Discussion Questions

First Reading 1

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6

1. Cyrus was a Gentile, yet he permitted the Israelites to return from captivity in Babylon to their homeland. Which people in the last hundred and fifty years have broken down the walls of prejudice and freed oppressed peoples? Were they all Christian? Do you think God chose them? Has God ever chosen you? If so, were you aware of it?

2. Could God be “grasping the right hand” of scientists “though they know him not” who are trying to find solutions for the global warming crisis, and of activists trying to stop racial injustice?  

Second Reading 2

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b

1. Do the following help in your reception of the word:

• presence of the Holy Spirit;
• people living the gospel with conviction?

Compare and contrast these:

• receiving the word as way of life
• receiving the word as a code of conduct.

2. St. Paul says, “For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” What is more important? Thinking about the word or acting on it? Where does the power to act come from?

Gospel

Matthew 22:15-21

1. Are the Pharisees in this Gospel reading more interested in taxes or in undermining Jesus’ influence? Do God’s and Caesar’s worlds have to be separated? “Can we divorce spiritual obligation from political policies … or social issues?”*

* Joan Chittister The Time Is Now, p. 57

2. Caesar’s image is on the coin, so tribute should be paid to Caesar. But Pope Francis asks whose image is in our hearts? How do you contribute according to that image?

With this reply, Jesus places himself above the controversy. Jesus, always above. On the one hand, he acknowledges that the tribute to Caesar must be paid—for all of us too, taxes must be paid—because the image on the coin is his; but above all he recalls that each person carries within him another image—we carry it in the heart, in the soul—that of God, and therefore it is to him, and to him alone, that each person owes his own existence, his own life. …

Hence the mission of the Church and Christians: to speak of God and bear witness to him to the men and women of our time. Every one of us, by Baptism, is called to be a living presence in society, inspiring it with the Gospel and with the lifeblood of the Holy Spirit. It is a question of committing oneself with humility, and at the same time with courage, making one's own contribution to building the civilization of love, where justice and fraternity reign.

Image on coin and image on heart
Angelus for 29th Sun, Oct 18, 2020

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University