Discussion Questions

First Reading

2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a

F1. What are today’s prophets talking about? Ending gun violence? Clean air and water for third world countries? Justice for all races? If prophets speak to transform society, is there some corner of your world you can change for the better? If you feel inadequate about transforming society as a whole, is there anything in the readings that tells you it is all right to start small?

F2. Discuss how Elisha and the woman in the story each receive something from the other’s graciousness. In the light of this story and our present problems, evaluate your community’s racial hospitality?

Second Reading

Romans 6:3-4, 8-11

S1. If we are living in the “newness of life” in the risen Jesus, are we “living for God”?

S2. Think of ways God might use you if your attitude is Christ’s and you put yourself at the disposal of God’s saving work in the world.

Gospel

Matthew 10:37-42

1. Could this quote from today’s Gospel “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink … ” relate to the problem of safe drinking water that Pope Francis speaks of in his encyclical, Laudato Si? Is there anything you can do to give someone in a poor country a cup of cold, safe, water?

…Access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity. This debt can be paid partly by an increase in funding to provide clean water and sanitary services among the poor.

Laudato Si, On Care for Our Common Home, Section 30

2. Who is blessed, the one who gives the help or the one who receives it? Are you always the giver or do you need to receive at times?

Anne Osdieck
 

**From Saint Louis University