[media presentation below] GospelThink Thursday, February 23 LUKE 9:22-25 I remind you that the salvation of your soul is more important than anything you can accomplish on earth. Prayerthoughts a. Jesus tells of his redemptive action in the future. Do I show my appreciation of the Lord’s action by thanking him often for his gift of eternal life? b. The classic definition of a disciple of Jesus is given here: “deny himself”, “take up his cross daily” and “follow me”. Which of these three directives am I not doing well? c. Do I deny myself certain things that I like every now and then, and think of the Lord  during that time? d. Do I accept the situations of my life as they occur? I need to change the things that I can, but accept the illness, old age or things that I cannot change. e. The following of Jesus means reading the Scriptures, especially the Gospels. Have I made the thinking of the Scriptures to be part of my daily routine? f. We can get wrapped up in the things of this life without the Lord (“saves” his life) or we can choose to lose our life for the Lord’s sake, that is, give ourselves to the Lord more and more in our living. Do I see evidence in my life that I am choosing correctly? g. We do not want to fall into the pattern of working only with material things. We need to “forfeit” them by turning more and more to the Lord by making God part of our living. h. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will write a prayer expressing my thanks for the Lord’s action of redemption. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  FOLLOWING JESUS  + The passage from Deuteronomy is one of the most quoted Hebrew Scripture passages for pro-life people because of its statement to choose life           – the life that Moses wanted his people to choose is the path of God in a three-fold manner:                      – loving God, listening to and heeding his voice, and staying close to him  + That God is, of course, not only the God of Moses, but Jesus whom we believe is God’s Son           – and therefore our guide as our Lord and Savior                      – here in the liturgy today, St. Luke’s Gospel reminds us right away at the beginning of Lent of the overall goal of Lent                                – we are reminded that the Passion, Death and the Resurrection of Jesus is a priority of ours                                          – as if to say: during Lent, keep your focus on this and don’t lose its perspective                      – then the Gospel gives very practical advice for personal meditation                                – namely how to allow Jesus to be our guide                                          – again there are three ways that have a little more bite to them than Moses’ ways of following God, but they are similar           – 1 – in Luke’s Jesus’ mind, there must be a denial of self                      – we want what we want                               – Jesus is saying that an element of denial of self is necessary to follow him           – 2 – Jesus says that we have to take up the cross                      – suffering must be understood and accepted as part of the Christian scheme of things                                – whether it is the physical pain of age or disease or the mental pain of psychological crises                                          – Jesus says that taking up the cross is the way of following him           3 – and to be a follower, we must discover his steps and walk in them                      – discover the words he said, the actions he did, and the thoughts he had and try to follow them  + God is present in our lives through Jesus, who calls us to deny self, take up his cross, and walk in his steps           – or in the words of Moses, choosing life. MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Ben-Hur” — beginning session BELONGING TO A FAMILY The Gospel MATTHEW 2:19-23 When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”

Gospelthink: I settled in with my family in Galilee as one of your race. Have I always tried to follow the Lord and what he did on earth?

Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew, and Messala Severus, a Roman, were friends from the beginning of their lives. Messala had been accepted into Judah’s life, calling each other “brothers,” a term they meant from their hearts. Family was such a strong factor in both of their lives and although close to everyone in Judah’s family, Messala realized that he did not truly belong in the sense of true family. In search of a true identity, Messala set off to fight with the Romans. Eventually he found himself at odds with Judah when Judah had defended some Zealots who were enemies of the Romans. In particular, he had accepted a young zealot by the name of Dismas into his home. After Dismas had tried to kill some Roman soldiers, Messala and his fellow Romans captured Judah and his family. In order to save his family from death, Judah confessed to attacking the Romans even though Dismas was the guilty one. Judah was imprisoned and deported as a slave.

In Matthew’s Gospel, it is clear that the family of Jesus was most important. There were many difficult moments in Jesus’ early life, not the least of which was traveling to Egypt to escape the wrath of a deranged king. Joseph and Mary no doubt told Jesus all about their early difficulties as he grew up in Nazareth. The family for him became the foundation that he needed in order to face the problems that were to come in his life. In the movie named after him, Judah Ben-Hur and his friend Messala Severus both knew the importance of family as they began their early life together. Messala felt the desire to have a real family as he left to go to be part of the Roman army; Judah gave up his life as he knew it so that his family could live. The most important factor of a sound daily life is the family. Our families determine our future, so to speak, at least in the way they set a tone for what type of people the members of the families will be later on in life. Unfortunately, it has been proven true time and again that families who were torn apart early on have generated scarred people who were unable to negotiate the world as they grew. Jesus’ family and the way Joseph and Mary interacted with him determined in many ways the type of person that Jesus turned out to be. He could be the caring and loving person that he was to so many people because he could look back to a family that truly loved him every moment of his life. It is a lesson that every family in our world should learn.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, we are all members of families. Every one of us have an understanding of how well our families prepared us for the life we now have. Give us the grace to understand the importance of the way we should act with our families. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Perhaps the strongest bond between people is the one created by being part of a family. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 58 minutes) 1. What scene during this session is most striking and why? 2. What is your definition of friendship? 3. What are the principal characteristics of being a good friend? 4. What are the characteristics of a good family? 5. What are some of the hurts in early family life that destroy a person’s life later on? Why? 6. In your opinion, do most families experience true love as they grow early on? Yes or no and why? 7. It seems as though Messala violated his friendship with Judah by demanding that nothing happen in Jerusalem by way of violence. Do you agree? Yes or no and why? 8. Judah accepts the responsibility for the assassination attempt in order to protect Dismas and to prevent harm to his mother and sister.. Do you think that most people would act this way on behalf of family? 9. Analysis: Do you think that people who are kind to animals (as Judah to the horses) will also be basically good people? Yes or no and why? 10. Analysis: How can a person control a his/her strong desire for revenge?