marshall2

October 21

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Monday, October 21

LUKE 12:13-21
I speak about the matter of money.

Prayerthoughts
a. Do I make judgments about other people’s money, and think or say something about it. Perhaps this is a time to say a prayer for them.

b. The Lord asks me to look at the “greed” that I have, the desire to have more. Is this something I should consider more?

c. The Lord often speaks of too many possessions. Have I too many possessions right now, and could I give some of them away to an organization that takes care of such things?

d. The man did not ackowledge God for God's help in obtaining the harvest. Should I be thanking the Lord more for all that God has done for me?

e. The man did not consider his death as a possibility as he made more and more. How should I being preparing for my death right now?

f. As I study my life right, even as I need money to exist, am I storing up "treasure" by making myself more aware of God's presence in my life? In what areas can I do better? (This is the task of the meditation.)

g. My prayerthoughts...

Today I will carry out letter f.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE DESIRE FOR MORE MONEY

+ The letter to the Ephesians in the first reading today says that it is by grace that we have been saved through faith

- and it is a gift from God

- a person of faith will have eternal life that has been gained by Jesus

+ In contrast to a person of faith, Jesus presents a person in his story in the Gospel who was fully convinced that he could do things by himself

- and empowered by his own ability to store up goods, saying at the end of his story:

But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

- then Jesus says that there is a difference between people who store up treasure for themselves and people who are rich in what matters to God

+ And so, it is a straight-forward challenge for us from the liturgy today:

- where have we placed material goods, money in our lives?

- do we see money, profits, material things overshadowing truly Christian values in the way we live

- this does not in any way deny the importance of money as a means to exist

- what it does do is make us ask the question

- have we let our love for material things affect the “what matters to God” in our lives

+ This is not an easy topic to think about

- because it always touches something which is quite personal to all of us

- but Jesus is clear here and often throughout the Gospels

- money is a means, a means to help us in life

- and when it becomes an end in itself, it becomes greed

- and then we start worrying about the wrong thing

- we start thinking about making more of it only to make more of it

+ We should listen very closely to Jesus today:

Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.

- what guarantees a man or woman life—how well we live while using the money we make.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Marshall" -- final session

THE PREJUDICE AROUND US

The Gospel

JOHN 8:3-11

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to [Jesus], "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.

Gospelthink: I treated the woman with the respect that she deserved as a human being. Do I treat everyone with the respect that they deserve, especially those that I dislike for some reason?

As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall together with Sam Friedman early on in their careers defended Joseph Spell against the accusation that Spell had sex with Eleanor Strubing, his white employer, Marshall found that Spell outright lied to him. He had had consensual sex with Strubing at Strubing's insistence, but Spell knew that even if innocent, as a black man he would be lynched in his native Louisiana for having sex with a white woman. He told the Judge Foster so and the judge allowed his statement to stand. It was a tribute to the judge that he let the statement stand because the prejudice was so strong that he could easily have been convicted. Both Marshall and Friedman went on to work against prejudice in the United States.

Prejudice comes in many forms, that is, it is seen in many different instances. In the Gospels, the ones who were "holy" or "righteous," the scribes and Pharisees, showed a strong prejudice against sinners. Such was the case one time when Jesus was in Jerusalem. Intending to embarrass Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees made use of a sinful woman to bring out a point that they were making. Taking them to task in the simplest of ways, Jesus showed respect for the sinner, and taught a valuable lesson concerning prejudice. His lesson: the way to overcome any prejudice is to learn to respect the people involved.

In the initial stages of working against the racial prejudice against African Americans in the United States, Thurgood Marshall was instrumental in overturning prejudicial lawsuits. The movie "Marshall," presents one such case showing the problems that Marshall encountered. Even though Joseph Spell was innocent of the charges of rape, the very fact that he had sex with a white woman even though it was consensual condemned him to death.

Although much of the racial prejudice has been successfully addressed over recent years, prejudice continues to be part of our world. It is present in the workplace, at school, and even at Church. Perhaps the only way to counteract it is to learn to respect the people who are involved. The letter of James in the New Testament gives the Christian reasoning against prejudice: "If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all" (James 2:9-10).

If we act against our prejudice, if we overcome our feelings of what we think, we will begin to understand everyone's environment and their problems from their point of view; we will overcome any prejudice we may have against them.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we make judgments about different people all the time in our minds. Give us the grace to recognize the prejudices that we have and the courage to overcome them. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We must do our best to work against the prejudice around us.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 54 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking and why?
2. In the Gospel account, why do you think Jesus wrote on the ground?
3. In general, in your opinion, why is any kind of prejudice wrong?
4. What is the best way for you to work against racial prejudice?
5. What is your definition of "respect"?
6. What is the best thing to do when the court system is against what is morally correct?
7. Is "prejudice" a problem in your school? your place of employment? Yes or no and why?
8. What does the movie "Marshall" teach young people?