solo2

August 30

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, August 30

MATTHEW 25:1-13
Stay awake and be prepared to meet me at any time.

Prayerthoughts
a. In what ways do I consider myself “foolish” and “wise”?

b. Do I “prepare” myself for a better spiritual life. Perhaps today I should do one extra spiritual practice (time of prayer, fasting, extra kindness toward someone, etc.)

c. In what ways do I “meet” the Lord every day?

d. We ask people to help us, and sometimes they say “no”. What should be my response back to them; what is my response in general?

e. I should listen carefully to the Lord’s words that I never want to hear from our God: “I do not know you.” What keeps me back from knowing God?

f. The Lord’s counsel at the end of his story: we don’t know when we will die. How do I feel about my death right now? In my obituary which someone will write, will he/she say that I was prepared?

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today, if I haven’t done so, I will write my own obituary
that I hope will be written.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

GOOD CHRISTIANS WILL PREPARE WELL FOR THEIR DEATHS

+ The Gospel is one of Jesus’ stories with the spiritual conclusion that we have to be prepared at the time of our deaths

- the Hebrew wedding practices around Jesus’ time involved two ritualistic journeys

- first, there was a solemn procession from the groom’s home to the bride’s by the groom and his friends

- then, secondly, a procession taking the bride from her home to where the bride and groom would live in the future

- and having parties in each place

- the Gospel is set around the first procession

- the groom would have many people to see in his own home, as did the bride in her home

- therefore the groom was often delayed in coming to the bride’s home

- everyone knew that, and Jesus makes use of that fact to bring home a point

- the lamps were celebration lamps that were more for show than anything else

- the Lord says that the person who is thinking / will bring enough oil along so that when the celebration finally does start, that person will be ready

- if you are wise, you will prepare

- if you are foolish, you won’t

- and Jesus’ point:

Stay awake for you know neither the day nor the hour.

- that is, the spiritual conclusion, and the point that we have to listen to as Christians: be prepared for the Lord’s coming, that is, be prepared for your death

+ We might think, then, about the components of being prepared to meet the Lord

- from the first reading,

- if we are going to be prepared properly, we have to understand the cross

- Paul says that Christian preaching must be the idea of Christ crucified

- Jesus has redeemed us by the cross

- that is, suffering

- therefore, as much as we don’t like it, being able to suffer well—accepting it the way Jesus accepted his cross—is part of being prepared for death

- therefore, the sufferings of life—physical, mental, spiritual—are all part of our preparation for death

+ And generalizing from Jesus’ story, there is one thing in particular that will keep us from being prepared

- one that we all know, I think – procrastination

- we tend to put off until tomorrow and tomorrow never comes

- we could make our spiritual lives better today if we wanted to

- by extra time for prayer or reading of the New Testament, etc., but we refuse to take the time

+ The purpose of Jesus’ story today was that there is no tomorrow

- the bridegroom will come and that’s it – it’s only going to happen once, and we have to be prepared for it

- we should be preparing ourselves better now so that when the Lord comes, he won’t be a stranger.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Solo: A Star Wars Story" -- final session

THE WRONG SIDE OF GOOD

The Gospel

LUKE 2:8-14

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the field and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Gospelthink: I came into your world as a ordinary person in poverty. Have I truly shown that Jesus is part of my life?

Three years after Han Solo was separated from his girlfriend Qi'ra, Han was fighting with the Imperial forces, but after some insubordination, was thrown into a prison with the Wookie Chewbacca. They worked together and eventually joined an outlaw gang who was trying to steal some coaxiom on behalf of Dryden Vos, leader of a crime syndicate. Han discovered that Qi'ra was one of Vos' coworkers. The gang along with Han, Chewbacca and Qi'ra (with Vos' blessing) traveled to the planet Kessel on a ship from a smuggler Lando Calrissian who joined them. Their intention was to find more coaxiom. After a battle on Kessel, the group head back to Dryden Vos, and Qi'ra betrayed Vos. Qi'ra reported to her real director Darth Maul who gives Qi'ra Vos' former position. Meanwhile, Han won the space ship Falcon from Calrissian while giving the coaxiom they had obtained to freedom fighters, saying that they had to go in search of a gang leader by the name of Jabba the Hutt.

Around Jerusalem, in Jesus' days, there were many plains, abandoned and uncultured tracts of land that were good for nothing except pasturing sheep. Shepherds in particular were interesting people. Since Jesus compared himself to one, we have become accustomed to considering them to be gentle, understanding, and kind people. Actually as we have begun to discover more about Jesus’ times, most shepherds were just the opposite. They were dirty, smelly, and ignorant individuals who did not respect the rules of religion; in fact, most of them did not appreciate religion at all. Some of them were thieves; most of them were tough characters who were not afraid to use their shepherd staffs as weapons. But when asked to be the first adorers of the Baby Jesus, even though remaining tough characters, they did what was considered to be good.

The lesson that we can learn is that even those who are on the wrong side of good, as most of the shepherds were, can work for good if we choose. With the advent of the Star Wars stories, Han Solo has always had the image of a good person with some rogue qualities about him. As a person, he seemed to always have been on the wrong side of what was right. But in the end, he chose what was good as a guide to his life. So, we know that even when he and Chewbacca went off to find the outlaw Jabba the Hutt of Star Wars fame, he eventually chose to join forces with the good people who were fighting for freedom in the galaxy.

Can a person change for the better? It is a good question that we should ask ourselves. Most of us recognize that we are not as good as we can be. And so, it is important that we recognize at the same time that we can become better. Even people who have done horrible evil can look at themselves and recognize that they must improve, at least a little. But the operating word is "can." Evil people can recognize that they are doing things that are harmful to our world.

But they must pay attention to their actions first. What can they do in a better way? Do they even want to do things in a better way? The outlaw Han Solo became an important good player in the fantasy world that he dwelled in. The conclusion for us is that even if we cannot become totally good because of our human nature, we can accomplish good and even great things if we want.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, the shepherds who adored Your Son at His birth are a good lesson for us. They were people who learned to do something good as they adored the Lord of the Universe. May we be able to imitate them as we live our lives. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Even those who are on the wrong side of good can work for good if they choose.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 63 minutes)
1. What scene from this session of movie is most striking and why?
2. What does the movie "Solo" teach young people?
3. Considering the Gospel, the Lord's Incarnation is a truly important event that should have "changed the world." In your opinion, has it changed the world? Yes or no and why?
4. In general, why are there people in our world who set out to do evil things?
5. Think of some "tough characters" in life who do some good things. Who are some of them?
6. In general, what must a person do in order to change for the better?
7. Why do evil people not recognize that they are doing evil things?
8. What some good things that most everyone could do?