athebat1

November 5
[media presentation below] GospelThink Wednesday, November 5 LUKE 14:25-33 Following my directives is more important than anything you do. Prayerthoughts a. Jesus often uses exaggeration in his sermons. Here “hate” is a strong word with the thought that even family must be secondary to being a disciple of Jesus. Am I a good disciple of Jesus by showing in my actions, thoughts and words that I am a follower of Jesus? b. “Carrying our cross” refers to accepting the problems of my life as part of the plan of God. What are the principal problems in my life right now and have I accepted them with the thought that God wants me to have these problems as this particular time in my life? c. Obviously, I must work for solutions to my problems. Do I acknowledge that God will work with me in overcoming the problems? d. Jesus’s two examples speak of being prepared before you do something. Do I prepare for my spiritual life as much as I should? e. Jesus uses another exaggeration in saying that we should renounce “all” possessions in order to prepare for our spiritual lives. Do I have too many possessions, some of which I could give to others? f. The spiritual life needs “salt” to make it real. Do I have a schedule every day that includes some Gospel reading and thinking? g. My prayerthoughts… Today I will read Romans 13:8-10 and write an important thought from it.
Some Thoughts on the Liturgy THE TRUE DISCIPLE + In the Gospel, Jesus tells two short stories to get a point across - that point—you must have some idea of what you are saying or doing—that is, what it entails—before you say or do it - if you want to build a tower: you had better plan on having enough wherewithal to finish it - if one king is marching against another: the king had better know what to expect before he starts something - it is a characteristic essential to any leadership situation: appraisal of the situation, what it is going to take to finish it or accomplish it + Jesus says that it is like that with regard to being a disciple or follower of his - and the readings spell out what that means - * it means knowing what is really important in life** If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother… - the Lord is not against family or the proper taking care of self or material goods - he is talking in exaggeration, as he often does, and says that even those things most close to us cannot be more important than God - * it means taking up the cross Whoever does not carry his own cross…. - in that life that we are living, that life in which God is the most important, things are going to happen which are painful – the cross – - we don’t understand them - and the only way we can, is to say that God is in charge, and when God is in charge, only good can come out of any situation - * it means having control over the material goods that are part of our lives Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions… - again, it is an exaggeration on Jesus’ part—we cannot renounce all of our possessions, but we can’t let them dominate our lives - *** and borrowing from the first reading, words that Jesus had spoken and Paul reiterates to the Romans The one who loves another has fulfilled the law. - that is, if you want to be a follower of Jesus, we have to know the importance of the other person - it involves love of everyone without exception + The true disciple will understand all of those points.

MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: "The Batman" -- beginning session GOOD INFLUENCE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 13:24-30

esus proposed another parable to them. "The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.""

Gospelthink: The Lord gives us the parable of the wheat and weeds. Have I learned to avoid the weeds-evil in my life?

Reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne known as Batman together with Gotham City Lieutenant James Gordon discovered the evil that the Riddler had brought about together with the likewise evil person, Penguin. He had killed the mayor, city commissioner, and finally district attorney Gil Colson. When he killed Colson, the Riddler or his real name Edward Nashton, had set up bombs around Gotham City. As Batman and Gordon worked to fight both the Penguin and the Riddler, they worked with Selina Kyle who helped solve the problems. Most of the city's important people were involved with the evil element that the Riddler stood for. Eventually, the evil was only temporarily conquered and the good people of the city including Batman were involved in the rescue effort to save the city and the good mayor Bella Real.

Jesus warned his disciples that in the arena of life, there are wheat and weeds.The wheat are the citizens of the kingdom that Jesus was preaching. The weeds are the followers of the evil one. Jesus's story concentrated on whether we are wheat or weeds, that is a citizen of Jesus's kingdom or followers of the evil one. And one of Jesus's scare tactics was that we should be citizens of the kingdom because if we are following the evil one, we will be "gathered for burning," that is, go to hell.

There is evil present in almost every action movie, and certainly in "The Batman." It is eminently clear from the very beginning of the movie that there were many evil people in Gotham City, perhaps even more than any other Batman movie. It seemed more than even Batman could handle, and indeed at the end of the movie, all Batman could do was help people recover from the evil.

But it is also clear in the movie that there are many good people in Gotham City. They could fight the evil elements and win some battles, even if it seemed that their victories were only temporary compared with semi-permanent evil defeats.

Good and evil. The age old problem that was evident from the first creation of man and woman. What can be done about it? We will never be able to wipe the evil completely from the face of our earth, but perhaps there is a solution. It was suggested at one time that Jesus really ended his story this way: "When harvest time came, the Master found that as the wheat and weeds grew together, the wheat had begun to change the weeds and the weeds actually began to act like the wheat. At harvest time there were very few weeds to burn.

One of the hopes of the movie is that the very presence of people like the Batman and Lieutenant Gordon could influence the weeds of this world and make them to change.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we want to be part of the wheat of this world, the good people who perhaps can influence others toward the good. But our human natures often keep us from following what You want of us. We absolutely need your grace. Be with us, we pray.

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: There will always be good people, but unfortunately, there will always be evil.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 83 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why?
2. What are some evils in the world, and what can you do about them?
3. In your opinion in our world right now, what percentage of people are wheat--good and what percentage are weeds-evil?
4. In general, do you feel that movies present more evil than there really is? Yes or no and why?
5. In general, do evil people influence others to be evil? Likewise in general, do good people, people like the Batman and Lieutenant Gordon influence others to be good?
6. In general, who are the strongest influence on peoples' lives? Why?

THE TRUE DISCIPLE