may 21

May 21
[media presentation below] GospelThink Thursday, May 21, Easter Weekday JOHN 17:20-26 I pray in a particularly intimate way for you and those you influence. Prayerthoughts a. “I pray for those who will believe in me through their word.” It is a direct statement that our God wants us to use the grace that God continues to give us. Perhaps I should pray my own prayer of thanksgiving for what God has given me. b. Jesus wants us to be unified in our approach to God, believing that Jesus truly is the Son of God. Obviously we do, but have there been moments in my life recently in which I have not shown agreement with the Lord’s direction in my behavior? c. The Lord prays for unity in our approach to our God. Have I shown true unity in the way I have behaved toward those people who are different believers than I am? d. The Lord prays that we may have eternal life. It should be the same prayer that we utter for all people with whom I come into contact. e. The Lord reminds us that the world does not know Him. Have I spent too much time with the “world” and not enough time in prayer with the Lord? f. The Holy Spirit continues to inspire me to make known the name of the Lord. Are my acquaintances aware of my belief through my actions and words? g. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will read Acts of the Apostles 22:30;23:6-11 and write an important thought from it.
Some Thoughts on the Liturgy JESUS PRAYS FOR US + I find it very interesting that Our Lord prays for us specifically in the High Priestly prayer in the Gospel: I pray not only for these, but for those who will believe in me through their word. - that is for you and for me + And as you search this section of the High Priestly prayer, it is also interesting how he prays for us: - he prays that we may be one - unity is very important for Jesus - because no one is higher or better than anyone else - we are all united as one family - often we are far from the unity that the Lord wanted for us - and the reason is that we destroy the unity because we like to feel better than others or different from them + Jesus also prays that you and I will experience what he will soon be experiencing - praying that our lives will eventually have the eternal life that we long for - Jesus, the Son of God, asking his Father to receive us into eternal life - that’s pretty impressive, I believe + And finally he prays that you and I will continue to make his Father known throughout the world - that is, Jesus wants us to spread the message of the fact of God’s presence in everything we do - the way Paul was doing in the first reading - Paul is back in Jerusalem and as usual, is still having trouble with the Pharisees and Sadducees - very cleverly he sets up an argument between those two factions of high priests - and continues to bear witness to the Lord with his preaching, as the Lord himself instructs him -12 + The High Priestly prayer of Jesus enables us to get into the mind of Jesus and see what he prays for - and when he prays for others, he prays that they—you and I—will be one, that all will experience eternal life, and that we will make the presence of God real in our world.
MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: "Rogue One" -- beginning session ADDRESSING THE EVIL

The Gospel

MARK 11:15-18

MARK 11:15-18

They came to Jerusalem and, on entering the temple area Jesus began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he taught them saying, “It is written: my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, but you have made it a den of thieves.” The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it and were seeking a way to put him to death, yet they feared him because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.

Gospelthink: I became angry that the people did not understand what the house of God was. Have I sufficiently understood the importance of God in our world?

The Death Star which the Imperial forces were developing was about finished. A man by the name of Galen Erso was responsible for it and summoned by the Empire, he watched his wife be killed but his daughter Jyn escaped. He is taken by the forces to finish the Death Star. Friendly to the Rebel forces, however he built a way to destroy the Death Star deep within its core. After Jyn grew to be a rebel leader, she and an her eventual friend Cassian Andor together with other rebel leaders went out on their own to discover the plans that Jyn's father had as he built the Death Star with the way to destroy it.

The chief priests and scribes of Jesus's time were not evil people as such. They were religious leaders who suddenly were challenged by a man whom they considered uneducated, but at the same time was very popular. Jesus told them to think about their involvement in religious matters and to change some of their thinking. Specifically, the religious leaders allowed the temple area to be a place of profit for the people who were supplying the animals for sacrifice. Jesus considered it to be an evil, perhaps even an incredible evil because work for profit might go work directly against prayer.

There are certainly instances of incredible evil in the world that you and I live in. They are not nearly as devastating as the Death Star of the Imperial forces in the movie "Rogue One," but there is little doubt that comparable evil exists in our world. Some people consider the nuclear weapons that we possess to be the incredible evil of our day. Jyn and the rebel leaders in the movie could not stand by and do nothing in face of the evil of the Death Star.

Generally speaking we cannot do much to eradicate the incredible evils that exist because we are not in a position to do it. But we can study the evils that do exist in our own little worlds, and resolve to do something about them. These are the evils that people cause, and often even committed Christians cause in one way or another. In fact, we may be responsible for the evils, for example, such as spreading prejudice and hatred that will influence our children forever, or evils that destroy family happiness.

Our world is a giant temple in the sense that God has made it. It could be that we are desecrating that temple by the evils that we allow to exist in it.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your Son wanted the temple of His day to be a true house of prayer. Therefore when He experienced evil within it, He reacted strongly. Give us the grace to treat our temple, our world, with the sacredness You desire. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We must do what we can to overcome incredible evil.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 63 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. In your opinion, is there anything comparable to the "money changers" in our Churches?
3. In general, do you feel that most Christians treat God's house with respect? Yes or no and why?
4. Do you think that the war between the rebel forces and the Empire was a "just" war? Yes or no and why; See Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, numbers 2310-2317.
5. Do you believe that there are truly evil people in our world? Yes or no and why?
6. In your opinion, are the nations of the world doing enough to control nuclear weapons? Yes or no and why?
7. What is the greatest evil that exists in the world and why?
8. Do you believe that we treat our temple, our world, with the respect it deserves? Yes or no and why?
9. How do you define "The Force" in the movie?
10. Scene analysis: The Empire tests the Death Star by destroying a planet. In your opinion, does this type of destruction influence the young movie-goers mind? Yes or no and why?