March 23

  [media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, March 23, Third Sunday in Lent

LUKE 13:1-9

Repent

Prayerthoughts

a. Tragedies happen in life with some regularity. They were presented to Jesus no doubt with the thought of why these things happen. It is the same way today. Do I try to see God working through the tragedies that are happening?

b. Jesus knew that the people involved in the tragedies suffered, saying that it was not their fault. Have I misjudged those people who are involved in tragedies?

c. Tragedies are a reminder to us and Jesus says that we will perish spiritually if we do not see that we should repent of our sinfulness. Do I look at the tragedies in my life as a reminder to improve my life?

d. Repentance here means the thought that there are many things in my life right now that I should change or make better. In particular, what are some things in my life that I should work on to make better?

e. Obviously we do not want to perish spiritually. Am I devoting enough time in my life to prayer and thinking about Godly things?

f. The meaning of Jesus’s story is that we have second chances. In what areas of my life should I take a second chance to improve?

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today I will read St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 10 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE PAINS OF LIFE

+ I feel privileged that I have met a couple of saints in my lifetime

- some of them in the parishes that I have served

- this lady was a saint for a number of reasons, I believe, and one of them was this one:

- she was traveling on unpaved road to Church, hit a slick spot, and had an accident

- the result of it was that she had to have her head held in one position for about a year, and the means was a brace that in effect molded a steel cage around her head called a “halo” to keep her from moving her neck

- her statement to me has always inspired me:

- she said: “Maybe this is good. God still wants me to do something with my life.”


+ That is a tremendous attitude that many of us do not have, I think

- we all have a rough time because of the chaos in the world

- things do not go right for us for one reason or another

- we have the personal tragedies in our families that we suffer from

- we are surrounded by people who do things that should not be done—if there is a good God, how can things get messed up so badly


+ I believe that today’s Gospel is quite significant because Jesus addresses that very situation

- Pilate, the Roman governor, had deliberately murdered some Galileans

- also, there had been an accident in a near-by town,

- perhaps some of the relatives of those who died were in Jesus’ audience

- bad things happening to good people

- Jesus knew what they were thinking

- and he tells them that no one was being punished—by no means, he says—as if to say:

- bad things happen to good people: there is pain in life

- but that does not prove that there is no God or that God punishes as the Hebrew Scriptures believed


+ What it says to us is what that holy lady said to me:

- we are here, not killed in the tragedies, here, still alive, and God still wants us to do something with our lives with the time that we have

- one of those things Jesus points out is repentance

- translated in a general way, repentance means that we have to spend a little more time trying to be a little better than we are right now


+ And repentance, Jesus says is something that is quite urgent: it has to be done immediately

- that is the principal idea of Jesus’ story in the Gospel

- we only have a short amount of time

- that is, we must do the things of repentance, be a little more merciful to people, refrain from judging others, refusing to condemn others, forgiving others a little more, and most of all, learning to truly give to another

- we must do those things of repentance now: not tomorrow or next week, but now, today

+ The principal message of the first reading today is that God is very much at work in our lives

- God tells Moses: my name is I AM because God is a constant—always existing

- God is with us always as a reminder that this world is not all there is, but our God—I AM—is present, in this world and always

- and with God being present, our job while here, amidst all the things that this life gives us, is to understand that God wants us to do something with our lives—be the Christians that we should be.











MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Be Alright" -- Dean Lewis

IT WAS NIGHT



 

The Gospel

JOHN 13:21-30

JOHN 13:21-30

Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. 

Gospelthink: When Judas betrayed me, it was indeed a dark hour. Have I betrayed Jesus because of my sin?

"I look up from the ground to see your sad eyes. You look away from me, and I see there’s something you’re trying to hide. And then you say to me you made a dumb mistake. And I feel the color draining from my face. And my friend said, ‘I know you love her, but it’s over. It doesn’t matter, put the phone away. It’s never easy to walk away. Let her go, it’ll be alright. Nothing heals the past like time. They can’t steal the love you’re born to find.”

Did the human Jesus ever give up on anyone? From the Scriptures, it would seem that he did not. He was always interested in helping people as much as he could. The Scriptures are clear that Jesus had pity on the crowds, and healed as many who came to him. It would seem however that sometimes he could not help because the person in question did not have faith.

It is in such a light that we should study the Last Supper with Jesus' treatment of Judas Iscariot. Jesus had previously shown his Apostles the importance of service as he washed their feet. Then he told them that they were his friends for whom he would give up his life. Then he comes to Judas. Jesus knew full well that Judas was not accepting what Jesus had said, and he therefore had betrayed Jesus to his enemies. "It was night" is a symbolic way of saying that perhaps Jesus had given up on Judas after hoping that Judas would see the love that Jesus wanted to build toward him.

Romantic love relationships are different, of course. They disappear with some regularity as people try to find the person with whom they would spend their lives. Dean Lewis sings of such a situation in his song "Be Alright."  The man in the relationship had done something wrong, and as a result, the relationship ceased.  Luckily the man had a close friend who wanted to help as much as he could. He told the man in the relationship what he had to do--to "Walk away, let her go," that "it'll be alright."

The man's friend was right on with his advice. Do not try to keep the relationship if the other does not want it.  Of course, it is not easy to let the relationship go--it means admitting that there were things that were just not right, perhaps some it due to one's own fault. But if a relationship does not work out for whatever reason, the best approach is to try to get it back together, but as the man's friend said, after giving it time, let it go.

Jesus did not want to give up on Judas, but he had no choice, and he suffered because of it. Not unlike a human love relationship that does not work out.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, sometimes in our lives, we have to begin again because of something that did not go right. Help me see and understand what I must do in order to bring about true love. Be with us, we pray.

 

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Sometimes in love relationships we simply must start over because they did not work out.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does the song "Be Alright" teach young people?
2. Given that "taking time" is important in any relationship, what are the other important elements of a love relationship
3. From your knowledge of the Scriptures, were there any other relationships that Jesus had other than Judas' in which it seemed that Jesus "gave up"?
4. In John's Gospel, Jesus washed the feet of Judas before Judas left to betray him. What does the action mean for us today?
5. In many, if not most love relationships, we human beings do not marry the person we first "love." It means some type of a break-up therefore. In the song, Dean Lewis says that "it'll be alright." Why is it so difficult to believe that?
6.  Why do we try to keep a relationship when we know that it is over?
7. In your opinion, how old should a person be in order to make a permanent commitment?  

 

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America