First Reading
Wisdom 18:6-9

1. Are you certain enough of God’s covenant with us that you could carry out what scripture calls a “leap of faith”? What gave the Israelites courage to begin their journey into the unknown? Do you make smaller leaps of faith, maybe of hope, in your everyday life?

2. Does your faith in Jesus’ promises give you the courage like an “inexhaustible treasure,” promises like the one he makes in the Gospel to stand up against injustices—such as the inhuman treatment of immigrant children, human trafficking, the climate crisis or gun control? Do you need trust as well as courage?

Second Reading
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 or 1-2, 8-12

1. Abraham was called to an unknown country. Do you sometimes feel you are on uncharted faith territory? Who helps you with certainty and responsibility in these unmapped areas of faith? What tests your faith? Would God ever call you to unknown places?
 
2. God promised Abraham that he would have many descendants. What allowed Abraham to offer up his and Sarah’s child? Can you relate to this story in any way? How is your trust? Does it remind you of God’s offering up his only son?

Gospel
Luke 12:32-48 or 35-40

1. Jesus says to be “vigilant” and “like servants who await their master’s return, be ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks”? Do you “watch” for God in your everyday life? Where do you find him?

2. How does Pope Francis describe pure joy in heaven through his analogy of the servant story?

We cannot truly understand in what this supreme joy consists. However, Jesus lets us sense it with the analogy of the master who, finding his servants still awake on his return: “will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37ff). The eternal joy in heaven is manifested this way: the situation will be reversed and it will no longer be the servants, it will be us, who will serve God—but God himself will place himself at our service. And Jesus does this as of now: Jesus prays for us, Jesus looks at us and prays to the Father for us. Jesus serves us now. He is our servant. And this will be the definitive joy. The thought of the final encounter with the Father, abundant in mercy, fills us with hope and stirs us to constant commitment, for our sanctification and for the building of a more just and fraternal world.

Pope Francis, Angelus 19th Sun C
Aug 11, 2019