in my

July 20

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Monday, July 20

MATTHEW 12:38-42

Most Important

Prayerthoughts

a. People wanted a sign from Jesus that he was God even though he did so many things that proved it. Am I a sign that Jesus is God by the way I act, think and my words?

b. Jesus points out the story of Jonah, the part where he finally did do what God wanted him to do, and the people turned to repentance. Do I frequently ask for forgiveness of my sins and faults and want to do something about them?

c. Jesus also refers to the Queen of Sheba in first book of Kings (1 Kings 10:1-10). She found the wisdom of Solomon amazing. Do I seek the wisdom of Jesus’s teachings in everything that I do?

d. Jesus points out that he is greater than Jonah or Solomon. As I consider the people and things that are influential in my life, do I place Jesus as my principal influence?

e. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read Micah 6:1-4,6-8 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

FAITH IN JESUS

+ The problem connected with faith

- is that we don’t want faith

- we want certitude so that we know we’re right

- the same in Jesus’ time: Jesus was teaching faith

- the scribes and Pharisees wanted certitude

+ Jesus’ answer is not only the idea of faith

- but faith specifically in him

- the sign of Jonah is the three days referring to Jesus’s death and resurrection

- as Matthew explains it—Jesus is greater than Jonah, Jesus is greater than Solomon

- and it is also faith that leads to reform

- as the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba reformed

- reform that means as Micah describes it:

- we are called “to do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God”

+ A three-fold direction then for us as we try to grow spiritually:

1 – again, the importance of Jesus

- we hear it so often in these Scriptures

- we have to “pour over” the Scriptures:

- listen to what they say, really want to do what they say

2 – there has to be a deepening of our faith

- to understand that we really cannot prove these things

- but to constantly pray for the grace to increase our faith

3 – reform our lives

- even more than they are now

- to take that phrase of Micah and see which part we must really work on

- “to do the right and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God”

- am I doing the right things?

- am I really working toward goodness?

- am I taking the time for God so as to walk humbly with God

+You and I have the gift of faith

- we must cultivate it and pray that it becomes stronger.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "In My Blood" -- Shawn Mendes

IT ISN'T IN MY BLOOD

The Gospel

MARK 5:25-34

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’" And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

Gospelthink: I healed the people who truly wanted to be healed. The Lord will help me if I ask him.

"Help me, it’s like the walls are caving in. Laying on the bathroom floor, feeling nothing, I'm overwhelmed and insecure, give me something. I could take to ease my mind slowly, just have a drink and you'll feel better. Keep telling me that it gets better. Does it ever? Sometimes I feel like giving up, but I just can’t: it isn’t in my blood."

It is relatively easy to get ourselves into the situation of the woman in the Gospel. She is ready to give up on life, perhaps take her own life to relieve herself of the pain. She has suffered for twelve years but she stayed with the hope that she could find a way. She was determined not to give up. Something kept her going always with the thought that life could be better. Then Jesus came into her life, and determined as she was to overcome her malady, she reaches out to him with the hope that this man will help her.

With Shawn Mendes in his song, she could say that "it isn't in her blood" to give up. In his song, Shawn Mendes sings of all the possible ways that a person in the song could make himself feel better, and he begs his confidant to "give him something." He is on the verge of giving up, but he realizes that he cannot do that. He is determined that things will get better even as he questions whether they will.

The song leads to some serious thinking about ourselves. It is a song of pain and asking for help, but then the person understands that he already has the help. It is within himself, "in his blood" as he sings. Determined to find an answer, he turns to himself, and understands that it is up to him.

We need help in our lives, to be sure. We cannot go it alone. With the person in the song, we are well aware how much help we need. Luckily in our lives, there are many places that we can turn to--our parents, our friends, our God. There are so many ways that we can learn leadership and how to better ourselves. The Gospel that we read is invaluable in shaping our lives. But none of this means anything unless we are determined to use the help, and then do something about it ourselves. It truly is up to us. We must do it. We must be determined to use the means that is given to us.

The lady in the Gospel was determined to find an answer to her problem. So she made herself do something about it--she reached out to touch the Lord. In exactly the same way, we must understand that it is up to us to use the means that we have to better ourselves. Placing it into a personal setting: I must study what I must do; I must see that there are answers that I can find; I must reach out and touch the solution. It is up to me; to give up must not be "in my blood."

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, You have given us many helps to be the better people that You want us to be. But you have given us a free will also. We must decide to use what You have given. It is up to us to do something. Help us understand more just how important it is for me to use what You have given.. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Even though I feel like giving up, I am determined that I will not.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
[Author's suggestion: the reader might be interested in reading the two meditations on the movie "Unbroken" concerning determination.]
1. Gospel analysis: Why is "faith" so important in the Gospels?
2. It seems that Shawn Mendes is addressing someone in the words of the song. Who do you think he is talking to?
3. Give your own definition of determination.
4. Why do people "give up" on life?
5. Do most people believe that it is up to them to accomplish something in their lives? Yes or no and why?
6. What is the best help that we have as we try to accomplish something good?
7. What does the song "In My Blood" teach young people?