1. For whom did God call Moses? Was it for Moses’ sake or for the sake of the Israelite people? Does “I Am Who Am” intervene in our history as s/he did in the Israelites’? Name some incidents that you think are/were God’s interventions. Are we asking God to intervene for Ukraine right now?

2. God told Moses he was standing on holy ground. In Laudato Si Pope Francis writes about our common home, the earth. From what you read below give some reasons why you can call the earth “holy ground.” What can we do to protect this “caress of God”? Is there anything you can do to help “brothers and sisters” fleeing or suffering the weapons of war? Here are what Pope Francis says:

84. Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.

92. Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.

Laudato Si

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12

1. Do you have to work at keeping a friendship alive and healthy? Does the same hold true for your relationship with God?

2. Are there opportunities for deeper conversion (turning more toward God) and productivity that you could take advantage of? Are there some opportunities for your parish too?

Gospel
Luke 13:1-9

1. “ … And I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;.” …  Metaphorically speaking, the cultivation and fertilization could be grace in the parable. In the book Diary of a Country Priest, George Bernanos said, “Grace is everywhere.” What does that statement mean to you? Do you always cooperate with such grace? Could you cooperate to a greater degree? How?

2. Do you give people another chance after they make a mistake? Does God use people as “gardeners” to help cultivate and fertilize with grace? Does God use you? Has God used others to help you bear fruit?