You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: Jesus continues his sermon on what life in the Church means. How has Jesus already abundantly forgiven you? When do you find yourself being hardhearted towards others? Where do you see hardheartedness in the Church […]

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: Though the setting of this episode is a cosmic miracle, the point is about the relationship between Jesus and Peter. Even in the midst of turmoil, Peter reaches out in faith and trust and takes […]

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: This Sunday’s selection is the first from Matthew’s exploration of the meaning of the Kingdom/Reign of God. The evangelist often refers to the Kingdom/Reign of Heaven, but that is a pious Jewish euphemism. A Jewish […]

Pentecost Background: In Luke’s chronology Jesus sends the Spirit on the fiftieth day after the resurrection. In John, he sends the Spirit on the evening of Easter Day itself. Whatever the chronology, the crucial point is that the Spirit is sent not upon individuals but upon the whole community, empowering to proclaim the “marvels that […]

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. The 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time Background: Just as Luke groups so much of the material in the body of his gospel around a journey to Jerusalem, so Matthew arranges his material into five sermons or discourses. Today we begin reading the […]

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Holy Family Background: This Sunday’s gospel is out of sequence since it occurs after the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem, yet Matthew uses its details to teach us much about the mission of Jesus as Messiah. In the Magi episode Matthew […]

Free download: Five ways to get more out of mass You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. All Saints’ Day and All Souls 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 […]

You can reflect questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Background: There are two kinds of people that Jesus has problems with: first, the religiously self-righteous as we saw last Sunday when he criticizes the Pharisees for their status-seeking; and, second, those who are not wholehearted […]

You can reflect on questions for every Sunday of the year by clicking here. Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Background: In contemporary America this Sunday’s set of readings is profoundly countercultural since only two decades ago we had a head of the Federal Reserve consistently assuring us that “Greed is good!” At this stage in his journey […]