October 25

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Saturday, October 25

LUKE 13:1-9
Repent

Prayerthoughts

a. Tragedies happen in life with some regularity. They were presented to Jesus no doubt with the thought of why these things happen. It is the same way today. Do I try to see God working through the tragedies that are happening?

b. Jesus knew that the people involved in the tragedies suffered, saying that it was not their fault. Have I misjudged those people who are involved in tragedies?

c. Tragedies are a reminder to us and Jesus says that we will perish spiritually if we do not see that we should repent of our sinfulness. Do I look at the tragedies in my life as a reminder to improve my life?

d. Repentance here means the thought that there are many things in my life right now that I should change or make better. In particular, what are some things in my life that I should work on to make better?

e. Obviously we do not want to perish spiritually. Am I devoting enough time in my life to prayer and thinking about Godly things?

f. We are all given a chance to “blossom” as the fig tree. Am I developing a spiritual life as well as I can? What could I do better?

g. Our God is a patient God. He continually gives us a chance to better ourselves. Am I as patient as I should be?

h. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read Romans 8:1-11 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

+ I believe that today’s Gospel is quite significant because Jesus addresses the situation of bad things happening to good people

- Pilate, the Roman governor, had deliberately murdered some Galileans

- also, there had been an accident in a near-by town,

- perhaps some of the relatives of those who died were in Jesus’s audience

- bad things happening to good people

- Jesus knew what they were thinking

- and he tells them that no one was being punished—by no means, he says—as if to say:

- bad things happen to good people: there is pain in life

- but that does not prove that there is no God or that God punishes as the Hebrew Scriptures believed

+ What it says to us is:

- we are here, not killed in the tragedies, here, still alive, and God still wants us to do something with our lives with the time that we have

- one of those things Jesus points out is repentance

- translated in a general way, repentance means that we have to spend a little more time trying to be a little better than we are right now

+ And repentance, Jesus says is something that is quite urgent: it has to be done immediately

- that is the principal idea of Jesus’s story in the Gospel

- we only have a short amount of time

- that is, we must do the things of repentance, be a little more merciful to people, refrain from judging others, refusing to condemn others, forgiving others a little more, and most of all, learning to truly give to another

- we must do those things of repentance now: not tomorrow or next week, but now, today

+ The principal message of the first reading today of Paul to the Romans is that God is very much at work in our lives through the Spirit

- the Spirit gives life

- God is with us always through the Spirit as a reminder that this world is not all there is, but our God is present, in this world and always

- and with God being present, our job while here, amidst all the things that this life gives us, is to understand that God wants us to do something with our lives—be the Christians that we should be.

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?