Discussion Questions

First Reading

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10

F1. Jeremiah was a prophet thrown into a cistern to die for speaking out against the waging of war. Can you think of people in the present time that were/are treated the same way for speaking out against injustice? Are people listening now to those holding out against racism and climate change?

F2. Besides Jeremiah, who else in this reading do you think you could count on if you were in trouble? Why? Do you have friends who will help you when you are in need? Are you such a friend to anyone else?

Second Reading

Hebrews 12:1-4

S1. What is the “cloud of witnesses” Paul refers to? What does everyone in the “cloud” have in common with the others? Do you have favorites in this cloud? Did everyone in the “cloud” keep his/her eyes on Jesus?

F2. If someone follows Jesus’ plan of spreading God’s love and unity to the earth, is there a chance of running into opposition—and being thrown into the cistern like Jeremiah or in jail like the Berrigans? Were many of the cloud of witnesses treated this way?

Gospel

Luke 12:49-53

G1. According to this Gospel reading, what did Jesus come to earth to do? What is the “fire” he wants the earth consumed by? Will part of that fire consume you?

G2. God seems to have a radical, unconditional love for us. According to Pope Francis can this love, like a fire, obliterate all obstacles in its way?

Jesus confides his most ardent desire to his friends and also to us: to spread the fire of God’s love on earth that enlightens life and through which mankind is saved. … The fire of love, lit by Christ in the world through the Holy Spirit, is a boundless fire. It is a universal fire. This was so ever since the early days of Christianity: bearing witness to the Gospel spread like a beneficial fire, overcoming all division among individuals, social categories, peoples and nations. Bearing witness to the Gospel does burn. It overcomes all forms of particularism and keeps charity wide open to all, with a preferential option for the poorest and the excluded. …

Adoring God and serving others—the Gospel truly manifests itself as a fire that saves, that changes the world beginning with a change in the heart of each one.

Pope Francis Angelus, 20th Sun
August 18, 2019

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University