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April 4

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, April 4, Lent IV

JOHN 7:1-2,10,25-30

I truly am the Lord and should direct your life.

Prayerthoughts
a. There is no one out to kill me as his enemies wanted to do to Jesus. But there are people who do not like me and perhaps would hurt me. Do I think ill of the people who I consider "enemies"?

b. Jesus went to Jerusalem in secret. According to John the evangelist, Jesus chose when he was going to redeem us. A prayer of thanksgiving would be in order for Jesus's act of redemption.

c. The authorities or religious leaders knew what they were doing, trying to find something against Jesus. Do I accuse others wrongly without knowledge of why they are doing certain things?

d. They believed that they would not know where the Messiah was from. Do I accept the condemning words of others concerning a situation without knowing the facts?

e. Jesus says that he is from the Father, namely that he is divine. Do I truly believe that Jesus is God and that I must follow the direction that he gives, as shown in my actions, say, yesterday? (This is the task of the meditation.)

f. My prayerthoughts...

Today I will spend some time going through my day yesterday and determining why I did what I did.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

DO WE REALLY KNOW JESUS?

+ The Gospel brings up an interesting question for the person interested in the spiritual life:

- Jesus is reflecting on the questions of some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem

- and he responds basically with the question: “do you know me?”

- that is, Jesus saying, do you really know who I am?

- and the question for the spiritual person then becomes: do we really know Jesus as much as we should?

- as we consider that question, we run into a description of how we act from the Book of Wisdom—

- in our spiritual lives, there is the possibility of being blinded by wickedness, and therefore we won’t answer well to the question of who Jesus is,

- and at the other extreme, there is the possibility of the recompense of holiness, that is, we can be guided by holiness to answer the question

+ Our knowledge of Jesus is obviously blocked by wickedness

- our wickedness is not so much defined as terrible wickedness

- but what might be called “accepted wickedness”

- wickedness that good people fall into

- the minor revenges against others

- the words that we say about situations that we really don’t know anything about

- the thoughts that we don’t challenge in our own mind

- thoughts that are often filled with prejudice and judgment of others

+ On the other hand, our knowledge of Jesus is enhanced by the recompense of holiness

- that is, the reward of holiness

- holiness is defined in terms of an attitude of Jesus

- serious time for prayer, where we alter our schedule so that prayer time becomes a reality

- and extra times of prayer like making the Stations, etc.

- serious consideration of the way we interact with people

- meditation on ways that we can be better, given the things that we do every day

- use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation

+ We are called to know Jesus by overcoming the possibility of wickedness and adopting the way of holiness.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "The Shack" -- final session

YOU MUST FORGIVE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 18:21-22

MATTHEW 18:21-22

Peter...asked Jesus, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."

Gospelthink: I must learn to forgive. Have I truly forgiven everyone that has hurt me or my family?

Mack encountered God in three persons at the shack. Gradually realizing that God had seen and allowed his daughter's tragic death, he became severely angry at God. He called God a liar as God was speaking in the form of a loving mother. God was responsible for all the hate in the world even though God said that God could only bring about good. Mack lived with his anger as he spent time with the three persons, and eventually began to understand that free will caused the evil and the pain. But once he understood it, God in the form of a American Indian medicine man this time told him that he had to do more than understand. He had to actually forgive some people for what they had done to him. He forgave his father, and with extreme difficulty finally forgave the person who abducted and killed his daughter. It was an action that changed his life.

Jesus knew about life. He knew especially that often we would not get along completely with one another. Peter realized the fact as well, and so he wanted Jesus to tell him just how many times we should forgive someone. We could imagine that a friend of Peter's had offended him in some way, and he did not want to keep forgiving him. Jesus gave the classic answer that every Christian knows, but very few really carry it out. Jesus said that we must forgive everyone all the time, no matter. "Seven" is one of the numbers in the Gospels that usually means "infinitely many."

The thrust behind the three persons whom Mack met at the shack, that is, God, was that he had to forgive instead of complain or get angry at God. It was extremely difficult for him to do, because of the circumstances of the situation. Jesus understands that it is difficult, but does not lessen up in any way.

Honestly, looked at in that way, we all have major problems forgiving others given our own circumstances. It means that we must forgive those who do not like us. That is, we must continue to forgive the people who are holding a grudge against us, or those who are hurting our family. Because we understand that a Christian must forgive everyone. It means forgiveness to the people on death row, to the people who are killing others, and people who are going out of their way to put us down. It means everyone. In every circumstance.

Mack makes the decision to forgive, even to the point of forgiving the man who kidnapped and probably killed his child. It is extremely difficult to do. The movie and books present the classic Christian statement that the only way to achieve true life is to be complete in our forgiveness of others.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your Son gave us the directive to forgive others. It is among the most difficult things that He said. Give us the grace to understand His meaning. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: When we forgive, we take on new life.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 64 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why?
2. In general, do most Christians follow Jesus' directive to forgive people all the time? Yes or no and why?
3. When a person claims that they are "angry with God," what do you think the person means?
4. Why would the action of "forgiveness" change a person's life?
5. In your opinion, is there any time when we should NOT forgive someone? Yes or no and why?
6. Other than the fantasy part of seeing God, do you believe that a person will change with regard to being able to forgive another after he/she had not been able to? Yes or no and why?
7. Scene analysis: Mack almost takes his own life. Why is suicide never an answer to a problem?
8. Scene analysis: Jesus helps Mack to walk on water, signifying that he can do anything with God's help. Do most Christians truly accept this fact of Christian belief? Yes or no and why?
9. What does the movie "The Shack" teach young people?