tgimmthemar1

February 22
[media presentation below] GospelThink Saturday, February 22, Chair of Peter MATTHEW 16:13-19 Peter is the Rock. Prayerthoughts a. The phrase “Son of Man” may simply be a way of Jesus speaking of himself as a human person. I too am a human person. If I want to compare myself to Jesus, what must I change? b. Whom do I consider to be prophets in my world? c. I obviously agree with Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. In what ways have my belief made my life different? (This is the task of the meditation.) d. Have I made someone or something other than the Lord more important in my life? e. Peter and the community are the solid rock foundation of the Kingdom of God. As a member of my Church, do I show to others how important the Kingdom of God is? f. Even though Jesus gave Peter the keys and the power to bind, he still had very much to learn to be a true follower of Jesus. What are the most important characteristics of a follower of Jesus? g. My prayerthoughts…. Today, I will write out the answers to letter c.
Some Thoughts on the Liturgy WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? + Historically, today’s feast has to do with a statement that the Church wanted to make concerning the importance of the primacy of the Pope - something that we have accepted, obviously, or else we wouldn’t be here + But the Gospel of the feast is an extremely important one because - I believe that the question of the Gospel is among the five or so most important questions that we must ask ourselves as we develop our own spirituality: Who do you say that I am? Who do we say Jesus Christ is? - it is among the most important questions because depending on our answer, we develop our approach to Jesus, and therefore, religion, and the spiritual life - the truth is, as Peter says in the Gospel, that Jesus is the Lord of our lives, the living and true God, the person that we must pattern ourselves after, the way, the truth and the life - Jesus is Lord, God who set up the rules of a kingdom that involved things like love of God, love of others, compassion, joy, forgiveness, and courage to speak the truth + But many peoples’ answer to the question shows misunderstanding - for many, Jesus as God is a person who punishes, and for many, he is someone to fear, that will throw a person to hell in an instant - and they look at religion and Church as a way to placate God, and they refuse then to accept who Jesus is - for many, Jesus is a symbol of what is good, but since nothing has gone right with them, they do not believe in Jesus at all - their lives have been too messed up, they didn’t get the breaks, they didn’t receive the things that everyone else had - many are angry, therefore, and continue to refuse to understand + We who are trying to develop our spiritual lives a little more have to give the same answer as Peter—Jesus is the Son of God, Messiah, guide of our lives - but we have to continually work on knowing who Jesus is - that means a couple of things, I believe 1 – it means that we have to have some study of basic Christology - we have to inform ourselves concerning Jesus - so that we have a better idea of who Jesus the person is - some theological/spiritual reading that is directed by someone who knows what is being written today, and who the best authors are 2 – it means that our approach to religious life must be “through the eyes of Jesus” - our prayer should reflect where he was - our activity should reflect what he believed in, what his thoughts were + This is one of those questions that demands an answer of us: Who do we say Jesus Christ is? - the truth is that Jesus is Lord, as Peter said and his answer was verified by Jesus - and then we are called to live out that truth, as best we can.

MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: "The Martian" -- beginning session WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 25:19-30

[Jesus continued his story of the talents.] "After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now, then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

Gospelthink: With my story I am telling you to use the talents you have. Am I using the talents that God has given to me?

In the movie "The Martian," Astronaut Mark Watney was one of the crew of the Ares III manned mission to Mars when the crew had to abort the mission because of an overpowering dust storm. Mark was accidentally hit by debris, and because his suit malfunctioned was believed to be dead. His crew had to escape the storm, leaving Mark behind. Actually, he was alive, and he found that he had to function with only the talents that he had until he could team up with his crew again in the next mission to Mars about four years into the future. He found that with the talents that he possessed along with the material in his possession he would be able to survive, and he set about preparing to live with what he had available.

Jesus' parable of the talents is a parable of using the gifts that we have. In Jesus' day, a talent was a form of money, but our modern English definition of talent makes for a good meditation. It is clear from his story that the Lord wants us to use any gifts, money or otherwise, that we have been given. Some of us have a number of gifts, some of us have very few. It is not important how many we have or whether they are the result of our skill or not. The important thing is that we use them. Our God understands that we have limits to our abilities, but God wants us to honestly use the abilities that we have.

Mark Watney wanted to live even though he realized that he had a significant amount of time to spend alone on the planet Mars. He said to himself early on that he would not die. He was determined to carry out the promise to himself. He knew that he had certain talents as a botanist, and he understood the science connected with being part of the astronaut program. In a remarkable way, he used the talents that he possessed as well as the science connected with his chosen vocation.

Some of us actually have the intelligence of Mark Watney, even possessing many of the same talents, having trained to be what we are capable of becoming. Some of us are far removed from such intelligence, but each of us has some talent, some ability to do something good for our own lives and for the world.

Jesus' conclusion to his story is not that we have to have a super intelligence or desire to accomplish great things. He wants us to realize that each of us have something that we can do. We are called to develop whatever talents we have for ourselves as well as for the people around us.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, You have given each of us some talent, some ability as we grow here on earth. Please give us the grace to always develop our potential for ourselves and for others. Be with us, we pray.

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We must always use the talents that we have been given.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 62 minutes)
1. What scene during this session is most striking and why?
2. In the Gospel, what do you think Jesus means by "great responsibilities" in his story?
3. The person who did nothing with his one talent is condemned to the darkness outside. What do you think Jesus means?
4. Text analysis: "To everyone who has more will be given, and he will grow rich." Why do you think Jesus uses this thought in his story?
5. What is your opinion about the space program in your country at the present time? Is it good or bad, that is, helpful to humankind? Yes or no and why?
6. What is best way to overcome despair?
7. What are the principal reasons why people do not live up to their potential?
8. Scene analysis: Was Commander Lewis' decision to abort the mission a good one? Yes or no and why?
9. Analysis: Was it a good decision not to inform the Hermes crew about Watney being alive? Yes or no and why.
10. Analysis: Watney and NASA discover the way to communicate. Communication is of course imperative in such a situation. In general, do you believe that people communicate well with each other? Yes or no and why?