It’s been a long day, like many of your days. Someone calls or shows up at the door late at night asking for help. Do you ignore the call? Turn them away at the door?

If you had to give a sermon of 10 words or less that summarized the whole of the Law and the Prophets, what would it be? Hard to beat “love your God completely, and love your neighbor as yourself,” but go ahead, give it a shot. When we condense, we clarify. Find the fewest words possible to express your greatest commandment.

Preaching in a diverse or divided parish or faith community can feel a bit like stepping into the line of fire, with Pharisees off to the side waiting to entrap you. If you choose to speak on a controversial topic, you are sure to hear about it. In fact, no matter the topic, as a rule critics are a lot more vocal than supporters.

Have you ever practiced a form of street ministry, the kind that takes to heart the gospel mandate to “go out into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find”? Not for the faint of heart, no doubt, but stretching the envelope a bit on your comfort zone will do you some good.

Have you ever felt like the gospel’s “stone rejected”—perhaps by someone in a position of authority over you, by those you serve, even by family or loved ones? Recall how you handled such situations in the past, especially if you haven’t handled them all that well. Might the Lord be inviting you to a wiser approach in the future?

How do you deal with life’s outcasts when they come knocking on your door—sometimes seeking a hand, but often just seeking a handout? Do you turn them away and go back to serving the respectable folks who show up at church and donate to the cause? Or do you find time for those who no one else has time for?

The parable of the landowner rewarding the one-hour worker with the same wage as the all-day worker challenges us to look at our own tendency to be jealous of another’s good fortune. Sometimes life is unfair and we don’t get what we want or think we deserve.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to go against the grain, take a stand that was unpopular among your friends and peers? Perhaps your very vocation put you in such a position—not everyone welcomes the news that a loved one has decided to enter religious life.

Jesus encourages us to resolve our differences at the lowest level possible, to avoid escalating the problem if at all possible. How do you handle differences with your friends or within your faith community?

The drama and passion of a life lived in relationship with God includes “until death.” Jesus is able and willing. Are you?