athew2

September 22

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Sunday, September 22, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

MARK 9:30-37

Jesus’s Passion

Prayerthoughts

a. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus predicts three different times that he will undergo his Passion and will rise from the dead. What makes this one different is that “human beings—men” will kill him. In what ways have I “killed” him by my attitude toward others whom the Lord told us were really himself: “Whatever you do to others, you do to me.”

b. At times, the apostles did not understand Jesus. Do I spend sufficient time in meditation trying to understand what Jesus is saying to me?

c. Do I get into too many arguments with others, perhaps being too passionate about my beliefs and not letting another have their say?

d. It is unbelievable that the Apostles would actually talk about who was more important than another Apostle. In my thinking, do I consider myself to be more important than others?

d. The Lord wants me to be a servant while being the least. In what ways am I showing myself to be a servant to others?

e. Jesus obviously respects children. As I study the children that I am around a lot, do I show them the attention that they crave?

f. “A child such as this.” The Lord wants us to be “like children,” as he says in a couple places in the Gospel. Most of all, probably, children are dependent on someone. Jesus wants us to be truly dependent on God. Do we acknowledge our love and dependence on God enough?

g. My prayerthoughts…

Today I will read the letter to James, chapter 3 and

write an important throught from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

CAREFUL OBSERVATION

+ As one studies the Apostles and what they were like early on in their association with Jesus

- how they reacted to Jesus

- how they did not understand anything about what Jesus intended to do

- how they were arguing about power—who was the greatest

- and when we hear the evangelist Mark say: “they did not understand …, and they were afraid to question him”

- we have to conclude that the Apostles needed a lot of direction and education during their training

- one of the ways that Jesus taught them is given to us at the end of the Gospel reading today—what might be called education by observation

- Jesus “uses” in a sense the child as he takes him and places his arms around him

- so the Apostles could watch what he did and listen to what he said

- Jesus wanted them to observe him, observe what he did and how he thought, so that they could learn something themselves

+ Louis Agassiz was a Swiss-American geologist and zoologist who died in 1873

- taught at Harvard toward the end of his life

- among other things, Agassiz was an expert on fish – wrote extensive volumes on the research of fossil fish

- this story is told of him

- a student presented himself to be taught by Agassiz, one on one

- on the first day of meeting for class,

- Agassiz took a fish which had been preserved

- told the student to observe it carefully, and literally left him alone with the fish for a couple of days—the student reported to class, but Agassiz never showed, and the student finally began to notice things about the fish

- Agassiz kept the student at work on the same fish for days, and finally showed up for class

- saying that “if you want to know anything, you have to find it out from careful observation, since that is the foundation of learning”

+ “Careful observation” – the foundation of learning – that was the reason Jesus placed a child in front on the Apostles,

- saying in effect,

- now observe me carefully as I show you how you should specifically look at greatness, a topic that had been part of their conversation

- here is a child who has no power,

- the child generally will not give you any recognition, but must be served and educated and given to completely, unconditionally

- and that is exactly what you should do to everyone:

If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.

+ There are two ideas here for consideration

- one is the need for careful observation of Jesus

- the way that we educate our young people is basically to say to them: let’s carefully observe Jesus, what he did and why he did it,

- and we will learn something not only about him, but about ourselves as well

- but perhaps of greater importance in the area of education, and what I think is most lacking in the Catholic Church today is the education of adults

- using the image of the opening story, we were given a fish a long time ago –

- called Catholic Church doctrine

- and we observed it for a time

- but we stopped observing it at one point in time

- and in the meantime, there have been new discoveries about that fish

- that could help us immensely right now

+ And the second idea is the purpose that Jesus used the child

- service is of essence for the Christian;

- being called great, or being given recognition is not important at all

- serving others in some way is the essence of a Christian disciple, and essential in the disciple’s response to God

+ As Jesus is present to us today, in effect, he says to carefully observe him, and we will discover some important things about who is really important, namely the person who serves others.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "The Woman King" -- final session
A GOOD YOUNG ADULT

The Gospel

LUKE 2:39-40

When Mary and Joseph had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Gospelthink: My early life was a normal earthly life, growing and learning.

In the fight with the Oyo after Nawi was captured, Nanisca, Nawi's mother and the leader of the Agojie made the decision to rescue her. In the meantime, Nawi befriended one of the slave traders, the half-Dahomean Malik who managed to give Nawi her freedom from the slave traders. Going directly against the orders of King Ghezo, Nanisca with a group of like-minded warriors set out to rescue Nawi. With the help of Malik, they managed to do so and the triumphant Agojie return to Dahomey, where Ghezo privately admonished Nanisca before crowing her the "Woman King." Nanisca and Nawi privately acknowledged their familial relationship.

How would Jesus have lived in his earlier years? The Scriptures do not tell us very much about his time when he was growing up early in his life. No doubt his living was the same as the other young people of his time--learning to love and obey, how to pray in the Synagogue, how to act, why to act a particular way, and what he could do in the future. According to Luke the Evangelist, Jesus prepared in a special way because as he tells us, Jesus was "filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him." Jesus was no doubt studying what kind of future he might have and realizing what was needed.

Nawi in the movie "The Woman King" did not have that type of preparation. She did not know her real father and mother; she grew up to be such an independent child that her foster father could not control her, eventually giving her to be trained by the Agojie because she would not marry. Only later in the movie do we discover that Nawi was the actual daughter of the Woman King Nanisca.

We do not know of their relationship after the discovery save for Nanisca's rescue of Nawi from the slave traders. But from the last scenes we are led to believe that it was a good relationship, one in which Nawi could grow into a special daughter and good young adult.

It is of immense importance that the young people of our world grow up in a wholesome family situation. Just about every song and movie that describes "evil" later in life traces back the evil person's origin to a poor family life. Why is that?

It is a relatively easy answer to find. The developing young mind must have a certain amount of stability in order to grow. As a delicate flower must have the proper environment, so the young person must have the necessary atmosphere to learn about life and love, freedom and responsibility. If the young people do not experience a stable basis for their growth, they will enter adulthood wounded.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, our lives are often difficult lives because of how we react to the circumstances of life. Give us the grace to understand how to prepare ourselves for a good future life. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: Growing up with a loving family is the best preparation for a happy life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 63 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. What does the movie "The Woman King" teach young people?
3. Most Scripture scholars contend that Jesus did nothing "miraculous" when he was young. Do you agree with that assessment? Why or why not?
4. Give your own definition of an "independent child."
5. Give an example from the media of someone "evil" who had a very poor upbringing.
6. What virtues should a Christian young person develop as he/she matures?