25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 2:12, 17-20
2. Psalms 54: 3-4, 5, 6-8
3. James 3: 16-4:3
4. Mark 8:30-37

• Defend me oh God
• We always like to be on the winning side.  No one likes to be a member of the team that consistently loses, it's just bad for morale.  We all are betting that God will come out on top in the end, but what about in the meantime?
• As a faithful (and faith-filled) disciple, do you feel as though you are entitled to anything?  Maybe good health, the respect of your peers, retirement home in Martha's Vineyard ...?
• What makes you think that your list of entitlements should come your way?
• Where did that list come from?
• What do you think Jesus felt entitled to?

• Be careful what you ask for
• All of us want to know that God hears us when we pray.  But sometimes He's a little hard to predict.
• If you asked God for something that would ultimately do you harm, do you think that He would give it to you anyway?
• Do you think that everything that comes to/at you in life is a gift from God, or at least allowed by God?
• When things go wrong in life, just what is it that you think that God is looking for from us?
• Why is this so hard?

• Passion gets a bum rap
• What are your passions?  What moves you so much, that when you are doing that thing, enjoying your passion that time seems to stop?
• Where do you think that passion came from?
• What role do you think that passion should play in your decision-making?
• Do you think that we should all have the same passions?
• How did you discover yours?
• Do you think that your passions can change over time?
• Should they?

• Missing the forest for the trees
• I once thought that a person was truly old when everything that they once took for granted, getting out of bed in the morning, eating a hearty meal, being able to drive to the grocery store, ... become a chore that had to be carefully managed.  Then I thought that the onset of old age came when you thought more about the past, than you do about the future.  Lately, I've developed the opinion that old age comes when change, any change, is seen more as a bother, than an opportunity, a gateway to see God in some new and profound way.  And in that sense, I never want to grow old.
• In today's Gospel, the poor disciples just could not get their heads wrapped around the concept of a suffering savior, so they started working on a different problem, one that they could understand: figuring out the hierarchy in this new kingdom.
• Do you suspect that God might be calling you into a new kingdom in some way?  Calling you from a familiar, comfortable place into a broader horizon, an undiscovered country of some sort?
• How long has this been going on in your life?
• What do you think would happen if you answered that call?
• What is the first step?
• What's holding you back?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God asking me to rethink my expectations of Him?
2. Where is God trying save me through adversity?
3. Where is God leading me through my passions?
4. Where is God calling me out of my comfort zone?
5. Where is God?

Shalom!