Opening the Word
3 Seasons
Welcome to Opening the Word, videos and guides offering prayer and insights for the Sunday Readings. Each reflection is lead by one of our experienced presenters including Dr. Tim Gray, Dr. Mary Healy, Dr. Scott Powell, Dr. Edward Sri, Fr. John Riley, Dr. Ben Akers, and Martha Fernandez. Opening the Word is designed to facilitate thought and discussion for personal faith formation or in the context of a group meeting, especially in RCIA.
To find the current week, visit https://bible.usccb.org/
To purchase journals for Year C, visit: https://catholic.market/programs/opening-the-word/
Other journals can be found in downloadable PDF form at the end of the respective season's videos.
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07:40Episode 1
3rd Sunday of Easter—May 5, 2019
Episode 1
Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, now the risen Lord asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?"
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05:41Episode 2
4th Sunday of Easter—May 12, 2019
Episode 2
Have you ever watched a herd of animals as they journey toward a destination? It's remarkable that their every move seems to be in sync with the entire group. Nature itself shows us that uniting together in community – as one body – is the way God intended us to behave.
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06:21Episode 3
5th Sunday of Easter—May 19, 2019
Episode 3
Today's readings focuses on embracing the crosses that God allows into our lives, even while our human nature resists that kind of suffering. We avoid it and anxiously try to change situations that are unpleasant. Yet Jesus Himself modeled for us the transformation and redemption that comes from ...
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05:57Episode 4
6th Sunday of Easter—May 26, 2019
Episode 4
The readings for the Easter season harken to the first days of Christianity, allowing us to walk in the footsteps of the first Christians as they attempted to follow Christ as part of the young Church.
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06:33Episode 5
7th Sunday of Easter—June 2, 2019
Episode 5
Place yourself in today's Gospel reading, and imagine being in the room with Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper. Jesus sits up and begins to talk. Listen attentively to his prayer to the Heavenly Father.
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06:38Episode 6
Pentecost Sunday—June 9, 2019
Episode 6
In the last night of his life, Jesus prayed specifically for his followers to have unity. He said that, through unity, the disciples would bear a powerful witness to his name. Why, on the darkest night of his life, was he thinking about that? The answer is seen in his example: in unity, there is ...
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06:21Episode 7
Trinity Sunday—June 16, 2019
Episode 7
In today's Gospel reading, we see that God's very life is one of communion. In the Trinity, we see a relationship of giving and receiving, a communion of life and love. God exists as a relationship of Persons. He is Three, and yet the "Lord God is One." How are we to bring this kind of Oneness — ...
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The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) Sunday—June 23, 2019
Episode 8
The miracle of multiplying five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish to feed five thousand men (and as many as fifteen to twenty thousand people) is one of the most famous in the Gospels. Apart from providing for the physical needs of those present, Jesus also foreshadows the Holy Eucharist. He...
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06:08Episode 9
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Episode 9
Here we read a shocking account of a woman wrecking a dinner party to show her love to Jesus. To the host and other guests, it was a moment of awkwardness, embarrassment, and completely inappropriate. Yet Jesus affirmed this woman and, if nothing else, shows us that great love is based on great h...
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06:38Episode 10
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Episode 10
Jesus seeks from the disciples an answer to who he is. First, what are the people saying? Then he wants to know what they think. The answers are a lesson for us to double-check our assumptions about who we think Jesus is--a prophet? A good teacher? A wise man?—against the reality—the Son of the L...
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06:25Episode 11
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time—June 30, 2019
Episode 11
In this Gospel reading, we see Jesus embarking on the most difficult journey of his life. For ten chapters in Luke's Gospel, beginning with chapter 9, Jesus and his disciples are on the road, making their way to the climactic moment in Salvation History. Knowing what He would suffer, Jesus still ...
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06:12Episode 12
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time—July 7, 2019
Episode 12
Evangelization is not a job assigned only to bishops, priests, and religious brothers and sisters. Pope Paul VI insisted that the "task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church." And by "the Church," he meant the Church as a whole—everyone, including the laity. T...
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07:08Episode 13
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time—July 14, 2019
Episode 13
Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan is well-known and often quoted. Yet we often miss how Jesus uses the question "Who is my neighbor?" to upend a rigid and impersonal view of the "Law" of the Jewish people. Through an unlikely her--a member of the Samaritans, who were disdained by the Jews--we s...
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06:31Episode 14
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time—July 21, 2019
Episode 14
This Gospel reading challenges us to remember that being busy for the Lord is not the same as being with him, to sit at his feet and hear him in our hearts. Truly that is the "better part."
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06:31Episode 15
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time—July 28, 2019
Episode 15
Though we often take the "Our Father" for granted, it is good to remember how remarkable and radical it was for Jesus to begin the prayer not with "Almighty God" or "Mighty King" but with the most personal and intimate name: our Father. Through those words we are invited into a relationship as on...
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06:39Episode 16
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time—August 4, 2019
Episode 16
The Old Testament reading reminds us that we can spend our whole lives acquiring things but, in the end, all of our possessions will go to those who haven't worked for them. This sets us up for the Gospel reading, as Jesus addresses a man who wants him to settle a dispute about an inheritance. As...
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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time—August 11, 2019
Episode 17
"For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be." These words of Jesus challenge us to ask ourselves about our real priorities in life. What is most important? One look at how we use our time or spend our money will tells us what is truly important. Then comes the bigger question: do o...
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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time—August 18, 2019
Episode 18
Today's Gospel reading may surprise us. Jesus' words don't seem to fit the peaceful forgive-your-enemies-and-turn-the-other-cheek image of Jesus we might have. In fact, he says quite explicitly that he didn't come to establish peace, but rather, division. What do you think Jesus means by this?
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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time—August 25, 2019
Episode 19
Many of us know the sinking feeling we get when we approach an airline gate, see the closed door, and realize we've missed our flight. Today's Gospel reading takes that one step further and asks us to contemplate what it would be like to miss out on heaven, seeing that door shut to us forever. "T...
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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 1, 2019
Episode 20
It's human nature for us to want places of honor. Yet Jesus challenges us to do the opposite: to seek the "lowest place." While many in the world compete for worldly prestige and honor, Jesus is asking Christians to outdo one another in the practice of true humility.
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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 8, 2019
Episode 21
What are you willing to give up to follow Jesus? That's the question in today's Gospel. Jesus proclaims that no one is worthy to be called His disciple unless he "hates" those people dearest to him, or renounces his possessions, takes up his cross and follows Jesus to wherever He leads (and if on...
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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 15, 2019
Episode 22
Do you remember a time when you lost something, perhaps a much-valued possession? When we lose something of high value, we search and search until we finally find it. And the discovery brings such a sense of relief. The greater the value of what was lost, the more we rejoice in finding it. In thi...
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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 22, 2019
Episode 23
Many people find today's Gospel passage a little confusing. It tells the story of the dishonest steward who shrewdly foregoes his commission on his master's loans in order to gain favor among those who may be of help to him in the future. While Jesus is not commending dishonesty, he is challengin...
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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 29, 2019
Episode 24
Here Jesus tells the story of a rich man who feasted every single day while a beggar named Lazarus starved to death outside of the gates of the rich man's house. The poor man ends up in the bosom of Abraham while the rich man ends up in Hades. There is a double lesson here about how we use our ti...