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August 14
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[media
presentation below]
GospelThink
Wednesday,
August 14
MATTHEW 18:15-20
In your
relationship with others, be gentle even if you have to
correct them.
Prayerthoughts
a. The Lord gives good psychological advice here. If you have a problem
with someone, go to the person and do not talk about it to others.
Do I talk to others who are not a professional about others, thus
giving into gossiping?
b. The idea is that we must be professional in our approach to another.
Sometimes we may have to discuss what to do with someone who can
help us. But always we must protect the privacy of the person about
whom we talk.
c. This verse of “going to the Church” is a delicate directive. In
today’s world, it might mean going to someone in local spiritual
authority, and if the person refuses (even as he/she admits he is
wrong), he/she is simply to be placed outside our concern. Can
I think of such an instance in which I might have to follow such a
directive?
d. The verse “whatever you bind on earth” is debated among scholars as to
whether it is given to all ministers of the Church. Whatever it
means, in a spiritual sense, am I convinced that I must be sorry for
my sins?
e. Anytime we think of petitionary prayer, we must always remember that
when God answers prayer, as God always does, it is in God’s own time
and manner which may not
necessarily be what I want. Do I truly understand that?
f. God is always present when we gather together.
When I do pray together with others, do I think in terms of God
truly being present in all of us, and treat each other accordingly?
g. My prayerthoughts…
Today, I will
remember the people that I have gossiped about,
and
express sorrow for it.
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Some Thoughts on the Liturgy
CONFRONTING
ANOTHER
+ The Gospel takes up the
psychological human need of confronting someone, that is, correcting
another, and places the thought in a spiritual context
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first reading gives us the presentation of the divine justice, justice that
will call for confronting another when necessary
+ There are a couple of things to
consider with the readings today:
1
– the overall context of any confrontation or correction of anyone must be
love
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if we have the occasion to disagree with someone, or confront someone about
whatever, it must always be out of love
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as we consider Ezechiel today and God’s promise of divine justice, we have
to remember Jesus’s idea of the primacy of love, superceding
the reading of the Old Testament here
2
– before the confrontation occurs, a basic presumption must be in
place—namely, that the person must know that he/she is right, before he/she
confronts anyone
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often this is not so clear: for example, when there are two or more
legitimate sides to the situation, when all the facts are not known, etc.
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in that case, some discussion may be necessary, but not
confrontation
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in fact, in our world, I would say that discussion is more necessary than
confrontation
3
– one of the things that we do instead of confronting is this—we will talk
about the person with whom we have the problem, to someone else who is not
a professional
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a professional is a separate case, for example therapists and priests who
are bound by secrecy
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but if that is not the case, then this talking is merely gossip or
detraction which is a violation of confidence, and we simply should not be
talking about it with others
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it becomes a sin against charity
4.
it is significant that Jesus puts this rather difficult directive to
correct another in the same area that he talks about prayer, at the close
of the Gospel today
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as we pray, we know that Jesus is with us
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and part of our prayer must be for the grace to understand disagreeing and
confronting another, and how it should happen
+ There are some good things to
remember here as we look at the readings today.
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MEDIA
PRESENTATION
Movie: "The
Miracle Season" -- beginning session
THE TRAGEDIES IN
LIFE
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Some people who were present there told
[Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of
their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, "Do you think that because
these Galileans suffered in this way they were
greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you
do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who
were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them--do you think they were
more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I
tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did."
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Based on a true account, the movie
"The Miracle Season" is the story of how a group of young people
withstood a tragedy in order to do something close
to impossible. The victorious volleyball team at West High School in Iowa
City, Iowa had their sights set on winning a second straight State tournament
and were likely to do it. But an accident took the life of their captain,
Caroline "Line" Found, and the team was thrown into mourning. Also Ellyn, her mother, was very close to death because of
cancer. Dr. Ernie Found, her husband found himself struggling with the
two-fold loss, his daughter and his wife. It was a devastating loss for the
team, and even more devastating for Ernie.
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In the Gospels, Jesus was often confronted
with evil and the accidents of life. His attitude was one of acceptance by
trying to change what he could. But mainly Jesus was interested in what could
be learned as he showed with deaths brought about by Pilate and the accident
at Siloam. When he studied some evil or an accident, he taught his followers
that such things will happen in life. The important thing is that we learn
from it, and be willing to change as a result.
Evil and tragedy are often the subject of the media of our world because they
are an important part of our human existence. Everyone
of us either has suffered or will suffer through some situation that can be
thought of as "tragedy" or "evil." Life is that way. Such
is the setting for the movie "The Miracle Season." There are no
words that can describe the loss of a friend as Kelly Fliehler
felt in the loss of Caroline Found. Likewise the
double loss that Dr. Ernie Found experienced with the loss of his daughter
and later his wife. The inevitable questions of "why" and 'what if"
are part of the grieving process. The horrible feeling of despair penetrates
every fiber of one's being, leading all who experience the pain to the desire
to simply give up.
There is no solution to take away the pain, of course, but there are ways to
begin to find a solution. One of them is activity. Coach Kathy Bresnahan
sensed that the activity which fit the painful situation was to continue
Caroline's passion, namely volleyball. Line's, as they called her, desire
more than anything was to win a second State volleyball championship. Coach
Bresnahan set out to continue Line's wish.
In the process, Bresnahan was able to motivate Line's teammates to accomplish
what many considered an impossibility and a true "miracle." The
young ladies of West Volleyball were able to achieve what Line wanted, but
more than that, they learned how to act in the face of tragedy.
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