December 8

     [media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, December 8, Second Sunday of Advent

LUKE 3:1-6

The Continuum Of Life 

Prayerthoughts

a. The evangelist Luke understands the importance of the birth of Jesus and so he goes to great lengths to pinpoint the time. I have been given this time in my life of how many years I have lived. What have been the major happenings in my life? 

b. As I consider those major moments, and in between those moments, has my attention to God been what it should have been? [Note: a. and b. are part of the spiritual exercise known by various names of the “continuum of life.” You place your major happenings in your life along a long line and consider what type of life you lived in between—what kind of person you were, what should you have done to be more holy, etc.] 

c. As I consider my “continuum of life,” in each area of my life, what should I beg most repentance for? 

d. The quote from Isaiah is a statement that I must be more aware of everything in my life including the wrongs I have done. As I consider my answer to letter c., what type of future resolution should I make? 

e. My prayerthoughts… 

 

Today, I will begin the spiritual exercise suggested in the meditation. (The exercise may take several meditation periods.)

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy 

WHAT IS OF VALUE TO US?

+ When something has happened that is of major value to you, you will often try to pinpoint the time

          - it seems that this is the reason behind the dramatic beginning of John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ public ministry which Luke introduces today

                    - actually this Gospel is still not enough information to pinpoint when Jesus’ public ministry began

                              -there are some questions about some of the people he mentioned

          - but his introduction says that in Luke the evangelist’s opinion

                    - with something that is of such value as the redemption of humankind

                              - one must introduce it in a formal way 

+ That idea of value is interesting:

          - in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he tells them to discern what is of value, and it might be good to dwell on that idea during this season of Advent

          - what is of value to you?

          - in the Gospel, that which was of value for John the Baptist was what he wanted to accomplish in life, namely turning others to God:

          Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. 

+ What is of value to us?

          - one of the best ways to determine the answer is to study how much time we spend on the different activities of our lives

                    - we will use our time doing things that are of value to us 

Stephen Covey

+ There is an extremely interesting approach to time by Stephen Covey in his best-selling book from some time ago “The 7 Basic Habits for Highly Effective People”

          - what he calls the Time Management Matrix: 

                              Quadrant I

                              IMPORTANT / URGENT

                                 crises                          

                          pressing problems / urgent situations  / leopard in basement                                                                                                             

                                   Quadrant II

                                   IMPORTANT / NOT URGENT

                                     Prevention of problems

                                     Relationships

                                     Opportunities

                                     Health recreation

                                      Signifant hobbies

                                     Developing a life-style 

                                 Quadrant III

                                    URGENT / NOT IMPORTANT

                                      Interruptions

                                      Phone Calls

                                      Some Mail

                                      Reports

                                      Pressing matters

                                        eg hairdresser appointments 

                                      Quadrant IV

                                      NOT URGENT / NOT IMPORTANT

                                         Trivia

                                         Busy work

                                        Some Phone calls

                                        Internet, Television, Video Games 

+ (Covey)  Not urgent; important (quadrant II) is the ‘cure’ quadrant.  In quadrant II, we do things only because they serve our mission in life (that is, for us, Christianity).  We solve time-management problems by shifting time from quadrants III and IV, namely the urgent; not important and the not urgent; not important [which are the cause of having no time] … to quadrant II, that is the not urgent; important. 

+ Covey says that what we have to do is spend time “rescripting”

          - rescripting is the process of re-writing the time that we have—getting out of ruts and changing our usual behavior

                    - we must rescript ourselves, develop new patterns, begin doing the things of quadrant II, the things that are important, but not urgent

          - in terms of Christianity, it means things like:

                    - spending time in prayer

                    - making use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation

                    - reading something theologically challenging

                    - going for a walk while praying the rosary or thinking about some Scripture passage

                    - taking the time for a weekday Mass

          - using our time to work on the things that are of value 

+ Our task as Christians is to take the time that has been given to us, and make it better than it is

          - if we do that, really do it, our lives both here and hereafter will be of value.





MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Blame" -- Calvin Harris featuring John Legend
DON'T BLAME IT ON ME



 

The Gospel

LUKE 6:41-42

MATTHEW 7:3-5

[Jesus said:] "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye." 

Gospelthink: I want you to see another clearly. Do I judge others too harshly?

"Guilt is burning, inside I’m hurting. This ain’t a feeling I can keep. So blame it on the night; don’t blame it on me. Can you see it: I was manipulated. I had to let her through the door; I had no choice in this. I’m so sorry, I promise I will be better this time. Don’t blame it on me."            

Human beings consciously and unconsciously constantly make judgments about other people. The psychological criteria for judging others often shows some degree of supposed superiority.  It often is a way of devaluing others, with the end result that the blamer feels better than others, seeing others as less worthwhile making the one who blames "perfect" in some way. Off-loading blame means putting the other person down by emphasizing his or her flaws.

Jesus knew our human nature, of course, knowing that we often will do anything to make ourselves look as perfect as possible. We will deliberately not recognize that we are at fault in any way, allowing the wooden beam in our inner selves to block what we should see. Thus we blame others when the blame ought to be placed on us.

Calvin Harris and John Newman's song "Blame" says exactly the same thing, using as an example the dating patterns of modern life. It is the story of how we act in our lives when we have done something that is not right. The truth of the scenario in the song was that it was the person in the song's fault: he did not have to let the other lady into his life, but he did.

Placing the blame on others is a common fault of human beings. It makes headlines when it happens among the important people of the world--the leaders of government and the like. But what we should be interested in is what makes the personal headlines, namely in our own lives and people close to us. Do we find that we shy away from responsibility for our actions more than we should? Do we place blame on other situations? Or in Jesus' words, are we telling others to get rid of the splinter in their eyes while we deliberately neglect the beam in our own?

There are negatives in anyone's life, and to acknowledge our part in them will place the blame where it should be. 

PRAYER

Good and gracious God,  Your Son was clear about how we try to place any blame away from ourselves, placing it on others or on things that we cannot control. Help us honestly see the truth when we place blame. Be with us, we pray.

 

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We tend to place the blame on others when we should place the blame on ourselves.  

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Give an example of what Jesus is speaking of in his sermon in the Gospel.
2. Jesus uses exaggeration here. Why do you think Jesus used exaggeration so often in his sermons?
3. Give your definition of "hypocrite."
4. Do you believe that there is very much hypocrisy among Christians? Yes or no and why?
5. Text analysis: "Guilt is burning; inside I'm hurting." What is the meaning of the sentence?
6. Sometimes the guilt really is with someone or something else. What is the best way when there is legitimate blame on someone or something else, and you were "blamed" in the process?
7. Should the lady trust this man now that he has said that he is sorry? Yes or no and why?
8. Do you agree with the psychology expressed in the first paragraph of the meditation? Yes or no and why?
9. What should we do when a friend of ours is placing blame on someone or something else when we know that the blame should be placed on our friend?
10. Give an example of someone on the national or international scenes who have placed the blame on something else when they should have blamed themselves.
11. What does the song "Blame" teach young people?  

 ©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America