TGIMMOctober11

October 11

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, October 11

LUKE 11:15-26

There is evil is this wonderful world that I created. Resist that evil with all your might.

Prayerthoughts
a. The Lord was in control of the evil. I too am in control of the evil in my life if I call upon the Lord to help. Do I continually call on the Lord to be present in my life?

b. Some people misunderstood Jesus whether deliberately or not. Am I patient with the people who do not understand what I am trying to accomplish?

c. Jesus realized the fact that nothing can be accomplished if a group is divided. In general, do I try to bring about unity in the places where I am?

d. Other people were exorcists in Jesus time. Jesus controls evil by the hand of God. Is it evident by my life that I call on God in what I do?

e. Obviously, I will say that the good is strong in my life. But have I permitted some small evil in the things that I do?

f. Evil never rests. Am I always aware that I could turn to evil in the situations of my life, and therefore pray with that in mind?

g. My prayerthoughts...

Today, I will read Galatians, chapter 3:7-21 and write
an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

OVERCOMING EVIL

+ The letter to the Galatians is one of the better sources for Pauline theology

- here we have Paul’s belief from the book of Genesis that humanity is saved by faith, not the law

- and in particular, we are saved by faith in Jesus who became a curse for us

- and enabled us to receive the Spirit through faith

- Jesus is central to the fact that we are redeemed—Jesus was prefigured by the man of faith, Abraham

+ The primary way, Paul will go on to say that Jesus redeemed us is by his Passion and Death

- but the redemption of Jesus is not only relegated to Jesus’ Passion and Death

- Jesus redeemed us by his life as well

- so that his life is immensely important to study as we accept him into our lives

+ Here, in Luke’s Gospel, we have a healing story

- a casting out of the devil

- and as Jesus argues with the people around him, he provides a clinic on evil

- there are a couple of points from his treatment of evil worth considering:

- 1 -- evil is conquered by the finger of God

- God’s work is the only way that evil can be taken care of

- that finger of God includes a dedication to God through prayer and meditation on the Scriptures

- prayer and meditation on the Scriptures therefore are essential parts of our own life as we want to conquer any evil, whether it be in ourselves or in the world

- 2 – there is the possibility of allowing evil to overtake us by simply not doing enough to get rid of it

- the desire to do evil will come back again and again because we remain human beings with a sinful human nature

- that is, simply being against evil is not enough for action against evil

- we have to be pro-active

- one of the reasons for the routine of prayer in the spiritual life

- it is the consistency that keeps us aware of the evil that comes into our minds

- 3 – the desire for evil is not going to stop

- we might conquer—say—some evil at one time

- but we always have to be prepared because evil never stops

- perhaps our thinking here should be not so much on some act being conquered

- as our thinking itself

- our thinking constantly must be purified of the evil that lurks

- the thinking of pride, judgment of others, placing ourselves as better, etc.

+ The good thing about all of this is that Jesus overcame evil in his lifetime, and will continue to help us overcome it in our own lifetime if we want him to.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Black Widow" -- final session
PAIN MAKES US STRONGER

The Gospel

LUKE 24:1-11

At daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, "Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day." And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense, and they did not believe them.

Gospelthink: Jesus rose from the dead proving His divinity. Have I completely accepted the Lord if everything that I do?

Eventually, the whole initial “family” end up at the Red Room pursuing the evil General Dreykov. Dreykov and his practically undefeatable Taskmaster who was actually Anotonia, Dreykov's daughter whom Romanoff thought that she had killed were set on killing them all. Dreykov had control of literally the whole world through Black Widows who were placed all over the world. Romanoff and Yelena led the fight against Dreykov who eventually tries to escape. Yelena thought that she would die as a result of trying to overcome Dreykov, but Romanoff saved her. Eventually with the Red Dust that frees the hold Dreylov has over people, Romanoff is able to free all the Black Widows throughout the world. In the end Romanoff heads off to help the Avengers while Yelena and “parents” Shostakov and Vostokoff move on to presumably a happy life. The pain in their lives had made them all stronger.

Ever since the Scriptures have been read, Mary Magdalene has been a fascinating figure for writers. She has been portrayed in a fictitious way to have been romantically involved with Jesus, even to the point of being married to him. But the Scriptures only present her as one of the many that Jesus inspired to be better. In Mark's Gospel, she was a person who was overcome with evil, and Jesus freed her from those demons. Further, in Mark's and John's Gospels, she was the first person that Jesus appeared to after his resurrection. In Matthew and Luke's Gospel, she is one of the important people in the new way of Christianity.

Studying Mary Magdalene's life, one can conclude that somehow all of the negatives that happened in her life became a means by which she could grow. One can see that Jesus gave her the incentive to accomplish it, but Mary herself no doubt had made the decision at some time in her life that she had to change her behavior. With Jesus' help she was finally able to do it, albeit with pain, becoming a stronger person in the process.

Ultimately, if we want to grow well, every one of us must conclude at some time in our lives that we want things to be better. We know that pain has been part of our lives, even to the point of completely overpowering us, and taking complete control. There are indeed such negatives, but the psychology behind those negatives is that they can actually be aids to help us grow. They can make us stronger. We will realize that we have been hurt, and how we have been hurt, and be able to learn from the experiences. And so, as the "family" of Shostakov, Vostokoff, Romanoff and Yelena in the movie "Black Widow" discovered in their lives, "Pain makes us stronger."

The Christian addition to such a psychological fact is that God will always give us the help that we need in order to bring it about. Mary Magdalene became one of the stronger promoters of the Christian religion because Jesus gave her the power to overcome the demons that were part of her life. The Christian believer knows that God always gives us the strength that we need in order to accomplish the good things that will help us be better people.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son always had power over evil. Evil never got the better of anyone who asked for his help. Give us the grace to understand that we can overcome the pain in our lives, and with your help, actually allow those negatives to teach us the good that we can become. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: When fighting evil, one must always remember that pain makes us stronger.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 62 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. Why did the disciples not believe that Jesus rose from the dead even though he had foretold it several times?
3. In your opinion, why is Mary Magdalene so important as we consider our Christian way of life?
4. In your opinion, is it a true statement that negatives can make us stronger people?
5. In general, why do some people not want to be better in their lives?
6. Are there some situations that you know of in which negatives helped people be better than they were?
7. What does the movie "Black Widow" teach young people?