1. Compare and contrast the tree planted beside the water with the barren bush. Do you identity completely with the tree or do you have some of the barren bush in you? Where does choice come into this picture?

2. Are there any areas of your life in which you place your trust in human beings? Why? In which areas of your life do you place your trust in God?

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20

1. “Resurrection” was a new idea for the early Christians and hard for some to believe. How do you handle new ideas? Is it an automatic rejection, automatic acceptance or do you collect information and study the ideas carefully? 

2. Do you think every truth was present at the foundation of the Church or do you think some truths evolve with time and circumstances? How does the idea of resurrection impact your life now? What would your life be like now if you had no hope of resurrection?

Gospel
Luke 6:17, 20-26

1. Although it is inevitable that disciples suffer, these directives don’t require you to be constantly poor or hungry, but that you realize your need for God, whatever your situation. They demand a choice. Is this a choice you can make once or do you have to make it repeatedly? Discuss.

2. In his homily for World Day of the Poor, 2019, Pope Francis mentions hope as the paramount virtue for the poor. If a genuine evangelist is going to sow hope in the midst of poverty and injustice, what might a “tangible seed of hope” look like to the starving in Afghanistan? To farmers who can’t grow crops due to climate change? To all the people suffering from discrimination?

10. The Lord does not abandon those who seek him and call upon his name: “He does not forget the cry of the poor” (Ps 9:12), for his ears are attentive to their voice. The hope of the poor defies deadly situations, for the poor know that they are especially loved by God, and this is stronger than any suffering or exclusion. Poverty does not deprive them of their God-given dignity; they live in the certainty that it will be fully restored to them by God himself, who is not indifferent to the lot of his lowliest sons and daughters. On the contrary, he sees their struggles and sorrows, he takes them by the hand, and he gives them strength and courage (cf. Ps 10:14).

The hope of the poor is confirmed in the certainty that their voice is heard by the Lord, that, in him, they will find true justice, that their hearts will be strengthened and continue to love (cf. Ps 10:17).

If the disciples of the Lord Jesus wish to be genuine evangelizers, they must sow tangible seeds of hope

Pope Francis      
World Day of the Poor, 2019