May 11

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, May 11, Fourth Sunday of Easter

JOHN 10:27-30
You are among my sheep.

Prayerthoughts
a. We profess to be among Jesus’s “sheep.” If it is true that I am, what are the characteristics that should be present in my life right now?

b. I hear the Lord’s voice as I set out to do what I have chosen by my free will. In what way is the Lord “talking” to me?

c. It is encouraging that the Lord has chosen me, and I am with the Lord no matter what. There are some things in my life however that hold me back. What are the things that hold me back from being the “sheep” that I should be for the Lord? (This is the task of the meditation.)

d. In what area of my life should I be more thankful?

e. In one of the homilies to this section of Scripture, one of the bishops listed five results of secularization: busyness, materialism, revenge, individualism and entitlement. Which one should concern me most and why?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will answer letter c.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

TRULY FOLLOWING GOD

+ The practice of shepherding sheep in Jesus’ day often called for a number of shepherds to work together to watch all of their sheep gathered as one flock

- since the sheep were not marked in any way

- there had to be a way that a shepherd could gather their own sheep

- and it was done by voice

- literally the sheep recognized the voice of the shepherd once the shepherd called, and followed his voice

+ The people who were listening to Jesus knew the image because everyone knew about the job of being a shepherd in one way or another

- when Jesus said

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

- they knew exactly what he was talking about

+ Then Jesus leaves the image of shepherding sheep and goes to helping people, and in particular, helping you and me, his followers, and says:

I give [my sheep—us] eternal life, and they shall never perish.

- his statements—that of following him and the fact that we have eternal life—are statements that should have a profound effect in our spiritual lives, I believe

+ First of all, the Lord says of us, his followers

They follow me.

- the question of our spiritual lives is very simply: do we?

- who or what do we follow in our lives?

- a couple years ago, Bishop Weisenburger spoke of what he called the wounds of secularization

- placed in this context, it may be that you and I are spending the majority of our time pursuing the five things that he talked about, and therefore following them

- busyness—we follow our work, play, the things that make up day-to-day living;

- materialism—we want more and more things even though we don’t need them at all;

- revenge—we follow our thought of getting back at people;

- individualism—I follow what I want;

- entitlement—I want what I think I deserve in life;

- or are we following God?

- take a day from last week—say—yesterday (Friday / Saturday), and think about that day, asking yourself this question: what difference did your belief in God make in the way you acted or thought?

+ Secondly, as we look at the fact that the Lord has given us eternal life—

I give eternal life.

- it should lead us to profound gratitude and saying “thank you” to God

- I have mentioned before, we ought to help our three favorite prayers a little with the words “thank you”

- the “Our Father”, “Hail Mary” and “Glory be” do not mention the specific thought of “thank you” to God:

- they imply the thought, without saying the words

- and every time we say those prayers, we should add the words “thank you” somewhere in them

- I do it with the prayer of “Glory and thanksgiving be to God….”

- one of the religious authors that I have read suggests that we put a stone in our pockets where we will feel it,

- and every time we feel it, thank the Lord for whatever is happening at that moment

+ We are the sheep that Jesus was speaking of in the Gospel

- and Jesus reminds us that the no one can take us out of God’s presence

- that is a great privilege

- it is also a great obligation

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Whatever It Takes" -- Imagine Dragons

USING OUR TALENTS

The Gospel

JOHN 19:28-30

At his crucifixion, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Gospelthink: I died for you to give you life. Do I often show my appreciation to the Lord in a prayer of thanksgiving?

"I was born to run; I was born for this. Whip, run me like a racehorse, pull me like a ripcord. Break me down and build me up, I wanna be the slip, word upon your lip, letter that you rip, break me down and build me up. Whatever it takes, ‘cause I love the adrenaline in my veins. I do whatever it takes, ‘cause I love how it feels when I break the chains. Whatever it takes. Always had a fear of being typical."

In John the Evangelist's Gospel, Jesus was in charge of what he did and why he did it. It is evident that John the Evangelist meant to say to the followers of Jesus that even though Jesus was a true man, he was also true God. In John's mind, everything that Jesus did on earth was another proof that Jesus was in charge of anything that happened. Consequently, when Jesus knew that he had accomplished everything that he needed to accomplish here on earth, he could say "It is finished."

We believe, of course, that Jesus redeemed us by his Passion, Death and Resurrection. Theologically, we know that Jesus could have redeemed us in any way that he wanted, but he chose what happened in the course of his life to be the means to do it. It was something that was not at all easy, and something that went far beyond what he needed to do, but he chose to do it while working with the way his Father had designed.

In the song "Whatever It Takes," the group Imagine Dragons say that they will try to do good even if they are thinking differently from others. The man loves the adrenaline in his blood, that is the energy that he has, and he will not think the way that the others will think, that is the "typical" way. He wants to accomplish something and he wants to do it his way.

You and I have certain talents that no one else has in exactly the same way. As Christians, we are called to use those talents the best that we can so that at the end of our lives here on earth, we can say with the Lord that "It is finished." That is, we have accomplished what the Lord wanted us to do. We are therefore called to do whatever it takes to determine the best way to use those talents.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, You have given us certain talents as we live in our world. Give us the grace to develop those talents in such a way that we will always do Your will. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: A leader will do whatever it takes to accomplish something, even if goes beyond what is usually done.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. The use of Scripture was very important to Jesus as he lived here on earth. In your opinion, do most Christians pray with Scripture?
2. In general, what does it take to make our world a better place?
3. From what you know of Scripture give an instance in which Jesus was human, and when he was divine.
4. What is your idea of "redemption"?
5. In your opinion why did Jesus choose to die in order to redeem us?
6.The meditation presumes that people want to do good in their lives. Do you agree with that? Yes or no and why?
7. What do most people want most of all to accomplish while here on earth?
8. What does the song " Whatever It Takes" teach young people?