” 7).

Truly, the “unspiritual man” or “natural man” does not receive these spiritual truths, which St. Paul says “are folly to him” because he cannot comprehend them without this gift of grace. Faith itself, is a gift of God. Thus, the spiritual man, reborn by God’s grace, is taught “the mind of Christ.”

Psalm 145 proclaims the great deeds and attributes of the Lord, who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.” Moreover, the Lord is faithful and his “dominion endures through all generations.” So, we proclaim with great joy, “The Lord is just in all his ways.”

The Gospel is from Luke 4: 31-37. The setting is in the town of Capernaum, on the northwest shore of the Lake of Galilee. We become witnesses to a scene of Jesus, who demonstrates His power, as He rebukes “the spirit of an unclean demon” that inhabited the body of a man. That spirit departed the man at the mere word of our Lord and Savior.

The people who witnessed this demonstration of spiritual power, could only be astonished at His command and authority, which reflected His divinity because only God has this command. The demon responded by saying He knew who Jesus was and obeyed. St. Ambrose, an Early Church Father and Doctor of the Church commented:

“It ought not to shock any one that the devil is mentioned in this book as the first to have spoken the name of Jesus of Nazareth. For Christ received not from him that name which an Angel brought down from heaven to the Virgin. The devil is of such effrontery, that he is the first to use a thing among men and bring it as something new to them, that he may strike people with terror at his power. Hence it follows: For I know you who you are, the Holy One of God.”

Another great Early Church Father, the monk Athanasius, adds:

“He spoke of Him not as a Holy One of God, as if He were like to the other saints, but as being in a remarkable manner the Holy One, with the addition of the article. For He is by nature holy by partaking of whom all others are called holy. Nor again did He speak this as if He knew it, but He pretended to know it.”

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090126.cfm

Audio: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-september-1-2026

08/31/2026

Commentary on the Readings for Monday, August 31, 2026:

The first reading is about the hope in the resurrection of our own bodies. St. Paul wants to assure us that we will in fact be raised when the Lord Jesus returns at the Second Coming at the end of time, the “Parousia”in Greek. He uses the phrase “fallen asleep” to refer to the dead in Christ, according to St. Augustine, in order to underscore that they will be raised “when their day comes.”

Thus, St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, says, “When facing death, be calm. I do not want you to have the cold stoicism of the pagan, but the fervor of a child that knows that life is changed, not taken away. To die is to live!” (“Furrow, p. 876).

As Christian we are sad when a loved one dies, but we should not be forlorn because of our hope in the Lord and our knowledge of His plan for us, for which the Church and the Scriptures give ample testimony. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the testimony and pledge of our own resurrection. As St. Paul says, “If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall reign with him” (2 Timothy 2: 11-12).

Notice too that the Lord’s coming will not be as the rapture enthusiasts say for there will be “a word of command with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God,” so no one will miss the final act of this great divine plan for humanity!

St. Paul uses the words, “caught up” to describe what will happen to the faithful who have died and those still living in the last days. The Navarre Bible explains this term to mean those who are changed and cites Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15: 51, where he writes, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

Thus, St. Paul can write in the same passage cited: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In the Gospel from Luke 4: 16-30, Jesus reads a passage on the Sabbath from Isaiah 6: 1-2, where the Prophet announces the coming of the Lord, the Messiah. Jesus, who has been anointed by the Holy Spirit for the mission of His Father, uses the occasion to make his first Messianic declaration, using the prophecy of Isaiah.

He affirms his identity when he says “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Thus, men were not only physically healed but freed from the oppression and slavery of sin, which is Satan’s delight.
However, when he responds to a question of why He is not doing more healing miracles as He had in Capernaum, the crowd turns on Him. But it is not Jesus’ time to give up His life, so He is able to walk through their midst unharmed. Such was their nationalistic pride that even the facts of Scripture raised up their hatred instead of their shame in their own lack of belief. Let us place our trust firmly in the Lord.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083126.cfm

Audio: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-august-31-2026

08/30/2026

Commentary on the Readings for Sunday, August 30, 2026:

Jeremiah the Prophet, whose ministry stretched from 627 to 586 B.C., witnessed the decline in Israel due to their sinful choices which end in the conquest of Judea by Babylon in 586 B.C. Jeremiah provided the call for reform, which was rejected and led directly to God’s covenant judgment and the fall of Judea.

Jeremiah’s constant cry of the need to repent and reform, partially to give up the worship of false gods, incurred the wrath of the leaders in Judea. This lament may have been given when he was being persecuted by King Jehoiakim. In any case (Jeremiah 20: 7-9), Jeremiah personal crisis ends when he places his trust in God despite the reproach and derision his prophesies bring.

The psalmist (Psalm 63) parallels the longing and passion of soul felt by one who loves God. The psalm is attributed to David when he was on the run and being persecuted by King Saul. He recalls fondly his gazing at the Lord in the Temple (sanctuary) and testifies that God's presence is on his mind even at night in his bed.

He yearns for the riches of a spiritual banquet wherein his soul will be satisfied. He trusts in God to uphold him to whom he clings. We join him in proclaiming, "My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God."

In the New Testament there is no call for sacrifices of animals as in the Old Testament, but rather the sacrifice of our very self. Have you ever offered yourself to God as a "living sacrifice"? This is spiritual worship and yet it does not exclude our body as St. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes, "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Romans 12: 1).

Doing God's will is the path to eternal life and to our own happiness both here and in heaven. The Navarre Bible commentary for Romans and Galatians says it explicitly:

"Every day the Christian can and should offer himself along with Christ in the Holy Mass: 'If the oblation whereby the faithful in this Sacrifice offer the divine victim to the heavenly Father is to produce its full effect [. . .] they must also offer themselves as victim, desiring intensely to make themselves as like as possible to Jesus Christ who suffered so much, and offering themselves as a spiritual victim with and through the High Priest himself"" (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator Dei" 25).

Those familiar with the lives of the Saints know that they did this daily in their walk with the Lord, trusting in His will for them. This is the challenge for all of us that brings a rich reward in God's love.

Christ challenges each and every one of us in the Gospel, drawn from Matthew 16: 24-28, to take up our cross and follow him! He asks a most important and relevant question: “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his [eternal] life?"

Jesus wants us to accompany Him in His passion and resurrection, to be with Him as He offers to be with us, in both this life of toil and troubles and the next life, of ever lasting happiness. Therefore, He seeks to develop within man the same Spirit, which was with His Son, Jesus Christ. This is a spirit of love, a spirit of willingness to serve and even suffer for others, a generous spirit not turned in on itself but willing to put others first.

Pope St. Gregory the Great, comments on Jesus’s meaning in “taking up our cross.” He writes:
“There are two ways of taking our cross; when the body is afflicted by abstinence, or when the heart is pained by compassion for another. Forasmuch as our very virtues are beset with faults, we must declare that vainglory sometimes attends abstinence of flesh, for the emaciated body and pale countenance betray this high virtue to the praise of the world. Compassion again is sometimes attended by a false affection which is hereby led to be consenting to sin; to shut out these, He adds, and follow me.”

Jesus said, “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Origen, the great catechetical teacher and early Church Father explains:

“This may be understood in two ways. First thus; if any lover of this present life spares his life, fearing to die, and supposing that his life is ended with this death; he seeking in this way to save his life, shall lose it, estranging it from life eternal. But if any, despising the present life, shall contend for the truth to death, he shall lose his life as far as this present life is concerned, but forasmuch as he loses it for Christ, he shall the more save it for life eternal.”

Jesus ends by reminding us that He will come again at the end of time in His Father’s glory with the angels of heaven to reward the just and punish the evil. It is with the knowledge of this coming reality, and more importantly, out of love for our divine Savior, that we endeavor with the help of His grace to follow Him daily and to amend our lives. St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) wrote this profound truth for us to ponder:

“Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the heights of grace. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.”

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083026.cfm

Audio: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-august-30-2026

08/30/2026

Commentary on the Readings for Saturday, August 29, 2026, Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist:

In the first reading (from 1 Corinthians 1: 26-31), St. Paul reminds us that God is the one who chooses, not us (John 15:16). He reminds them that it was God who chose the Corinthians to be Christians, not on human criteria, but on the divine for as the Scripture notes, “God is no respecter of persons” (see Romans 2:1; Ephesians 6:9 or Colossians 3:25, for example). That is, “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). Blessed St. Josemaria Escriva wrote:

“When He invites a soul to live fully in accordance with the faith, he does not set store by the merits of fortune, nobility, blood or learning. God’s call precedes all merits . . . Vocation comes first. God loves us before we even know how to go toward him, and He places in us the love with which we can respond to his call” (Christ is Passing By, 33).

Our response is faith and our attitude must be one of humility in the face of God’s wisdom and choice. We are made members of the Body of Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism, wherein we receive the Holy Spirit. We must be docile to his call in our life regardless of our vocation.

St. Paul writes again, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). We revere His word because we know that He is the “wisdom” of God (see Colossians 1:15 and Hebrews 1: 2ff).

Blessed are those who fear the Lord and serve Him in this life, whether in a religious vocation or within the family. We are grateful to God for our faith in Him! So, we pray with the psalmist, “Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

In the Gospel (from Mark 6: 14-29) King Herod’s wife Herodias, who Herod illicitly took from his brother and was living in adultery with, finally gets her chance to get revenge on John the Baptist for naming their sin openly. She has her daughter, whose dancing pleased King Herod and his guests, ask for John’s head on a platter. This is, indeed, a blood thirsty bunch.

This pains Herod because he was in some sense fascinated by the preaching of John the Baptist, but he is too vain to back down on his word to give the young dancer, “whatever you wish” and “even to half of my kingdom.”

Thus, Herod’s lust condemns him twice, first for taking his brother’s wife and secondly, for his prurient interest in her daughter, which leads him to order the ex*****on of the man whom Jesus referred to as the greatest of all men born to women (Mt. 11:11).

Herod, in the grip of his own vanity and sinfulness, shows remorse for his action, which, however, is overshadowed completely by his injustice. Of Herod St. Jerome wrote:

“This dissembler of his own inclinations, this contriver of a murder displayed sorrow in his face, when he had joy in his mind. For his oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meal, he commanded it to be given. He excuses his crime by his oath, that his wickedness might be done under a presence of piety. That he adds, and them that sat at meal with him, he would have them all sharers in his crime, that a bloody dish might be brought in a luxurious feast.”

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082926.cfm

Audio: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-august-29-2026

John the Baptist

08/28/2026

St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church

The Narratio (the Story): Like St. Paul, St. Augustine, who has been called the father of catechetics because of his systematic approach to teaching, stresses the value of telling the divine story. In his work De Catechizandis Rudibus (Catechizing the Uninstructed) written about 400 A.D., he says instruction should begin with a narration of God’s interaction with man from the creation of the world to the present period in Church history. This is the narratio, “the narration of the wonderful deeds of God” (GDC 107).

The most fundamental point to begin instruction is not that there are ten commandments, twelve apostles, seven sacraments, etc. but rather to understand what unifies them, namely, that they all originate in a loving God who has both revealed himself and offered himself to us.

Each topic deserves individual attention, but all fit within a larger framework of salvation history. Augustine begins with what is familiar and near us including our unhappiness and aspirations and proceeds in a scientific manner towards divine revelation, which transcends our experience.

When we place our catechesis in the story of salvation history we proclaim in summary form what the Church believes in her Creeds. In his instruction to Deacon Deogratias, St. Augustine urges him to “begin our narration, starting from the fact that God made all things very good, and continuing … down to the present period of Church history.” (Sollon, p. 3).

He specifically refers to the need to share the Church’s story, noting that “heresies and schisms were occasioned in various places on the part of those who sought not His glory, but their own.” We must not forget that the salvation story includes the story of the Church, her Saints and martyrs, throughout history to the present day as the General Directory for Catechesis notes. Despite the post-modern mind that claims that there is no common story, St. Paul, St. Augustine and the Church assures us that there is!

The General Directory of Catechesis or GDC says, that the historical character of the mystery of salvation,
. . . requires that catechesis attend to the following points: presentation of salvation history by means of Biblical catechesis so as to make known ‘the deeds and words’ with which God has revealed himself to man . . . the history of the Church which transmits Revelation: this history, read within the perspective of faith, is a fundamental part of the content of catechesis (para 108).

Remember Augustine’s motto, “Cor ad cor locquitur,” which means heart speaks to heart. In sum, follow St. Paul and Augustine in their methods by teaching:

(1) The whole Truth.
(2) The Theology of the Cross (i.e., suffering for love)
(3) The Hope of Christians (Resurrection and eternal joy)
(4) Revelation as the primary text (the Pauline model)
(5) Salvation History as the Context (the Augustine model)

Memorable Saying of St. Augustine

"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself."

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