October 21

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Tuesday, October 21

LUKE 12:35-38
You must be always prepared for the end of your life.

Prayerthoughts
a. The evangelist Luke is reflecting on his understanding of the end times. Does my death fill me with fear?

b. What do you think is the meaning of the word “vigilant”?

c. The imagery is truly liberating: Jesus actually will serve the people who are vigilant. It is an extremely hopeful vision of eternal life. In general, am I hopeful in my attitude toward life?

d. In what ways am I preparing for my meeting with Jesus at the end of my life?

e. My prayerthoughts….

Today I will read Romans 5,12,15b,17-19,20b-21 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

BEING READY

+ Paul reminds the Romans in the first reading that Jesus has redeemed us

- and now, because of that redemption, we have the grace of God always present in our lives

+ Paul was not only talking to the Christians of Rome, but to you and me as well: we also take part in that grace right now: grace has “overflowed all the more”, he says

- therefore, we should understand fully the effect of grace or God-energy in our daily lives

+ Part of the effect of grace should be that it makes us ready, prepared to meet him when he calls on us, the message of the Gospel today

- and according to that Gospel, being ready or prepared means a couple of things:

1 – the idea of accepting him without delay

- we often would prefer our own ways of doing things

- with the way that we want things to be

- but being ready implies immediate acceptance of the way God wants things to work out

- realizing that the way things happen are all part of God’s plan

- that the grace of God is indeed at work in our complicated lives

- and we accept the working of that grace, no matter what we may think, and accept the grace, immediately

2 – the idea of constantly being wide-awake

- wide-awake to what God wants

- that Jesus is not a stranger to us

- no matter when he calls, we are there to answer

- the call for help of someone that we can help

- the call to carry through with the Christian way of action no matter what the situation

- in the workplace or at home

- we know that there are truly Christian ways of action

- we must determine what they are and choose them in our lives

3 – recognize that when we work with the grace of God, things will go well

- which is basically an attitude

- there may be moments when the feeling that things are well, is not there

- but accepting that things are going well is more than a feeling

- we actually work toward the attitude of being well

- that is, recognizing that the grace of God is truly at work with the type of conviction that Paul wanted the Romans to have

+ We are called to be people who have allowed grace to govern our lives

- and if we do, then we are truly prepared to be real followers of Jesus.

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?