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September 24

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Tuesday, September 24
LUKE 8:19-21
My Word should be important in your life.

Prayerthoughts
a. Jesus was obviously close to his family. Go through your close family members right now and determine whether you are as good to them as you should be. What can you do to better your relationship?

b. Is there some family relationship, either close or otherwise, that I should improve?

c. Two things are necessary concerning the Word of God. First, I must listen to it. Have I worked out a pattern to listen to the Word of God daily?

d. Then, of course, I must act on that Word. What areas of my life right now could I improve?

e. The essential thought for today's reading is that we often place other things to be more important than the Word of God. What are the important things in my life right now, and does the Word of God compare in importance to them? ('This is the task of the meditation.)

f. My prayerthoughts...

Today I will list the important things in my life and determine whether they are as important as the Word of God for me.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE WORD OF GOD: A PRIORITY

+ The Gospel is sometimes looked at as an insult of sorts directed at his mother and close relatives

- but it is rather a statement about what should be a priority in our Christian lives

- listening to the word of God and acting on it is the important thing in life

- even more important than family and friends

+ It is not an easy directive to follow in today’s world

- we look at a number of things as really important

- and family and friends would be close to the top of our importance list

- and the point that should be made is that usually our Christian activity is no where near the top of our lists of important things

- if you were asked about the most important thing that you do today, will it be attending Mass this morning, listening to the word of God, and trying to put it into practice throughout the day?

- probably, for most people, it wouldn’t be

+ The book of Proverbs is full of things that we should consider a priority, and today’s reading is no exception

- listen to these statements and let it be a meditation for us:

- the king’s heart is like a stream in the hand of the Lord; have we placed our hearts in the hand of the Lord?

- would all of our actions be approved by the Lord?

- sacrifice is acceptable to the Lord, but doing what is right and just is more acceptable: are we striving to do that?

- are we haughty in the way we conduct ourselves?

- are we as diligent as we should be?

- lies come back to hurt those who tell them: are we into lies?

- a wicked man desires evil; is there evil in our lives that we should take care of?

- there is a difference between arrogance and wisdom: is there a touch of arrogance in our lives as we strive to be wise?

- the just brings the wicked to ruin; are we trying to understand what is wicked and what is good?

- have we shut our ears to the cry of the poor of the world?

+ There are many things that we give a high importance to in our living and acting

- the question for us: is understanding what the word of God should mean for us that high in importance?

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Divirgent" -- beginning session
WHO WE ARE

The Gospel

MATTHEW 26:63b-65a

Then the high priest said to Jesus, “I order you to tell us under oath before the living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “You have said so. But I tell you: From now on you will see ‘the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’ and ‘coming on the clouds of heaven.’” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed!”

Gospelthink: I say exactly who I am. I know who the Lord is, but do I carry the answer into everything I do?

The movie "Divergent" takes place in Chicago in the future. A war has brought about the destruction of the United States, and all that remains are the people who have congregated in the once-upon-a-time metropolis. To bring about good order from the chaos of differences, the society has been divided into five independent factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave) and Erudite (the intellectual). The remaining population are the Factionless, people who have no status, the "poor" of the society. The story is that of Beatrice Prior who was born into Abnegation. She discovered through the universal test given to every young person that she was Divergent, capable of being in several factions, and therefore a possible threat to the system. She had to recognize who she was and choose to live with the choice.

Jesus knew who he was, and therefore what he had to do. The high priest who questioned him understood exactly Jesus' answer to his question of who Jesus was, and therefore wanted to have him executed. Quoting the Psalms and the Book of Daniel, Jesus identified himself to be the Messiah, the Promised One, and therefore he knew that his task was to redeem humankind, even those who were then persecuting him.

Beatrice Prior or "Tris" in the movie "Divergent" had to determine who she was. She had discovered that she could have been of the faction Abnegation or Erudite or Dauntless, and therefore Divergent, and a possible threat to the strict separation of the classes. As she chose to be Dauntless, she managed to maintain her selfless love of others from Abnegation and her knowledge of human nature from Erudite. She was able to choose well what she wanted her future to be, even as she realized that others had to be important in her life.

It is a fundamental and important lesson to learn: every one of us must choose who we want to be in the life that we are given. We are given a certain set of circumstances, a certain set of "preparation years" during which we have been formed in one way or another. There must come a time when we see what we were, and then what we can be for the future.

Jesus was able to identify what his life-calling was as he told the religious leaders exactly who he was. "Tris" was able to identify who she was as she came to understand her future role in the city. In a similar way, when we know who we are, we have a knowledge of what our future should be as well.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, You have given each of us our own personalities. Give us the grace to truly understand who we are so that we can freely choose to be what You want us to be. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: In order to choose a good life, it is important that we know who we are.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 67 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why?
2. What is your understanding of the Messiah? See Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, numbers 436-440.
3. True blasphemy, the act of showing contempt for God, was punished by execution. Where do you sense true blasphemy in our world today?
4. What is your understanding of "redemption"? See Catechism, numbers 613-614.
5. When is the best time in a person's life to determine what their future should be?
6. If you could choose which faction in the movie you belonged to, which one would you choose and why?
7. What does it mean to "think independently"?
8. In general, what are human beings' worst fears?