[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, October 8, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time MATTHEW 21:33-43 My story portrays the chosen people who rejected my teaching. Prayerthoughts a. God has “leased” us the body we have. Do I take care of my body the way I should? b. God demands that we repay some of what we have produced in the form of money or the like. Have I given a significant amount of my income, say 10% to God, in the form of to a Church or some charity or the poor? c. An important part of Jesus’ parable are the servants that God sends. Spoken to the religious leaders of the times, Jesus was referring to how they treated God’s messengers. How well do I listen to the directives of God as spoken by the religious leaders in my life? d. In allegorical language, Jesus refers to what will happen to him at the end of his life. Do I spend time in meditation on how Jesus was treated, and how I treat him in the person of others? e. Jesus refers to hell as the outcome of those who disregard God. Without judging myself  too much, have I asked for forgiveness for the times I have disregarded God’s directives? f. There are “other people” in the world who are truly following God’s Will who are not part of my religious beliefs. Do I treat all religions with the respect that is their due? g. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will read Philippians, chapter 4:1-9, and write an important thought from it.  Some Thoughts on the Liturgy   THE ROBOT           Once upon a time, there was someone who was very brilliant and very wise. That brilliant one spent time and wisdom in creating a robot that looked so much like the one who created it that it was hard to tell them apart.           The brilliant one was pleased with the robot, and loved it, and even wanted to do more. So, with a little more time and wisdom, the brilliant one managed at long last to give the robot its independence.           When the brilliant one’s friends heard of it, they cried, “To create is one thing, but to give independence is a mistake. The beginning of trouble is freedom!”           Well, at first, the robot was pleased with his new-found freedom, and thanked the brilliant one very much, but after some time, he found that he did not have to thank the brilliant one in order to get what he wanted. He found that he did not have to pay any attention to the brilliant one at all. He found that he could have a lot of fun, enjoy himself, do anything he wanted, and did not have to go back to the brilliant one for anything. Gradually, then, he moved away from the creator.           All the friends of the brilliant one said, “You should not allow such a thing. Why did you do that—the robot misused its freedom, why trust it any further. Destroy it—you have the power. How could you let someone insult you so much—to create something and even let it use you for its own good!”           But the brilliant one who was also very wise chose not to listen to the friends, and decided to influence the robot. The brilliant one said: “I will send my own son, and instruct my son to have the robot change his ways, and come back to me.”           Even as the brilliant one’s friends continued to criticize the brilliant one, the robot not only did not listen to the son, but actually killed him.           “Surely,” the brilliant one’s friends said, “surely now, you will get rid of that robot after what he did to your son.” But the brilliant wise one said, “No, I love that robot so much that I want to give it the chance to choose me.”  And he refused to listen to his friends.           The conclusion of the story is this: the robot….           We do not know the ending of the story because the robot—you and I—are still writing it.            In Jesus’ story in the Gospel today, Jesus is talking directly to the religious leaders of his time. As in the robot story, we might concentrate on the “produce” of the story. What was the produce that the servants and the son and robot were to obtain “at the proper time”? In both stories, it is the fruits of the vineyard. And the important thing is that it was not their produce: it was the landowner’s.            The vineyard is the world and the produce is life and what we have been given—and as in the stories, it is not ours, it is God’s. We can enjoy this life, have our independence and free will, but we must remember that God is the owner, the creator, the brilliant one, the landowner who gave us a free will. And because God is the owner, then we must be governed by God’s law.           What kind of life will we choose from now on? The future is what counts; what kind of disciples are we going to be. We really can begin our lives again. We are determining what kind of life we are going to lead right now. No matter what has happened in our lives in the past, from now on, we will be able to live our future well. We can begin again. We can recognize that perhaps we have not done as well as we should have, but now it is different. Today is where we begin, the conclusion is still unwritten, and we are beginning to write it now. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Pompeii” — Bastille THE RUBBLE OR OUR SINS The Gospel MATTHEW 11:20-24 Then Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Gospelthink: I wanted the people of the towns to see that they should repent and turn to their God. Am I as repentant as I should be?

“I was left to my own devices: many days fell away with nothing to show. And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love. Great clouds roll over the hills, bringing darkness from above. But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? Does it almost feel like you’ve been here before? How am I gonna be an optimist about this? We were caught up and lost in all of our vices. Oh, where do we begin, the rubble or our sins?”

In the year 79 AD, the volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted and buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. Calling that destruction to mind, the rock group Bastille cleverly sings about the destruction of good things in their song “Pompeii.” That which caused the destruction? They sing it: “We were caught up and lost in all of our vices.” The hopeful element in the song is that they seem to want to do something about it: “Oh, where do we begin? The rubble or our sins?” A volcano did not destroy Tyre, Sidon or Sodom in Old Testament times. But the cause of their destruction was the same one mentioned by the group Bastille in their song: the people were “caught up and lost in all their vices.” The sad part, as Jesus laments in the Gospel, is that they did not repent from those vices, and disturbing Jesus even more, the people of his locale, the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were doing the same thing. They were not showing any repentance for their sins. Jesus solemnly condemned their refusal.             Even though the clever video of the song seems to end in despair, the song itself is hopeful since it seems that the person in the song wants to do something about the vices that have caused the destruction and darkness. At least, the person in the song is asking the right question, even though, as they sing, an optimist may have a difficult time finding anything to be optimistic about the situation. We must indeed face our sins if we want any change in our lives. It is only when we have recognized how much we have hurt ourselves and others by what we have done that we will begin to help the situation of the world around us.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, there is sin in the world. Your Son has pointed it out to us and we are well aware of it as we look around us. Give us the grace to recognize any sin of our own as we want to help our world. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Seeking change in our lives, we must begin with our sins. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. In the Gospel, repentance of sins is the key element in Jesus’ lament concerning the people of the different cities. What is the best way to show repentance of sins? 2. Text analysis: “the netherworld” is usually translated to be “hell.” Do you think that such scare tactics have any effect on people? 3. Analysis: “the day of judgment.” The Lord is saying that repentance from sin is absolutely necessary in order to be judged well at our final judgment. What is your understanding of the “day of judgment”? See Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, numbers 1038-1041.   4. Text analysis: “Many days fell away with nothing to show.” What is the meaning of the sentence? 5. In general, are you optimistic about our world? Yes or no and why? 6. In your opinion, what is the best part of being in our world right now? 7. Obviously, the meditation reflects that if we want to change, we must begin with our sins. What is the “sin” most in need of correction in the world? 8. The meditation and song presumes that we are people who want to do something about our sins? Why are there some people who do not want to do anything about the sins in their lives or the world? 9. Project: the presenter may want to make a small presentation on the “sins” of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom from the Hebrew Scriptures. 10. Obtain a copy of the video to the song. What is most striking about the video? 11. What does the song “Pompeii” teach young people?