TGIMMwhen2

March 8

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, March 8, Third Sunday of Lent

JOHN 4:5-42

Living Water

Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus shows no prejudice when he speaks to the woman and a Samaritan. Are there some prejudices in my life right now that I should address?

b. We should be asking the Lord for “living water,” that is the grace to live a good spiritual life. Have I developed a consistently good spiritual life?

c. How much time do I give to develop my spiritual life?

d. The woman asks for the water, thinking in terms of the water in the well. We should be asking for the water that leads to eternal life. In my prayer of petition, for whom should I be praying to have eternal life?

e. What is my understanding of eternal life?

f. The woman calls Jesus a prophet. Who are the prophets that I should listen to in my life today?

g. The woman left her jar at the well after she had interacted with Jesus, symbolic of the way we should react. When we truly encounter the Lord, we will leave everything behind as we turn to the Lord. How does this act out in my life?

h. My prayerthoughts…

Today I will read Romans 5;1-2,5-8 and write an important thought from it

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

+ The Gospel presents the magnificent story of the Samaritan woman, showing the thought of conversion and a gradual acceptance of Jesus

- Jesus first of all approaches her

- saying in effect that he wants to help with her salvation

- she begins with polite protocol: “Sir, you do not even have a bucket…”

- the second “sir” suggests that Jesus has more status and more respect: “Sir, give me this water”

- then, it gets a little difficult, as Jesus enters into something that she didn’t want to talk about—“Go call your husband.”

- then she calls him a prophet, a religious title: “I see that you are a prophet”

- finally she calls him the Messiah as she describes the kind of knowledge that Jesus is showing, saying “I know that the Messiah is coming”

- Jesus discloses his identity to her, using the most sacred name for God found in the Scriptures: I AM—

I am he, the one speaking with you

- the woman went from complete ignorance about Jesus to becoming a disciple

- symbolized by leaving her bucket at the well, that is leaving her old way of life, rushing back to the city to give testimony on behalf of Jesus

+ The story calls us to choose a deeper spiritual life that Jesus offers to us, to accept him a little more into our lives

- he calls us, always calling us to be deeper spiritual people

- and he gets difficult with us—asking us the deep questions that we don’t like to think about

- what we are called to do is what the Samaritan woman chose to do

- in light of Jesus’s words and actions, to study our lives with the deeper questions

- what am I doing with my life right now?

- should I be doing things a little bit differently?

- that is, we must study our spiritual growth and see if for some reason it may be lacking right now

- and if it is, we must be converted to a life that is more in line with what Jesus wants

+ What we are talking about what can be called “Conversion of the Baptized”

- that is a re-conversion of all of us who have accepted the whole idea of Catholicism already, and are now trying to live it a little better

- there are some important thoughts that go together with that idea

+ We are all called to a “second conversion” or “re-conversion”

- all of us, clergy and laity—we are all in need of purification

- but we have to be convinced of it—really convinced—that we need to do better than we are right now

+ What we absolutely must have is something called a “contrite heart”

- a “contrite heart” means someone who really wants to do something about the fact of evil in his/her life

- evil is real, especially in our thoughts, and a contrite heart will address the fact that we have evil in our thinking

+ Or in other words we must have an “interior conversion”

- that is what all external penances are directed to

- the fact that I give up something, or say some prayers, or do something external means absolutely nothing unless I change inside and become a better person to people in my family and around me

- we have too many examples of people who pray a lot and are not very nice people

- if we do external holy things, it should affect our internal lives and make us holy in thought

+ The Samaritan woman teaches us what we should do:

- we should listen to Jesus’s words, and become so impressed that “we leave our bucket at the well”—we turn to what is really important

- we tell the world the good things that we can all bring about if we want.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "When the Game Stands Tall" -- final session

WE ARE A BROTHERHOOD

The Gospel

MATTHEW 23:6-12

Jesus said: "[The scribes and Pharisees] love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Gospelthink: I tell you to not be taken with honor, and instead make yourself a servant to all. Do I consider my actions to be honestly serving others?

After their embarrassing loss that ended "The Streak," the players of the De La Salle football team are devastated, so devastated that they lost their next game as well. They were about to play the number 1 high school team in the country in the first nationally televised high school game in history. In preparation for it, Coach Ladouceur took the team to a Veteran's Hospital. It changed their attitudes, and once again made them realize that they were all brothers who were united in doing one thing with and for each other. They managed to forget about their individual egos, and simply play for the team. With their attitude, they win the rest of their games, but more importantly, they realize that their coach has taught them to understand what a brotherhood is, and the close of the movie points it out well.

At one time during this session of the movie "When the Game Stands Tall," the father of Chris Ryan, one of the football team, wanted him to perform well. In fact, Chris had a chance to break the all time record of most touchdowns scored in a season. His father, a much too rabid football fan, makes his son promise that he will do it. Because of his fear of his father, he promises, but he also says to his father "Matthew 23:12." It is the message of Jesus to the religious leaders of his time: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Translated in Coach Ladouceur's terminology for his team, it meant that one must forget about self and only worry about brotherhood. The coach's whole philosophy was contained in that one word--brotherhood. It is important, the coach would say, that we know it in any game in which we have teammates, it is important that we know it in our relationships with others; it is important that we know it in the way that we look at people in every circumstance of our lives.

We are brothers and sisters. We are one. If we want to accomplish something great in our lives, we will remember that giving up self and accepting others as important is the way to make better people. Jesus reminds us that titles of honor are not that important. What matters is that we are all in this world together, and if we want to make this world any better, we will consider ourselves as servants.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we like personal praise and honor from others, but help us remember what Your Son taught concerning what is really important--that we must work at giving up our personal egos and we must make ourselves servants of one another. Be with us, we pray.

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: A winning team calls for commitment from each member to give up self to achieve a goal.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 59 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. In the Gospel, Jesus says that we should not call anyone "Rabbi," "teacher," "master" or "father." What is the principal message contained here?
3. In your opinion, have most Christians learned the lesson of humility?
4. What should a young person do if a father or mother shows physical abuse to them?
5. In our community, what is the best way to show brotherhood and to be a servant?
6. In our school, what is the best way to show brotherhood and to be a servant?
7. In our family, what is the best way to show brotherhood and to be a servant?
8. Scene analysis: the visit to the VA Hospital. What did Coach Ladouceur want to accomplish by this visit?
9. Scene analysis: in your opinion, what was most impressive about the game with Long Beach Poly?
10. Analysis: In your opinion, how often do people turn down lucrative offers in order to accomplish higher goals?
11. Scene analysis: What is the significance of Chris Ryan's action at the end of the last game of the season?
12. What does the movie "When the Game Stands Tall" teach young people?