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(For meditations, go to bottom of this page)

One of the books that has influenced the lives of many Christians is Thomas Merton's autobiography, "The Seven Storley Mountain." It is the fascinating story of a man who recognized what his world was saying to him and how he felt he had to respond. Recognizing God's presence was one of the guides to Merton's conversion. "We refuse to hear the million different voices through which God speaks to us," Merton writes in his book, "and every refusal hardens us more and more against His grace - and yet He continues to speak to us."

Among the "million different voices," first and foremost are the words of Scripture, and in particular the words of Jesus Christ found in the Gospels of the New Testament. Jesus spoke about life, the life that he knew. He urgently called the people of his time, especially his Apostles and the religious leaders of his day, to a new life, the life of his Kingdom, and Kingdom in which there would be peace and eventually, eternal happiness. The Kingdom had many facets to it, and Jesus explored those facets carefully in the words and stories that the Gospel writers captured in their own particular way and with their own nuances as they understood what Jesus was trying to accomplish.
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Merton's "million different voices" in which God speaks to us might also include the voices of the media of our world. The media also talks of life, life as lived in our day with its own particular nuances. The nuances are spread across our growth process. We mature a certain way in a certain time according to the norms of the society we share with others. The life and growth are captured in the art forms that entertain us, in particular, the movies and music of our day.

Recognizing how closely the Gospels and the media are related, the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church in the mid-1960's wrote: "The Church as always has the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its expectations, its longings, and its often dramatic circumstances."

Jesus talks about life in the Gospels; the media, in particular movies and music, talks about the same life. These meditations employ the premise that Jesus through the Gospels can teach us something about life as presented in our modern day. It studies the actions, words and thoughts of Jesus as presented by the different evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - of the New Testament. Then the application of the Gospel text is given using the different scenarios of daily living as presented by popular movies and the top 10 songs that have been on the pop charts in the 2000's.

The Gospel in Modern Media is an attempt to give Jesus' thoughts, words and actions to young people and to anyone who enjoys movies and rock music. I believe that God is indeed speaking in a "million different voices," and that God speaks to us even as we entertain ourselves with film and music.

As of July 25, I am adding the daily Gospel that is contained in the Catholic Liturgy for that particular day. It is called "Gospelthink." You will need to have the reading for the day or look it up in the Bible. Therefore, on each day, there will be two Gospel meditations for your thoughts.

Michael Scully, O.F.M.Cap,

[Films most recently added to "Gospel in a Featured Film":

“Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Ordinary Angels” and “Twisters”

TO OBTAIN THE MEDITATIONS FOR A PARTICULAR DATE, CLICK HERE: www.frmikescully.com, GO TO “GOSPEL MEDITATIONS ARCHIVES”, THEN CLICK ON THE INDIVIDUAL DATE