Discussion Questions

First Reading

Isaiah 66:18-21

F1. The Israelites were and remain the chosen people. God extended the same “chosenness” to others. How has this worked out through the ages? For instance, have Christians always honored their ancestors, the Jewish people? Do you think God wants your involvement in the unity of all humankind? What are you able to do?

F2. From the beginning it was God’s plan to save all humankind. Can you help others in this plan? Are people being excluded? Can you think of anything your parish or the Church as a whole could do to be more inclusive? Welcome immigrants? Fight racism?

Second Reading

Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

S1. The Second Reading tells us to “strengthen our drooping hands and our weak knees.” What happens to athletes who don’t exercise? Can you yourself become spiritually “flabby”? Do you ever “work out” spiritually on your own? How?

S2. IFrom what you know of the lives of the saints, did/does God handle the saints with “kid gloves”? What about you––how does God treat you? Would you like softer treatment? What is the relationship between God’s love and hardships along the spiritual path?

Gospel

Luke 13:22-30

G1. “We ate and drank in your company.” Is a membership in a particular group an automatic “opening” of the narrow gate? Can people of all religions receive grace? If God is always creating you, moment to moment; do you think God ever stops offering you moments of grace?

G2. “And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south.” Is Pope Leo’s Facebook post an invitation to everyone from everywhere, especially the broken, to come into the Church to be God’s brothers and sisters? 

Brothers, sisters … I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left. To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home. I, too, was angry with God. I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine. And yes, … there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.

But then I discovered something: God doesn't shout. God whispers. And sometimes he whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything. I don't come to offer you perfect faith. I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.

I'm not asking you to believe in everything. I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment. I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son, ... and yet she cooked for others. That changed me.

So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies, ... come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack. No one here will ask you for a VIP card. Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary. God doesn't need soldiers. He needs brothers. And you, yes you ... are one of them.

Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)
May 11, 2025

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University