[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, May 14, Sixth Sunday of Easter JOHN 14:15-21 I promise to be always with you. Prayerthoughts a. What are the most important commandments that Jesus gave for the world? For me? b. The Advocate of truth is usually considered to be a reference to the Holy Spirit. In what way has the Holy Spirit influenced my life? c. “I will come to you,” Jesus says; that is, he will always be with us. At what time is my life have I felt the Lord’s presence in a particular way? d. Jesus promises his disciples that He will always be with them. By extension, that means that we are included. How do we see the Lord acting in the world today? e. The Lord says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. His commandments consist mainly of love. Are there any persons that I have not loved as I should? What should I do about it? f. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will spend sometime in prayer, asking the Lord to be with those people that I do not love as I should.  Some Thoughts on the Liturgy THE PROBLEM OF LONELINESS            One of the stories I use when I am asked to speak to youth comes from the Student Council Workshop of Kansas. It is probably the best speech I have ever heard from a young person. She was one of our “junior counselors”—a graduated senior who helped us with the individual councils that were set up for the workshop. She was asked to talk on “If I had it to do over…” She entitled her speech: “If I had it to do over, I would never leave anyone lonely, especially John.”           She went on to tell her story. There is a method of discovering what the student body suggests about the school called the “10 on 10” method. You give 10 questions to each student council member, then give the names of 10 students in the school chosen at random, ask those 10 questions, take down the notes, and take it back for discussion to the student council meeting.            She found nine of the students right away, but could not find the tenth one, a senior, and decided to forget it, and go with what she had. But on the day of the meeting, she saw the senior in the hallway, and went over to him asking him the questions. At first, he did not have a lot of answers and did not seem interested, but the more she asked, the more he warmed up to her questions, and began to talk—a lot. She was quite taken with his answers, was taking notes, and then realized that they had been speaking for a long time. She looked at her watch, seeing that she had missed a whole class.            The senior saw her look at her watch, and told her, “I see you have to go. Before you go, I want to show you something.” He reached in his pocket, pulled out a revolver, showed her that it was loaded, and put it back in his pocket.  He said, “Don’t be afraid. I won’t use it now, but was about to—somehow. But I’m not now, because of you. No one has ever talked to me the way you have today, like I am worth something. Thank you.” And he walked away. She never saw him again. He never graduated. It was like he just dropped out of life. She closed her speech with the words, “John, wherever you are, I will talk with you.”            Loneliness: it affects all of us. The tragedy of that speech was that the speaker, the junior counselor, was actually the most lonely of all. I told the story about three years later at a leadership conference and one of the teachers at the young lady’s former high school came up to me, and told me what happened to her. She died of anorexia a year after she gave the speech—by herself, with no one around.            Jesus recognized that concept of loneliness in his lifetime. In today’s Gospel, he says:           I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. Jesus assures us that he is present to us. Therefore the follower of Jesus has no reason to be lonely.            I see two applications here. The first, having to do with our own loneliness. We must recognize the fact of loneliness, identify it in our lives, get help if we need it, but especially—what the Lord wants of us—turn to the Lord with the assurance that he is with us by means of the Holy Spirit. This makes faith a dominant factor in our lives. Right there—a relationship with God—is the ultimate way to overcome all loneliness.            And secondly, I believe that as Christians, we have the obligation to address the loneliness of others. Often there are family members who are hurting because they feel lonely. We know that, and we know that we could help if we wanted to. Perhaps we need to take the time to reach out to them with a card or a telephone call or the like. Also outside of our families among our friends, especially our younger people, there is loneliness. We must take the chance and open ourselves to others at times especially the people that we see are lonely. Christians should desire to address loneliness in others in whatever way they can.            We are not the kind of people who like to be lonely. Jesus knew that life without God is loneliness, and so he addressed it, and told us how to take care of it by a relationship with God. It enables us to truly say and mean that we really do not have to be lonely. The Lord has not left us orphans: he is with us! MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Ford v Ferrari” — beginning session KNOW THE TRUTH The Gospel MARK 6:16-18 When Herod learned of it, he said, “It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up.” Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Gospelthink: John was direct in his speech. He told only the truth. Do I tell the truth as I speak?

Based on a true story, the movie “Ford v Ferrari” relays the origin of the Ford race cars in the 1960’s. Henry Ford II was upset that the sales were not what they should have been, and asked his leadership team for suggestions. Lee Iacocco suggested to Ford that they should try their hand at “racing cars.” Ford and team decided to ask Carroll Shelby who won Le Mans at one time to help with that endeavor. Shelby was a likable man who could no longer race because of heart problems, but was willing to undertake the task of setting up a team. He chose as his driver Ken Miles, a man with some personal issues, but a very good driver. Ford had a difficult time with Ken Miles because of Miles’ irascible attitude, but finally at Shelby’s insistence agreed to let Miles be the driver of their race car in the Le Mans race in 1966.

The Gospel story of Herod and John the Baptist is an interesting one. It has many facets to it, not the least of which was that Herod finally condemned John to death. But the ultimate reason why he killed him is important to know: John knew the truth, and John let it be known. When holy people know the truth, generally speaking, they will allow that truth to guide their actions, and they will pursue their lives with that in mind. In the movie “Ford v Ferrari,” Carroll Shelby knew the truth that Ken Miles was the best race car driver there was. Shelby was always respectful to those who were his superiors, even to the point of allowing Mr. Ford to dictate who the driver should be. But when he saw that Mr. Ford did not realize what he knew to be the case, he fought for and finally succeeded in convincing Ford that Miles should be their race car driver. Shelby knew that he was right, and was willing to stay with that truth as the scenario of the future of Ford-Shelby racing cars unfolded. In our lives, we often have discovered what we know to be the truth. It is important for our developing personalities to know how we handle the truth and what we know to be right. Sometimes we may have to hold back on saying the truth, but in the end, we must always be dedicated to the truth. It means that we will take the time to pursue what we know to be the truth in the way that we live and in our speech.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, You always know what is the truth, and You always know how we handle the truth in our lives. Help us discover the truth, and then when we do, to allow it to guide what we say and do. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: When we know that we are right, we will pursue it no matter what the circumstances.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 71 minutes) 1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why? 2.  In your opinion, is adultery a real problem in our world today? 3. John the Baptist showed that he knew the truth by his actions. In general, do the people in our world have a respect for the truth? Yes or no and why? 4. The point of this meditation is that we must be aware of the truth all the time. In important matters, do the people of our world want to discover the truth? Yes or no and why? 5. In general, do the people of our world act on the truth as they know it? Yes or no and why?