Small Group Discussion Questions With Sample Responses
Part 1: Understanding Core Principles
1. Opening Thoughts: As you read this chapter, what was the most surprising, new, or challenging idea you encountered about the Holy Spirit?
- Facilitator’s Notes: This is an icebreaker; all answers are valid. Listen for themes. People are often surprised by the Spirit’s divinity (being “Lord”), the Filioque (proceeding from the Father and the Son), or the direct connection between the Spirit and the four marks of the Church.
2. A Person, Not a Force: Barron challenges the common idea of the Spirit as just an impersonal “force.” How do the Creed’s titles for the Spirit—”the Lord” and “the Giver of Life”—help us understand him as a divine Person we can have a relationship with?
- Draft Response:
- “The Lord” (Kyrios): This is the title given to God (Yahweh) in the Old Testament and to Jesus in the New. Calling the Spirit “Lord” is a radical claim: he is fully God, co-equal with the Father and Son. You can’t have a “relationship” with an impersonal force, but you can with a “Lord.”
- “The Giver of Life” (Zoopoion): This connects him to the Ruach (Hebrew for “wind” or “breath”) in Genesis 1, the “breath of life” God breathed into Adam. He is the active, life-giving Person of God, not a vague energy. He is the one who “animates” us and the Church, just as a soul animates a body.
3. The Bond of Love: The chapter describes the Holy Spirit as the “bond of love” (vinculum amoris) between the Father and the Son. How does this image change or deepen your understanding of who God is (the Trinity)?
- Draft Response: This image helps us see that God is not a solitary, static monarch. God is a relationship, an eternal event of love. The Father eternally begets the Son (his Word), and the love between them is so real, so perfect, and so infinite that it is a Person: the Holy Spirit. This means that “relationship” and “love” are not just things God does; they are who God is.
4. The Soul of the Church: Barron argues that the Holy Spirit is the source of the Church’s four “marks” (One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic). Which of these four connections did you find most interesting, and why?
- Draft Response: (The goal is to see if the group grasped these connections. Briefly summarize them if needed):
- One: The Spirit, as the “bond of love,” is the great unifier. He reverses the division of Babel at Pentecost.
- Holy: The Church is holy (“set apart”) because the Holy Spirit dwells in it as its soul.
- Catholic: The Spirit makes the Church kata holos (“according to the whole”), giving it a universal mission and the fullness of truth.
- Apostolic: The Spirit is the “fire” that sends (apostelein) the Church out on its mission, just as he “spoke through the prophets.”
5. A Church “Sent”: The chapter calls the Spirit the “centrifugal force” (pushing out) that makes the Church “apostolic” (sent). In your view, what does a church community that is living by the Spirit’s “apostolic” mission look like in practice?
- Draft Response: This is an application question. The chapter implies a Church that is “apostolic” is one that is outward-facing. It’s not a comfortable, “holy huddle” concerned only with itself. It’s a Church that is actively evangelizing, serving the poor, engaging the culture, and sending missionaries (both lay and clerical) “to the ends of the earth.” A Church that has lost this missionary, outward-moving energy is one that is (in Barron’s terms) “suffocating the Holy Spirit.”
Part 2: Growing in Intimacy with Jesus
1. The Giver of Life: The Spirit is the Ruach, the “breath of God” who gives life. Where do you see the Holy Spirit breathing new life into your own faith, your family, or our small group right now?
- Facilitator’s Notes: This is a personal reflection. Encourage members to share practical examples: a moment of unexpected joy, a mended relationship, a new insight in prayer, a new energy in the group, a new desire to serve.
2. The Great Connector: The Holy Spirit’s mission is to draw us into the Body of Christ and connect us to the Father. When in your life have you most strongly felt “drawn” to Jesus? Looking back, how can you see that as the quiet work of the Spirit?
- Facilitator’s Notes: The key insight here is that we often don’t “feel” the Spirit directly. The Spirit is the one who points to Jesus. He’s like the “spotlight” that illuminates Christ. Those moments of conversion, deep prayer, or clarity about Jesus are the work of the Holy Spirit, whose job is to “glorify” the Son.
3. Holiness as Love: The chapter defines holiness as love (“willing the good of the other”). This is the Spirit’s work in us. Where in your daily life do you find it hardest to let the Spirit’s love (rather than your own feelings) guide your actions and words?
- Facilitator’s Notes: This question is about vulnerability. The “holiness” the Spirit gives is not a “super-power” but the strength to love when it’s hard: with a difficult co-worker, an annoying family member, or a political “enemy.” It’s about letting the divine love (the Spirit) act through us when our own human love runs out.
4. Listening to the Spirit: The Spirit “spoke through the prophets” and guides the Church “into all truth.” How can we, as individuals and as a small group, get better at listening for the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit in our own lives?
- Facilitator’s Notes: This is a practical “how-to” question. Answers should include things like:
- Daily prayer and silence.
- Reading Scripture (which the Spirit inspired).
- The Sacraments (especially Eucharist and Reconciliation).
- Seeking wise counsel from other Spirit-filled people (like this group).
- Paying attention to the “fruits of the Spirit” (love, joy, peace, etc.).
5. Being “Sent”: If the Spirit is “apostolic” (sending us out), where is he “sending” you this week? Where is one place, person, or situation that needs the love and “light” (the Spirit) that you have received from Jesus?Facilitator’s Notes: This is the “call to action.” It’s the practical application of the “apostolic” mark. Encourage members to identify one concrete, small mission for the week. It could be calling a lonely relative, sharing their faith with a curious co-worker, or volunteering for a local charity. It connects the high theology of the chapter to their daily lives.
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post