Third Sun. of Lent Luke 13:1-9 3/7/10
“ Leave it another year while I hoe around the fig tree and manure it; then perhaps it will bear fruit.”
1. Throughout our lives we are faced with situations like the man with the fig tree. When were you recently faced with a challenging situation that required your patience and nurturing?
2. What are some “fruits” you need to cultivate more carefully in your life? What is keeping you from being productive?
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Fourth Sun. of Lent Luke 15: 1-3,11-32 3/14/10
“My son,’replied the father, ‘you are with me always, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice! This brother of yours was dead and has come back to life. He was lost, and is found.’”
1. The father shows loving patience. Speak of an experience from your life when you had to wait patiently. How did that make you feel?
2. Describe a situation in your live when you found it difficult to sk for forgiveness.
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Fifth Sun. of Lent John 8:1-11 3/21/10
“Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone...”
1. What do you do to keep from judging others as less than yourself?
2. Tell about a time when your first impression of someone was wrong.
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Passion Sun. Luke 22:14-23:56 3/28/10
“Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”
1. Jesus suffered when he was innocent. What does this say to you?
2. How do you see God or not see God in your trials and difficulties?
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Easter Sun. John 20: 1-9 4/4/10
“‘The Lord has been taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!’”
1. Recount an experience in your life that left you feeling like an “empty tomb,” as if the Lord had been taken away from you. How did you try to find the Lord again later?
2. Relate an experience from your life when inner peace came from facing a painful situation.
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Second Sun. of Easter John 20:19-31 4/11/10
“Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!”
1. Thomas stands for all believers with reservations. Recall an experience that shows Thomas in you.
2. Describe a time when you became convinced that Jesus was real.
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Third Sun. of Easter John 21:1-19 4/18/10
“‘Do you love me?....Follow me.’”
1. How have you felt when someone in your life asked you the same question over and over? What is God repeatedly asking of you in your life right now?
2. What does it mean for you when Jesus says to you, “Follow me”? What prevents you from following Jesus?
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Fourth Sun. of Easter John 10:27-30 4/25/10
“‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.’”
1. Describe an experience when you felt cared for, felt a sense of belonging, felt connected.
2. Speak of a time in your life when you felt lost. How did you find your way, or how are you handling it now?
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Fifth Sun. of Easter John 13:31-33, 34-35 5/2/10
“‘I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other.’”
1. Describe a time in your life when someone close to you went out of your life. What did that person leave behind for you? How did that person affect your life?
2. How do you love someone who is very difficult to love?
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Sixth Sun. of Easter John 14:23-29 5/9/10
“‘Peace’ is my farewell to you, my peace is my gift to you;
I do not give it to you as the world gives peace.”
1. Speak of a time when you trusted, and experienced true peace.
2. Where do you need peace right now?
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Seventh Sun. of Easter John 17:20-26 5/16/10
“‘I pray also for those who will believe in me...,
that all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you...’”
1. Jesus prays “that all may be one.” Have you ever felt that oneness with one another, or a oneness with the earth as God’s creation?
2. Share an experience when you felt “unity” with the Father and the Son, or tell of a time when you needed that “unity.”
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Pentecost Sun. John 20:19-23 5/23/10
“Then he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
1. Describe how some person has inspired courage in you.
2. What causes you to lock your “inner door”? What helps you at those times?
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Holy Trinity Sun. John 16:12-15 5/30/10
“‘...being the Spirit of truth he will guide you to all truth,’”
1. Name a time when suffering and injustice inspired you to seek out the truth.
2. A life filled with constant lies hinders one from the truth. How do you recognize untruth? How do you keep yourself open to the truth?
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Body & Blood of Christ Luke 9:11b-17 6/6/10
“They all ate until they had enough.”
1. When have you felt you were running on empty?
2. Christ related with all types of people. What type of people do you find easy to include in your life? What type of people is easy to exclude?
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Eleventh Sunday in Ord Time Luke 7:36-8:3 6/13/10
"Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
1. When were you invited to begin to break the barriers of past hurts?
2. How has your faith brought you peace?
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Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 9:18-24 6/20 /10
“But you - who do you say that I am?”
1. Where do you go for seclusion?
2. In your life, where have you gone or what have you done because of Jesus’ lead?
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Thirteenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 9:51-62 6/27/10
“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
1. When in your life have you been called to change direction (put your hand to a different “plow”) because of your desire to be a follower of Jesus?
2. What does it mean to your everyday life to be a follower of Jesus?
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Fourteenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 7/4/10
“The harvest is abundant but the workers are few...”
1. How does Jesus ask you to spread the gospel in the world today? What obstacles do you see in your path? What do you need to do to overcome these obstacles?
2. When have you felt like a lamb walking among wolves?
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Fifteenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 10:25-37 7/11/10
“And who is my neighbor?”
1. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, which of the four characters do you identify with? Explain.
2. Tell of a time you were a good neighbor to a stranger.
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Sixteenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 10:38-42 7/18/10
“...you are anxious and upset about many things; one thing only is required...”
1. As an individual what do you do to prepare yourself to listen to Christ? Do you have a special time or place for listening?
2. Who, more than anyone, makes you feel at home? How? How can you show this kind of hospitality to others this week?
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Seventeenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 11:1-13 7/25/10
“Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.”
1. From your experience, what keeps you praying or not praying?
2. Reflect on a time when your prayer was answered in a different way than you expected.
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Eighteenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 12:13-21 8/1/10
“Take care to guard against all greed...”
1. Recall a time when material goods failed to satisfy you.
2. How can you store up “riches in the sight of God” that you can “take with you”?
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Nineteenth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 12:32-48 8/8/10
“From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”
1. Describe an incident from your life when faith allowed you to attempt something that common sense alone would have cautioned against.
2. What have you done so far with what “has been entrusted to you”?
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Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 1:39-56 8/15/10
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,...for he has looked upon his lowly servant.”
Mary’s Magnificat is her joyful response in celebration of God’s activity in her life. What does your Magnificat sound like?
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Twenty-First Sun. in Ord Time Luke 13:22-30 8/22/10
“Try to come in through the narrow door.”
1. Going through a “narrow door” is difficult; one has to work at it. In order to make it through the narrow door, what changes do you need to make in your life that you have been putting off?
2. God loves all people, even the ones you find most unacceptable! What will you do about that?
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Twenty-Second Sun. in Ord Time Luke 14:1,7-14 8 /29/10
“You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.”
1. Relate a recent experience when you felt obligated to pay back a gesture of goodwill. What was the outcome?
2. How do you deal with the “beggars, crippled, lame and blind” in this world? Who are they for you?
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Twenty-Third Sun. in Ord Time Luke 14: 25-33 9/5/10
“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
1. Name any way that a commitment to follow Christ has affected you decisions.
2. Relate an experience when it was difficult to be a Catholic/Christian in today’s world.
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Twenty-Fourth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 15: 1-32 9/12/10
“...you are with me always, and everything I have is yours.”
1. Speak of an experience of forgiveness you never thought possible.
2. Relate a time when you felt lost and someone reached out or did not reach out to you.
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Twenty-Fifth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 16:1-13 9/19/10
“No servant can serve two masters.”
1. How can you use your wealth and talents to help God’s work?
2. Name some valuables in your life that money can’t buy.
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Twenty-Sixth Sun. in Ord Time 9/26/10
Luke 16:19-31
“If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if one should rise from the dead.”
1. In what ways do you identify with the rich person in the Gospel? In what ways do you identify with the poor person in the Gospel?
2. Who are the people you have never really seen? How can that change in the next two weeks?
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Twenty-Seventh Sun. in Ord Time Luke 17:5-10 10/3/10
“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore, ‘Be uprooted and transplanted into the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
1. How have you reacted when asked to do more than what you really wanted to do?
2. Describe a recent time when you did something without expecting a reward, or a time when you did not!
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Twenty-Eighth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 17:11-19 10/10/10
“Stand up and go your way; your faith has been your salvation.”
1. How do you best show your gratitude to God? To others?
2. Share a time when you were aware or are aware that you did not show gratitude to God or to others.
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Twenty-Ninth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 18:1-8 10/17/10
“...when the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on the earth?”
1. Reflect and share an instance when ongoing prayer in your life carried you through a difficult time.
2. How often in your prayer life are you persistent enough to ignore the answer you want to hear and persistent enough to heed the answer God wants you to hear?
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Thirtieth Sun. in Ord Time Luke 18: 9-14 10/24/10
“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
1. When has a simple person, perhaps an outcast, been able to teach you something important?
2. When have you done the right things for the wrong reasons?
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Thirty- First Sun. in Ord Time Luke 19:1-10 10/31/10
“Jesus said, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry down. I mean to stay at your house today.”
1. Tell about a time when you accepted someone as is and thereby brought about a change in them, or vice-versa!
2. Zacchaeus did all he could to get a better look at Jesus. What do you do in your life to get to know Jesus better?
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All Saints Day Matthew 5:1-12a 11/1/10
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
1. Of the eight beatitudes which do you desire most in your life and why?
2. How do these blessings compare with what you prize? How do they compare to what our society prizes?
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Thirty- Second Sun. in Ord Time Luke 20:27-38 11/7/10
“God is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
1. Tell of a time you tried to convince a person of something you believed, but he or she did not. Were you successful? Why or why not?
2. Write down three things that you believe about life after death. What is the strongest feeling you have about these?
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Thirty- Third Sun. in Ord Time Luke 21:5-19 11/14/10
“All will hate you because of me, yet not a hair of your head will be harmed By patient endurance you will save your lives."
I. Describe a time in your life when you had to persevere in order to stand up for what you believed to be right.
2. With wars, famine, suffering, etc., how do you find God's love and trust in your life?
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Christ the King Luke 23:35-43 11/21/10
"I assure you: this day you will be with me in paradise."
1. What helps you believe that Jesus remembers you?
2. How does this Gospel give you hope of being saved?
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ADVENT CYCLE A
First Sunday of Advent Matthew 24:37-44 11/28/10 "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come."
1. What are some of the difficulties in staying alert to God in your everyday life?
2. Share a time when you were caught unprepared. How do you see God being a part of that experience?
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Second Sunday of Advent Matthew 3:1-12 12/5/10
"'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'"
1. We all know people who seem to lead fruitful lives. Who are these people in your life? In what ways have their lives affected you?
2. Think of those times when your life was a desert place. During those times what did you hear? How did you respond?
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Third Sunday of Advent Matthew 11:2-11 12/12/10
"Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?"
1. Describe an experience when you felt hemmed in by your small world. Relate who or what helped to free you from this.
2. Relate an experience when it was easy for you to recognize God in a person, situation or event, and another when it was difficult.
--------------------------------------------------------- Fourth Sunday of Advent Matthew 1:18-24 12/19/10
"'She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'"
1. Describe a time when you had to struggle to trust God in a difficult situation.
2. When did you change a decision of yours after prayer and reflection?
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Christmas Day John 1:1-18 12/25/10
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...”
1. If you accept the Word as love, how does this influence those you meet in your daily life?
2. Mary accepted the Word and gave birth to Jesus, the Word made flesh. How do you give birth to Jesus in the world? Give an example.
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Feast of the Holy Family Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 12/26/10
"'Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.'"
1. Relate a time in your life when you experienced family unity in the face of danger, difficulty or crisis. Why was there unity?
2. Describe an experience of God guiding you out of danger or difficulty. How did God "speak" to you? Through a friend, family member, a stranger, your feelings, prayer?
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Feast of Epiphany Matthew 2:1-12 1/2/11
"...Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is the newborn king of the Jews?'"
1. What helps you stay focused on God's presence in everyday situations where God is usually not mentioned?
2. From your experience, when have you come to appreciate people you used to pass by or not notice?
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Baptism of the Lord Matthew 3: 13-17 1/10/11
“John said.... I should be baptized by you, yet you come to me!”
1. Give examples from your experience when you expected to be the receiver but turned out to be the giver.
2. When in your life have you found some peace even in time of turmoil and suffering?