September 26   

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Saturday, September 26

LUKE 9:43b-45
I wanted my Apostles to understand what would happen to me.


Prayerthoughts
a. Jesus had the reputation of being someone great and probably could have attracted great crowds which he did often because they were amazed at his every deed. What is the most important thing that Jesus did as a human?

b. Jesus predicts his Passion by saying that he would be "handed over to men." From your knowledge of the passion of Jesus, what is most important for me to know?

c. "Handed over to men" sounds like an indictment of all, but of course, there are many people who did not agree with what happened to Jesus. Of all of the characteristics of people who are dedicated to God, what is the most important?

d. At times, the apostles did not understand Jesus. Do I spend sufficient time every day in meditation trying to understand what Jesus is saying to me?
 
e. My prayerthoughts….
 

Today, I will read Ecclesiastes 11:9–12:8 and write an
important thought from it.





Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

JESUS’S DEATH AND WHAT IT TEACHES US

+ The Book of Ecclesiastes in this reading uses a number of powerful images of death and the end of people’s lives

- one of them:

“The pitcher is shattered at the spring and the broken pulley falls into the well.”

- that is, there is death—the pitcher is shattered—and if all we think about is this life, the broken pulley falls into the well, and therefore there is nothing

- the Scriptures frequently use death as an incentive and as a vantage point to look at the rest of one’s life


+ Jesus’ whole life must be seen from the vantage point of his crucifixion

- the Gospel today is the second prediction of Jesus’ passion in Luke’s Gospel

- the crucifixion—Jesus’ death, the fact that he was to be handed over to men—was to be the means whereby salvation comes to us

- and therefore extremely important in Jesus’ mind

- so that he foretells it a number of times in his life

- now in our minds, as his followers, it must be just as important


+ A couple points of meditation for someone interested in the spiritual life here:

1 – the whole thought of death and in particular our own deaths

- it is a true statement from Ecclesiastes that death is a good vantage point

- asking ourselves the question: by the time of our death, what will we want to have accomplished?

- for the Christian, we will want to have a relationship with Jesus that is expressed in the good deeds and words of a person’s life

- really, all the rest is fluff, vanity as Ecclesiastes says

- we have to be working on what we want to accomplish—that relationship with Jesus—because, using the image of Ecclesiastes, our pitcher can be shattered at any time

2 – looking at Jesus’ redemption process and the fact that he died for us

- we don’t want to fail to understand as the Apostles did during Jesus’ public life

- Jesus did die for us, giving us the chance to have eternal life

- and consequently our lives here can be legitimate preparation of eternal life forever

- it should bring forth a gratitude for what he has accomplished for us as well as a certain desire to listen closely to his direction concerning what to do with our lives


+ Death is a vantage point for us;

- we learn about our own deaths and we know that because of Jesus and his death, we have eternal happiness.

 

 

 

 

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Creed III" -- beginning session

SHARING LIFE'S EXPERIENCES

 

The Gospel


LUKE 2:39-40

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

Gospelthink: The Holy Family grew up in a normal way in their home town.

Early on, Adonis Creed and Damian Anderson were best friends as they grew up together in a foster home. One day during that time, Adonis impulsively attacked Leon, the abusive caregiver of the home. He was joined by Damien who showed a gun that he had. Damien was arrested, but Adonis ran away. That fact was something that was always part of Adonis' thought but never shared with his wife Bianca. After Damien came out of prison, he looked up Adonis who was the retired Heavyweight Champion with his own gym. Damien wanted to be Heavyweight Champion and tricked Adonis into sponsoring him. Adonis does and eventually Damien becomes the Champion. All the while, Adonis was acting out of character because of what happened in the past.

We know very little about Jesus's early life. We only know what Matthew and Luke tell us in their Gospels, and that is not a lot because they are so different from one another. Here in Luke's Gospel, after Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, he and his mother and foster father settle in Nazareth. Luke's explanation covers about thirty years of time, time in which both Mary and Joseph celebrated their marriage and their son Jesus "became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him."

As can be discerned from Luke's explanation, Jesus's life foundation was a good one. No doubt, the Holy Family was the perfect place for Jesus to grow, and therefore have the basis upon which a full later life could be experienced. Judging from his future life, he could teach and show the compassion necessary to help people.

Perhaps it is profitable to look at what did not happen in Jesus's early years. There is no indication that Mary and Joseph had difficult times and therefore did not communicate with each other, or that they experienced so many difficulties that they had to separate. Likewise, there is no indication that Jesus had some falling out with either parent. Probably Joseph died during those thirty years and Jesus remained with his mother in support of her and the family needs.

It is important because there are so many difficulties with growing up for a young person. They absolutely must have the support of both parents, and when they don't or when the parents have diffiulties communicating, the life of the whole family will be affected. In the movie "Creed III," Adonis and Damien, the best of friends, had a falling out, and the fact should have been shared with the partners of Adonis and Damien later on. The fact that Adonis did not share his early life with his wife Bianca was a dificulty and could have caused a major breakdown in their adult lives.

We all have things that happen to us early on in our lives. Realizing that they could affect what happens with later lives, those difficulties should be shared with the people who are important to us later on.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, you know how difficult it is to grow into maturity because your Son in his human form had to experience it. As we grow into adulthood, give us the grace to live happy adult lives by sharing experiences that have influenced our early lives. Be with us, we pray. 

 

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: When there are difficulties when people are young, they should share them with loved ones later on in life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 58 minutes)
1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why?
2. In your opinion, allowing for the differences of time, was Jesus's early life like our own?
3. In your opinion, why is it necessary to have a "good" life as a child?
4. In your opinion, what percentage of people in the United States have a "healthy" early life?
5. Do most families have good communication with their young children? With their teenagers? With their grown children?
6. Do most married couples commuicate "well."