June 28

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Saturday, June 28, Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin

LUKE 2:41-51
Even as a child on this earth, I knew that I had to be about what God wanted me to do.

Prayerthoughts
a. Jesus's parents fulfilled the law of Moses. Do I sincerely try to follow the law of God in everything that I do?

b. His parents frantically search for the lost Jesus. Have I reached out to my parents (if they are alive) and thanked them for their guidance. A prayer for them is in order.

c. Luke's Gospel says that it took three days to find him. It had to be a very anxious time for them. Are there times in my life when I have been very anxious? Did I trust in the Lord the way that I should have?

d. Jesus's parents want to know "why"? It is a question that I often ask about why God has given trials to me. What have been the biggest trials in my life so far, and I have tried to resolve them with God in mind?

e. Jesus was about His Father's work. In my life, in general, have I done God's work?

f. Jesus went with his parents, and were obedient to them. In my circumstances, who am I obedient to? And, have I shown true obedience to what they legitimately wanted?

g. I should formulate a prayer to grow more in the love of God. (This is the task of the meditation.)

h. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will carry out letter g.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

LISTENING WITH THE HEART TO OUR FAMILIES

+ The evangelist Luke uses a word in the Gospel today that is important to know

- a word that has come down as a primary relationship of children to parents, but it goes much further than that

- the word is “obey”:

Jesus was obedient to Mary and Joseph.

- the derivation of the English word is from the Latin word, audire—“to listen completely”, or “to thoroughly listen”

- its full meaning would be: I obey, that is, I listen to the word of another and I will follow it completely

+ We can call it listening with the “heart”

- that is, listening in such a way that we determine how another feels and why they feel the way they do

- it is an art that young mothers and fathers must learn as they work with their new-born child

- you listen with a sense of being able to figure out what the other person wants without even being told

- it is an art that takes a relatively long time to accomplish because we must keep working at trying to figure out what the other is really saying

+ I recommend to you a movie of a couple of years ago called “The Sixth Sense”

- its ending is quite different, and one that you have to study just a little, and I’ll not give that away

- but the point is that the doctor in the movie discovered that he simply had to learn to listen with the heart

- “listening with the heart” is among the most important characteristics to learn as a truly spiritual human being

- the problem is that we are much more in tune with what we want and our own needs than we are in tune with others, and therefore we don’t listen to them

+ There are very practical conclusions to all of this as we think of the feast of Holy Family today

- those conclusions touch the relationship between husband and wife—which is primary in the family, they touch the relationship between parents and their children, and just the opposite, the relationship between children and their parents

+ Maybe the primary conclusions would be three-fold—TALK, TIME, and PRAY:

- obeying and listening with the heart in the family means that there will be TALK—communication—among family members

- talking on a deeper level, and truly listening to the other

- sometimes a counselor, therapist is necessary to help in this regard, especially between husband and wife

- it means that we will spend TIME together as a family, so that we can talk and listen

- it is my opinion that we are spending far too much time making money and far too little time making family

- and it means that our family will be involved with God through PRAYER, public and private

- children must see prayer in the home; they are not going to see it in society or in public schools

+ If the family develops this sense of “obeying” that is, “listening with the heart” to each other in the family,

- then, there will be the ability to face the problems that occur

- the ability to work with tragedies when they happen

- because we will learn to talk, take the time to do it, and always pray about it.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Blank Space" -- Taylor Swift

A NIGHTMARE DRESSED LIKE A DAYDREAM

The Gospel

JOHN 21:15-17

JOHN 21:15-17

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep."

Gospelthink: I remind Peter that he denied me and I want him to be sorry. Am I sorry for the faults and failings in my life?

"So, it’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna go down in flames. You can tell me when it’s over if the high was worth the pain. They’ll tell you I’m insane ‘cause you know I love the players and you love the game. ‘Cause we’re young and we're reckless. We’ll take this way too far. Got a long list of ex-lovers. Screaming, crying, perfect storms, I can make all the tables turn, rose garden filled with thorns. Keep you second guessing like 'who is she?' I get drunk on jealousy, but you’ll come back each time you leave, ‘cause I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream. I’ve got a blank space, and I’ll write your name.”

The Scripture reading directing Peter to love and Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space" present a picture of opposites. The Scripture reading is the perfect statement of true love, and the song presents a picture of fake love.

In the Scripture passage, Jesus knew that Peter still did not possess a true love of a friend because he had denied Jesus just a few days before. Jesus reminds him that one cannot "toy" with love, that is "fool around" with love. If one says the word "love," it means just that--love. You do not act like it is love or say it is love and not mean it. Jesus tells Peter three times, matching the three times of his denial, that love must be real, not simply a selfish act. Jesus was giving Peter the chance to lessen the personal pain his denial had caused Peter.

Taylor Swift's song is just the opposite. The song is about a girl who is a "nightmare dressed like a daydream," one who is fooling around with love, an action that hurts both her and her boyfriend. The video for the song expresses the thought perfectly: if you "toy" with the concept of love, you cause pain for everyone involved.

The song presents an excellent opportunity to study any relationship in which we find ourselves, whether a romantic involvement or a relationship between friends. How are we showing the "love" that we profess? Is it a love that will "give to" another, one that is "forgiving" and "caring for" the other? Or is it one that satisfies a selfish desire to please ourselves, using the other for what we want, one that makes another "second guess" about the love we are showing?

If we use the word "love" to describe a relationship of ours, it can never be fake or put on or selfish; it can only mean true love.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, love may be the most important topic of our time here on earth because every one of us will love or be loved. May we study the example of your Son to love the way you want, and never harm ourselves or others. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: A person who merely toys with loving others will end up hurting him/herself.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. The passage in the Gospel emphasizes Peter's importance in the Church which would form after Jesus' resurrection. Why do you think that Jesus singled out Peter as the most important of the Apostles?
2. The meditation presents the passage to be an example of "true love." In your opinion, what is your definition of "true love."
3. Text analysis: "I love the players, and you love the game." What is the meaning of the sentence?
4. Analysis: Does the fact that a person is young mean that that person is also "reckless" as the song suggests? Yes or no and why?
5. Text analysis: "I get drunk on jealousy." What is the meaning of the sentence?
6. Text analysis: "...a nightmare dressed like a daydream." What is the meaning of the phrase?
7. Text analysis: "I got a blank space, and I'll write your name." What is the meaning of the sentence?
8. in your opinion, what is "fake love"?
9. How does a person "fool around with love"?
10. Obtain a copy of the video, and analyze it. What is most striking about it?
11. What does it mean to "second guess" a love?
12. Why do people come back to a person who is just "toying" with love as the person in the song?
13. How would you describe principal difference between "true love" and "fake love"?
14. What does the song "Blank Space" teach young people?