Discussion Questions

First Reading

Daniel 12: 1-3

F1. “But the wise shall shine brightly … ” Can you think of people you have known or known about who have died and shine brightly for you? If so, which of their qualities would you like to emulate in your life? Did their concern for others start out small and then expand to wider and wider circles?

F2. Name some people who have led “many to justice” and are now “like stars forever.” Since stars are used for navigation, how can people like Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Rutilio Grande, Martin Luther King and St. Teresa of Calcutta show us the way? 

Second Reading

Hebrews 10:11-14, 18

S1. Compare and contrast old covenant priests and their repeated sacrifices with Jesus and his one sacrifice? How do the many celebrations of the Eucharist fit into the one-sacrificial event?

S2. Dianne Bergant, CSA. says that “Jesus was able to expiate all transgressions of all people of all times.”* Jesus did this through his unselfish sacrifice. Does this say anything to us about making sacrifices to help others?

Gospel

Mark 13:24-32

G1. “The Word of God will not pass away.” What do you take along with you when you die? Is there any correlation between love and the Word of God that does not pass away? Is there anything you can you do to stretch your capacity to love?

G2. “The sun will be darkened.” How does Pope Francis say we can help bring light back to the darkened sun? And what can we learn from the fig tree?

Dear brothers and sisters, that is the word that makes hope blossom in the world and relieves the suffering of the poor: tenderness. Compassion that leads you to tenderness. We need to overcome our self-absorption, interior rigidity, which is the temptation nowadays, that of the “restorationists”, who want a Church completely orderly, completely rigid: this is not of the Holy Spirit.

We have to overcome this, in order to make hope blossom amid this rigidity. It is up to us to overcome the temptation to be concerned only about our own problems; we need to grow tender before the tragedies of our world, to share its pain. Like the tender leaves of a tree, we are called to absorb the pollution all around us and turn it into goodness.

It is useless to keep talking about problems, to argue and to be scandalized – all of us can do that. What we need to do is imitate the leaves that daily, imperceptibly, turn dirty air into clean air. Jesus wants us to be “converters” of goodness: people who breathe the same heavy air as everyone else, but respond to evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21). People who act: by breaking bread with the hungry, working for justice, lifting up the poor and restoring their dignity. As the Samaritan did.

Pope Francis homily for 33rd Sun and World Day of the Poor
Nov. 14, 2021

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University