Discussion Questions for Sunday's Readings 
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 9, 2009 (19B)
From the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University

Sunday Readings 

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Questions on Sunday's Readings for use by discussion groups, 
prayer groups, or for individual prayer.
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First Reading
First Book of Kings, Chapter 19, Verses 4-8

1.In this reading, sometimes we are like Elijah, despairing, and sometimes we are like the hearth cake, nourishing others. Think of times in your life when you wanted to cry, “Enough” and you could have used a good hearth cake. Did help come? How?

2. God sent help to Elijah in the form of an angel. What kind of help do you think God would send today? Name some ways you can be the “hearth cake“ for a person in a desperate state.

Second Reading
Letter to the Ephesians,
Chapter 4, Verses 30-32; Chapter 5, Verses 1-2

1. Do you think you could get better at “being an imitator of God?” How? Is it more likely to happen all at once because you want it to or a little at a time because you work at letting God into you? If you were going to work at this, where would you start?

2. Do you know any ”imitators of God?” What kinds of things do/did they do?


Gospel
According to John, Chapter 6, Verses 41-51

1. The crowd murmured when Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven. How did knowing his mother and father impact the crowd’s willingness to believe him? Is it easy to accept a “prophet (one who speaks for God) in your own circle of acquaintances?

2. Sometimes our ideas get in the way of new wisdom that the Holy Spirit might present to us. Rate the difficulty in easing that type of problem in general, and personally.


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By Anne Osdieck of the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University 
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