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 Discussion Questions
Twenty-Fifth Sunday
of Ordinary Time
September 23, 2018
Anne Osdieck

First Reading
Wisdom 2:12, 17-20

1. “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us, he sets himself against our doings.” If you were to speak out against unjust “doings,”might you be considered obnoxious? Does that stop you?

2. Today, who are the “just ones,” enduring persecution by wicked ones? Is there an injustice that “tries your patience”?


Second Reading

James 3:16-4:3

1. Ambition for power and greatness: where does it lead? What does it do to a country? To a business? To a Church? Is there a way to cultivate peace?
                                               
2. St. James asks, “ … where do the conflicts among you come from?” In today’s Gospel the disciples had been arguing and “discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest.” Do you think their discussion could have ended in anything but conflict? Why?

Gospel:
Mark 9:30-37

1. Jesus tells the disciples that they should be servants of all, in order to rank first. To whom would you be a servant if you could? Anyone close to you? How do you rate your parish in taking care of people in need? Where do you rank yourself? 

2. In his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis says that when we receive one migrant or refugee child, it teaches us to welcome others. What does giving a welcome have to do with faith, hope and love? Why do you think Jesus came as a child, small and weak?

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (Mk 9:37; cf. Mt 18:5Lk 9:48Jn 13:20). With these words, the Evangelists remind the Christian community of Jesus’ teaching, which both inspires and challenges. This phrase traces the sure path which leads to God; it begins with the smallest and, through the grace of our Savior, it grows into the practice of welcoming others. To be welcoming is a necessary condition for making this journey a concrete reality: God made himself one of us. In Jesus God became a child, and the openness of faith to God, which nourishes hope, is expressed in loving proximity to the smallest and the weakest. Charity, faith and hope are all actively present in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Pope Francis
World Day Of Migrants And Refugees
2017

Anne Osdieck
Art by Martin Erspamer, OSB
from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C). This art may be reproduced only by parishes who purchase the collection in book or CD-ROM form. For more information go http://www.ltp.org