Discussion Questions

First Reading

Deuteronomy 6: 2-6

F1. Is there any contradiction between the Ten Commandments and the commandment to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself?

F2. On a global scale what are some issues we need to think about when we consider the commandment, “Love your Neighbor”? Climate? Racism? Immigration? Incarceration? Starvation?
 

Second Reading

Hebrews 7:23-28

S1. Explain why Jesus’ sacrifice takes place now and always, for instance in the Eucharist, as well as throughout history. Compare the love Jesus has for you with the love he had for his disciples.

S2. How do you feel about someone who “lives forever to make intercession for” you?

Gospel

Mark 12:28b-34

G1. Does “loving our neighbor as ourselves” mean just using our ministries to take care of their physical needs? Do our neighbors have needs for friendship and tenderness? How might we avoid letting our ministries become a service stations?

G2. Pope Francis said at the conclusion of the Synod, “This is the Church we are called to ‘dream’”. What is that Church like?

This, brothers and sisters, is the Church we are called to “dream”: a Church that is the servant of all, the servant of the least of our brothers and sisters. A Church that never demands an attestation of “good behaviour,” but welcomes, serves, loves and forgives. A Church with open doors that is a haven of mercy.

 “The merciful man”, said John Chrysostom, “is as a harbour to those who are in need; and the harbour receives all who are escaping shipwreck, and frees them from danger, whether they be evil or good; whatsoever kind of men they be that are in peril, it receives them into its shelter. You also, when you see a man suffering shipwreck on land through poverty, do not sit in judgment on him, nor require explanations, but relieve his distress.” (In pauperem Lazarum, II, 5).

Pope Francis
Homily at the Conclusion of the General Assembly
of the Synod of Bishops

Anne Osdieck
 

**From Saint Louis University