Discussion Questions

First Reading

Wisdom 7:7-11

F1. Does wisdom reside in the mind or the heart? Or both? 

F2. Could the geopolitical, economic, ecological, and health crises today be a call to Wisdom? What can you help remedy with your courage and intelligence?

Second Reading

Hebrews 4:12-13

S1. This reading says that “the word of God … is able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” How do you feel about the Word knowing you better than you know yourself? Do you trust God with such personal things? And would you like to know yourself better?

S2. Do motives and attitude color your decision-making? Are your motives and attitudes in good order, or could they use a realignment?

Gospel

Mark 10:17-30

G1. Are possessions themselves the difficulty, or is it clinging to them? Or is the problem the inner drive to own and accumulate? Can the unbridled desire to possess be a stumbling block to world peace or ecological sustainability? How?

G2. According to Pope Francis, what was this rich man lacking?

Dear brothers and sisters, a faith without giving, a faith without gratuitousness is an incomplete faith. It is a weak faith, a faith that is ill. We could compare it to rich and nourishing food that nonetheless lacks flavor, or a more or less well-played game, but without a goal: no, it isn’t good, it lacks “salt.” A faith without giving, without gratuitousness, without works of charity, makes us sad in the end: just like that man who returned home “sorrowful” with a fallen countenance, even though he had been looked upon with love by Jesus in person.

Today we can ask ourselves: “at what point is my faith? Do I experience it as something mechanical, like a relationship of duty or interest with God? Do I remember to nourish it by letting myself be looked at and loved by Jesus”? Letting oneself be gazed at and loved by Jesus; letting Jesus look at us, love us. “And, attracted by him, do I respond freely, with generosity, with all my heart?”

Angelus for the 28th Sun Ord B
Pope Francis Oct 10, 2021

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University