You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Second Sunday of Easter Background: This was the day on which in ancient Rome the neophytes laid aside the white robes that they had been given during the rites of initiation at Easter Vigil and joined the body of the Faithful. And so, […]

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Introduction to the Third to Fifth Sundays in Lent: The Johannine Gospels for the three middle Sundays in Lent for Year B pursue the same themes as those of Year A: how Jesus brings us in his person cleansing from sin, true light,

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. All Saints’ Day Background: In a culture that is living more and more in a denial of death, this festival reminds us that we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses” who “have run the race and kept the faith.” Yet

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: God is always generous, but Jesus tells us this week about how our choices and subsequent actions matter as well. Words of faith are important; deeds of love are crucial. What is your biggest regret

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: Two weeks ago we saw Jesus having to abandon a stereotype and reward the faith of the Gentile woman, so this week we see Peter having to abandon his stereotype of how the Messiah who

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Transfiguration Background: We read this week the last of three interconnected episodes in the gospel: Jesus’s baptism, temptation, and now transfiguration. What links them is that they deal with the meaning of his being the beloved Son/Servant. We have seen how he

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: This is the concluding section of the “sermon” about what it means to be a person who lives and proclaims the gospel values of Jesus. Which one of Jesus’s statements here scares you the most?

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Trinity Sunday Background: Grace, love, fellowship—these words from the end of this Sunday’s selection from 2 Corinthians provide the common threads that runs throughout all the readings. Today’s focus is not on the inner relationships among the Persons of the Trinity but

Fifth Sunday of Easter Background: We are used to the chronology of Luke where in his gospel and in Acts, Jesus’s resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit are separate events across weeks of time. In John’s gospel the lifting up of Jesus on the cross is the beginning of his glorification: resurrection, ascension, and

Palm Sunday — Matthew Background: Christian liturgy is not a play reenacting past events but a living celebration of the inner meaning of those events so that it comes alive in us today. As the oldest Palm Sunday hymn says: “To you before your passion they sang their hymns of praise. To you, now high