Discussion Questions

First Reading

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15

F1. Did God call Moses for Moses’ sake or for the sake of the Israelite people? Does “I Am Who Am” intervene in our own history as he did in the Israelites’? Name some incidents that you think are/were God’s interventions. Could we ask God to intervene for Ukraine right now?

F2. God told Moses that the latter was standing on holy ground. In Laudato Si Pope Francis writes about our common home, the earth. Using what you read below, give some reasons why you can call the earth “holy ground.” What can we do to protect this “caress of God”?

84. Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God. ...

92. Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.

Pope Francis
Encyclical Letter
Laudato Si

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12

S1. Do you have to work at keeping a friendship alive and healthy? Does the same hold true for your relationship with God?

S2. Are there opportunities for deeper conversion (turning more toward God) and productivity that you could take advantage of? Are there some opportunities for your parish too?

Gospel

Luke 13:1-9

G1. “ … And I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it.” …  Metaphorically speaking, the cultivation and fertilization could be grace in the parable. In the book Diary of a Country Priest, George Bernanos said, “Grace is everywhere.” What does that statement mean to you? Do you always cooperate with such grace? Could you cooperate to a greater degree? How?

G2. Do you give people another chance after they make a mistake? Why does Pope Francis give God the name, “the God of another possibility”?

But Jesus knows that conversion is not easy, and he wants to help us there. He knows that we often repeat the same mistakes and the same sins; that we become discouraged, and perhaps it may seem that our commitment to do good is useless in a world where evil appears to rule. Thus, after his appeal, he encourages us with a parable that tells of the patience of God.

We must keep in mind God’s patience, the patience he has for us. He offers the comforting image of a fig tree that does not bear fruit during the accorded season, but is not cut down. More time is given to it, another possibility.

I like to think that a nice name for God could be “the God of another possibility”: God always gives us another opportunity, always, always. That is what his mercy is like. This is how the Lord is with us. He does not cut us out of his love. He does not lose heart or tire of offering us his trust again, with tenderness. Brothers and sisters, God believes in us! God trusts us and accompanies us with patience, the patience of God with us.

Pope Francis
Angelus for the Third Sun. of Lent
March 23, 2025

**From Saint Louis University