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 in their commitment to the Good News of God’s kingdom/reign that he has come to proclaim. Even our crucial family relationships must be secondary to Christ’s call. Only under the guidance of the Spirit can we find true wealth; human shrewdness is not enough.
This is the only time that we read a selection from the Letter to Philemon on a Sunday. Paul had converted and baptized Philemon’s runaway slave Onesiphorus and is not sending him back to his master. The revolutionary request that Paul is making of Philemon is to welcome him now not with punishment and chains but with joy as a brother in Christ!
Discussion Questions
- Our closest relationships are where we have the chance to live Christ’s love on a daily basis. Yet even those commitments must be subordinate to the values of the gospel and God’s call. When have you let family or friendship get in the way of living the Gospel?
- How forgiving are you? Do you hold grudges and refuse to let the Spirit within you bring healing and reconciliation?
- How does our church or society sometimes encourage us to embrace a different and short-sighted set of values?
- Whom do you need to speak words of love, encouragement, and correction to?
Practice: If Jesus is going to wholeheartedly transform us, the process begins with mutual honesty. Which family member or friend do you still carry a grudge against? This week figure out how to repair that relationship, and then do so. Ask the Spirit to inspire your words before you begin the conversation.
Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Background: God does to seem to mind screw-ups as long as they are open to improvement. Wandering sheep, careless housewives, prodigal sons and self-righteous older brothers–all get offered a second chance. And as we begin our reading of the first of the Pastoral Epistles (letters sent to individuals to guide them and their communities in living out their commitment to the gospel), we even hear St. Paul describe how God gave him a second chance. Moses in the selection from Exodus is bold enough to demand that Yahweh give Israel another chance because that was what had been promised!
Discussion Questions
- When did you first experience the loving call of Jesus to follow him on the Way?
- When you screw up, what makes you afraid that God will not forgive and support you?
- Which people have helped you believe in yourself as God’s beloved child? And which have not?
- How might you bring God’s loving forgiveness to others?
Practice: Find online the Prayer for Humility by William Barclay, and each day this week pray it slowly and reflectively.
If Jesus is going to wholeheartedly transform us, the process begins with mutual honesty.
Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Background: In John’s gospel Jesus in his farewell discourse prays not that his disciples be taken out of the world but rather that they be protected from evil. We are called to be in the world but not of it. Luke expresses this same attitude with an odd parable that seems to praise financial scheming. Rather than encouraging dishonesty, the point of the story is that wholehearted loyalty to the values of the gospel will pay off in the long run.
Discussion Questions
- When has short-term thinking led you to make a real mistake?
- What goal in life would you really be willing to sacrifice everything for?
- How does our society confuse us about what our life’s goals should be?
- How might Christ be calling you to change your goals?
Practice: Pray Psalm 23 this week. Begin by praying the whole psalm; then day-by-day select a verse or two to ponder and pray over.
What goal in life would you really be willing to sacrifice everything for?
Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Background: Although much of the Old Testament tradition proclaims God’s love and care for the poor and the vulnerable, another strand in the tradition presupposes that wealth is a sign of God’s favor. On the road up to Jerusalem, Jesus continues to instruct his followers that in the kingdom/reign of God the rich must show active concern for the “humble of the land”—or else face judgment.
Discussion Questions
- What presupposition of preoccupation of yours might be making you blind to the needs of those “at (your) gates”? How have stereotypes kept you from encountering them with respect?
- Who in your life has seen your poverty and need and then loved and cared for you?
- To “fight the good fight of faith” requires courage. Who or what in your life gives you the courage to keep living as an active, faithful disciple?
- How has our church or our society fallen into the trap of honoring the wealthy? What can you do about that situation?
Practice: St. John Chrysostom once said that “if you do not see Christ in the beggar at the door, you will not find him in the chalice.” Next Sunday at Mass, as you watch your fellow-communicants returning to their pews, ask yourself which one of them is most in need and how you might find Christ in them. Then pray for them.
