[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, August 13, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time MATTHEW 14:22-33 I give you an allegory on your life. Prayerthoughts a. The Lord in a sense “sets up a situation” for his disciples. The Lord gives us situations in our lives. Are we open to realize that everything that happens to us happens for a reason that the Lord has in mind? Think of some difficult situations and think of what the Lord wants of me. (This is the task of the meditation.) b. The Lord again takes time to pray. Have I set up a prayer schedule that I can easily follow? c. The wind was against them. It is a symbol of things not going right. In my life, right now what most of all is not going right, and am I adjusting well? d. Jesus as God can do anything, of course. He walks on the sea as a sign of encouragement  to the disciples. How is the Lord encouraging me right now? e. Peter selfishly wants to feel the sensation of walking on water. Perhaps “selfishness” is the destroyer of the spiritual life. In what ways am I being too selfish? f. It is significant that when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened. The wind can easily signify the world and its enticements. How strong is that world in my life right now? g. We say with the disciples that Jesus is the Son of God.  It is faith that Jesus wants with this miracle. Again, how strong is my own faith in God? h. My prayerthoughts….   Today, I will carry out letter a. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy REACHING OUT TO JESUS           Today’s Gospel is perfect for a personal meditation since it presents not only a story from the Gospels, but also is an allegory of how Christians live. Peter is a portrayal of us. He has witnessed this miracle of Jesus walking toward him in the midst of the waves. Like his fellow disciples, he is fearful, but he hears Jesus’ voice and he understands that Jesus is there. You and I are people who have heard the Lord in one form or another, usually in the whispering wind like Elijah in the first reading (1 Kings 19: 9a, 11-13a), and we have accepted the Lord, at least in a shallow sort of way.            Then, with Peter, we want what we want. We are selfish and we want the feeling of walking on water, we want the good feeling, more than others have. For some reason, Jesus allows it, maybe to teach a lesson. Peter gets what he wants—he actually walks on water. And in truth, so do we in a sense—we have things pretty good even if we are hurting in some way. We basically have what we need, usually what we want.            But something happens. Peter after walking for a while, begins to sink. We should study why he begins to sink. The Gospel story says that Peter saw how strong the wind was. In our allegory, perhaps the explanation is this: we begin to sink because alone, we see how strong the wind is, that is, the problems that surround us. We try to handle situations, but it does not work; we cannot stop the pain of our individual lives; we cannot solve the problems of our community; we cannot bring about the solutions that we need. We need something else to help us survive.            What must happen? Peter does it—he reaches out to Jesus, crying, “Lord, save me.” There is the solution—we must reach out to the one who can help. We do it by accepting his way of life, making it truly part of our lives, becoming absolutely imbued with what he is all about, looking  beyond what we selfishly desire and allowing Jesus to take hold of us.            The problem is that we do a lot of talking about the solution, but we hold back from allowing it to influence our lives. One of my favorite conservative writers from the American Family Association took off on this point a number of years ago after the tragedy in Littleton, CO. I do not completely agree with him because he attacks too strongly and becomes too personal, and so I will take those references out.            He warns about the sexual immorality, violence and profanity that permeates our media. He accuses anti-Christians of working hard to get God out of society, saying that they have no god other than themselves. He accuses us of spending too much time on stressing the wrong thing in our schools, becoming very personal saying that many of us—Christian leaders like me—have given up on the personal God and joined hands with the godless.            He concludes his thoughts: “Now all these people are crying that we must do something. The truth is that we have already done something, and because of what we have done for the past 40 years, we have things like Littleton. ‘We want to change this, stop this madness,’ they cry. But when confronted with changing any of their ways, they balk.” I’m not nearly as pessimistic as he is, but we should probably listen to him a little more.           We don’t want to miss the ending of the Gospel allegory. If we reach out to the Lord, he will immediately stretch out his hand to us. That is the type of God we believe in: always there for us. But we have to truly reach out to that God first because if we do not do that, we will continue sinking, and drown in our selfishness. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Bailando” — Enrique Iglesias DANCING AND THE CHOICE OF “FOREVER” The Gospel LUKE 19:36-38 As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; and now as [Jesus] was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. They proclaimed: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

Gospelthink: The crowds praised God as I was in their midst. Do I praise God as often as I should?

“Girl, I like the way you move; come and show me what to do. People tell me that you want me. Girl, you got nothing to lose. I can’t wait no more. I wanna be contigo, and live contigo and dance contigo.”

A person searching the New Testament Scriptures for “dancing” will discover it only in conjunction with other actions. Without describing the action itself, it is almost “understood” in the context of some of the events described. So a wedding feast is an occasion for dancing and one would guess that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem would lend itself to dancing as the crowds joyously welcomed him as their king. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is much easier since “dancing” was understood to be part of rejoicing in the presence of God. For example, when the ark of the covenant, a symbol of God’s presence was brought before King David, “David and all the house of Israel danced before the LORD with all their might, with singing, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals” (2 Samuel 6:5). Enrique Iglesias’ song “Bailando” (in English, “dancing”) is a popular song not only because of its happy sound, but because of its excellent dance video. Both the song and the video bring to mind the value of dancing in a romantic setting. Although the romantic situations in Jesus’ time were totally different from the romantic life of a couple in the twenty-first century, the art of dancing was no doubt part of both. Romantic dancing in both the first and twenty-first century in part had to do with discovery about a future with a partner. It is obvious from both the song and the video that there is true enjoyment in dancing. In the song, the words imply that the man in the relationship wants the decision to be made right away, saying that there is no more time needed, that now is the time to be contigo, that is, with you. It may be, but the person who is making a decision for life must realize how important it is to take a significant amount of time with such an important matter. There is little doubt that the single most important decision in life is whether to marry and who to marry, that is to spend one’s life with another. Dancing together may help decide, but serious thinking about it must happen as well.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, You have blessed us with the gift of enjoying our time together in a romantic way. As we live and work with your gift, give us the grace to use it well. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Enjoying one another by dancing can help a couple decide whether they should be together forever.  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem is the official statement that in Jerusalem the salvation of humankind will be accomplished. Project: explain the meaning of salvation. See  Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, numbers 599-609. 2. The song describes the emotions connected with romantic dancing. Why should we not trust our emotions much of the time? 3. There are many “sexual overtones” in the song and video. Much of the music of today has these sexual references. What effect, if any, does this have on our younger generation? 4. In your opinion, should there be more control about the music that is produced in today’s world? Yes or no and why? 5. In your opinion, do the worship services of the Church resemble a true celebration? Yes or no and why? 6. Obtain a copy of the video to the song. What is most striking to you about it? (Billboard magazine labeled it to be “spectacular.”) 7. What is the difference between “romantic dancing” and “celebration dancing”? 8. In general, in your opinion, how much time should a couple spend together before they get married? 9. Young couples sometimes “prepare” for marriage by living together first. What is your opinion of this practice? See Catechism, numbers 2390-2391. 10. In general, do you think that young people do enough serious thinking about marriage before they actually marry? Yes or no and why? 11. Why are there so many divorces in our world?  12. What does the song “Bailando” teach young people?