"They have taken the Lord from the tomb"

"Alleluia!" we proclaim this Easter Sunday
- April 8, 2012 - as Church. “Alleluia, praise the Lord. Jesus is alive. He is our
Savior. He is our Redeemer. And He is ours. Our Discussion Questions
will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.



Holy Thursday



Benedict XVI reflected on the Easter Triduum this week calling it the "fulcrum of the entire liturgical

"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

"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

"Child, your sins are forgiven."

In last Sunday’s Gospel reading we had the story of the healing of the
leper and we reflected on the fact that, in its consequences, sin is a
sort of leprosy. In the Gospel story set before us this Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012, we see something similar. Here sin is clearly compared to paralysis. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Four

"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

"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

"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

"Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

In Sunday’s Gospel for Nov. 6, 2011 - 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew’s recount of the 10 virgins
sits amidst numerous parables about the heavenly kingdom. In fact, all
three of the readings today are end-of-times in nature. Our Discussion
Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

In the course of the liturgical year have worked our way

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

Sunday’s Gospel Reading
- for October 23, 2011 - revolves around the question: “Which commandment of the Law is the
greatest?” Another way to put this question is to ask, “What do I need
to do to achieve salvation?” Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.



In
the Sunday Gospel according to St. Matthew we encounter Christ in

"Many are invited, but few are chosen."

This Sunday, October 9, 2011, the Church presents for our consideration the wonderful parable of the royal wedding banquet. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study with family, friends and church groups.

Invite Everyone to the Banquet

The
message of this parable of the royal wedding banquet is clear. God
invites the people of Israel to his wedding banquet in heaven but

"If your brother sins against you..."

Our Gospel this Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time), is taken from a section of St Matthew’s Gospel in which he considers forgiveness in the community and how to deal with sinners. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

A Brother Who Has Sinned

Matthew
adapts sayings of the historical Jesus to address the

"Get behind me, Satan!"

This Sunday's Gospel for August 28, 2011 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - from Matthew presents us with the first prediction of Jesus' passion. It serves as a corrective to an understanding of Jesus' messiahship as solely one of glory and triumph. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

From "Rock" to Scandalon

Last week

"Give them some food yourselves."

The miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish that is mentioned in this Sunday's Readings - July 31, 2011 - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - is so central to the gospel message that it is one of the few miracles found in all four gospels. It help us recognize the gifts we have been given and the responsibility we have to give them to others. Our Discussion Questions will guide your

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field"

This Sunday's passage contains the last three of the set of seven parables that Matthew placed in the center of his gospel. The first two about the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price tell us about the inestimable value of the Kingdom. The third one about the dragnet tells us about the great diversity of its make up. This Sunday we have three parables set before us. Our

"Whoever has ears ought to hear."

This Sunday's Parable of the Sower for July 10, 2011 - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - is plain. The seed sown is the word of God. The sower is our Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, or by his ministers. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

To respond to this parable adequately, we must view it from two different angles.

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

The words of the Gospel this Sunday, July 3, 2011, are wonderfully comforting; they express the compassion of Christ not only for those who suffer or are crushed by the heavy loads of life, but also to the child-like, the innocent and the trusting. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

Come to me, all you who labor and

"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life"

This Sunday, June 26, 2011, is Corpus Christi Sunday, a capstone of all the celebrations since Holy Week. It gives us the one very important matter that still needs to come before us: the sacrament of the Eucharist. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

The Church situates this Sunday's feast immediately after the

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

This Sunday - June 19, 2011 - we celebrate the solemnity of the Blessed Trinity. The Triune nature of God is the principal mystery of the Catholic faith. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

The Very Mystery of God

What we know about God is not made up, not a fable invented by our ancestors. What we know about God is

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations"

The Feast of the Ascension has got to be one of the most dramatic in the liturgical year. Not perhaps very dramatic in its liturgy which is the same as any other Sunday; but dramatic in what it is all about: the lifting up of the Risen Jesus to his place in heaven. Our Discussion Questions for June 5, 2011 will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

"He will give you another Advocate to be with you always"

This Sunday, May 29, 2011, is the last Sunday of Easter. We are being prepared for the Ascension of Jesus, which comes next week. He has risen from death and now he is ready to be human in another way, that is, to go to up to heaven, as we hope we will too. Our Discussion Questions will guide your Sunday Bible Study sessions with family, friends and church groups.

This week, the