missing2

January 15

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Thursday, January 15

MARK 1:40-45

Overwhelmed by God

Prayerthoughts

a. The leper tells Jesus “if you wish.” He is saying to the Lord that it is Jesus’s decision and not his. In our prayer to our God, do we always add the thought that “if it is God’s will”?

b. The Lord says to me as well that he wants to heal me, but it may be different from the way I want. Am I able to accept what the Lord sends? [“Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want; faith is the belief that God will do what is right.” (Max Lucado)]

c. Jesus touched the leper, an action that was not permitted because of the law, but it was a sign of love. Do I show signs of “love” to others? Think especially of those that I see every day.

d. Jesus did not want to publicize the good thing that he had done. When I do something good, do I “brag” about it in some way to others?

e. What is my opinion about why the leper publicized the miracle? It could have been that he was simply so overwhelmed that he had to tell someone. In what ways has the Lord “overwhelmed” me in my life?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read the Letter to the Hebrews, 1 Samuel 4:1-11 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS

+ Samuel in the first reading gives us an excellent example of a person who truly wanted to know what the will of God was in his life

- he had said at the beginning of his life: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening,” and he followed that in his life

- here, he kept asking the Lord what direction to go

- he knew what he wanted, what his human nature told him was correct,

- but he wanted to know the will of God as well,

- and that was the determining factor, even though he felt strongly that it should not be

+ Probably one of the main problems that Jesus had with the Scribes

- they didn’t want to know what the will of God was, and missed it completely

- because they were much too dedicated to something that they believed, plus—they were jealous of this Jesus

- the Scribes knew that God wanted forgiveness of sins, for example

- that God wanted people to turn their lives around

- in the Gospel, they see enacted in front of them this Jesus who evidently moved people to seek forgiveness

- and rather than investigate, the Scribes condemn

- and they miss another opportunity to grow spirituality

+ You and I are in a place in our lives where we know what the Word of God is, the will of God as described in the Scriptures

- but like the Scribes, many times, we do not let it move us the way it should

- we hear these Scriptures all the time, but they do not carry the impact they should

+ In particular, today, the whole discussion about forgiveness of sins

- it is one of the favorite topics of Jesus, as evidenced in the Our Father that he taught

- that forgiveness is a two-fold one and perhaps today a renewal of the understanding of forgiveness is in order

- 1 – to recognize our own need for forgiveness

- looking closely into our lives to determine the areas of sinfulness, usually in the way that we think about others, perhaps in the way that we talk or our attitudes

- 2 – to recognize that we must forgive others

- forgive the people that have harmed us or—the real problem—the people that are harming us right now

- the people who do not recognize their sinfulness or the way they act against us or against others

- we really are called to forgive them

+ Samuel found out what God wanted

- and once he found out, he did it

- we know that God wants us to forgive, for example

- now we must sincerely try to do it.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Missing" - final session

LOVE YOUR PARENTS

The Gospel

MARK 7:10-13

Jesus said [to the Pharisees]: "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother shall die.' Yet you say, 'If a person says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is qorban (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things."

Gospelthink: The Pharisees follow their own thinking rather than God's.

The essence of the story of the movie "Missing" is the fact that June Allen's mother Grace did not come back from Columbia like she had told June she would. We find out as the movie progresses that Grace was abducted before she even got on the plane to go to Columbia. It is only through the knowledge of technology (the subject of the beginning session in these notes) that June was able to see what happened to her mother. What is clear from the movie was the deep love that June had for her mother Grace, and vice-versa, the love of Grace for June.

The Gospel text calls to mind the rule of Moses that God's people were to honor their father and mother. The Pharisees negated that command by teaching that they could give money to the temple in place of helping their parents in need. They took the legitimate qorban offering and used it in an illegitimate and devious way to defraud their parents and enrich themselves. Thus the Law of God was nullified.

Jesus, of course, upheld the Law of Moses in this regard, telling his followers that they should honor a person's father and mother. That Christian law has come down to be one of the pivotal laws with regard to everyone's future lives. Basically, although there are exceptions, if a son or daughter has a good relationship with father and mother early on, that is "honor" them, their lives will be the better for it.

The media is clear in pointing this out. Movies and television shows make it all too obvious that most of the "evil" people who are presented are that way because of a messed up early life. And the messed up early life can be blamed on the fact that father and mother were not what they should have been.

In the movie "Missing," June's mother and father are presented for our consideration. It would seem that June was able to lead a good life "in spite of" her mother and father. Be that as it may, June loved her mother Grace and she shows it in a striking way as June discovers that Grace is missing.

The lesson for our consideration of the movie and from the fourth commandment of the Law of Moses which Jesus endorsed is two-fold. One from the parents' point of view, that they should be as good as possible to their growing children, and two, that their children grow up loving their parents. And as they do that, they should be willing to work with and perhaps help their parents as they grow older. Studying the directive, it must be pointed out, that the carrying out the law is not easy. Hence, a possible outcome, the situation of our world in which there are truly "evil" people.

At the same time however, there is the hope that there would be more and more good families and therefore, better lives in our world.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, You created marriage and having children, and therefore the fact that there should be a good relationship between parents and their children. Give us the grace to grow well into adulthood, and the grace to treat our parents with love. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: There must be true love of father and mother to bring about a good world.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 56 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. From your study of the Scriptures, what is the principal reason why Jesus had such a difficult time with the Pharisees?
3. It is clear that good families are the ideal for a good world. What are the principal reasons why families have difficult problerms?
4. In your opinion, what is the best means to bring about a "good" family?
5. What can young children who have reached the age of reason (say, 7 years old) do in order to bring about better families?
6. Taking care of older parents has become more and more difficult. What would be a "general" rule to direct children to help their older parents?
7. What does the movie "Missing" teach young people?