This Sunday's Readings for Aug. 3, 2014 -- the Gospel of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish -- causes us to pause for careful reflection about the serious immigration dilemma we currently face at our borders. This Gospel is so central to the Bible that it is one of the few miracles found in all four gospels. It help us recognize the gifts we have been given and the responsibility we have to give to others.
Sunday Readings' Discussion Questions
Eightteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug 3, 2014 (18A)
From the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University
Sunday Mass Readings
Podcast of the Readings
Video of Reflections on Readings
Lecturas y Comentarios
Prayer of the Hours
BQ: Eucharist ? Communion ? Which is it ?
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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
First Book of Kings, Chapter 3, Verses 5, 7-129
1. Isaiah was writing for a poor community.What images and ideas in this reading would be of particular interest to them? What does God tell us to do in this reading to share in the abundant banquet of rich fare?
2. What is the food that can satisfy your soul’s deepest hunger?
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-18
1. Our Psalm says that the Lord feeds us and gives us our food in due season. What kind of nourishment are you receiving from the Lord?
2. The Psalm says the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth. How do you approach the Lord to satisfy your spiritual hunger and answer all your needs?
Second Reading
Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 35, 37-39
1. The reading asks us, “What will separate us from the love of Christ.” Does anything separate you completely from those you love? What does communication or the lack of it do for a relationship? Do you communicate with God to keep that relationship close? Whose strength is it that allows nothing to separate you from the love of God?
2. Nothing separated Christ from his love for us, not anguish, or distress, or the sword. Compare this thought with the hungry poor people in the First Reading who are given rich fare to eat and wine and milk. What is the common denominator in these two readings?
Gospel
According to Matthew, Chapter 14, Verses 13-21
1. Feeding 5000 would be a large task for most of us. Are some problems too big to handle? How do you look at “insurmountable” tasks in your own life? What did you think of when you read, “He looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples?”
2. The people in today’s readings were poor first, then rich with God’s abundant gifts to them. In the wedding feast at Cana, first there was not enough wine, then too much. In Sunday’s Gospel reading they first had no food, and then they collected twelve baskets of leftovers. What is the spiritual meaning of these contrasts?
Online Sunday Bible Study Group
Please share below your reflections on the Sunday Readings. May we be blessed by God's words as reflected in your thoughts and experience-sharing.
“The hand of the Lord feeds us;
ReplyDeletehe answers all our needs.”
We are like sheep, dependent
on our Good Shepherd to give
us nourishment.
As the prophet Isaiah says,
if we heed the Lord,
we shall eat well,
and we shall delight in rich fare.
Just as Jesus fed 5000 men
from a few loaves and two fish,
so Jesus feeds a multitude of us even today.
We too are among the hopeful ones
who look to the Lord for our food in due season.
For it is our spiritual nourishment
that we receive from the Lord.
“ The Lord satisfies the desire
of every living thing,”
as our psalmist says.
He opens wide his hand for us.
All we have to do is call upon him.
Our Psalm says it right –
“You Lord are near to all who call upon you.”
Amen