[media presentation below] GospelThink Tuesday, November 14 LUKE 17:7-10 I give you my idea of being a servant to all. Prayerthoughts a. The Lord spends some time with the idea of being a servant, a person who waits on others. As I interact with others, do I interact with them as with the thought that I am their servant? b. As I think of the calling to be a servant, what are three main characteristics that a true servant should have? (This is the task of the meditation.) c. Do I honestly feel that those around me are more important than I am? d. How does pride enter into my life right now? e. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will carry out letter b. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy BEING A SERVANT  + One of the Christian characteristics that we should be developing is the idea of servant-hood         – Jesus says in today’s Gospel that that is what we are called to do                 – be servants of others         We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.         – what is a servant?                 – someone who subjects his/her will to another with true humility                         – to God for sure, following God’s directives through Jesus                         – but also to one another                                 – in fact, that is the whole point of Jesus’ story in the Gospel                                         – his listeners knew what servants were                                                 – they knew that the richer people among them had servants who waited on their masters                                                         – they knew the point of Jesus’ story: you have to spend time serving other people, simply because it is one’s duty as a follower of his  + And so the question is formulated by the liturgy today: what kind of a servant are you, am I?         – are we the type of people who want to work for others, who want to help them                 – or are we the type of people who expect things from others, from our families, from our friends         – it is a subtle mind-set to develop                 – because it produces a Christian attitude of behavior—either we will want others to take care of us or we will want to help and serve others  + The book of Wisdom says that peace awaits the just person, and one of the marks of the just person is that he/she has learned the value of being a servant to others. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Not a Bad Thing” — Justin Timberlake THE ONE TO HEAL The Gospel LUKE 4:38-41 After [Jesus] left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah.

Gospelthink: I always wanted to heal people both physically and spiritually. Am I trying to help those around me?

“I know people make promises all the time. Then they turn right around and break them when someone cuts your heart open with a knife, and you’re bleeding. But I could be that guy to heal it over time. So don’t act like it’s a bad thing to fall in love with me, ‘cause you might look around and find your dreams come true with me, spend all your time and money just to find out that my love was free.”

If there is anything that is absolutely clear in the Gospels, it is the fact that Jesus wanted to make people feel better. If he found that they were sick or ill, he wanted to heal them. He wanted to make their lives easier by making them physically better than they were. The Gospels relate that many people came to him for healing and he cured them all. Justin Timberlake’s song “Not a Bad Thing” is a song of commitment to a person who has been hurt in other relationships. In the song, the man in the relationship is making a permanent commitment and at the same time, trying to heal the lady’s situation. The focus of the song seems to be the thought of healing her situation so that they can move into a permanent commitment. We all know that there are things that happen in life that leave scars, sometimes deep scars, and in order to make our lives a little happier, we must work at healing those scars. Sometimes we need a counselor to help us, and it may take a long time, but the message of any psychologist is that we must spend time on some type of healing process. When people make a permanent commitment to marriage, they must address those wounds in some way, and to the best of their ability, as in the song, try to heal them. But the Christian, imitating Jesus, will go further. When Christians sense that some type of healing should take place in any of their closer relationships, they will feel the desire to try to heal them in some way. One of Jesus’ desires was the basic wish to heal the people he could. A Christian should have that same desire.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, your Son was interested in the human beings who were part of his life. He tried to make them feel better and in general tried to heal them of their ailments. Give us his followers the grace to heal the people around us. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: If they can, Christians should take the time to heal someone who is hurting. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. In your opinion, why did Jesus heal so many people? 2. From your study of the Gospels, what “cure by Jesus” stands out the most for you? Why? 3. Jesus did not allow the demons to say his name because he was not ready to proclaim himself to be the Messiah yet. From your study of the Gospels, what title is the most fitting for Jesus? 4. What broken promises do a number of young lovers make? 5. Why is the pain of a “break-up” so difficult to endure? 6. What is the best way to heal a “break up”? 7. What is the primary “dream” for a couple who are in love? 8. As you study human lives, what is most difficult for human beings? 9. In your opinion, do most Christians want to heal people who are hurting around them? Yes or no and why? 10. What does the song “Not a Bad Thing” “teach young people?