Discussion Questions February 2008

Adults

Cardinal Newman once said: “Nothing would ever be done at all, if a [person] waited to do it so well that no one could find fault with it.” How is this reflected in this month’s parable?

What gifts or talents have you cultivated most fully in your life? Do you have other talents that remain undeveloped? What keeps you from working on them?

What will you do for Lent this year? How will your Lenten practices increase your stewardship or deepen your discipleship?

Teens

What are some things you do really well? What do you do “well enough to get by”? Which give you more pleasure? Why?

When is it important to do something perfectly? When is “the best you can do” good enough?

Rather than “give something up” for Lent this year, is there some way to use your best gifts and talents to help someone else between now and Easter?

Children

What can you do better than almost anyone else in your class or your neighborhood? How does it feel to be the best at this one thing?

What other talents do you have? How could you use these talents to help or entertain someone else?

An Advent calendar helps us count the days until Christmas. A Lenten “countdown calendar” would have forty days on it. Instead of giving something up for Lent, ask God to help you do one kind or generous thing – on purpose – every day from now ’til Easter.