Faith Questions
29th Sunday of Year A
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“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
First Reading
Cyrus was the King of Persia. He conquered Babylon and decreed that all exiles could return home and practice their religion. God’s people saw God’s power at work in this amazing event. God can use even a powerful Pagan King to deliver his chosen people. Is there some area of your life, a difficulty at work, an obstacle in your family which you think of as ‘impossible’ to change. Be invited to pray for a ‘Cyrus’ event!
Does your life reveal a trust and relationship with God who can make all Kings ‘run in his service… opening doors before him?
Second Reading
Is there a particular persecution you face in following Christ? Are you working on your faith, laboring in love, enduring in hope? If Timothy was to arrive at your door what would you share with him?
Gospel
What is your view on paying tax? Civil obedience? Making a personal contribution to the ‘common good’ and public services?
What is your reaction to Jesus’ strikingly fresh detachment from money?
Do you repay and give your whole being to God grudgingly or gratefully?
SOURCE: Living the Word resources are created by Fr Frank Bird a Marist priest and Mrs Bev McDonald, ACSD, distributed by Marist Laity Auckland, NZ
First Reading
It is not only Cyrus who was called to bring about relief and be an instrument of hope: all of us are the hands of God in our own time and place. Give thanks to God for calling and gifts and ask him that you may use them well.
“I call you by name, though you do not know me” speaks to the experience of us all. A marvellous line from Ps 81 may help: I hear a voice I had not known: “I relieved your shoulder of the burden.” (Ps 81:5–6)
Second Reading
POINTERS FOR PRAYER
Have you had the experience of people praying for you and how did you feel? Have you prayed seriously for others?
Like the Thessalonians, are you under pressure for your faith? Are you able to bring it into prayer?
Gospel
POINTERS FOR PRAYER
The story sees a mixture of religion and politics, a potentially explosive combination. Jesus does not ask us to avoid politics, but that our involvement in the affairs of the world be informed by the perspective of the Reign of God. How does the gospel give you a vision of how your involvement in society should be?
Pharisees and Herodians were not natural allies but a shared dislike of Jesus brought them together in an attempt to discredit him. Perhaps you experience the same opposition in society today when you profess to being a Christian or a Catholic. Jesus did not get into an argument with them but simply professed his belief in the priority of God in his life. What have you found helpful in bearing witness to the fact that you are still a believing Christian or still go to church?
Jesus recognises that we can be faced with conflicting claims for attention. He does not tell us how to solve that dilemma, but challenges us to make sure that our allegiance to God takes priority. When have you been faced with a conflict of loyalties? What helped you to get your priorities right?
SOURCE: Hearers of the Word
First Reading
Cyrus was a Gentile, yet he permitted the Israelites to return from captivity in Babylon to their homeland. Which people in the last hundred and fifty years have broken down the walls of prejudice and freed oppressed peoples? Were they all Christian? Do you think God chose them? Has God ever chosen you? If so, were you aware of it?
Second Reading
St. Paul says, “For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” What is more important? Thinking about the word or acting on it? Where does the power to act come from?
Gospel
Are the Pharisees in this Gospel reading more interested in taxes or in undermining Jesus’ influence? Do God’s and Caesar’s worlds have to be separated? “Can we divorce spiritual obligation from political policies … or social issues?” (Joan Chittister)
SOURCE: Sunday Web Site at Saint Louis University
Gospel
Have the governments of the world become so corrupt and so evil that God wants us to withdraw from all involvement and all support of those institutions that are related to politics and to public authority? What would you say to people who thought that we should avoid all contact and all cooperation with civil authority?
What do you think of persons such as St. Thomas More who, as Lord High Chancellor of England, served the British King, Henry VIII, as long as he could preserve his own integrity and his own sense of truth? Under what circumstances would you not be able to cooperate with political leaders who supported harmful policies and practiced destructive works in their official roles?
What do you think of the new Catechism of the Catholic Church which says that Catholics have a moral duty to pay taxes, to vote, and to defend their country? What kind of moral duty are they talking about? Would it be a sin not to pay taxes, not to vote, not to defend one’s country? Should your parish hold classes for adults on these matters?
Christian Action
Hold a discussion with your family or with some of your friends on a Christian’s responsibility to participate in the political process. Set up some ground rules that should guide us in fulfilling these responsibilities.
SOURCE: Portland Diocese
First Reading
Cyrus was unaware that he was carrying out God’s will when he made it possible for the Jews to return to their homeland. Can you think of a leader or someone else who is not a believer but is unknowingly carrying out God’s will?
Second Reading
None
Gospel
When you vote in the upcoming election, what issues take center stage for you? How does your Catholic faith inform your vote? (No need to get into a political debate. Just share the issues that are important to you and why.)
When it comes to political and some religious issues, our country is very divided. What if anything can be done to bring us together for the sake of the common good?
Name one thing today’s Gospel says to us that we disciples of Jesus need to heed and act on.
Responding to God’s Word
Share with the person next to you one way you can act on this week’s readings. Suggestion: As you prepare to vote this November, prayerfully look on all the issues and not just one issue.
SOURCE: Ascension Catholic Parish, Melbourne, FL
Word Sunday
RELATED PAGE: Bible Study Questions
29th Sunday of Year A
The Strange Ways of God
Where do we look to see God in our lives?
Many times we look in the wrong places. We search for him where we think he should be, doing things we expect him to do. But, we should heed the words of Second Isaiah. God works for our good in the most unlikely ways and from the most unexpected directions. To truly see God working does require faith, for sometimes it tests our preconceived expectations.
How has God surprised you? How has he changed your expectations?
SOURCE: Word-Sunday Permission for use. All materials are the property of Larry Broding (Copyright 1999-2022). Viewers may copy any material for use in any non-profit ministry. Materials may not be sold or used for personal financial gain.
29th Sunday of Year A
Praise to God
Do you set aside daily time to praise God? How does such praise affect your daily life?
Praise is the logical response to our dependence. Faith also sees the place of enemies and strangers and even creation itself at the altar of worship. Faith drives us on to give God praise individually and in community.
How can you “sing a new song to the Lord” this day?
SOURCE: Word-Sunday Permission for use. All materials are the property of Larry Broding (Copyright 1999-2022). Viewers may copy any material for use in any non-profit ministry. Materials may not be sold or used for personal financial gain.
29th Sunday of Year A
The Struggle of Faith
So the local church began with controversy with the local Jews and the popular dedication to Rome.
The Christian call was never meant to be easy. Indeed, it is a call to struggle. The words of Paul seem to stress the connection between blessing and struggle. For Paul, they were sometimes one and the same.
What struggles have you found along the Christian way? How have you found blessing in your struggle?
SOURCE: Word-Sunday Permission for use. All materials are the property of Larry Broding (Copyright 1999-2022). Viewers may copy any material for use in any non-profit ministry. Materials may not be sold or used for personal financial gain.
29th Sunday of Year A
Conflicting Priorities
Have you ever been trapped by conflicting priorities?
“But you promised!” Have you ever heard that phrase from a son or a daughter, a spouse or friend, a neighbor or co-worker? How many times has one promise been broken to keep another? How many times have you had to break one commitment to keep another?
How have you exercised personal responsibility and participated in public life for the good of others? How have those experiences helped you grow?
The clash between religious separation and cultural accommodation came from a simple coin and the duty to pay a light tax. The symbols of each weighted heavy on the hearts of Jesus’ contemporaries. Yet, in their political struggles they forgot God’s reason for social engagement and the government of men. The common good.
In these passages, Jesus gave us the freedom to act in the public arena. But, with that freedom came a responsibility. God calls us to act for the good of all. Does America’s obsession with personal freedom preclude the common good? Or does it encourage altruistic acts? Let us pray for the latter.
