September 4

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Friday, September 4

Luke 5:33-39
Fasting 

Prayerthoughts

a. Spiritual practice includes some type of fasting, whether from food or things (such as television, Facebook, etc.). Do I spend too much time with created things?

b. Jesus gives a new meaning to fasting. It involves not the old idea of restraint, but the new idea of love of God. When I am asked to fast (by Church law), do I spend the time when I am fasting to turn to God in prayer?

c. The bridegroom, Jesus, is never taken away from us in the sense that the Lord is always with us. Do I acknowledge the Lord’s presence during the day as often as I should?

d. Jesus’s approach to life is something new. How do I describe the Lord’s law in general?

e. New wine is poured into fresh wineskins. I must adjust my life to what the Lord wants. At this time in my life, what should I change the most?

f. My prayerthoughts…. 

Today I will read 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy





THE NEW TEACHING OF JESUS

+ Jesus’ response to the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel today was a statement that Jesus was establishing a new teaching, a new and up till then, unheard of, concept

- what he called the Kingdom of God

- defined as a time of God’s presence on earth that was to culminate eventually with union of God in heaven

- and while here on earth, it had to be understood as different from the religious teaching of the scribes and Pharisees

- such a teaching did not go over well with the scribes and Pharisees obviously

- Jesus was intimating that their religious beliefs—that which they had given their lives to—was inadequate or lacking in some way

- Jesus in this Gospel tells them that although there may be some elements that are the same, for the most part, you can’t put “new wine”—his teaching—into “old wineskins”—the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees


+ As we apply this thought to our situations today,

- generally, we are not into any fights about our religious beliefs

- for the most part, the people that we know are all Christian in one form or another—they accept the new teaching of Jesus Christ concerning the Kingdom of God

- it is an embarrassing fact that we do fight about beliefs even as we profess the same basic ones


+ With our situation today, I believe that we as spiritual people, believers in the Kingdom of God

- have more of a disagreement with what might be called the teaching of the world

- a teaching that would involve the acceptance of too much pleasure, power, and money

- those are the “wineskins” that we would like to pour our wine into, so to speak

- in general, our human natures want what the world has to offer—the teaching of the world, if you will

- and it is a difficult task to keep our human natures in control


+ We need to hear over and over again the different directives of Scripture

- for example, Paul today saying that we must remain servants of Jesus, stewards of the mysteries of God, not worried about the judgments of earth, but only worried about God’s judgments

- and at the same time, withholding our judgments of people

- we need to spend the time of prayer that we are today

- to keep us attuned to what Jesus wants,

- and what the Kingdom of God is all about


+ You and I profess the new teaching of Jesus,

- the belief that we are all working to establish the Kingdom of God in our lives right now

- that teaching is at odds with the teaching of the world

- our call is to be aware of that, and continually work to keep our spiritual balance as we live in the world.



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MEDIA PRESENTATION

Movie: "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" -- beginning session

ACTING ONLY WITH THE TRUTH



 

The Gospel

LUKE 22:1-6

LUKE 22:1-6

Now the feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover,* was drawing near, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to put him to death, for they were afraid of the people.Then Satan entered into Judas the one surnamed Iscariot, who was counted among the Twelve, and he went to the chief priests and temple guards to discuss a plan for handing him over to them. They were pleased and agreed to pay him money. He accepted their offer and sought a favorable opportunity to hand him over to them in the absence of a crowd.

Gospelthink: My apostle turned against me. Are there times in my life when I turn against the Lord by my thoughts or actions or words?

The first session of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman's mistrust of Superman about how Superman was dealing with the problems of Metropolis. At the same time Clark Kent/Superman was questioning the way Batman had been working in Gotham City and he wanted his place of employment, the Daily Planet, to do an investigation of Batman. Bruce Wayne/Batman realized that to subdue Superman, he had to first discover a way to obtain kryptonite which made Superman weak. At the same time, with the evil intent of desiring the power of being in control, Lux Luthor was also attempting to find the kryptonite. Obsessed with his conviction that Superman was not good for earth, Bruce Wayne/Batman discovered a way to obtain the kryptonite from Luthor, and came close to destroying Superman forever.

When we are absolutely convinced that something is true, we usually will commit ourselves to pursue it. It is interesting to study Judas in such a light. Somewhere in his relationship with Jesus, Judas had come to the conclusion that Jesus was not good for the Jewish people. Whether it was something that Jesus said or the influence of the scribes and Pharisees, Judas finally convinced himself that he was the only apostle who understood the truth of Jesus, and he therefore set out to hand him over to the chief priests.

In the movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," Bruce Wayne/Batman became convinced that Superman was not good for the earth, and likewise Clark Kent/Superman was convinced that Batman was not good for the earth. Giving into their selfish desires, neither superheroes were able to think through their actions, and in the process caused much more damage than the evil could have caused by itself.

It is an important lesson to learn. No matter who we are, whether president or servant, if we do not think through an action, and rather continue to place all of our trust in our own point of view, we will cause damage. We must be committed to the truth, and therefore must determine it completely before we act. People cause much harm when they act with conviction without thinking through what they are doing.

Judas should have reasoned out what he was doing. Batman and Superman should have understood why their thinking was in error. Every one of us have the obligation to think through a solution before acting on it.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, we study the people connected with Your Son's life, and we discover only too easily that many of them were governed by selfish behavior rather than the truth. May we always seek the truth in everything we do. Be with us, we pray. 

 

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GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We cause harm when we act without thinking it through.
      
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(session: approximately 70 minutes)
1. What scene during this session is most striking and why?
2. In the Gospel passage, the Pharisees were "afraid of the people." Why were they afraid?
3. Note that part of the reason why Judas betrayed Jesus was money. Why can money be a cause of evil?
4. How would you described the character of Judas Iscariot?
5. What are some things that we must do in order to think through some serious decision?
6. Dialogue analysis: Batman is extremely pessimistic about "bad buys" who are more plentiful than "good guys." Do you believe that there are more people who are inclined to evil in our day? Yes or no and why?
7. Analysis: The killings in the movie. In your opinion, do the several killings in the movie have an effect on young people who see it? Yes or no and why?
8. Analysis: The mothers of Batman and Superman play an important role in the movie. In general, do you think that we respect our parents enough in our world? Yes or no and why?

 

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America