August 30

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, August 30, Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

MATTHEW 16:21-27

God’s Thinking

Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus knew that suffering was part of his future. We also may be aware of present ffering or suffering that will afflict us in the future. How can I suffer well?

b. There are some people who really do not like me—as Jesus felt in his life. How can I be less threatened and more accepting of those people?

c. Peter and the other disciples were friends of Jesus. In what way can I show better that I am a friend of the Lord?

d. Jesus gives us a great way to think in the Gospel passage. How am I presently showing that I am thinking as a human being rather than the way God wants me to think?

e. Many have called Jesus’s words here to be the secret to the spiritual life: “deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Is there one of these areas where I need to put some more effort?

f. We can get wrapped up in the things of this life without the Lord (“saves” his life) or we can choose to lose our life for the Lord’s sake, that is, give ourselves to the Lord more and more in our living. Do I see evidence in my life that I am choosing correctly?

g. “Profit to gain the whole world…” Am I too anxious to have material things?

h. The Son of Man will repay according to conduct. If the Lord would judge me on what I did yesterday, would it be a good reward?

i. My prayerthoughts….

Today, I will read Romans 12:1-2 and write an important thought from it.

+++++

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

HUMAN-THINKING AND GOD-THINKING

+ Jesus makes a powerful statement to Peter in the Gospel:

You are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do.

- it leads to the questions, namely what is God-thinking, and what is human being-thinking?

- first, let’s ask the question about human being-thinking

- and I think that the best way to answer is to study commercials, especially television commercials

- because commercials according to those who make them are what we desire, and if we desire it, we will buy the product

- what is “human being-thinking”, according to our advertisements?

- I come up with five things—think of some commercials on the television shows that you watch and see if you agree with me:

- according to advertisements, the way I see it, we should want these things:

- 1 – beauty is a significant desire, usually a thin, young body with the right kind of figure, and therefore, the right food, the right razor, and the like, and all kinds of clothing, pills and creams are necessary

- 2 – pleasure is a desire, pleasure from eating or drinking or feeling comfort, better convenience in our lives, and feeling good about our pets; it includes the whole area of enjoyment from sex (which is much more explicit in today’s world than it ever has been)

- 3 – money is very much part of human being-thinking—making more of it, saving it better, or especially getting something cheaper

- 4 – health, and in particular no pain is a guideline in human being-thinking—so that life can always be happy, with no suffering, and again, pills are necessary for it to happen, with a denial as much as possible of the pain of growing older

- 5 – a sense of being superior or having power is important—to be more intelligent, more powerful, more clever than someone else, and so we need the right car, the right bank, the right broker, and so forth

- those ideas especially and probably many others make up part of human being-thinking

+ In sharp contrast, Jesus speaks of God’s thinking in the Gospel

- what is God-thinking?

- as described by Jesus today, God-thinking would consist of

1 – denying oneself—selfishness has no part of God’s way

- there must be very little concern for how much we ourselves will get out of any venture

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?

2 – the cross is part of God-thinking—there will be pain and suffering as a result of proclaiming the Gospel, driving that point home to Peter, calling him Satan when he misunderstood it

3 – we must have a religious guide: he says specifically:

Follow me.

- it implies knowing Jesus well enough so that his thoughts, words and actions become our thoughts, words and actions

+ So, we have given to us two different points of view

- practically everything in our lives can be considered in the light of human being-thinking and God-thinking

- living in a family, in a community, going to college, working to make money and so forth

- take for example our spiritual lives: growing spiritually takes time, time spent in things like reading Scripture for about ten or fifteen minutes a day and reflecting on it or spiritual reading or time spent in prayer by ourselves; and that we really need it to improve our lives

- human being-thinking about that is that it is a waste of our valuable time

+ In the second reading, St. Paul tells the Romans that they should not conform to this age, that is human-being thinking

- and instead conform to God-thinking completely

- in terms of the Gospel, “success in life” is not defined in terms of beauty, pleasure, money, health and power—human being-thinking

- success in life will happen only with God-thinking, by denying self, accepting the pain of living, and following as closely as we can the message of Jesus Christ.

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's 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’s 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?