[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, October 15, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time MATTHEW 22:1-14 I tell two stories within one story; the first is that you are invited to have eternal life; the second you have to make an effort to do it. Prayerthoughts a. I obviously desire to dine in the Kingdom, that is, go to heaven. Do I think of eternal life as often as I should? b. According to Scripture scholars, these are all legitimate excuses since the wedding feast could last a couple of days. Do I make excuses so that I do not spend enough time to pursue my spiritual life? c. Does the thought that the Lord has chosen other people “less than I am (in my selfish opinion)” upset me? Why? d. Our God is the type of God who “makes” people come to enjoy the Kingdom. Do I think of our God to be a compassionate God? e. Everyone is invited to the wedding feast. Is there anyone that I exclude in thinking of the people I pray for? Perhaps I should think of the people that I have a difficult time with right now praying that God will be part of their lives. f. The wedding garment was probably given to the people as they enter the feast. There is no excuse for the man not to have it on. Putting it on implies a complete change of heart. What is holding me back from a complete turning to God? g. The master condemns those who are without the proper disposition to change. Notice that it is the person’s own fault. He/she chooses not to change. h. “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” I am among the “chosen” simply because I am thinking about what I can do to change. I should not become scrupulous about having eternal life. I simply must keep doing my best to change for the better. i. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will read Philippians, chapter 4:10-23, and write an important thought from it. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy THE INVITATION TO CHANGE           I had occasion to study of all things the boll weevil a couple of years ago. There is a town in Alabama called Enterprise that is located in the middle of cotton country. Now, the boll weevil is the destroyer of cotton. But located in the middle of that town is a 14 foot statue of a lady honoring a boll weevil with the inscription: “In profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity.”           The story is this. At the turn of the century, the Mexican boll weevil made its way into Enterprise, Alabama, cotton country, and, of course, destroyed the cotton crop. But a couple of local business men were convinced that this could only be something that was good for the community, and signified that there should be some type of a change. They looked around for something that could take cotton’s place—and they hit upon peanuts. The climate and terrain were perfect for peanuts, and the peanuts industry proved to be much more successful than cotton ever was. So they built a monument honoring the boll weevil. The story is one of the need for change. Everything is in God’s plan, even if it is something that we do not want to happen, and God teaches us to change to bring it about.            If we study Jesus’ story with the idea of changing our lives in mind, we see that Jesus is saying that there are times when we have to change our way of thinking. He invites us to change by calling us to what he wants—such is the meaning of the wedding feast idea in Jesus’ story. But often we refuse because we want our way. In fact, we completely disregard his invitation, and treat the people who invite us with no respect—it is the meaning of the servants in the story.           And even when we do change and accept his invitation, sometimes we are called to make a radical change. That fact is symbolized in the wedding garment which was probably given at the door of the celebration in the custom of the time, and so there was no excuse not to put it on. It means that we have to deliberately place upon ourselves the characteristics of the kingdom of Jesus—peace, forgiveness, kindness, love, and in the process, change radically.           The problem is, of course, that we do not like to change, and we find all kinds of ways to stay away from it, no matter what area we are talking about. One of the second grade teachers at one of the parishes I served suggested to the kids as part of their preparation for First Confession that they go to their mothers and ask her how they could be better. One of the mothers related that her son had done that and after she got over the shock, she told him that he could clean up his room a little, help with the dishes a little more, pick up his toys, and help clean up the garage. The boy said very quickly: “I don’t want to be perfect, I just want to be a little better.” That’s the way we think most of the ti           The fact is that if we want to accept Jesus’ invitation to his Kingdom, we have to do more than a little. We may have to make the time to read Scripture every day, or pray formally every day or change our language. Or we may have to take the time to teach our kids and grandkids a little more about God and morality whether they want us to or not, or the like. The operating thought here is this: we must do a little more when it comes to changing our behavior.            Jesus has given us the invitation to enter his kingdom. To do it, we may have to change—more than a little. It is not easy, and ultimately, why Jesus closed his story with the ominous words:           Many are invited; but few are chosen. — MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Insurgent” — beginning session THE “WEAKNESS” OF ONE WHO LOVES The Gospel MATTHEW 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Gospelthink: I give you my two commandments which include all law. Am I truly loving the Lord and my neighbor?

In the movie “Insurgent,” having escaped from the Erudite and the Dauntless factions, Tris, Four, Peter and Caleb hid with the Amity faction. As the army of Erudite chases them, after Peter had betrayed them and Caleb left them, Tris and Four eventually end up with the Factionless whose leader is Four’s mother, Evelyn. Meanwhile, Jeanine, Erudite’s leaders knew that she had to have a Divergent to open the mysterious box which was found in Tris’ house. She ordered all Divergents to be hunted down and brought to her so that one of them would open the box. Realizing that Tris would respond when other people were threatened and killed because of her activity, Tris eventually gave herself up to Jeanine because she did not want to be responsible for the deaths of anyone else.

When evil people want to control someone who is good and loving, they will appeal to the loving person’s “weakness.” If Tris Prior had a weakness as she was being thrust into a leadership role among the Divergents in the movie “Insurgent,” it was love of others. It had bothered her immensely when her friend committed suicide because of something she had said; it was likewise a problem for her when Jeanine and the evil people of the Erudite faction decided to kill people as long as Tris did not turn herself in to them. When Jesus made “love of neighbor” to be on the same level as “love of God,” something unheard of in the Jewish religion at the time, he was calling for a revolution of sorts. Every religious person in Jesus’ time easily recognized the importance of God in their lives. They dedicated one day of the week in which the people followed very strict rules dedicating the day to God; they even would never pronounce God’s name and instead used another holy name for God. Jesus said with his doctrine that every religious person had to treat a neighbor with the same amount of respect. In the fantasy world of “Insurgent” Tris would not tolerate the deaths of other human being. The chances were that the evil people in charge would kill them anyway, but Tris would not allow the death of anyone because of her. It was the “weakness” which brought about her surrender. You and I do not live in fantasy worlds, but we live in a world that in many ways equals the problems of the fantasy world of the movie “Insurgent.” There are many in our world who do not value love as a factor when it comes to other human beings. We may not be able to do anything about it on an international or even national level, but we can do something about it on the local level, that is, our own level of existence. On that local level, we are called to honor and love other human beings–neighbors–as we love our God. If every one of us were able to follow Jesus’ direction, or indeed courageous people like a fictional Tris Prior, perhaps the world on an international and national level would be better than it is.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, through Your Son, You have called us to love other human beings, in fact with the same strength that we love You. Many times, we fail to follow Your Son because we are so weak in that love. Give us Your grace to not only love You, but all of our neighbors with the same intensity. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Perhaps the only “weakness” a human being should have is to possess a true love for all people.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 56 minutes) 1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why? 2. In your opinion, do most people of the world follow what Jesus said about love of God and neighbor? Yes or no and why? 3. If everyone in the world accepted what Jesus said, what would change in our world? 4. In your opinion, in real life now, who is a person that truly “loves everyone.” 5. In what ways is our world like the fantasy world of “Insurgent”? 6. Who in our world right now is most “unloved”? Can we do anything about it? 7. Analysis: Discuss Peter’s actions in the movie. For example, did he plan to “help” Tris and Four from the very beginning? 8. Scene analysis: Caleb leaves the group. In your opinion, why did he leave? 9. Analysis: In your opinion, did Four’s mother Evelyn simply desire the power of being a leader as Four thought at the beginning? Yes or no and why? 10. Analysis: Should Four have executed Eric? Yes or no and why? 11. Analysis: Does the amount of killing in the movie affect young people who watch the movie? Yes or no and why?