Sunday Readings' Discussion Questions
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 28, 2012 (30B)
From the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University
Sunday Readings
Podcast of the Readings
Video of Reflections on Readings
Lecturas y Comentarios
New American Bible
Prayer of the Hours
BQ: Is Religion for the weak of heart and mind?
--------------------------------------------
Questions on Sunday's Readings for use by discussion groups,
prayer groups, or for individual prayer.
--------------------------------------------
First Reading
Jeremiah 31:7-9
1. This reading is about God’s promise to deliver his people. They were a remnant, blind and lame, with children or not, and they departed in tears. What does your parish or office or family do to help God’s deliver his people? What do you do?
2. Is there anyone in your life who just needs the road “leveled out” a little? If you help, how is this good for both of you? Does self-giving help bring about the reign of God?
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
1. The Psalm alludes to a reversal of spiritual exile that may apply to people like us. Tell of how the Lord has brought you back from a time of being distant from Him.
2. Our psalmist suggests that we carry the seeds of our own salvation even while we go forth weeping. Speak of how your faith has saved you, when you looked to the Lord for healing.
Second Reading
Hebrews 4:12-13
1. “He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness.” How would “experiencing weakness” help someone minister to others? Do you think Jesus’ human experience and suffering draws people to him?
2. Baptism makes all of us ministers in the reign of God. Think about Moses, Peter, Paul, St. Augustine, Blessed Damien, St. Thomas Aquinas and others. Did their weaknesses help make them good ministers?
Gospel
Mark 10:46-52
1. The disciples were trying to shut him up. But Bartimaeus kept calling out to Jesus anyway. What do you do when others tell you to keep quiet? In the history of the Church can you think of great scientists and theologians who were silenced?
2. “Master, I want to see.” What is it that you want to “see” that will change your life as radically as Jesus changed that of Bartimaeus? What was the miracle here, the faith of Bartimaeus or the healing of physical blindness?
Sunday Bible Study Group
Please share your thoughts online on the Sunday Readings. And please do use these questions for your own Bible study sessions with family and friends.
The Psalm celebrates the reversal
ReplyDeleteof Israel’s fortune, and return
from exile, which could not have
occurred without God’s intervention.
The verses reflect praise for what
the Lord has done. “The Lord has
done great things for them.”
The Lord did a great thing for
the Israelites when he “restored
the fortunes of Zion,” as the
psalmist says, and freed the
remnant from exile.
The Psalm is also a petition asking
the Lord to look after the future
of the remnant. And there is an
expectation that God will guide
them in achieving prosperity.
“Restore again our fortunes,
Lord, like the dry stream beds
of the Negev.” This calls to mind
our lst reading in Jeremiah,
where God promises to lead the
remnant to brooks of water,
so that a good harvest is assured.
We too are looking for that water
which restores, and renews,
cleanses us and purifies us, that
living water which satisfies our
spiritual thirst.
The Psalm also reminds us that
the truly great thing the Lord has
done for us is to send his only
begotten son to be by our side.
Jesus’ presence is a guarantee
of a spiritual harvest that leads
to our own salvation. Just as the
blind man in the Gospel is healed
by his own faith, the Lord promises
us a transition from a sinful existence
to a world of joy.
The Psalm says it well, “Those who
go forth weeping, carrying the seed
to be sown, shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.” And therein
lies a lesson for us – to let go of our
own baggage, and pick up the Lord’s
burden, where we know his yoke is easy.
Whatever type of spiritual exile
may discourage us or imprison us,
Jesus shows us a way out. God is in
the business of deliverance and
as Jeremiah confirms in our 1st reading,
we go among the blind and the lame
to the promised land.
We carry our sacks with us and
from those seeds that we sow is
contained the promise of new life,
the reversal of whatever misfortune
may trouble us. When the harvest
comes in, we can join with the
psalmist and sing, "Our mouths are filled
with laughter, our tongues sing for joy.”
Amen