Discussion Questions

First Reading

Exodus 24:3-8

F1. “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.” Why was blood so significant in those ancient ceremonies? Why was it used to seal solemn agreements? Is there a relationship between blood and life? Between blood and death?
    
F2. Have you ever made solemn agreements (covenants)? What do they tell you about God’s covenant with the Israelites?

Second Reading

Hebrews 9:11-15

S1. Elsewhere Jesus says “I wish that where I am they also may be with me … ” (John 17:24). In today’s reading Jesus “entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” Did he bring us along into the sanctuary with him, redeemed now though his love?

S2. Jesus entered the sanctuary once for all of us, the one not of this creation, so that we may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Christ’s love is beyond all comprehension. Is there any response for all of us other than awesome reverence and love? What could some other actions be? Work for eco-justice? Do something to end racial bias? Feed the hungry?

Gospel

Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

1. Is anyone “worthy” to receive Christ in the Eucharist? Where should the “worthy” decision lie? In the conscience of the receiver? In the conscience of the priest? Of the Eucharistic minister?

2. What does Pope Francis say Jesus does for us in the Eucharist? What does he say Jesus wants us to do with that gift?

And thus, with simplicity, Jesus gives us the greatest sacrament. His is a humble gesture of giving, a gesture of sharing. At the culmination of his life, he does not distribute an abundance of bread to feed the multitudes, but breaks himself apart at the Passover supper with the disciples. In this way Jesus shows us that the aim of life lies in self-giving, that the greatest thing is to serve.

And today once more we find the greatness of God in a piece of Bread, in a fragility that overflows with love, that overflows with sharing. … In the Eucharist fragility is strength: the strength of the love that becomes small so it can be welcomed and not feared; the strength of the love that is broken and shared so as to nourish and give life; the strength of the love that is split apart so as to join all of us in unity… .

… The Eucharist heals because it unites with Jesus: it makes us assimilate his way of living, his ability to break himself apart and give himself to brothers and sisters, to respond to evil with good. He gives us the courage to go outside of ourselves and bend down with love toward the fragility of others. As God does with us. This is the logic of the Eucharist: we receive Jesus who loves us and heals our fragilities in order to love others and help them in their fragilities; and this lasts our entire life.

Angelus for Body and Blood of Christ
Pope Francis June 6, 2021

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University