Articles by Michael Marchal

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year B – The 13th to 17th Sundays in Ordinary Time

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: Once again words have power: over nature, as we saw last Sunday, and now over disease and death. But only if we have faith and trust in the power of God at work for us in Jesus. As the Book of Wisdom says, “death entered the world through sin,” […]

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year B – The 13th to 17th Sundays in Ordinary Time

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year B – The Body and Blood of Christ to the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) Background: Out of the 26 particular churches that make up the Catholic Church (Maronites, Ruthenians, etc.), only the Roman Church abandoned in the course of the Middle Ages the sharing of the Blood of Christ by all believers during Communion. At about the same time the observance

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Year B – The Body and Blood of Christ to the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Eastertime — Year B

Fifth Sunday of Easter Background: For two Sundays the gospel selections are a continuous reading from John, 15, part of what is called the Last Supper Discourse. It would seem odd that in Easter Season we are reading from a discourse given on Holy Thursday if we think only in Luke’s chronology. Remember, though, that

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Eastertime — Year B

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Easter through the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Introduction to Eastertime In the post-Vatican II reform of the Roman liturgy, Easter became not a day but a season. The Sundays are not named as “after” Easter but rather “of” Easter. We must not subdivide this season into chunks but celebrate its overall flow. Because the different New Testament writers approached their proclamation of

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers: Easter through the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 3rd Sunday in Lent to 5th Sunday in Lent, Year A

Introduction to the Third to Fifth Sundays in Lent: For three Sundays the Gospel selections from John are part of the final, intense preparation of those called to the Easter sacraments of initiation. The scrutiny celebrated each Sunday is meant to help them “achiev(e) an intimate knowledge of Christ” by “progress(ing) in genuine self-knowledge through

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 3rd Sunday in Lent to 5th Sunday in Lent, Year A

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 3rd Sunday in Lent to Palm Sunday, Year B

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, and new life. Again, we learn each Sunday of God’s compassionate love,

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 3rd Sunday in Lent to Palm Sunday, Year B

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time to 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: There is an ambiguity about Jesus’s mission. As God’s beloved Son upon whom the Spirit has come, both his words and actions have power. And so today we see his compassion towards those suffer in body and spirit. Yet his ministry as healer sometimes seems to get in the

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time to 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — Epiphany to the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Epiphany Background: Once again we must avoid sentimentalizing this story. As the carol “We Three Kings” says, the astrologers/Magi are travelling over “field and fountain, moor and mountain” as they follow the star. We must also realize how radical this passage was for Matthew’s original, predominantly Jewish audience. It is Gentile sages who recognize the

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — Epiphany to the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — Advent 1 to The Holy Family, Year B

Introduction to Mark The earliest and shortest of the gospels, Mark’s version of the Jesus story lacks the polish of Matthew with his five sermons/discourses or of Luke with his extended journey to Jerusalem. It also lacks any infancy story or, in its original version, any post-resurrection appearance. (Its brevity explains why on many Sundays

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Reflection Questions for RCIA Seekers — Advent 1 to The Holy Family, Year B

Reflection questions for seekers — All Saints Day to Christ the King Sunday, Year A

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

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Reflection questions for seekers — All Saints Day to Christ the King Sunday, Year A

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