Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, is the Third Sunday in Ordinary time (Year A, cycle II).

Parish

Epriest.com offers effective “Best Practices” from parishes.

Earlier this month the Vatican urgently called dioceses to offer perpetual Eucharistic adoration to atone for the abuse scandals. At Epriest.com, Father Dave Heney describes how his parish went from no adoration to a full schedule of perpetual adoration in just one month — and sustained it for years. He’s pastor of St. Paschal Baylon parish in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“This is one of the best things that have happened at my parish,” he said. “I see adoration as a kind of ‘spiritual engine’ of the Church … [and] it was organized in such a way that no one person ever felt overwhelmed.”

NCRegister.com, our own website, also has good advice on perpetual adoration. Type “Perpetually Adore” into the search engine and then click on Tim Drake’s Culture of Life article to find his “Perpetual Adoration in Six Steps.”

Family

Ash Wednesday is Feb. 6, the earliest arrival on the calendar for 62 years. In the weeks leading up to Lent, we wanted to share some family practices that might be good to formally adopt.

First: The family schedule.

Sunday — family day: pilgrimage, museum or hike.

Schedule no activities for this day that don’t involve the whole family. (You may also have to decide on exceptions: One exception a month may be necessary for some families; sports or some other activity may be an issue during part of the day part of the year.)

Monday — parent meeting or family meeting.

If it sounds daunting, keep it brief. Dad or Mom should update the family on the schedule for the week so that everyone’s aware of what’s going on, and briefly share any important news.

All week — nightly prayer.

Try a nightly Rosary, or at least a decade (10 beads). We also have had a practice of writing down five things we are thankful for and five things we want to pray for.

Friday — game night or parents’ date night.

The family that prays together stays together; the family that plays together stays happy together!

Saturday — read-aloud night.

Reading aloud encourages family conversations, improves vocabulary and pronunciation, makes learning entertaining, expands attention spans and bonds parents with children.

Readings

Isaiah 8:23-9:3; Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14; First Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23 or 4:12-17

Epriest.com offers free homily-resource packs for priests.

Our Take

Today’s second reading is a poignant call to end divisions in the Church. It’s interesting to note that divisions in the Church aren’t a new problem. Before the Church was founded, the apostles argued about who was the greatest and, in the early Church, which was in many ways a model of unity, divisions persisted.

St. Paul points out that divisions start when we follow someone other than the Church. The Catholic author Ronald Knox pointed out that this passage could be read as placing those who claim allegiance to Apollos and Paul on the one hand, and those who follow Christ through Cephas — Peter, the Rock — on the other.

At any rate, the Church is the body of Christ, and a body needs to be whole in order to survive. We can serve the Church by living out different charisms, or spiritualities, but only those that are accepted by the Church and serve the Church.

After all, as the long version of today’s Gospel shows us, it is Christ who chose the apostles and gave them the power to be his team of “fishers of men.”

The Hoopeses are editorial directors of Faith & Family magazine (faithandfamilymag.com).

6 Steps to Perpetual Adoration

Epriest.com, NCRegister.com for more details.

1. Get pastor’s support.

2. Gauge parish interest.

3. Appoint leaders for time blocks.

4. Prepare church space or chapel.

5. Book inspiring speaker.

6. Invite bishop for kick-off.