Discussion Questions

First Reading

Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17

F1. “As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.” If an evangelizing community gets involved in people’s daily lives, embracing their sufferings, will they, in a way, take on the “smell of the sheep”*? Will that make it easier for the sheep to hear the evangelizer’s voice?

 * Evangelii Gaudium, 24

F2. According to this reading, what kind of shepherd is the Lord God? If there is a message in this reading for people in Church leadership positions, what is it? What can you do to “bind up the injured and heal the sick”?

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28

S1. “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Name some signs of “death or serious illness” that you see in the world, or the environment? What can you do to restore life? How can you help Christ accomplish the task of destroying death?

S2. Besides the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, what are some of the many other forms of violence in the world today? How can you help Christ challenge them? Pray and fast with others? Advocate for laws?

Gospel

Matthew 25:31-46

G1. This king is the almighty and glorious God who comes to heal, seek out and bind up. Why did he come into the world in solidarity with the poor, wear thorns for his crown and have a cross for his throne? Can you relate on a personal level to a to very rich, brilliant leader? How about to a poor and suffering one?

G2. In this Gospel Jesus has a “double identity” He is the king-shepherd who also identifies himself with the lost sheep, the most needy of this brothers and sisters. What does he ask us to do? Is our final judgement based on our love?

And he thus indicates the criterion of the judgement: it will be made on the basis of concrete love given or denied to these persons, because he himself, the judge, is present in each one of them … The judgement will be on love, … we will be judged on works, on compassion that becomes nearness and kind help. Do I draw near to Jesus present in the persons of the sick, the poor, the suffering, the imprisoned, of those who hunger and thirst for justice? Do I draw near to Jesus present there? This is the question for today.

Angelus for Christ the King
Nov 22, 2020

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University