May 10

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, May 10

John 16:20-23

I speak of the world and the joy of eternal life.

Prayerthoughts

a. Here the “world” is looked at as a negative. The world, that is the evil of the world will win, and we the Christians will “lose,” but it will end in rejoicing for us. There are many negatives in my life, and often I dwell too much on them. What are the most positive things in my life right now?

b. With the birth image, Jesus is probably referring to the new age which will be accomplished in Jesus, but with suffering. Can I begin to see the negative things more as a part of the positive things that can be accomplished?

c. We are “in anguish” as we suffer, and the ultimate suffering is our deaths. Do I look at my death as a good thing, that is, an entrance into eternal life?

d. The Lord refers to the joy that we will have after we have suffered the negatives in this life and especially death. In general, do I consider myself to be a joyful person?

e. What are some areas in my life where I can be more joyful?

f. The Lord reminds me that he will answer my prayer, but I must always remember that the Lord has more knowledge than I do. He will answer my prayer with only the good that he will always give me. Do I pray with this in mind?

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today I will write a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to make me a more joyful person.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

LIVING THE WORD OF GOD

+ In the first reading, Paul is on the so-called Second Missionary journey—

- we don’t know exactly how many there were

- here Paul is in Corinth, with whose people he will have some difficulty later, writing them letters which we know as First and Second Corinthians

- during his time there, he had a vision or an assurance of some type with important words:

- if you are speaking the word of God, do not be afraid, I am with you

- and no one will attack or harm you

- Paul did continue to speak the word of God, of course

+ The vision or assurance was only temporarily correct

- there were 1½ years of quiet

- even after that time, there was peace every now and then

- for example, the whole Gallio incident in Acts, and even one of Paul’s persecutors was turned on by the Gentile crowd—Sosthenes

- it was exactly what Jesus promised in the Gospel

- joy and peace, mixed in with some persecution:

You will grieve, but your grief will become joy.

+ For our reflection as specifically people striving to be more spiritual, we can look at the idea of speaking the word of God:

“Go on speaking…”

- not in the same way Paul did obviously

- but define it differently

- perhaps understanding “speaking” as the idea of living the word of God, that is, living as truly spiritual people

- so that the directive that we would hear is:

- if you are really trying to live the word of God, do not be afraid, I am with you

- and no one will attack or harm you

- true as that is—no person will attack or harm us, especially given our country and way of living

- living the word will bring some time of persecution and some time of peace

- again, not the same type of persecution as Paul received, but

- the “persecution” for us may come in the form of our own human natures—the way we feel, what we want, and not feeling as good about life as we think we should, the desire to give up, give in to despair, etc.

+ The road to a truly spiritual life is not easy

- there will be the problems of human nature,

- but there also will be the joy here and hereafter.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Dunkirk" -- beginning session

THE FACE OF LIFE IN DEATH

The Gospel

JOHN 11:7-8,16

Jesus said to his disciples, “Let is go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go back to die with him.”

Gospelthink: Toward the end of my life on earth, I was aware of my upcoming death and my Apostles wanted to help. As I think of my death, what are the most important things I should do?

The situation was dire. As the opening text of the movie gave the true history, during World War II the British and French armies had over 400,000 soldiers stranded on Dunkirk as they waited for the miracle of a rescue or until they died/ The movie “Dunkirk” is the story of how some 338,000 were rescued, even though the leaders of the Allied forces felt that only 30,000 coulde possibly be saved. (Historically, for some reason, Hitler and his staff decided not to massacre the soldies who were stranded in the open at Dunkirk.) The men expected at any moment to die, and were grabbing every opportunity they could to determine some escape.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem even though he had recently encountered significant opposition to his message. He knew that people had threatened to kill him, and he knew the consequences of his decision. It is interesting to see the couorage of the apostles at that moment in Jesus’s life. No matter what their eventual feelings about their Master’s death, at this moment, they were willing to die. Death was not a pleasant thought for them, but realiaing the importane of Jesus in their lives, they felt that giving up their lives was a way for them to truly follow Jesus.

For the thousands who were trapped on the shores of Dunkirk during the early stages of the Second World War as portrayed in the movie “Dunkirk,” death was almost a “given” if they could not find a way back to safety. No doubt many of the men thought of death as a possibility to do whatever they could to save themselves, nut if they were thinking as Christians, they were making themselves ready to die so that eternal life would be theirs.

Perhaps one of the great facts of living is that we all must die, and further, that some orf those deaths will not be easy—as disease and unfortunate circumstances like war and so forth will make our passing more difficult. But just as certain as death, one of the great facts of Christianity is that we will have the ultimate reward of true life we we try to earn it in our earthly lives.

Christianity is a hopeful religion. Christians know with absolute certainty that they will have eternal happiness after our lives here on earth as long as we are trying to live the Christian life that Jesus gave us.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your disciples were willing to die with Your Son in their earthly lives. Give us the grace to understand better our own deaths, and to accept them with the true understanding that You are our ultimate goal. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: For most of us, the thought of death is obviously not pleasant, but it is the gateway to eternal life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 49 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why?

2. If you knew that you were going to die soon, how should you prepare yourself?

3. In general, do you believe that Christians think about death in a positive way? Yes or no and why?

4. In your opinion, do most Christians "prepare" for death in the way they live? Yes or no and why?

5. What is your definition of "hope"?

6. If you would give one way to live the Christian life while here on earth well, what would it be?