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Here is the this week’s sway. Happy Fourth.

Palm Sunday!! It seems wrong, somehow, to be at Palm Sunday; if you’re like me, Lent has gone by like a flash and at the same time felt like an eternity. Well, here we are, ready or not, entering the final (but not final) week of Jesus’ extraordinary story. This is one of those Gospels that is told differently by each Gospel writer, so you may notice some intriguing differences between what you remember and what you hear. It’s also a reading that lends itself so well to what St. Ignatius called “imaginative prayer;” using our imagination to be in the scene, noticing what we feel, hear, see, smell, and notice. You can use this technique in the context of Beta’ inviting your guests to close their eyes while the Gospel is being read, either by a group member or with the audio link at the top of the lesson. One more note: there are two Gospels proclaimed this week, one at the very beginning of the Mass, and one at the usual time. The mid-Mass reading is the account of the Passion; in this week’s Beta, we’ll look at the first (shorter!) Gospel reading. -Margo

We’re side-stepping into the Gospel of John for this Sunday, but still, we are in familiar territory. Check out how your copy of the Bible titles this story; mine (NRSV) calls it “Woman Caught in Adultery” and if that isn’t a mistitle for this story, I don’t know what is. Maybe it could be “Men judging a woman” or “Where’s the other party in this scandal? Is he all set then?” or “the mystery of the sand-writing” or “the moral of this story is for all of us.” I don’t have the power to retitle Bible translations, but I think it’s important to notice them, and what the titles do to draw our attention to some details in the story, and away from others.

After last week’s confusing (or was that just me?) Gospel reading,* we’re back on familiar territory. This week’s reading, about the Prodigal Son, is a long one but full of images and characters and points to ponder, and sometimes our attention is drawn to one part of the story one year, and to another altogether, on a different year. So pay attention to where God is drawing your eye this time around. **If you’re still a bit baffled about last week’s Gospel, be sure to check out last week’s MQOA Sunday podcast!

Here's this week's Beta lesson. Follow along with us as we talk about the reading on our weekly podcast, MQOASunday! www.mqoa.org/podcasts This week’s Gospel comes across as kind of mysterious, so you may get some benefit from reading it more than twice, or by taking a pause between the two parts of the reading. There’s another famous fig tree story in the other synoptic Gospels (Matthew 21:18-22, Mark 11:12-14.), but there are some definite differences here. I hope your conversations are blessed and… fruitful!

I’m so glad to be back with you, and thankful for your messages of support and your prayers. Thanks for your patience with my unavailability to prepare these lessons; I hope your group was able to have great conversations in my absence. We’re in familiar and important territory here with the Transfiguration. You may want to ask your group members to close their eyes and imagine the scene while it’s being read, for an added layer of engagement with the story. I hope you are having a blessed lent so far, and have great conversations this week.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

This week's Fr. Murray creates a guide for our Beta Groups!

First, thank you for your prayers and your kind messages about my Dad. My family and I are feeling this loss keenly but at the same time, we are so grateful for the kindness of the people around us, and I so appreciate you all. 

Hello Beta Leaders! We’re in the home stretch, and I hope this coming holy day fills you with more joy than stress. Here’s the beta lesson for Christmas, using the readings from the Mass at midnight, which Fr. Murray will be using at all our Christmas Masses. This is a (maybe too-) familiar story, and I wonder what new insights and inspiration will come from hearing it/reading it this year. Many blessings on your Christmas. Thank you for blessing this parish with your ministry!!

Hello Beta leaders! Lo the 4th week of Advent comes! Christmas is just around the corner, and this week we hear a “sneak peek” at the Messiah to come. This story can be told superficially, incorporating only the joy of the relationship between these two cousins, but there’s also lots to consider beyond that. I hope you have great conversations around what the lives of these two women mean for us.

Hello Beta leaders! Apologies for the late sending of this week’s lesson. This week the tone turns hopeful, as John points us to the Good News of the Messiah. But he reminds us that the response to this hope, on our part, is action. Now’s the time to really prepare for Christ’s coming- for Luke’s readers back in the day, and for us now.

After a couple of gloomy weeks, our Gospel turns hopeful, but not before your readers are challenged by some tricky vocabulary words! But fear not, I've put in some pronunciation help, right after the Gospel.

Hey there Beta leaders!! Happy (official) (liturgical) New Year! (I mean it this time!) This week, Luke comes in with a bang, and as the days get darker and darker, we continue to examine the dark side of the story in scripture, too. I wonder how your guests will find Luke different from Mark, and how the Advent readings are folded into their actual experience of Advent. I want to remind you that Fr. Murray’s mini-course on Generosity in the Gospel of Luke begins this Sunday, in 3-D (that is, in person) at Immaculate Conception lower church. This four week series will be a great way to dive into the Lukan year, and we’d love to have your group join in the fun. Please share this link: https://fb.me/e/1T19hkDnL and please do join us. Okay with no further ado…