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 …

Reflection questions for RCIA seekers: Year A – the 22nd to 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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? …

Reflection questions for RCIA seekers: Year A – The 13th through 17th Sundays in Ordinary Time

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 …

Reflection questions for RCIA seekers: Year A – Trinity Sunday through the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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 …

Reflection questions for RCIA seekers: Year A – The 5th Sunday of Easter through Pentecost

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 …

Reflection questions for RCIA seekers: Year A – Palm Sunday through the 4th Sunday of Easter

The 2nd Sunday in Lent 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 has struggled to understand the meaning of his Sonship; …

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year A – The 2nd Sunday of Lent through the 5th Sunday of Lent

The 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time Background: The Sermon on the Mount continues; we are once again being taught the basics of life in God’s kingdom/reign. And they are not about kosher ordinances or other do’s and don’t’s but about love in action—which is why this selection from Isaiah was chosen to parallel this Gospel. …

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year A – The 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time through the 1st Sunday of Lent

The 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Background: Ordinary Time gets its name because each year one of the three synoptic gospels is read “in order” starting with the Baptism of the Lord which marks the end of the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany season and going on through 34 Sundays to Christ the King. Only Lent-Easter-Pentecost interrupt the steady …

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year A – The 2nd through 4th Sundays of Ordinary Time

Christmas Mass During the Day Background: This is the last and oldest set of readings for Christmas in the Roman Rite. It can startle us because there are none of the details about the baby and the manger that we are so used to from the Lucan infancy narrative. Yet a saying from St. Athanasius, …

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year A – Christmas Season