May 15

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Thursday, May 15, Easter Weekday

JOHN 13:16-20

My Choice

Prayerthoughts

a. Jesus teaches the virtue of humility here: no slave is greater than his master. We are subject to the Lord, as we all are. Do I have thoughts of pride, that I am “better” than others?

b. It is one thing to understand something; it is quite another to do it. With the commandments that the Lord has given, do I follow through on all of them?

c. Jesus knows about Judas, to be sure. But there is “evil” in my life as well. Am I trying to address the greatest faults in my life?

d. Jesus uses the term I AM again, the formula for God as given to Moses and the words that the evangelist John uses saying that Jesus is God. I believe that, of course, but where are the areas in my life that I do not show the fact that I believe in God?

e. Again I have “accepted” the Lord into my life. Is clear that I have chosen the Lord as my guide by my words, actions and especially thoughts?

f. My prayerthoughts

Today, I will write a prayer addressing one of the faults that I have.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

ACCEPTING JESUS AS GUIDE

+ Jesus in John’s Gospel uses the idea of acceptance:

- namely, accepting—receiving—him—and Jesus himself, accepting God his Father

- so that the person who accepts Jesus as God—namely, the I AM—will receive eternal life with Jesus and His Father

+ That idea of acceptance of Jesus is an essential one in spiritual thought

- what does the word “accept” imply?

- the dictionary defines it to be: to regard as true, to believe in

+- Paul in the first reading had accepted Jesus

- here, he is on the first missionary journey

- he was totally convinced that Jesus and his message was true and something to believe in

- Jesus became the guide in his life, and he followed that guide no matter what the consequences

+ For us, “accepting” Jesus Christ will mean different things, depending on our way of life

- in general, it means regarding Jesus as true, the something to believe in, the guide in whatever field we are involved in

- it will vary, depending on the line of work, but in general, it means putting Jesus into the individual situation in which they find themselves

+ There are many ways of doing that, obviously, and one of them is given by Paul in the Acts reading

- as he and his companions accept Jesus and his message, they go immediately to the synagogue—right to the heart of the matter to get their message heard

- if you want to accomplish getting your message out, you go to where that sort of message is being given

+ Translated into our language today, it will mean that we go to the heart of the matter—namely, our lives

- the fact of our belief in Jesus will be evident in the words that we say

- and likewise be evident in the actions that we perform

+ It is not easy to do,

- but it is what true “acceptance” is all about.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Vampire"--Olivia Rodrigo

NO PLACE FOR HATE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 5:43-45a

MATTHEW 5:43-45a

Jesus said: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father."

Gospelthink: You must love everyone even your enemies.

“Hate to give you the satisfaction of asking how you’re doing now; how’s the castle built off people you pretend to care about. Just what you wanted. I loved you truly, you gotta laugh at the stupidity ‘cause I’ve made some real big mistakes. I should’ve known it was strange. You only come out at night; I used to think I was smart, but you made me look s-o naïve, the way you sold me for parts, as you sunk your teeth into me, oh, bloodsucker, dream crusher, bleeding me dry like a damn vampire.”

Olivia Rodrigo commented on her song "Vampire" with these words: “Writing this song helped me sort through lots of feelings of regret, anger and heartache.” Hopefully, she discovered what both Christianity and psychology say about "hatred." Her song is all about the hatred of someone else: "Hate to give you the satisfaction of asking how you’re doing now; how’s the castle built off people you pretend to care about. Just what you wanted. I loved you truly, you gotta laugh at the stupidity ‘cause I’ve made some real big mistakes. I should’ve known it was strange. You only come out at night; I used to think I was smart, but you made me look so naïve, the way you sold me for parts; as you sunk your teeth into me, oh, bloodsucker, dream crusher, bleeding me dry like a damn vampire.”

Speaking of "hatred," It is clear what Jesus says to the Christian: "Love your enemies," that is, stay away from hatred. He knew that allowing hatred to control one's life would totally mess up that life.

Likewise clear is the feeling of psychology toward hatred: "We are experiencing an increasing level of hate in our society. Hate fuels the cancerous divisiveness and polarization which now infect virtually every part of our lives. This culture of hatred will have serious effects on both our national and individual emotional, psychological, and physical health. We cannot be a strong and healthy nation if we consider hate an acceptable aspect of our daily life. Hatred has the destructive power to permanently damage the nation’s emotional psyche and core values"( See Pyschology Today, Dr. Lobsang Rapgay, 2018)

As in Olivia Rodrigo's song, hatred is often part of a romantic breakup. There is little doubt that one of the most difficult times in a young person's life is when a love relationship fails in some way. It happens when one of the partners decides that he/she wants to have the opportunity to search around a little more, or when one of them begins to sense that the relationship is not what it should be. Rejection, even when someone only thinks it is rejection, is not easy to take. In order to make the human being "feel better," there can be some desire to retaliate and to punish the other in some way, that is allow "hatred" into our thinking.

Revenge and hatred have no place in a person who is trying to be positive in thought and mind, and therefore cannot be a part of a such a person’s life, even in the most difficult of personal situations. Therefore, often the person who is trying to be positive cannot agree with the thought of songs like this. And given the nature of our world and our natural desire to “get back” at others, such positive people should not agree with the thought of revenge and hatred that is often present.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, unfortunately, being human, we sometimes give into hate and anger expressed in words and actions. Help us dwell on your Son's directive to us, and truly respect and love enemies, no matter what has happened in our romantic lives. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Romantic breakups often cause the couple to hate each other, an action that will harm one's whole outlook on life itself.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does the song "Vampire" teach young people?
2. In your opinion, what percentage of the people of our world actually follow the directive of Jesus to love our enemies and stay away from hatred of them?
3. As we "sort through" (Olivia Rodrigo's words) our negative feelings about life in general, what is the most important discovery?
4. Do you agree with the meditation that hatred can mess up one's entire life? Yes or no and why?
5. Do you agree with the article in Psychology Today that hatred "now infects virtually every part of our lives"? Yes or no and why?
6. Specifically with romantic breakups, is it true that most of the time, the couples "hate" one another after the breakup? Yes or no and why?
7. How should a "positive" person view a breakup?