Select Sunday > Sunday Web Site Home > Spiritual Reflections > Discussion Questions

First Reading
Acts 2:1-11

1. The disciples were, only minutes before, just an insignificant group, cowering behind locked doors. Suddenly they were filled with power, speaking with great courage and freedom, “and in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. Can you explain the birth of the Church in terms of this reading? Was the Church “astounding” on the first Pentecost? How does it “astound” today?

2. Did the Holy Spirit come only once in history, as in the upper room? Or do you see the Holy Spirit as dynamic and constant in every life? Explain. How were the disciples different after the Spirit’s arrival? Are you confident that the Spirit is with you? Discuss.


Second Reading

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

1. “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” Were Vivaldi and Michelango given gifts solely for their own pleasure? For whose benefit were they given? What are your gifts and for what benefit are they given you and those around you?

 2. St. Alphonsus Rodriguez was a Jesuit Brother (1533-1617) whose job was doorkeeper of the Jesuit College in Majorca. For forty years. Would this spiritual gift of service compare to that of St. Francis Xavier, who converted whole countries? How?


Gospel:

John 20:19-23

1. Jesus “breathed” on them. How does this relate to Genesis 2:7, “God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life?” What is the significance for you? How important is the Holy Spirit to you?
                                       
2. In his homily at the “Mass for the Feast of Pentecost with New Movements,” Pope Francis asks the following questions:

Are we open to ‘God’s surprises’? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?

Holy Mass with the Ecclesial Movements, May 19, 2013
Paragraph 2, near the end


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