April 14 

    [media presentation below]

GospelThink

April 14, Easter Weekday

JOHN 3:7b-15

Heavenly Things


Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus tells me how Baptism works: I am born in the Spirit. Was it clear by my actions yesterday that I am born of the Holy Spirit?

b. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he is speaking about “heavenly things.” In my life, how much of my time is spent on “heavenly things” in contrast to earthly things”?

c. When I do not understand something about Scripture, am I willing to look up the meaning in a Commentary or the like?

d. At God’s direction, Moses lifted up the image of the serpent in the desert so that everyone who looked on it would be healed. As I study my thinking where do I need most healing?

e. Having eternal life is what I want. How do I best prepare for my death?

f. My prayerthoughts…


Today, I will read the Acts of the Apostles 4:32-37 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

BORN FROM ABOVE

+ The statement that Jesus made to Nicodemus in the Gospel is an important one for the Christian:

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

- Jesus refers to the Israelites who needed some consolation when they became disgusted with their travel through the desert after the Exodus

- it was not an easy life

- not only was their little food and water, but they were infested at one time or another with diseases and troubles, and one time with snakes

- they needed something

- so God directed Moses to make a saraph serpent and mount it on a pole. And if anyone who had been bitten by a snake looked at it, he/she would recover

- whenever you do that, you form a cross

- the cross which was to become the means for our redemption as Jesus tells Nicodemus


+ In order to achieve anything spiritual, we needed what Jesus did—Jesus dying on the cross, and his rising from the dead, as we celebrate this Easter season

- if we really believe that, then our lives will change

- such is the message of Jesus to Nicodemus

- if we are “born from above” as Jesus tells him, “born of the Spirit,”

- then we will be the type of people that we should be


+ That is, the type of people that the early Christians became after the Resurrection of Jesus as the Acts of the Apostles records

- they became people who cared for one another, people so dedicated to each other, that they would go out of their way, to help one another, becoming people of one mind and one heart

- no doubt with difficulties, but they worked them out


+ The application of the readings is very straightforward:

- if we look on the cross, what Jesus has done for us, the fact that he died and rose

- then we will accept the Baptism of being born from above

- and having accepted it, we will become people who care, who realize that others are important

- thus making our world better because of us who believe in Jesus.








MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Ordinary" – Alex Warren

MAKE THE MUNDANE OUR MASTERPEICE



 

The Gospel


MATTHEW 5:48

Jesus said: ”So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Gospelthink: Jesus calls everyone to be holy.

“They say ‘The holy water’s watered down and this town’s lost its faith, our colors will fade eventually.’ So, if our time is runnin’ out day after day, we’ll make the mundane our masterpiece. I take one look at you; you’re takin’ me out of the ordinary. I want you layin’ me down ‘til we’re dead and buried. You got me kissin’ the ground of your sanctuary. At your altar, I will pray. You’re the sculptor, I’m the clay. You take me out of the ordinary.”

One of the Catholic Church’s principal documents called “Lumen Gentium” has a chapter entitled “The Universal Call to Holiness.” That is to say, that everyone is called to be perfect. It is an ideal that can never be reached while we are here on earth. But it is one that everyone can strive for. We are all called to be perfect, to be holy.

It means in terms of a song by Alex Warren that we are all called to be “out of the ordinary.” The song is a love song calling his relationship one of being “out of the ordinary.” And he implies that everything else falls into the definition of “ordinary,” that is a normal existence with nothing that is really “special” except his relationship. As he sings, our colors are all fading.

Actually, one of the principles of Christian living is that we are all called to be “out of the ordinary,” that is, that we are all called to holiness, and the way to accomplish it is to “make the mundane our masterpiece.” That is, take the ordinary things of living and growing and make of them something special. In terms of Jesus’s words, to be as perfect as we can possibly be.

If we manage to do that, it will change everything about us—our love relationships, to be sure, but our “living” relationships and situations as well. Everything about us will be “out of the ordinary.” We will show a positive attitude in everything that we do.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, you lead us to a high ideal as we live in this world of ours. Your Son Jesus spoke it as He was with us. Help us strive to be perfect in everything that we do, thus living away from the ordinary way of living. Be with us, we pray.

 

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We are all called to live “out of the ordinary.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does the song "Ordinary" teach young people?    

2. If we are all called to be perfect, what should change most of all in our human natures?

3. If a love relationship is “out of the ordinary,” what does it mean most of all?

4. What is the principal means of actually making the “mundane our masterpiece.”

5. If we have a goal of being positive in everything we do, how do we deal with the truly negative things of evil and hatred?

6. Can the world honestly be positive in everything? Yes or no and why?

 

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America