"Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

April 15, 2012 is the Second Sunday of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
The Church looks at these eight days - from Easter Sunday until today -
as if they were one single day. We reflect on a single event:
resurrection of Christ. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.Sunday of Divine MercyDivine
Mercy Sunday is a Roman

"Truly this man was the Son of God!"

Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem
was an act of superb bravado. He was coming onto center stage. This
was high noon. There was a price on His head. He was an outlaw wanted
dead or alive. Our Discussion Questions for April 1, 2012, Palm Sunday, will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Welcome
to Holy Week. This Sunday we receive a palm branch - in memory of

"Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies"

In this Sunday's Readings for Mar. 25, 2012, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast say to
Philip, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Jesus responds, "The hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Our Discussion Questions
will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Jesus did many good things for us

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son"

This Sunday, March 18, 2012, is Laetare Sunday,
the joy at one stage of our Lenten journey accomplished and a
foretaste of the joy of Easter, which springs from the Cross of Christ.
Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.



We Rejoice



Every
Mass, every Sunday, even in Lent is an experience of the joys and
splendor of the

"Stop making my Father's house a marketplace."

The Gospel for this Third Sunday of Lent, March 11, 2012,  gives us a shocking picture of Jesus. The gentle savior has turned violent.
He erupts into anger as he sees merchants vend oxen, sheep and doves in
the temple, sees money-changers doing commerce in God’s house.  Our
Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.



The account of the

"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

In our Readings for this Sunday, March 4, 2012 - the 2nd Sunday in Lent - we are presented with accounts of two extraordinary events. First we
have the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac and, in the Gospel, the story
of the Transfiguration. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.





"This is my beloved Son."





The
past week's Gospel

"Repent, and believe in the gospel."

In this Sunday's Readings, February 26, 2012, we hear the story of the flood and Noah’s ark. Also, the Lenten season
begins, for Jesus, as He is driven out into the desert by the spirit.
Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Escaping the Flood

Fr. John J. Ludvik tells us that finding God in situations like Noah encountered
is

"If you wish, you can make me clean."

Christians often are confused about suffering. Is it ever good for us?
Is it always good for us? Should we feel guilty about wanting to be rid
of it? In the Sunday Gospel for Feb. 12, 2012, the story of Jesus and the leper, we find answers to these questions. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.



Dealing with Suffering



Jewish

"He cured many who were sick with various diseases."

In this Sunday’s Readings, February 5, 2012, we are invited to reflect on the meaning of suffering in the life of the Christian. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Suffering in the Life of the Christian

Sunday's
Scripture readings find poor Job saying that life is nothing but
drudgery. Every so often, we also hear someone lament

"What is this? A new teaching with authority."

In this Sunday's Readings, January 29, 2011, the Gospel finds Jesus going to the synagogue in Capernaum with four of
his disciples where people are astonished that He teaches with such
authority. And then he casts out a demon from a possessed person. Our
Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Jesus - The Holy One of God

What
is

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

This Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 , 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we have the call of the first Apostles.
Mark gets down to business fast, here in only verse sixteen of his
Gospel we find Jesus calling Simon and his brother Andrew and then
having gone on a little further He calls the sons of Zebedee, James and
John. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and

“What are you looking for?”

In this Sunday's Readings - Second Sunday In Ordinary Time (2B), January 15, 2012 - John the Baptist looks hard at Jesus and says, ‘Look there is the Lamb
of God.’ The two disciples with him immediately follow Jesus. Our
Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Behold the Lamb of God

At
the beginning of Advent we received a beautiful

"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?"

The Epiphany gospel
this Sunday, Jan. 8, 2011, is a continuation of the Christmas story in Matthew's
prologue to his gospel. This story is is portrayed by the coming of the
Three Wise Men from the East to do Him homage. Our Discussion Questions
will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

The Greek word “epiphaneia” means “appearance” and in the western

"He was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel"

This Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, is not only the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God,
it is also the World Day of Prayer for Peace. It is highly appropriate
that the whole Church pauses at the commencement of the New Year to take
time to pray for world peace. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Mary, Mother of God

The
readings for

"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."

On the carefully programmed Advent journey to Christmas, Dec. 18, 2011, the Fourth Sunday belongs to Mary.
This is so because Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus,
necessarily involves the motherhood of Mary. Our Discussion Questions
will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Also on this last Sunday of Advent we begin more intensively to prepare

"Make straight the way of the Lord"

We have in Sunday’s Gospel - Dec. 11, 2011, the 3rd Sunday in Advent - an interesting interrogation. The priests and Levites came out from
Jerusalem to find out who this John the Baptist was, and whether he was
the Messiah. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Gaudete. Rejoice.

The
third Sunday of Advent is often called "Gaudate

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths."

This Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011, we celebrate the Second Sunday in Advent
and the Readings feature John the Baptist. He didn’t look or talk like
the Jews of his time. He was not part of the crowd that had always held
power. Yet he talked about change. And the people listened, and
followed. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

A Voice

"Be watchful! Be alert!"

Because it is Thanksgiving weekend, I'm busy preparing Thanksgiving
dinner for my family while multi-tasking this week's homiletics email
for you. So we hope you understand why you're receiving a truncated
version of your Catholic Living Today.

This Sunday we celebrate the First Sunday in Advent.
This marks the beginning of a new church year: the liturgical
actualization for us of

"He will sit upon his glorious throne"

This Sunday, November 20, 2011, we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King.
This is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. Through this feast the
church is saying that all of our celebrations can be summed up in one
statement: Jesus is our King, we serve him. Our Discussion Questions
will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Universal King

But
who

"Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Jesus has some words this Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, about investing what we receive. He tells the famous parable of the talents.
The man who receives five talents, put them to work and made an
additional five. The second receives two and makes two more. But the man
who receives one talent, buries it. Jesus calls him "wicked" and
"lazy." Our Discussion Questions will