NEWS1

July 5

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Saturday, July 5

MATTHEW 9:14-17
I give you some thoughts about fasting and my presence in your life.

Prayerthoughts
a. As we think of Jesus’s departure and his return on the final day, we are in that interim period now. How do I fast? Fasting can be more than fasting from food. Do I fast from food, television, Internet, etc., by treating them with moderation in my life?

b. Jesus gives a new meaning to fasting. It involves not the old idea of restraint, but the new idea of love of God. When I am asked to fast (by Church law), do I spend the time when I am fasting to turn to God in prayer? (This is the task of the meditation.)

c. As I listen to the Lord speak of his death, I think of my own death. As I study my life right now, am I preparing for my death by trying to correct my faults?

d. The bridegroom, Jesus, is never taken away from us in the sense that the Lord is always with us. Do I acknowledge the Lord’s presence during the day as often as I should?

e. Jesus’s approach to life is something new. How do I best describe the Lord’s law?

f. New wine is poured into fresh wineskins. I must adjust my life to what the Lord wants. At this time in my life, what should I change the most according to Jesus's law?

g. My prayerthoughts….

Today, I will carry out letter b.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE LAW OF JESUS

+ A difficult concept for the Hebrew mind was Jesus’ insistence that the old law had to change

- here: nobody sews a new cloth—that is Jesus’ new law—on an old cloak, that is the Hebrew law

- the Hebrew law was sacred to the Hebrew mind

- but Jesus was adamant that it had to change

+ What had happened was that the old law was not effective any more

- in fact, in many ways, it was too easy

- it was easily compromised by clever people

- like the Pharisees who knew the law inside and out, and made the law suit what they wanted

- people who really did not concern themselves about what was right

- they used the law to their advantage

+ It is interesting, though that God still used those situations to bring about good from the evil

- as can be seen by the whole Esau/Jacob story of the book of Genesis

- in fact, Jacob tricked Esau in two ways in the book of Genesis

- not only here with his mother Rebekah, getting the special blessing of the father that was so important to the Hebrew people

- but also a little earlier in Genesis by tricking Esau into getting his birthright

- Jacob goes on to become a great patriarch, even though there was evil in the early part of his life

- God brings good from evil

+ But I think that the stress of the liturgy is the new law that Jesus talks of:

They pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

- the new law, the law of Jesus is real

- that is, what Jesus said and what he did becomes the law that we the followers of Jesus must follow

- Jesus is the primary focus

- who he was, why he did the things that he did

- he is the new law, the one that we should study

+ The problem comes when Christian people refuse to listen to what the law means in their lives

- they know what Jesus said and what he did

- but they also know what their human nature wants and desires

- and so, in a sense, they want the “old law”—that is, what they want—to govern their lives, and not what Jesus wants

- we don’t like Jesus’ doctrine of love of enemies, no revenge, and concern for the poor

- and so, we simply do not follow it

+ Our task as Christian people is to really “taste” the new wine, the law of Jesus

- and put it into our wineskins, our lives.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "News of the World" -- beginning session

ALWAYS GUIDING

The Gospel

MATTHEW 2:19-22

MATTHEW 2:19-22

When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel, But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee.

Gospelthink: The Lord directed Joseph to begin Jesus's life in Galilee. Do I see that the Lord is directing my life in some way?

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former Confederate soldier made his living traveling from town to town reading newspapers to local residents. After an evening of work, Kidd set out for his next location and discovered an overturned wagon. He found the body of a lynched black slave freedman and a live young Indian girl named Cicada who only spoke the Kiowa language. Intending to take the child to the Bureau of Indian Affairs at a Union checkpoint, and finding that the person was not being available, he had to accept the responsibility of taking Cicada to her home. Kidd gradually came to understand that he should take care of Cicada himself and take her to her home.

In the infancy section of Matthew's Gospel, God is very direct in showing Joseph what he must do in order to arrange the life of Mary and their son Jesus. God uses both dreams and Joseph's own reasoning to direct the holy family's early life.

Although not as direct as God was with Joseph, it is a spiritual fact that God is very much in charge of our own lives as well. We have used St. Paul's words to the Romans several times in these meditations, because they express God's directing our lives and directing our lives toward what is good. Paul writes:"We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). In other words, our faith recognizes that God is directing our lives, and directing us toward a good.

We may not see how God is working, but for the believer, God is very much a part of our lives. As Captain Kidd interacted with the Indian girl Cicada that he found on his path, he may not have realized that it was God's plan, but good man that he was, he knew that he had to do something in order to help this person in the world in which they both lived. He was following God's plan.

One of the guiding principles for a Christian is that God is working in our lives. We may not see it or even think about it, but God is very much directing us as we strive to do what is good. What it should mean for us is that no matter what direction our lives have taken, our desire must always be to bring about some good in what we do. As Captain Kidd in the movie "News of the World," we see the good that can be done, and we set about doing it.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, I believe that you are directing our lives in some way. As we see the things that we do, and the things that happen to us, give us the grace to always accept what happens with the thought that we can bring about good in this world. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We may not realize it, but God is always directing our lives.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 55 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. Granted that we know little of Jesus's early life, in your opinion, what was most difficult about it?
3. What would have been the most difficult thing about living in the Western part of our country around 1870?
4. Have you had any dreams that have helped shape your life? If so, mention one.
5. In your opinion, do most people acknowledge that God is directing their lives?
6. Do you believe in "luck" or in God's directing what happens?
7. Who is most in need in our own little world at this time? What can we do about it?
8. What is a "good" that most everyone in the world can do?