Sermon by Fr. Robert Polen

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. Isaiah speaks to a people described as walking in darkness. What does it mean for Israel to be walking in darkness (see Isa 51:3 for other images that picture Israel’s desperate condition)? In what ways is our situation different from and similar to what Israel is experiencing?
2. Isaiah is giving his audience encouragement and instructions for seeking the Lord while walking in darkness. Why would Isaiah warn the people against kindling their own light in the darkness? Can you think of examples of counterfeit light that we settle for in seasons of darkness?
3. What reasons does Isaiah give for confidence and hope while we walk in darkness?

Sermon by Fr. Peter Smith

12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. If you've read it before, what ways has this passage caused you confusion or concern?
2. How does the fact that Jesus was retreating to a Gentile region help us better understand this exchange between the Canaanite woman and Jesus?
3. More than just stubbornness, why did the woman continue to press Jesus to answer her request?
4. How does the woman exemplify the spiritual principle that those who humble themselves will be exalted (Mt. 23:12)?
5. Think of an area of need in your life: what would it look like for you to imitate this woman’s dogged yet humble faith?

Sermon by Fr. Peter Smith

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever experienced what it’s like to wait on God’s deliverance until the “fourth watch”?  If so, what was that like?
2. Christ wants our faith in him to grow.  How does that happen?
3. When Christ increases the faith of others, how is it possible to learn and take encouragement from that (like the disciples did from Peter)?
4. Where would you say your faith is now?  In the boat, out on the water, or next to Jesus?

Sermon by Fr. Bob Fabey

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sermon by Fr. Peter Smith

9th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. What does it look like to make Jesus your most valued possession?
2. In what way is joy central to what Jesus is teaching through these parables?
3. How and why ought the Christian life to be marked by joy?

Sermon by Fr. Peter Smith

8th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. How does it feel to be sabotaged? 
2. According to Jesus, why does evil exist and persist in his good creation?
3. Why doesn’t God go ahead and get rid of evil people now, or give his followers permission to do some weeding?
4. We often question God’s goodness or power in the face of evil. How is Jesus teaching us that it is actually God’s wisdom and expertise on display?
5. Of the three instructions in Jesus’ “Simple Manual on Redeeming Sabotage in the Field”, which one do you think you needed to hear most today?

Sermon by Fr. Bob Fabey

7th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. When did you first hear the call of God?
2. When did you first question your own behavior?
3. I want you to think back to a time when you were profoundly changed by God. What was happening? What were the circumstances? What did the change look like?
4. How have you lived differently because of God’s touch? Did it transform you, or is it like Italian coffee…great when I was there but not as relevant right now?
5. Is your walk just a cycle of shoulds? A cycle of try-harders? A cycle of “I know”? That is not life in the Spirit…that is life under guilt and shame…under slavery.

Sermon by Fr. Bob Fabey

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

"Hope is what you are chained to. Hope is what confines you. Hope is what keeps you from being free to worry and despair. Hope is the shackle on your ankle and around your wrist. 

What a beautiful prison…"

Discussion Questions:

1. How is what was happening in 1876 similar to what is happening today? Expeditions, the Telephone, Steam engines, wars, Disputed presidential elections, the MLB…
2. How is the Jewish experience of promise and fulfillment similar to ours?
3. How are we like Lady Liberty? (Chains and Torch)
4. Do you agree with Vaclav Havel’s quote - "Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."
5. In Romans 5, Paul makes the case for how we are to view our lives based on what God has done… “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we[c] rejoice[d] in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
6. How have you experienced this to be true?
7. What is one way you can live as a “prisoner of Hope”?

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” For hope to exist, there has to be darkness. For hope to be real, there has to be a prison. And we, in the prison.”-Desmond Tutu

Sermon by Fr. Robert Polen

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. Jesus always reserves the right to challenge our expectations of him. What are some of the expectations you have/had of Jesus that he has challenged through his Word?
2. Read Jeremiah 6:13–14 and Isaiah 57:15–21. How do these passages help explain what Jesus means when he says that he has not come to bring peace?
3. Why does Jesus say that we should give him our absolute loyalty? How might you engage with someone skeptical of Jesus’ demand for absolute loyalty?
4. How does the promise of reward help us make the sacrifices Jesus calls his people to make?

Sermon by Fr. Peter Smith

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Discussion Questions:

1. What experience do you have with birdwatching?
2. As Jesus sends his Apostles out to share the Gospel, why is Jesus so emphatic that they not be afraid?
3. How do each of the three birds connect with our fears?
4. Which of the three birds feels like the greatest challenge for you to imitate?