Discussion Questions

First Reading

Isaiah 50:5-9a

F1. Isaiah says, “The Lord God opens my ear that I may hear … ” What kinds of things do you think God wants us to hear? That “a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day” from the Second Reading? Alright, then what? Do you act on what you hear?
 
F2. “The Lord God is my help. … The present reading” has these words twice. How do they relate to Jesus’ utterance in the Gospel, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself”? Will God be with us, holding our hand, every minute, no matter what?
 

Second Reading

James 2:14-18

S1. How important is it to express your faith in works? The letter of James tells us to serve our neighbor. Do you ever respond to such a call? If so, how? With a few words? In some of your actions? With your entire life? 

S2. “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well, but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it”? Might one criticize a Catholic faith that is primarily “a fact on an ID card” rather than a missionary? How do you transmit your faith with “testimony”?

Gospel

Mark 8:27-35

G1. Do you want people you love to know you well? Do you think Christ wants you to know him well personally? He asks the apostles, “who do you say that I am?” What if he asked you that question? Do you answer it differently at different times in your life?

G2. “The Son of Man must suffer greatly … ” In these words Jesus is telling the apostles what discipleship is all about. Why does Pope Francis say Jesus chose the cross?

He [St. John Chrysostom] saw that despite appearances, Jesus is not a loser, but God, who willingly offers himself for every man and woman. Why did he do this? He could have saved his life, he could have kept his distance from the misery and brutality of human history. Instead he chose to enter into that history, to immerse himself in it. That is why he chose the most difficult way possible: the cross.

So that no one on earth should ever be so desperate as not to be able to find him, even there, in the midst of anguish, darkness, abandonment, in the scandal of his or her own misery and mistakes. There he came, to the very place we think God cannot be present, there. To save those who despair, he himself chose to taste despair; taking upon himself our most bitter anguish, he cried out from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46; Ps 22:1). A cry that saves. It saves because God took upon himself even the experience of our abandonment. And now, with him, we are no longer alone, ever.

Pope Francis homily at 52nd Eucharistic Congress
Sept 15, 2021

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University