First Reading
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or Isaiah 55:1-11
1. What are some things that you can work hard to acquire but that don’t satisfy? How much time, effort and money can you spend trying to get them? What is the one thing you must do to attend the sumptuous banquet provided by the Father?
2. “For my thoughts are not your thought, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” According to Is 55:1-11, What should do to align our ways to God’s ways? What are ways you can help “establish justice on the earth’?
Second Reading
Acts 10:34-38 or 1 John 5:1-9
1. Compare Peter’s words in Acts, “He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil.” with Isaiah’s, “I formed you … to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” What was Jesus’ mission? What is the Church’s mission now?
2. Based on Pope Francis’ following statement, what is your mission now?
As soon as Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit alighted on him like a dove, as a voice from heaven said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). We rediscover our own Baptism in the Feast of the Baptism. Just as Jesus is the Beloved Son of the Father, we too, reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, know we are loved children—the Father loves us all!—the object of God’s satisfaction, brothers and sisters of many brothers and sisters, assigned with a great mission to bear witness and proclaim the Father’s boundless love to all mankind.
Gospel
Mark 1:7-11
1. John the Baptist was the middleman. He pointed back to Isaiah and forward to Jesus, connecting the whole plan. What or who are the “middlemen” who connect you with God? In what way are you a middleman?
2. John saw “the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.” Compare and contrast this baptism scene with the Spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:1 Does the Spirit ever “tear open” the barriers you create in order to tell you things? Explain.
