TGIMMmockingjay 1

February 5

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Wednesday, February 5

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. (This is the task of the meditation.)

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will write a prayer asking for stronger faith.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

PERCEPTION IS NOT NECESSARILY REALITY

+ There is a phrase that goes “perception is reality”

- we think something is real, is true, simply because we perceive it to be the case, we think that it is true

- our perception becomes reality

- but it really is not reality—it is only what we think reality is

+ It was what Jesus was up against in the Gospel

- he was in Nazareth where they knew him and his parents, what he did every day and why he did it

- and in their judgment, he was nothing extraordinary

- 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

- perception became reality for them, and they chased him away

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

- take the idea of “discipline” for example—the subject of the author of the letter to the Hebrews in the first reading

- the author says that most people tend to think that discipline is not a good thing, and therefore they try to get out of it

- they have their minds closed, made up beforehand—discipline is no good for them

- the author says—as a matter of fact, yes it is

- it is something good and can help us—bringing a “peaceful fruit of righteousness” to those who are trained in discipline

+ In the spiritual life, we have to watch closely that we do not close our minds to things that could eventually help us

- that just because we don’t think that something is valuable, that it is not

- the way we think things are / are not always the way they are

- we can learn from a lot of things that we think we could not learn from.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 2" --
beginning session

RESPECT FOR LIFE DURING WAR

The Gospel

MATTHEW 24:6-8

Jesus said: "You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes from place to place. All these are the beginning of the labor pains.”

Gospelthink: I want you to know that there will be bad times in the future. Right now am I a person that brings peace wherever I go?

This session of the movie "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 2" continues where the last movie left off. Peeta has been re-programmed by the Capitol and is imprisoned by the rebel force. Having devised a plan to capture President Snow and bring forced peace to the people of Panem, the rebel force commanded by President Coin, set about killing some people of the Capitol in order to achieve their goal. But Katniss s, known among the rebel force as the Mockingjay and the inspiration behind the rebellion, did not agree with the killing. As the Mockingjay, she and a number of rebels including her friend Gale and Peeta now released from prison, set out to make propaganda reports on behalf of the rebellion. They gradually approach the Capitol.

Jesus was very clear concerning his teaching on war. There was to be none because everyone, even an enemy must be loved. At the same time, he was very aware of war. He encountered it in his own lifetime as can be seen from the Gospels, and he spoke of the presence of war in the future as well. War was like the pains of a woman in labor at childbirth--they would come, only to be reconciled in the end. Therefore, In the process of war, even if there would be peace, there would be casualties.

Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay, realized that the war which the rebellion was about to cause in the movie "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 2" would bring about death and destruction. But her desire, based perhaps on an understanding of a higher belief, was to cause as little damage as possible. In her mind, the rebellion of which she was a symbol, should not cause useless killing.

Among the lessons of the Hunger Games trilogy, this may prove to be one of the most intriguing. Given the circumstances of war, perhaps one of the important guidelines must be that there should be as little actual killing as possible. It is a directive that humankind at war has not learned very well.

Jesus wanted peace. It is a guideline that every Christian must be aware of, even as he/she is involved in what might be called "self-defense." Our path of action must be governed by a sincere love of people, and even when there are "enemies" involved in our lives, we must always be directed to love as best we can.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we live in a very complicated world, one in which Your Son's doctrine of love is often not a preferred guide. Allow us to have the grace to learn a true love of others so that we can follow the path of love as best we can in our circumstances. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Even in a war, there must always be respect for life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 64 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking and why?
2. In what way can we bring about peace?
3. Why has the Christian understanding of "peace" failed?
4. Is it even possible to have "as little actual killing as possible" in war? Yes or no and why?
5. How would you define "respect for life" in our present twenty-first century?