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After
all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and
was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my
beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."
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| Gospelthink:
The Holy Spirit was always part of my life, as yours. Do I accept the
things that happen as the work of the Holy Spirit? |
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The
movie "The Amazing Spider-Man" is obviously fantasy, but the pains of
growing up for Peter Parker and the stress of newly found abilities is
not fantasy. The movie spends a significant amount of time developing
Peter Parker's family life, showing that a true knowledge of one's past
often is difficult to integrate into mature living. Peter Parker shows
his immature tendencies when he discovers his new powers by his
behavior of "showing off"
or "getting even" as his Uncle Ben reminds him. But he also manifests
some characteristics of gaining maturity that every young person must
learn in order to grow well. He had to develop the skills of learning
about romantic love with his girlfriend. He had to learn how to deal
with people who did not agree with him or like him. But most of all, he
had to deal with the stress of developing an understanding of what his
parents, especially his father, were like, and what it meant for him to
live with a foster mother and father. Even Spider-Man had to learn the
ins and outs of maturity.
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Anyone
who reads the Gospels immediately understands that prayer was an
important part in Jesus' life. From the very first moment of his public
ministry at his Baptism until the closing minutes of his life during
the crucifixion, Jesus prayed constantly to his Father. As a man, he
knew that he simply had to have the assurance and direction of God the
Father. He needed it because he knew only too well what the stress of
his proposed way of life could cause. Prayer was his means of managing
his stress.
There is stress involved in any life. Studying the early life of Peter Parker in the movie "The Amazing Spider-Man," we understand not only the stress of his newly-found abilities, but also the stress of growing out of teenage thinking into the maturity of day-to-day living. Peter Parker had to grow up, and he had to grow up with the knowledge that his family had caused certain situations that were not easy to understand. No matter how old we are, we must grow. We do not have the comic-book gifts and problems that Peter Parker had, but we all have challenges in our growth. Those challenges exist when we are young growing out of immaturity, and they exist for an adult growing into additional responsibilities. Such growth always causes stress because we constantly must learn how to manage what has happened whether they are caused by us or not. Managing the stress is one of the secrets of maturity. Jesus teaches us to pray when we are under stress. We do not know from the movie whether Peter Parker prayed or not, but we know that he certainly would have benefited from the action. His stress level could have been measurably reduced simply by turning things over to God. Christians must realize more and more that turning problems over to God while doing the best they can in any situation will relieve the stress connected with growing up well. |
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PRAYER
Good
and gracious
God, your
Son often communicated with you. It was his means of managing the
difficulties of his human life. Give us the grace to learn from him,
and help us manage the stress that comes with our own lives by turning
to you. Be with us, we pray.
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