Discussion Questions

First Reading

Sirach 27:4-7

F1. Just as a tree is known by its fruits, Sirach says, so people are known by their conduct. How would you determine your vote? By what they say, or what they do? Or both?

F2. The furnace shows what the potter molds, How does this relate to “tribulation is the test of the just”? Are you more likely to believe the words of people like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, on the subject of anti-racism, over people who were not tested?

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

S1. Georges Bernanos says in The Diary of a Country Priest, “Grace is everywhere.” How could that statement apply to the first sentences in this reading: “when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality. …”

S2. Just as grace changes the corruptible, will it also change death? How? Why does St. Paul say death will lose its sting?

Gospel

Luke 6:39-45

G1. “Brother, let me remove that splinter. … ” Before we undertake correcting others’ problems, what does Jesus ask us to check out in ourselves?

G2. This Gospel ends with “From the goodness of the heart the mouth speaks.” How does Pope Francis say we can get to that point?

 “The fruitfulness of our life depends on prayer,” he stated, explaining that in prayer we can ask Jesus for the gift of seeing the world with his eyes.

This way, he said, we can “love our brothers and sisters, starting from the poorest and those who suffer the most, as he did, and to love them with his heart and to bring to the world fruits of goodness, fruits of charity, and fruits of peace.”

Pope Francis: Truly Christian Life
Catholic News Agency, May 2, 2021

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University