Sunday Readings' Discussion Questions
Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time, Feb. 19, 2012 (7B)
From the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University
Sunday Mass Readings
Podcast of the Readings
Video of Reflections on Readings
Lecturas y Comentarios
New American Bible
Prayer of the Hours
BQ: Should you Confess before Communion?
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Questions on Sunday's Readings for use by discussion groups,
prayer groups, or for individual prayer.
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First Reading
Isaiah, Chapter 43, Verses 18-19, 21-22, 24-25
1. God says he is wiping out the people’s sins for his own sake. Does
this mean that he is not doing it for the sake of the people? Have they
displeased him? Does this mean that even our sins cannot prevent God
from loving us and forgiving us?
2. In this reading, God says, "I am doing something new!....your sins I
remember no more.” How does it make you feel to know that forgiveness
and mercy are available to you all the time, even when you don't deserve
them; that God isn’t keeping track of all your evil deeds, but forgets
them all instead? How are you at forgetting other people’s
transgressions against you?
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 41: 2-3, 4-5, 13-14
1. The Psalm speaks about the need for healing when one has sinned
against the Lord. Our psalmist says the Lord will help the sinner on
his sickbed. Do you believe that being in a state of sin is the same
as being afflicted with a sickness? If so, who is the physician that
will take away your ailment and how do you get him to cure you?
2. Our psalmist seeks to stand in the Lord's presence forever. He also
suggests that he will be restored from his misfortune because of his
regard for the weak and the lowly. Does this remind you of the regard
that our savior Jesus also had for the weak. What do you have to do to
be able to stand in the Lord's presence for all eternity?
Second Reading
2 Corinthians, Chapter 1, Verses 18-22
1. What does a “first installment” of the Spirit imply? What does it
mean to you to have the Holy Spirit in your heart, ready to help you in
any and every circumstance of your life? Do you ever remember this gift
when you are in trouble?
2. The Spirit is in your heart helping you in all things. If this is the
first installment, then what do you suppose the final installment or
the payment in full will be?
Gospel
Mark, Chapter 2, Verses 1-12
1. What obstacles might have stood in the way of the men taking their
paralyzed friend to Jesus? Whose faith did Jesus reward? Do obstacles
stop you? What allows you to do the impossible? Referring to the fact
that the friends got the paralytic in to see Jesus, discuss Willa
Cather’s statement: “Where there is great love, there are miracles.”
2. Why were the scribes concerned about Jesus forgiving sins? Jesus
said, "Which is easier, to say...' Your sins are forgiven,' or to say,
"Rise, pick up your mat and walk?'" So why do you think Jesus performed
that miracle?
Sunday Bible Study Group
Please comment on the Sunday Readings. May we be blessed by God's words as reflected in your thoughts and experience-sharing.
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This psalm of David may apply
ReplyDeleteto each one of us at some point in our lives.
We too have our moments
when we feel down, “lowly and poor,” as the psalm says.
We can’t always depend on our neighbors
or even our families to lift us up, or make our burdens light.
Where do we turn for mercy at times like these?
We turn to the Lord.
Who else can we turn to when we are in the pit and our
fellow human beings turn the other way?
The Psalm says, “the Lord will keep and preserve us,”
he will deliver us.
“The Lord sustains us on our sickbed.”
And who do we turn to for the forgiveness of sins,
which is the first step to spiritual and physical recovery?
We turn to the Lord.
Who else stands ready to forgive our sins?
As Isaiah says in our 1st reading,
the Lord “remembers our sins no more.”
In the psalm David appeals to the Lord for mercy –
“Lord have pity on me,
heal me, I have sinned against you.”
For us, our appeal is to our savior, Jesus,
who will do for us what he did for the paralytic
in this week’s Gospel -- heal us physically and spiritually.
And having received that grace from our Lord,
as the psalm says, we will want to
“stand in his presence forever.”
Amen