Listen
To Him!
Discipleship
Questions for
Sunday March 8, 2009
Scripture
First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2, 9 10-13, 15-18
Psalm
Second
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15
First Reading Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
A reading from the Book of Genesis
The sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith.
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he replied.
Then God said:
“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom
you love,
and go to the
There you shall offer him up as a
holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you.”
When they came to the place of which God
had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged
the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to
slaughter his son.
But the LORD’s
messenger called to him from heaven,
“Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
“Do not lay your hand on the boy, ” said the messenger.
“Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold
from me your own beloved son.”
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by
its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his
son.
Again the LORD’s
messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
“I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as
you did
in not withholding from
me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants
as countless
as the stars of the sky
and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall
take possession
of the gates of their
enemies,
and in your descendants
all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing—all
this because you obeyed my command.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17,
18-19
(R.) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
(R.) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your
handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
(R.) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all
his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O
(R.) I will walk before the Lord, in the land
of the living.
Second Reading Rom 8:31b-34
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans
God did
not spare his own Son.
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for
us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along
with him?
Who will bring a charge against God’s
chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will
condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died - or, rather,
was raised -
who also is at the right
hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
Gospel Mk 9:2-10
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
This is
my beloved Son.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high
mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became
dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth
could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with
Moses,
and they were conversing
with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so
terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over
them;
from the cloud came a
voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer
saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the
mountain,
he charged them not to
relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man
had risen from the dead.
So they kept the
matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
Discipleship Questions:
1. This is the season of
Lent. How is your Lenten experience
going? Please discuss.
2. Please read the
following and discuss:
“This is a season for
intentional spiritual growth! Therefore
it’s a time of repentance, reconciliation, penance and disciplined
discipleship.
And therefore it’s also a time for Prayer, Fasting and Charity which radically war against the three universal temptations we all constantly dealing with - Pleasure, Power and Popularity. Oh how these temptations war against our best Lenten intentions! These minions of these temptations bombard us every day!
And so you and are given this annual 40 day opportunity to do some work on our spiritual lives!
With this in mind we’re going to reflect upon what is arguably the most important realization we can ever make if we’re ever truly going to grow into maturity as Christians!
Let me put that another way – without this fundamental realization you and I are destined to play at Christianity and never really do it! Without this pivotal realization we’re either not Christians at all or are destined to remain very very immature ones.”
3. Please read the
Listen
to Him! I love Him – Listen to Him! This is God’s word to you and to me this
morning! Listen to Jesus!
You see if Jesus really did come back from the dead then He can speak to
you and to me right here and right now!
Has He ever done that to you?
He can – He will if you invite Him and listen until you hear Him!
Christianity isn’t a religion – it’s a relationship!
Please discuss this.
4. Please read the following quotes and discuss:
Listen to what Dietrich Bonheoffer had to say about this:
"Christianity without disciplined
discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract
idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as
the living Son. … There is trust in God, but no following of Christ."
Listen to a prayer from the Trappist Monk Thomas Merton as he prayed through this reality:
“MY LORD GOD, I have
no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your
will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire
to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart
from that desire. And I know that if I
do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about
it. Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”