April 15 

  [media presentation below]

GospelThink

Wednesday, April 15, Easter Weekday

JOHN 3:16-21

Know the difference between light and darkness.

Prayerthoughts

a. 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?

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

c. The promise of God concerning his Son—everyone who believes in Him might not perish—is the most important promise that God has given to us. Have I truly made Jesus the center of my life? Go through yesterday, and determine whether Jesus was truly the center of each activity.

d. People often preferred darkness to light, as I admit that I have at times. As I study my past, and the sins and faults, have I sufficiently asked for forgiveness?

e. Jesus wants me to “live the truth.” Is the truth important for me as I live from day to day, that is, always being aware of the facts before I say something?

f. My prayerthoughts…  

Today, I will read Acts of the Apostles 5:17-26 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

LIGHT AND DARKNESS

+ The Gospel today proclaims a truism for Christianity, namely, Jesus is central to our spiritual lives

- he is the nucleus, the focal point around which we function

- here in the Gospel, he is the light that comes into the world, and since he is the focal point—either people will accept the light or they won’t

- that thought leads to serious consideration, consideration that arises from John’s analysis: “This is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.”


+ Like all good spiritual people, we would like to say that we are choosing light rather than darkness

- if we are, there are certain elements of our living that should be present

- some of those elements are part of our readings today

1 – from the Acts reading, we must overcome jealousy

- that which the religious leaders of the Jewish church could not do

- we tend to judge what others are doing and why they are doing it

- and often we think that we are better than others

2 – also from the Acts reading, if we are choosing the light of Jesus rather than the darkness of evil, we must preach

- the angel’s message to the apostles was to preach, saying: you are freed from prison to preach the word

- preaching involves the obvious, that is, using words

- but it involves action as well, and especially what we should be doing as spiritual people—working on our thinking process, to try to learn to think Christian thoughts toward others and toward the world

3 – from the Gospel discourse, as Jesus was sent not to condemn the world, we are not meant to condemn the world

- we can pray for the people of the world, and condemn certain things that people do in the world, but “hating” the world gets us nowhere

- we are called to redeem the world with Jesus

4 – also from the Gospel, if we are choosing the light of Jesus rather than the darkness of evil, we are called to truth

- that is, honesty with ourselves and with others, openness to what we are really doing with our lives


+ Summarizing, there is ample material for meditation today: if we are choosing Jesus as light rather than the darkness of evil,

- we will be aware of our jealousy, we will preach Jesus’s teaching by word, action and thought, we will work with God in working for the people of the world, and we will be honest with ourselves and others.











 

 

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "The Passion of the Christ" -- second session

JESUS'S PASSION II



 

The Gospel


MARK 15:1-20

As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He said to him in reply, "You say so." The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, "Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of." Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
    Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered, "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply, "Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?" They shouted again, "Crucify him." Pilate said to them, "Why?  What evil has he done?" They only shouted the louder, "Crucify him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
     The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and kept striking him on the head with the reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.

Gospelthink: The crowds cried to crucify the Lord. Do I do the same by neglecting to think of my spiritual life?

During this session of "The Passion of the Christ," director Mel Gibson presents a suffering Christ who from the first moment of his capture is whipped, flayed, and beaten. His bones are crushed, his screams are agonizing, his body is covered with blood. In no other movie about Jesus do we find the Roman soldiers so sadistic. The Middle East in biblical times was a Jewish community occupied against its will by the Roman Empire, and the message of Jesus was equally threatening to both sides: to the Romans, because he was a revolutionary, and to the establishment of Jewish hierarchy, because he preached a new covenant and threatened the status quo. This session continues the agony of Jesus's mother Mary as she watches the spectacle, and introduces the doubts of Pontius Pilate and the resolve of Caiaphas the Jewish high priest. Mary's suffering, Pilate's continual wonder at what the Hebrew people wanted, and Caiaphas' incessant desire to have Jesus killed will continue through to the end of the movie.

In one of the most moving scenes of the movie "The Passion of the Christ," Pontius Pilate's wife offers to Mary the mother of Jesus towels to collect Jesus's blood. Then in sharp contrast to Jesus’s brutal beating, Mary reverently wipes up his blood. Just as in the sacrifices of the Hebrew Scriptures throughout the centuries before Jesus, the blood of the victim is sacred. Here, it is the sacred blood of the Messiah that is removing the sins of the world.   

THOUGHT
What is your understanding of the redemption of Jesus Christ?

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son Jesus suffered and died for us, giving us the chance to have eternal life with you. Help us understand the message Jesus gave so that we can follow him more completely. Be with us, we pray. 

 

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