may 27

May 27

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Tuesday, May 27, Easter Weekday

JOHN 16:5-11

The Spirit that I give helps you distinguish right from sin.

Prayerthoughts
a. One of the tasks in the spiritual life is to ask questions of the Scriptures. Here Jesus wanted his disciples to ask questions so that they could learn more. Whenever I read a particular Gospel, my question should be: “What are you telling me, Lord?”

b. The Advocate is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit guides me as I study the Gospels. My prayer ought to include a prayer asking for the guidance of the Spirit in all that I do.

c. The Spirit among other things will prove the world wrong about what sin, righteousness, and judgment mean. In John’s understanding, sin deals with a lack of belief in Jesus. Do I show sincere faith in the Lord in everything I do?

d. Understanding righteousness reveals understanding the truth about Jesus’s resurrection. Once again, I should thank the Lord for redeeming me and continue to ask the Spirit’s guidance in living out his redemption in my life.

e. The world has condemned the Lord, and it is the world that should be condemned. Do I tend to pay too much attention to the goods of the world?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16:22-34 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

+ As we liturgically move closer to Pentecost, we will hear more talk of the Holy Spirit

- or as Jesus talks of here, the Advocate

- the role of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, is to be the grace whereby we live our lives as Christians

- the Holy Spirit is that person of the Trinity who moves us to follow what Jesus wants of us

+ In the Gospel, in the language of John the evangelist, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit during the Last Supper

- there are three elements of the Holy Spirit’s role described here—this is John’s interpretation at this point of his Gospel:

- 1 – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will help us understand sin

- the sin is the refusal to believe in Jesus

- Paul knew that, and that was his whole preaching pattern as we can see in the Acts today during the second missionary journey

- the central thrust of the miracle story is the belief in Jesus

- we don’t have that problem of not believing in Jesus

- our problem lies more in being too complacent in our belief of Jesus

- 2 – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will help us understand righteousness

- and that which is truly right, that which is truly “what should be” that is, based on justice

- in this context here, that which “should be” in Jesus’s eyes is that he returns to the Father, allowing the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ work by giving us the grace we need to follow Jesus

- 3 – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will help us understand the condemnation of evil, the “ruler of this world” as this translation puts it

- one of the primary gifts of the Holy Spirit is the ability to understand the evil of life

- the Holy Spirit moves us to see that we do evil

- quiet moments like now as we do serious reflection about ourselves

- the Holy Spirit is at work making us understand our lives if we allow that serious time for reflection

+ Jesus gives us three specific areas of the way the Holy Spirit works today in John’s Gospel:

- basically what we are doing now is asking that Holy Spirit to guide every action of our lives.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Dunkirk" -- final session

COURAGE, SPECTACULAR AND ORDINARY

The Gospel

JOHN 7:43-52

JOHN 7:43-52

A division occurred in the crowd because of Jesus. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this one.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."

Gospelthink: It took real courage for Nicodemus to speak up in my favor. Do I speak the words and thoughts of Jesus in my actions?

As the wait continued for the men stranded on the beach of Dunkirk in the movie "Dunkirk," the rescue of the soldiers was nothing short of a miracle. Often named the "Miracle of Dunkirk," soldiers in the air and civilians on the sea showed great heroism in setting up the rescue of nearly 90% of the men who were stranded. The movie points out the courage in particular of the pilot known only as Farrier and the owner of a yacht, Mr. Dawson and his son Peter together with their helper. The courage of those who came to help the soldiers as well as the soldiers themselves was truly unique in the annals of the Second World War.

Anyone facing a hostile crowd literally risks his/her life as they try to carry out their conviction. Nicodemus felt it from the very beginning as he tried to rationally consider what Jesus was saying, and as he tried to treat him as the Pharisees should treat anyone who was portraying popular religious beliefs, namely with respect. His fellow Pharisees, of course, were not ready to hear Jesus' teachings, and so they refused to listen. Nicodemus was placed on the outside just as Jesus was, but his courage to say and do what mattered was one of the brighter moments in Jesus' trial.

There is probably no better place to study the courage of human beings than in places of intense violence. War is one of those places and one can measure courage constantly as the different actions unfold. The rescue of the thousands of soldiers stranded on the beach of Dunkirk as portrayed in the movie "Dunkirk" is one of those places. The movie documents literally hundreds of courageous acts in the air and on the sea as the thousands of men were led to safety.

Christian people are called to courage often in their lifetimes. It may not be in a spectacular way as say the courageous acts at Dunkirk, and certainly many of the moments of courage will never be recognized by any news crew. But they are courageous acts--words of speaking up on behalf of another, actions that help another feel good in moments of crisis, lives dedicated to helping others that no one knows of. The Christian is called to courage every time he/she follows their desire to bring about good in a world too often hurt by evil.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your Son gave us an example of courage as He redeemed us. May we learn His lesson well and be willing to show the necessary courage to live truly Christian lives. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is "courage," that is the ability to strengthen our resolve to risk everything in order to help a situation.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 49 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why?
2. In your opinion, why would most of the Pharisees not accept what Jesus was teaching?
3. Give your own definition of "courage."
4, In general, do most Christian religions show true respect for other religions and religious denominations? Yes or no and why?
5. The people who were working on behalf of the people stranded at Dunkirk probably did not think about their courage. As they helped the men who were stranded, what do you think was their main motivation?
6. What are some courageous acts that young people do in their school and college settings?
7. What does the movie "Dunkirk" teach a young person?