February 4

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Wednesday, February 4

MARK 6:1-6

Lack of faith

Prayerthoughts
a. Once again, reference is made to the Sabbath which for us is Sunday. Have I made progress in keeping Sunday to be a holy day for me by spending time in prayer and resting from work (if possible)?

b. The people were wondering about Jesus’s wisdom. Where do I look for the most wisdom in today’s world?

c. The people of Nazareth knew Jesus too well, and therefore they could not see him as anyone important. In my thoughts, do I consider others less important than I am?

d. The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus. I obviously do not reject Jesus, but there may be some teachings that I am not listening to.

e. Jesus did not “punish” the people in Nazareth. Do I tend to hold grudges against people who do not agree with me?

f. Jesus only helped a couple of people because in general, their faith was lacking. Perhaps this is a good time to make an act of faith.

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read 2 Samuel 24:2,9-17 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

LISTENING WITH AN OPEN MIND

+ One of the people-judgments that Jesus was up against during his lifetime

- and especially in Nazareth where the people knew him and his parents and his family, what he did every day and why he did it

- was that people judged that they had figured him out

- and so when he began to teach in the synagogue, and they heard him say some religious things that they probably didn’t understand or didn’t want to understand,

- and since they knew, at least thought they knew who he was,

- they wouldn’t listen because they thought that he didn’t have the wisdom to teach

- their perception was clouded by their familiarity with him, and they chased him away

- Jesus through the evangelist Mark says that he was amazed at their lack of faith

- faith, for Jesus, here, meaning that the people should at least listen with an open mind so that they could look at things from a different perspective

- perhaps, learn something new, and come to understand what he was presenting primarily about the Kingdom that he was preaching

+ Human beings have the tendency to think with closed minds, that is, with our minds made up before we look at the situation

- the people of Nazareth had their minds made up before they listened to him

- our perception—the way we look at things—becomes the way it is—reality

+ Take the idea of “guilt” for example—the subject of the first reading from the second book of Samuel

- the author takes pain to describe carefully the circumstances and consequences of David’s guilt—no doubt exaggerated, but David’s guilt nonetheless

- he did not trust in the Lord’s power, and so David had to determine his own strength in the number of men he had

- while he was doing it, he knew that the Lord had said to trust in him, but his perception was that in order to win battles, one needed fighting men

- that’s the way every battle was won, that was his perception

- the reality was that the Lord had said to trust in him

- and so when he finally understood what he was doing, he had to admit: “forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish; it is I who have sinned, I, the shepherd”

- saying in effect that he had closed his mind to what the Lord wanted, and had only listened to his own desires

+ In the spiritual life, we have to watch closely that we do not close our minds to God by allowing our own selfish feelings to dictate to us

- what this means for us is that we have to continually turn to the Lord with the thought of what is happening in our lives

- we get that from a real study of the Scriptures, and especially the Gospels

- and if we decide to make a major detour in our lives, we have to check it out with others who have spiritual savvy

- but the important thing is that we constantly study our lives from the point of view of the Gospels, and of course, for us Franciscans, from the way Francis understood the Gospels

- so that our thinking really becomes what God wants.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Sound of Freedom" -- beginning session
THE SIN OF CHILD ABUSE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 18:6-7

Jesus said: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

Gospelthink: I speak in exaggeration about those who harm the very young.

Based on a true story, "Sound of Freedom" is a story of Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard and his fight against child sex trafficking. In this first session, a father, Roberto Aguilar, is tricked into giving his children, Rocio and Miguel, to be used as sex slaves. Tim heard from another agent that Homeland Security had arrested many child predators, but they had failed to save a single child from being exploited because most of them are outside the United States. Tim is able to rescue Miguel and asks him for information that would help him find other children. Learning that Miguel's sister Rocio is still missing, Tim promises Miguel that he will do his best to find her. His search took him to Cartegena, Columbia where he met with Vampiro, a former cartel accountant who now works to save children from sex trafficking. After studying the situation, he came upon an operation in Thailand in which he could free some children, and perhaps Rocio was one of them.

In the Gospel discourses, Jesus often speaks with exaggeration. When he does, he is saying that the point he is making is extremely important. Jesus's statements about children then should be studied carefully.

Jesus worked with children when he wanted to teach the importance of honesty and the quality of being "child-like," that is, innocence, trustfulness and wonder. And he also understood how vulnerable children were. They do not have the capacity to understand completely and can be taken advantage of easily. Therefore, he was strong in his condemnation of those who hurt children either physically or mentally.

Jesus may or may not have seen child sex trafficking in his human lifetime, since we have no way of knowing. But if he did, he could see the horror of it. Not only were the children torn away from their families, but their future lives would be completely ruined, even if they did escape from their enslavement.

One of the characteristics of a person interested in a good spiritual life is the ability to treat other people with the respect they deserve. Into that category is the way such a person treats those who are very young, those who cannot help themselves without the assistance of another.

Children have a special place in the Christian scheme to things. The Christian will always recognize their importance.

PRAYER
Good and gracious God, Your Son showed us the importance of children in our world, both by using them as an example and giving his feeling about those who harmed them in any way. Give us the grace to recognize your special love for them, and thus lead us to treat them with the utmost respect, especially those close to us. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: The sin of child sex trafficking is one of the worst sins human beings give into.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
(session: approximately 61 minutes)
1. What does this session of the movie teach young people?
2. In your opinion, what is the fundamental reason that causes child abuse?
3. As you think of the words of Jesus in the Gospels, in your opinion, what are the "strongest"?
4. What is your own definition of "child-like"?
5. In your opinion, why does an abused person feel the effects of child abuse in the later years of adulthood?
6. In your opinion, do most people show respect to all people? Why or why not?