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August 15
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[media
presentation below]
GospelThink
Thursday,
August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
LUKE 1:39-56
My earthly mother's
praise of God.
Prayerthoughts
a. Mary was aware
of her cousin Elizabeth’s need. There are people in my own acquaintance and
in the world in which I live who are in need. Am I doing enough
to help them?
b. Great things
happen to me often, and many times I do not thank the Lord enough for them.
I should thank the Lord for the gifts that I received just yesterday for
example. (This is the “task” of this meditation.)
c. Mary proclaimed
the greatness of God. In my words and thoughts, do I proclaim myself in
pride?
d. In my life,
besides rejoicing in God my savior, I have to deal with the world. But have
I allowed that world to dictate too much of the way I think?
e. I must accept my
“lowliness” probably a little more than I do. Do I look for praise too much
from the people around me?
f. It is clear that
the Lord has worked with mercy in my life. Do I work with mercy around the
people who are close to me?
g. The Lord has
lifted up the lowly. Do I show enough concern for those who are
down and out in the society around me?
h. My
prayerthoughts…
Today,
I will carry out letter b.
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Some Thoughts on the
Liturgy
THE LESSONS OF THE MAGNIFICAT
We celebrate today a
feast of the Blessed Virgin that was pronounced in a solemn way a number of
years ago. It is the result of many years of a popular belief of Catholics:
Mary, we believe, was taken up into heaven, both body and soul.
The Gospel that we
use is a familiar one: the story of the Visitation and the prayer of Mary,
what is called the Magnificat. There are a couple of things that
come from Mary’s prayer and the feast, some things you and I can learn from.
First, in her
prayer, Mary acknowledges that she is blessed by God, and therefore it is a
prayer of thanksgiving. That should be part of our prayer also because we
really are blessed in so many ways. Many of us have the privilege of being
parents (as Mary); our families are something to be thankful for. There are
good things in our lives—even the bad things bring about good—many times we
do not acknowledge those blessings at all by saying "thank you."
Secondly, in her
prayer, Mary says that "God is to be praised." Again, it
is an important example for us because many times we want the
praise. By subtle ways, we get people to give us praise, and look for ways
to have people give us praise when really praise for any talents or
accomplishments should be given to God. Indeed, we should know that it is
God who gives us the graces we need to accomplish things.
And thirdly, and
very important for growth in the spiritual life, Mary is praising God and
thanking God while she is helping someone else, namely her cousin,
Elizabeth. Again, it is a tremendous example for all of us. Not only are we
called to acknowledge the importance of God in our lives, but we are called
to be loving and helpful to others.
As we celebrate
Mary's feast today, and look at her prayer, it might be good to concentrate
on those three things: that we should thank God for what we have, that we
should give God the praise for any talents that we may have, and that we
should be working to bring about love for others in our lives. It makes for
an important meditation in our spiritual lives.
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MEDIA
PRESENTATION
Movie: "Red
Tails" -- beginning session
THE GREATER GOOD
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Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath he entered the
synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he
taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their
synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, "What have
you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know
who you are--the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said,
"Quiet! Come out of him!" The unclean spirit convulsed him and
with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another,
"What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the
unclean spirits and they obey him." His fame spread everywhere
throughout the whole region of Galilee.
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The movie "Red Tails" is the story of the Tuskegee
Airmen, a group of African-American fighter pilots who were trained despite
the racism entrenched in the United States armed services during the second
world war. They were deployed to action, but at first it was to minor
skirmishes, missions against trains and enemy ground transport. They were
given worn out aircraft, and were considered to be lacking in intelligence,
and therefore incapable of fighting the Luftwaffe in fighter-to-fighter
combat. Finally given a chance to escort bombers, they were asked to stay
with the bombers no matter what the Luftwaffe did to lure them away. It
seemed an unglamorous task since the "glory" was to score
"kills" of the enemy. But the Airmen did their job well,
sacrificing their own desires, and teaching the lesson that the betterment
of the whole is always more important than personal glory.
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One can imagine the concentration that Jesus must have used when
he taught. His was a different doctrine, and as Mark the evangelist remarks,
a "new teaching with authority." When a disturbance in the
synagogue where he was teaching occurs all of a sudden with no preparation,
it could have ruined the whole sermon. It is important to see the reaction
of Jesus. Someone else was in need, and therefore his goal changed. He
dropped what he was doing, and took care of the person who needed help.
This was a common attitude of Jesus throughout his life. Many times he would
be at prayer, for example, and he would be struck by the need of people;
often he would interrupt his prayer so that he could do what another wanted
him to do. It is the attitude of the Tuskegee Airmen in the movie "Red
Tails." They had worked hard to get where they were; they were finally
granted permission to do what could give them personal glory--show to the
Army and the Germans exactly how good they were. But when asked to "merely"
accompany other planes to accomplish what others had to accomplish, they did
what they were told, giving up their own plans.
Our human natures want to show off what we can. When we are capable of doing
something well, we want to do it, not only because we can do it well, but
because we like the "glory" of appreciation that we might receive.
Our pride wants other people to notice. But real progress usually does not
come from individual achievement. It comes when many people are involved in
a common goal. It may mean that we have to give up our own way of doing
things, our own wants and desires, in order to accomplish some greater good.
The glory of a common achievement is much more important than the glory of
the individuals involved.
An old saying from sports people who are trying to bring about a specific
goal is "There is no 'i' in "team."
It is true in every facet of life as well.
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+++++
GUIDE
FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT
Theme: Part of maturity is the ability to sacrifice personal glory in order
to bring about the betterment of the whole.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session:
approximately 68 minutes)
1. What scene during this session is most striking
and why?
2. For early Christians "unclean spirits" were a sign of powers
hostile to God and all good. What powers in our world today are "most
hostile" toward God?
3. Mark the evangelist's intention with the way he describes the scene in
the Gospel is to make his readers confident in their Lord as teacher and
healer. Define "confidence" in another. Why can we be confident in
Jesus?
4. The point of the meditation is that Jesus allowed the interruption by the
man and rather than continue his teaching, he took care of the person who
was hurting. We obviously cannot heal, but what part of Jesus' action can we
imitate in our spiritual lives?
5. What is the difference between a legitimate pride in what we are doing
and the sin of pride? See Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition,
numbers 2317 and 2540.
6. Give some examples of "great things" that were accomplished by
a group of people rather than by individual success.
7. The opening statement as registered in the 1925
US Army College Study: "Blacks are mentally inferior, by nature
subservient, and cowards in the face of danger. They are therefore unfit for
combat." We will study the statement later. What is most offensive
about the statement? Why?
8. Analysis: "Ray Gun" and his devotion to "Black
Jesus." What is the place of "religion" during war?
9. Analysis: In a war involving people who believe in God, both sides will
pray for victory. How do you think God looks upon this?
10. Analysis: Easy's problem of alcohol. What could have been done to help
him?
11. Scene analysis: Ray Gun begs Easy to keep him on the flight roster even
though he has impaired vision. Do you think you would have behaved the way
Easy did? Yes or no and why?
12. Scene analysis: the all white officers' club.
Do you think that there was any "legal" way to accomplish the
integration of the club? Yes or no and why?
13. Scene analysis: after a racial remark, the officer who makes it tells
Colonel Bullard to "respect the uniform." In your opinion, is
there any time when a soldier need not "respect the uniform"? Yes
or no and why?
14. Dialogue analysis: Bullard tells Lightning to "use his head."
What was his meaning and why?
15. Scene analysis: the theme of this session was that the fighters were to
protect the bombers at all costs. In general, will most people respect the
desires of others over their own? Yes or no and why?
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