May 8

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, May 8, Easter Weekday

JOHN 15:12-17

Love One Another

Prayerthoughts

a. Incredibly, the Lord calls us to show others a “divine love”: “love one another as I love you.” In particular, what does that mean for me in my life right now?

b. The greatest love is to lay down one’s life for a friend. Most of us will not have to give our lives for another, but the passage might mean that we must sacrifice something of ourselves for a friend. Given my life right now, should I sacrifice something to help a friend?

c. In the Hebrew Scriptures, some holy people were called “slaves” of God.” Jesus makes it clear that he is a “friend” of ours. What effect should that fact have on us as we live our daily lives?

d. The Lord has chosen me to bear fruit that will remain. In my situation right now, knowing that the Lord has called me to it, what is most important for me to do?

e. My prayerthoughts….

Today, I will read the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15:22-31 and write an important thought from it.



Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

LOVE FOR OTHERS: A “DIVINE LOVE”

+ The Gospel during this part of the Easter season is from the Last Discourse of Jesus as recorded by John the evangelist at the Last Supper

- in yesterday’s Gospel passage, we heard Jesus say:

As the Father loves me, so I also love you.

- “you”, meaning the disciples and us

- and today we hear:

Love one another as I love you.

- in both instances, we are talking “divine love”

- they are tremendously strong statements:

- the way Jesus loves us is with a “divine love” and therefore we are incredibly blessed

- and the way that we must love one another is with a “divine love”

- a love which is infinitely greater than a human love

- this is very difficult, even impossible on a human level, but it is what Jesus calls us to—as if he exaggerates to make a point

- our love for others must be much more than human love



+ To love other people with a divine love implies a couple of things as we study specifically the Liturgy today:

1 -- we must love them as friends, not as slaves

- to love people as slaves means that we give to them with the idea of getting something in return:

- I give to you only for you to give to me

- to love people as friends means that we give without expecting anything back

- not an easy thing to do in our society

2 -- we must love others because we deliberately choose to love them

- as Jesus/God chose us, we choose to love them with God-like affection

- not because some religion says to do it, not because we are expected to, not because it is the law or the like

- we choose to do it—period

- with “choose” being the operative word

- making it “real” love

3 -- we love them even to the point of changing the way we think and act for them

- at the Council of Jerusalem, what the reading from Acts is describing, Jewish Christians changed their ways to accommodate the Gentile Christians

- we have no knowledge of how difficult this was because we do not have the Jewish mind like they had

- it had to be extremely difficult

- but they did it, presumably out of love

- so we are called to change on behalf of others



+ Our love of others should be as Jesus’s love for us

- that should put love of neighbor in a whole new perspective.











MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Habits" -- Tove Lo

STAYING IN THE "PLAY PRETEND"



 

The Gospel

JOHN 18:25-27

JOHN 18:25-27

Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm. And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with [Jesus]?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately the cock crowed.

Gospelthink: Peter denies that he knows me. Do I fall into the temptation of not showing that I am a follower of Jesus?

"I gotta stay high all the time to keep you off my mind.” In the process, the person in the song mentions all of the bad habits that keeps her high--among them are binge eating on bad food, drinking too much and sexual pleasure--but she realizes that it will get her nowhere. As she sings, “I’m staying in my play pretend where the fun ain’t got no end."

Habits are described as routines of behavior that are repeated regularly. They tend to occur subconsciously without directly thinking about them. We have all set up habits in our lives in which we do something that we always do, and it becomes comfortable to do them the way that we do them, and so we keep at it. There is nothing wrong with that, of course.

Sometimes we establish habits that dictate our behavior, and a person interested in living well might want to study such behavior patterns to determine a possible change. Tove Lo’s song "Habits" is a very interesting song to study because its conclusion although unwritten is that bad habits will never take away a problem. Her problem is that her boyfriend left and the lady of the once-upon-a-time relationship sings that she has to stay high all the time because she misses him so much. But she realizes that it does no good because as she sings, “I’m staying in my play pretend.” She has discovered that trying to rid herself of a problem by following bad habits will never solve the problem.

Peter the Apostle had a bad habit of lying when he saw that things were not going the way he wanted. Even though he had said that he never would desert Jesus, he denied that he knew him at the end of Jesus' life. Lying was no doubt a habit that he had fallen into, and he discovered once again that such a bad habit would never solve a problem. It may have given him temporary relief, but in the end he understood that he had denied his Lord and master. In terms of Tove Lo's song, he was living in a "play pretend."

We like to live in a "play pretend" because it is easy, and it allows us to use the bad habits that we have chosen to ease our pain. The bad habits that Tove Lo sings of are habits that our twenty-first century know only too well, and many people use those bad habits to pretend that everything is okay with their lives. The thought of Peter in the Gospels and the messed-up lives of so many people ought to teach us that bad habits will never solve a problem. It is a lesson we would do well to never forget.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we are people who are into establishing habits of behavior. Help us follow your Son's direction as we choose our habits of doing things so that they will always be good habits . Be with us, we pray.

 

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Trying to rid ourselves of a problem by following bad habits will never solve the problem.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. From what you know of Simon Peter's character in the Gospels, how would you describe him?
2. If Peter would have acknowledged that he did indeed know Jesus, what do you think would have happened to him?
3. In what ways do people "deny" Jesus in our modern day?
4. As you study the bad habits mentioned in the song, what are the opposite good habits that should replace them?
5. What are the reasons why people get "high" in our society?
6. What is your definition of "play pretend."
7. What are some regular habits that are neither good nor bad that we get into as human beings?
8. In the place where you live, what are the bad habits that young people choose most often?
9. Besides the reason given in the song, why do we get into bad habits?
10. What is the best way to solve a serious personal problem?
11. Drugs and alcohol are a serious problem for young people today. What is the best way to treat the problem?
12. Peter the Apostle chose "lying" as a way to solve a problem. Why is "lying" such a common problem among young people?
13. If you have a friend who has a serious bad habit, what is the best way to help him/her?
14. What does the song "Habits" teach young people?    

  

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America