avengers2

August 7

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, August 7

MATTHEW 16:24-28

Improving your spiritual life

Prayerthoughts

a. 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?

b. 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?

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

d. 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?

e. Jesus mentions death. Am I too anxious about my death? Why?

f. My prayerthoughts...

Today, I will read Nahum 2:1,3,3:1-3,6-7 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

GOD’S THINKING

+ The closing line of today’s Gospel gives cause for some concern

- but we have to remember that the thought of the early Church and the human Jesus was that the second coming was near

+ The closing line of yesterday’s Gospel was a statement that we should listen to: talking to Peter, Jesus says

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

+ It is a good meditation to contrast our thinking with God’s thinking

- what is God’s thinking?

- well, as described by Jesus today, God’s thinking would consist of three things, all three of which should be part of our meditation in life

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, and specifically, little profit in the form of power and money: he says:

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

2 – the cross is part of God’s thinking—there will be pain and suffering, driving that point home to Peter, calling him Satan when he misunderstood it (in yesterday’s Gospel)

3 – we must have a guide who is a religious guide: he says:

Follow me.

- it implies knowing Jesus well enough so that his thoughts become our thoughts

+ And what is our thinking?

- you really don’t have to go very far to find that out

- all we have to do is go to our television sets, and see what advertisements tell us are really important

- those advertisements are a far cry from giving up self, taking up the cross and following Jesus

+ You and I are counter-cultural as Christians

- we rejoice in the Lord, as the prophet Nahum rejoiced at the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC

- our vocation is different from the rest of the world’s

- and we should meditate on it often.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Avengers: Endgame" -- final session

RESISTING THE HOLD OF EVIL

The Gospel

MATTHEW 27:45-50

From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachtani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some of the bystanders who heard it said, "This one is calling for Elijah." Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him." But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.

Gospelthink: I died for you. Do I act as though I am grateful to the Lord for all He has done for me?

After they had gone back in time in the movie "Avengers: Endgame," the team of Avengers each found a way to get the Infinity Stones back to their original place. But it took a fight in each instance since it was not an easy task. Finally, with all the Stones ready to go to their original resting place, they came back only to have Thanos there to attack them, and it seems with superior force. After another lengthly battle, Iron Man managed to move the Infinity Stones to himself, destroying Thanos and his army, but at the same time mortally wounding himself. Finally, Captain Marvel is tasked to go into the past, returning the Stones to their original time line, but decided to stay in the past to enjoy his past.

The greatest example of commitment to a cause that a Christian has is what Jesus Christ did for us. The theological word for it is "redemption." In the Scriptures, it is clear that Jesus knew what he was doing, and set out to do it with firm conviction. He understood the power of evil, but accomplished redemption while suffering in the most violent of ways, and in Matthew's Gospel, even feeling that God the Father had forsaken him. But Jesus did it. And in so doing, Jesus showed that even in the greatest of difficulties that could destroy him, he was up to the task. Jesus gave us eternal life by his action, but also showed us the importance of putting up with demons, and conquering them.

The life of the Avengers in the movie "Avengers: Endgame" is fantasy, of course, but as portrayed, their job was extremely difficult. Evil because of Thanos had taken over the world. It seems that there is no hope, but with the discovery of time adjustment, the Avengers discover a way to confront the evil that surrounds the world.

It is the grace of God that has led us out of the evil and away from the demons that want to destroy our time on earth. Those demons go by the name of selfishness, substance abuse or sexual temptations or the like. Jesus has redeemed us and those demons no longer have a hold on us. Our problem is that we are not willing to do the difficult task of perseverance to stay away from the demons that are present.

Our prayer as we consider movies like "Avengers: Endgame" is a prayer of thanksgiving that we have had our Redeemer who conquered forever the evil that has worked itself into the world. But at the same time, we pray that we will be able to resist the hold that demons still want to have over us.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your Son has accomplished the work of the ultimate battle over the demon. Give us the grace to continually turn to Him so as to constantly be free to live our lives well. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: It is difficult to work against the demons that want to destroy us.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 85 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why?
2. What does the movie "Avengers: Endgame" teach young people?
3. What is most striking about Jesus's death?
4. In the movie, Iron Man was willing to sacrifice himself for the cause of life. It is what martyrs have done throughout our lives. In what way are we called to be "martyrs"?
5, What are the strongest demons in the world in which we live, that is, what evil is the strongest in our society right now?
6. How do we best confront the world that surrounds us?
7. Why is it so difficult to overcome the evil around us?
8. What is the best way to continue to stay away from the evil (demons) that want to overcome us?