Discussion Questions

First Reading

Sirach 27:30-28:7

F1.  Is it harder for you to forgive someone else or to ask someone for forgiveness? If you or your ancestors are the ones needing forgiveness, how can you apologize/make reparation now for actions that happened in the past, such as slavery or destruction of the environment?

F2.  When you want to “hug wrath and anger tight” (paraphrase of the reading), do you have ways or people or places who will help you calm down your anger?

Second Reading

Romans 14:7-9

S1. Sometimes God asks people to do extraordinary things. But most of the time not. How do you live your ordinary life for the Lord? Can you find God there? If you did regularly, would your life be, paradoxically, extraordinary? 

S2. God created all things in love, entered creation, and rescued us himself. He does not leave us alone in this world or the next. Does thinking about this help you know that you are loved? And if you are a loving person, would you have time for things like holding grudges? Might you just want to “live for the Lord”?

Gospel

Matthew 18:21-35

G1.  Do you think God wants you to forgive your neighbor just for your neighbor’s sake, or for yours too? We know that we need unlimited forgiveness ourselves. God loves us so much he has forgiven all our sins. Should those thoughts help us forgive others?

G2. Pope Francis says that Jesus asks us to do something radical when he asks us to forgive our brothers and sisters unreservedly. Can you think of ways you can do this? 

Jesus asks us to believe that forgiveness is the door which leads to reconciliation. In telling us to forgive our brothers (and sisters) unreservedly, he is asking us to do something utterly radical, but he also gives us the grace to do it. What appears, from a human perspective, to be impossible, impractical and even at times repugnant, he makes possible and fruitful through the infinite power of his cross. The cross of Christ reveals the power of God to bridge every division, to heal every wound, and to reestablish the original bonds of brotherly love.

Homily of Pope Francis
Holy Mass for Peace and Reconciliation
Cathedral of Myeong-dong (Seoul)
August 18, 2014

Anne Osdieck
 

**From Saint Louis University