Group Sharing
Questions – 33rd Sunday (C)
Discussion Questions related to Sunday Readings featuring Word-Sunday, Vince Contreras, RCIA Seekers’ Michael Marchall, RCL Benziger, Anne Osdieck, and Fr. Eamon Tobin.
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
November 13, 2022
INTRODUCTIONLECTORSHOMILIESVIDEO ARCHIVECOMMENTARYCHURCH FATHERSCATECHISMPAPAL HOMILIESHOMILY STARTERSFAITH SHARINGCHILDRENMUSIC
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Video Overview | First Reading | Psalm | Second Reading | Gospel
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
WORD-SUNDAY
Appearance Over Content?
How important are appearances to other? How important are appearances to you?
In the 1960’s, a critic of popular culture proclaimed, “The medium is the message.” In many ways, his prediction has come true. Many television outlets emphasize style over content. Media marketing reveals the masses prefer to watch attractive people who report the news with flashy computer graphics. Appearances are as important as content. In some cases, appearances confuse content. (When was the last time you saw a local news program blow a small issue out of proportion?)
Why are we fooled by appearances? Why are we lulled into complacency by the calm before the storm? (Remember September 10th?) Why are we tempted to give up when the world finally comes crashing down around our ears? Focused upon the end of the world, Jesus addressed these questions in Luke’s gospel.
SOURCE: WORD-SUNDAY © Larry Broding
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
SCRIPTURE STUDY
Click above to access reflection & discussion questions (PDF)
- What prompts this lesson by Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel? What question(s) is he asked?
- What bombshell does he drop on his disciples (verse 6)? Considering how the Jews felt about the Temple, how must they have felt when they heard Jesus’ words?
- The disciples identified the destruction of the Temple with the end of the world; in this chapter, Jesus separates the events. In Luke 21:8-19, which is he teaching about?
- What will happen to the disciples and the Church during the coming persecution (Luke 21:10- 13)? What comfort will come in the midst of these trials?
- How would you apply this passage (Luke 21:12-19) to your present situation with relatives, friends or neighbors? How is Jesus asking you to prepare for resistance from these people? If you have ever met genuine resistance or persecution, how did you give testimony?
SOURCE: Sunday Scripture Study for Catholics © 2010 Vince Contreras
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
RCIA SEEKERS
Team RCIA Questions
BACKGROUND: Jesus has at last reached Jerusalem and is in the Temple, the physical focus of God’s eternal covenant of love for the Jews. Yet he predicts that, like all human constructions, it too will someday be destroyed. (It is important to note that the destruction of the Temple by the Romans must not be interpreted in an antisemitic way. Cf. Vatican II, Nostra Aetate.)
In Luke’s chronology of salvation, the good news of Jesus died and risen will be proclaimed starting in Jerusalem but reaching the ends of the earth. As we see in the reading from Malachi, only those who fear and revere God’s name by accepting all of life’s events according to the Father’s will “with patience endurance: who at last will come to eternal life.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- When has life been so bad that you thought that God did not love you?
- How did you learn to say at last, “Thy will be done”? From reading Scripture? From a supportive person? From an insight during prayer?
- Which people around you in your life most need your support in order to believe that they are lovable? That in God’s plan they are safe?
- What people in the church or in society seem to you to be preaching bad news and not good news? How might you reach out to them in a fruitful way?
SOURCE: TEAM RCIA
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
ACCORDING TO POPE FRANCIS…
God Has a Weakness for
the Humble Ones
Anne Osdieck
The Sadducees thought the present life was the standard for eternity. What does Pope Francis say God has in store for us, that turns the Sadduccees’ way of looking at eternity on its head?
This is why Jesus affirms: “he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him” (Luke 20:38). And the most important tie is with Jesus: he is the alliance, he is the Life and the Resurrection, because with his crucified love he defeated death. In Jesus God gives us eternal life: he gives it to everyone, and everyone can, thanks to him, hope to live a life even more real than this one. The life that God has in store for us is not simply a better version of this one: it goes beyond our imagination, because God continually surprises us with His love and mercy.
SOURCE: Sunday Web Site – Saint Louis University
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
Justice
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 159
As Catholic Christians we are called to work for justice. Working for justice includes standing up for the rights of all people so that they can live with dignity and hope. Pope John XXIII outlined basic human rights as the right to life and a worthwhile manner of living, the right which respects one’s person regardless of sex, ethnic background, religion or nationality, the right to freely pursue and express the truth, the right to a basic education, the right to worship, the right to gainful work, decent working conditions and proper compensation, the right to meet and associate, and the right to emigrate (Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism, New Edition, Harper SanFrancisco, p944).
Justice is a quality of faithful persons who love God and therefore love their neighbor. Justice is the virtue that helps us work for changes in our community and world in order to protect the rights of others. In the words of Pope Paul VI: “If you want peace, work for justice.”
- What organizations exist to help protect the rights of others?
- How does the Church help to promote justice throughout the world?
- How can you stand up for the rights of the poor?
SOURCE: RCL Benziger — YEAR A | YEAR B | YEAR C
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
FAITH SHARING
Ascension Catholic
1. Turn to the person next to you and share what word/s or image/s in the readings caught your attention? Did they comfort or challenge you or touch you in some way? The facilitator can decide which is more helpful: to share the next questions with the whole group, or to share in smaller groups of three or four.
2. The readings are a bit scary. Should homilists today preach more ‘hell, fire and damnation’ homilies? What helps you deal with scary times?
3. In the second reading, Paul says that those who are unwilling to work should not eat. What do you think? How should food pantries deal with this issue?
4. If you knew you had six months to live, how would you spend it?
5. Name one thing today’s Gospel says to us that we disciples of Jesus need to heed and act on.
JOURNALING
Having listened to God’s Word and listened to others’ reflections on it, take a quiet moment to reflect on what you are hearing God say to you. Your response will be what you bring to Eucharist on Sunday, asking Jesus to help you respond as he asks of you. When ready, jot down your reflections.
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
Share with the person next to you one way you can act on this week’s readings. Suggestion: Pray for persecuted Christians and those who are seeking honest employment.
STUDY GUIDE (PDF)
