27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Isaiah 5: 1-7
   
2. Psalm 80: 9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
   
3. Philippians 4: 6-9
   
4. Matthew 21: 34-43
   

• God's disappointments
  
• We get disappointed when things don't go the way that we wanted for them to.  Perhaps we were counting on a good friend to come through for us and they did not have the time to be a support when we really needed it, or we invest time and effort into something only to have it fail.  Oddly, I believe that God can be disappointed as well.  Maybe not surprised, but disappointed.
• Have you ever disappointed God?
• How did you come to know that?
• How did that make you feel?
• How do you think it made God feel?
  

• God's punishment
  
• Is gravity unfair?  Falling accounts for a lot of death and injury, yet no one asks about the fairness or justice of gravity.  When we stray from God's plan for us, bad things happen, and we should not be surprised.  But that doesn't explain all the bad things that happen to us.
  
• Does every event in life have to have a purpose?
• Is it necessary that we know what that purpose is?
• When tragedy has come in your life, how did that affect your relationship to God?
• If you were to draw a picture of God, what would He look like?
• And if God were to draw a picture of you, how would He portray you?
  

• Transcendent peace
  
• True peace in this life transcends our understanding.  That isn't to say that this peace defies understanding, or that it is contrary to understanding, but that it is bigger than anything that we can understand.
• Can you recall a time in life when you suddenly caught a deep sense that it was going to work out, in spite of what was going on that moment?
• Did you see that as a grace, a gift of God at the time?
• Did it turn out to be true, did it all work out?
• Did that challenge in your life work out the way that you had hoped?
• Did it matter whether it worked out the way that you had hoped?
  

• Bearing fruit
  
• The fruit that a tree bears is the product of many things, the soil that the tree is planted in, the age of the tree, the sunshine and water that it receives.  To an extent, the entire life of that tree is summed up in its fruit.
• How have some challenges in your life born fruit later?
• Do you ever thank God for those challenges and the way that God was able to transform them?
• Is it our place to go looking for challenges?
• Is it safe for us to seek comfort and security?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God inviting me into His unconditional love?
   
2. Do I have a punishing or a vengeful God?
3. Where is God calling me beyond my comfort zone?
   
4. Where is God calling me to be more fruitful, or fruitful in a new and different way?

Shalom!