[media presentation below] GospelThink Wednesday, May 10 JOHN 15:1-8 I am the true vine and anyone who is part of me I will prune to make her/him a better member of the vine. Prayerthoughts a. The image that Jesus uses implies some type of sacrifice. As I study my life right now, what should I work on to make it better? b. Jesus’ words have already “cleansed” the apostles and us. Am I spending enough time with the Gospel to understand what the Lord means in the Gospel? What can I do today? c. What is the best way that I have to “remain in Christ”? d. What are the fruits that I should show for being a branch on Jesus’ vine? e. Do I often choose to think of myself as being responsible for good things and not the Lord? How can I change this thinking? f. Jesus uses a scare tactic in his words. If I do not listen to His word, I will allow evil to enter into my life. What are the principal evils that I should think about in my life?g. The Lord will answer my prayers if I remain in Him. The Lord always answers my prayers according to His will. In my life right now, what should I pray for the most? g. My prayerthoughts…. Today, I will spend some time thinking about the evils of our world, and praying for the victims. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  LIVING “IN” JESUS  + One of the foundational Christian thoughts is given in the Gospel today, one of the guides to Christian living—Jesus saying that we must live and remain “in” him           – what does living “in” Jesus consist of?  + There are a number of ideas that can come as a result           – working with this specific liturgy,                      1 – living in Jesus does not take away dissension—we hear that in the 1st reading                                – but working with that dissension must be part of it—discussing as the apostles did                                – as we live in our day to day situation, there will be many things that we don’t agree with, that could cause “dissension”                                          – some of them, we can do nothing about, and so we simply pray for the situation, do our best to live with it                                          – but some of them, we can do something about                                                    – but as we do something about it, we have to remember that there are opinions other than ours                                                    – and so we must be willing to talk things out, as the Apostles were,                                                               – willing to admit someone else’s opinion                                – because of the fact that we are human beings, we will disagree                                          – to disagree well is the Christian element that must be added                      2 — living in Jesus implies being able to be pruned and trimmed                                – being pliable in the Lord’s hands                                          – that is, being open to the Holy Spirit’s direction                                                    – working with the Holy Spirit with the idea that “God and we” can accomplish great things in the Christian scheme of things                                          – and at the same time allowing the Lord’s Gospel direction and guide to actually gear our own lives toward what Jesus evidently wants in the Scriptures                                                    – pruning and trimming ourselves in the process                      3 – living in Jesus implies actually “working” with the Lord, bearing fruit                                – going out into the world we live in—our own little worlds—and doing the work of the Lord                                          – that is living with prayer, good example, kindness, forgiveness etc—that is, all the virtues of the kingdom that Jesus preached  + “Living in” Jesus means a number of things           – today we have considered the ideas of being able to work with dissension, being pliable by shaping ourselves to Jesus’ directives, and actually doing the work of the Lord as we go about our day-to-day living. MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Dunkirk” — beginning session THE FACT OF DEATH IN LIFE The Gospel JOHN 11:7-8, 16 Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”

Gospelthink: Toward the end of my life on earth, I was aware of my upcoming death and my Apostles wanted to help. As I think of my death, what are the most important things I should do?

The situation was dire. As the opening text of the movie gave the true history, during World War II the British and French armies had over 400,000 soldiers stranded on Dunkirk as they waited for the miracle of a rescue or until they died. The movie “Dunkirk” is the story of how some 338,000 were rescued, even though the leaders of the Allied forces felt that only 30,000 could possibly be saved. (Historically, for some reason, Hitler and his staff decided not to massacre the soldiers who were stranded in the open at Dunkirk.) The men expected at any moment to die, and were grabbing every opportunity they could to determine some escape.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem even though he had recently encountered significant opposition to his message. He knew that people had threatened to kill him, and he knew the consequences of his decision. It is interesting to see the courage of the apostles at that moment in Jesus’ life. No matter what their eventual feelings about their Master’s death, at this moment, they were willing to die. Death was not a pleasant thought for them, but realizing the importance of Jesus in their lives, they felt that giving up their lives was a way for them to truly follow Jesus. For the thousands who were trapped on the shores of Dunkirk during the early stages of the Second World War as portrayed in the movie “Dunkirk,” death was almost a “given” if they could not find a way back to safety. No doubt many of the men thought of death as a possibility at that particular moment. For them, it was not a pleasant thought, and they were determined to do whatever they could to save themselves, but if they were thinking as Christians, they were making themselves ready to die so that eternal life would be theirs. Perhaps one of the great facts of living is that we all must die, and further, that some of those deaths will not be easy–as disease and unfortunate circumstances like war and so forth will make our passing more difficult. But just as certain as death, one of the great facts of Christianity is that we will have the ultimate reward of true life if we try to earn it in our earthly lives. Christianity is a hopeful religion. Christians know with absolute certainty that they will have eternal happiness after our lives here on earth as long as we are trying to live the Christian life that Jesus gave us.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, Your disciples were willing to die with Your Son in their earthly lives. Give us the grace to understand better our own deaths, and to accept them with the true understanding that You are our ultimate goal. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: For most of us, the thought of death is obviously not pleasant, but it is the gateway to eternal life.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 49 minutes) 1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why? 2. If you knew that you were going to die soon, how should you prepare yourself? 3. In general, do you believe that Christians think about death in a positive way? Yes or no and why? 4. In your opinion, do most Christians “prepare” for death in the way they live? Yes or no and why? 5. What is your definition of “hope”? 6. If you would give one way to live the Christian life while here on earth well, what would it be?