in my

July 20

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, July 20, Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

LUKE 10:38-42

Listening to the Words of Jesus

Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus was friends of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Who are my “best” friends right now? How can I express my appreciation of them more?

b. The evangelist Luke shows his concern for women. Generally the women of Jesus’s time would not “sit at the Master’s feet.” In general, do I treat women with the respect that it their due?

c. Martha is “bold” enough with Jesus so as to ask him to make Mary, her sister, help her. As I study my language, should I be more kind to people than I am now?

d. Martha is anxious. Do I find myself too anxious at times? Have I placed complete hope in the Lord?

e. Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better part, namely listening to him. Do I spend enough time with the Gospels so as to see what Jesus truly wants of me?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read the Letter to the Colossians, chapter 1 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

LISTENING BEFORE YOU ACT

+ One of the best presentations I have ever seen by high school students was at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Kansas City a number of years ago

- the local Student Council was scheduled to provide the opening entertainment for a leadership program that the KSHSAA was sponsoring

- it traditionally consisted of the band playing or a choral group

- instead, they put their student council on stage, and acted as if we, the audience were the school, and they were having student council president elections

- as we watched, I remember being totally lost as to what they were doing

- there were four candidates: academic-type, cheerleader-type, athletic-type, and off center-type

- lined up across stage: nominating and acceptance speeches

- everyone invariably: if I am elected, I will listen to you and I promise great things for the students of this school

- during the speeches, there was a young boy, hat on crooked, evidently confused--I thought he should not have been in the skit, like he was handicapped in some way, and the group on stage was embarrassed by his presence as well

- he wondered around the stage, looking at each person,

- everyone on stage pushed him away, he walked around the whole time of the speeches, and finally, he was pushed off stage

- someone won the election / cheering / sudden silence / actors froze

- and the young man came back on stage and said:

“Even as they promised they would listen to me, they pushed me away.”

- they were saying that in the upcoming year they would listen to the students, and it was evident that they were not listening to him

- a great lesson here: before we act and do something for anyone, we have to first of all listen

+ In the Gospel, Martha and Mary are both into giving of themselves to Jesus

- the reason why Jesus is partial to what Mary did is a very important lesson for us

- Mary listened before she acted; Martha was just the opposite—she was acting without listening first

- the lesson is both a psychological and a spiritual one:

- if we truly want to serve someone, to give to someone, we must listen first, then act

- when we listen first, the other person is in charge of the agenda;

- when we start doing right away, we may very well have missed what the other wants because we are merely doing what we think the other wants, and therefore it is nothing more than what we want

+ If we apply this psychological/spiritual principle to the spiritual life,

- before we become a Christian who does things, we have to become a Christian who listens to Jesus’ ideas

- we don’t do that, and we run into contradictions

- a person gives a lot of money to the Church or a charitable cause while at the same time cheating or hurting someone else

- the married person professes to be a good follower of Jesus, but at the same time, will only “selectively listen” to his/her spouse

- people go to Mass, even daily Mass, and tear down another in their speech during the day

- what the problem is can be described as—

- doing first before truly listening to what Jesus wants

- Jesus’ doctrine is basically pretty simple: do good and avoid evil all the time

- if we truly listened, we won’t be into contradictions

+ Jesus reminds Martha that Mary has chosen the “better part” because she was able to listen to him—Jesus—before she acted

- that is a great thought for us as well.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "In My Blood" -- Shawn Mendes

IT ISN'T IN MY BLOOD

The Gospel

MARK 5:25-34

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?