October 25

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, October 25, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

MATTHEW 22:34-40

Love of God and Neighbor

Prayerthoughts

a. They “tested” him. No doubt, it was done with malice. In my conversations with others, am I honest in the way I speak?

b. Jesus is giving me His two commandments of love. Is it clear that my love of God is a strong part of my life?

c. As I listen to Jesus say that I must love my neighbor as myself, is there anyone that I am excluding from that love right now? What can I do about it?

d. What are the three or four “guides” to my life right now, that is, what are the major reasons that I have for doing the things that I do. “Where is the virtue of “love of God and others” in that list?

e. In general, does the world in my immediate locale, truly love God and neighbor? What can I do to make it better?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COUNTER-EXAMPLE

+ In the Jewish law of Jesus’s time according to scholars, there were 613 precepts, 248 positive ones or commandments, 365 negative ones or prohibitions

- among these, some were “light” and some were “heavy”

- of the heavy, some were considered more important than others

- the Gospel dialogue in today’s Gospel was a typical educational activity of the rabbis and their schools: they argued the question, “which is the greatest precept of the law?”

+ The first part of Jesus’ answer was nothing new

- it was the beginning of the Shema, that prayer which was and still is in every Jewish prayer book

- but his second part was totally different from anything any Jewish religious leader had ever said

- Jesus actually placed the love of neighbor on the same level as love of God

- it was rare enough in the Hebrew writings to have anyone speak of neighbors other than Jewish people in a good way

- the first reading from Exodus was one of them

- but never had a rabbi or any member of a rabbinical school placed the love of someone else other than an Israelite with such importance among the 613 precepts

+ This is one of the precepts of Christianity that we know perfectly

- it is so familiar that it probably is not even given a second thought

- and we often don’t think about how earth-shattering it is

- we expect that Jesus would tell us to love God, but the phrase of the love of neighbor understood as “anyone” is the one we should think about

+ There is a law of geometry that may help us understand the importance of what Jesus said in the Gospel

- it is called the principle of the counter-example

- and states very logically that in a general proof, if there is one counter-example, that is, one place where the proof does not work, then the whole proof is false

- applied to Christian living and to the radical statement that Jesus makes in today’s Gospel, the Christian law of the counter-example becomes:

- if there is one counter-example to my love of neighbor, one place where we do not love someone else as Jesus said, then we don’t have a love of neighbor at all

+ What we’d rather have would be what might be called the principle of “selective exceptions”

- we can all think of situations in our lives right now where we would like to apply this principle of selective exceptions

- there are some people whose political thought I cannot stand

- some people in our families that we just don’t get along with and very few do

- someone that we always talk about in a negative way

- someone that we have refused to talk to, usually someone who has refused to talk to us in the first place

- but the Christian law of the counter-example holds—if there is one person or situation in which I do not love, then I do not love at all

+ And what if the love is not returned

- Jesus doesn’t say anything about being loved in return

- he only says love—active voice

- if our love is not returned, so be it

- granted, there are people who refuse our love

- granted, too, there are cases of “tough love” and specific actions may be required, actions which seem to be unloving, and we have to follow through with them

- but in every case, the Christian law of the counter-example holds

+ If there is one exception to our law of love of neighbor, then we are simply not following the law of love of neighbor

- it is a difficult law, but it is the law of Jesus.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Sound of Freedom" -- final session
SHOWING THE COURAGE NECESSARY

The Gospel

MATTHEW 1:18b-20,24

When Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”... When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Gospelthink: It took courage for Joseph to begin his family.

Because he had to work overseas to free the children sex slaves, Tim Ballard had to resign his job with Home Security. But with the help of some powerful people at the US Embassy in Columbia, he went undercover looking for a way to free the children and perhaps Rocio, whom he was searching for in particular. Discovering that Rocio was sold to the "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia," Ballard, disguised as a doctor, entered the rebels' area. He discovered that Rocio was the personal sex slave for the leader, "The Scorpion." He was forced to kill the leader, and despite the rebels pursuing and shooting at him, he joins up with Vampiro at a prearranged place and is able to take Rocio with him, eventually back to her father. The epilogue to the movie states that Tim Ballard testified before the United States Congress and that his testimony influenced the government to cooperate with foreign countries on sex trafficking investigations. The epilogue also explains that there are more people enslaved today than at any other time in history, including when slavery was legal.

As we consider the Gospel, namely Joseph's acceptance of Mary as his wife, time should be spent with the way Joseph thought through his actions. He knew that Mary was pregnant by someone other than him, and that meant a horrible death for Mary if he followed the law. The law of Moses called for her to be stoned (Deuteronomy 22:23-27). But such a law was not in Joseph's nature. The angel solved his dilemma, but those who knew of Joseph's situation would certainly have judged Joseph to be wrong. It was with courage then that he took Mary as his legal wife because he would face the criticism of the people who followed the law.

One of the traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit, coming from a reading from Isaiah is what we call “courage,” a virtue that is important for a good spiritual life. It is both an exterior virtue and an interior one.

Most of the time we think in terms of the exterior part of courage, namely the spoken word and/or action, the ability to preach the message of Jesus no matter what, allowing the Spirit to direct our words and actions without fear. There may be people who simply do not like the way we live or what we believe as Christians. It is with courage that we continue to choose the Christian life.

But the element of courage that may be more difficult is the thought of interior courage, that is, the ability to look carefully at ourselves, studying our behavior and asking why we do the things that we do. Once we have determined that we should change, it takes courage to actually make such a change. We often prefer simply to let things be because it would be easier or would take more energy.

In the movie "Sound of Freedom," Tim Ballard showed the external courage necessary to free the children sex slaves, and he continued to do so long after he had initially freed Rocio and Miguel.

We probably will not be called upon to go into the Amazon jungle to free the slaves that are there. But we can carefully look on our lives, and determine whether we should be more courageous in the way we speak and act or the way we study our own Christian involvement.

PRAYER
Good and gracious God, we have the example of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus and many others to call us to a courageous way of living. Give us the grace that we need in order to lead truly courageous lives. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: It takes real courage to stand up against an evil undertaking.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
(session: approximately 61 minutes)
1. What does this session of the movie teach young people?
2. What does the movie "Sound of Freedom" teach young people?
3. Besides Jesus, Joseph is the main "character" in Matthew's infancy section. Why is Joseph such a good example[e for us?
4. Give your own definition of "courage."
5. In our world now, where do you see people with the most "courage"?
6. In general, do most people spend time really thinking about their behavior? Yes or no and why?
7. How can we eradicate the sin of child sex trafficking?