[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, January 14, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time JOHN 1:35-42 I call Andrew and Simon and you. Prayerthoughts a. John the Baptist was working “again” signifying his dedication to his task of bringing   people to repent. Do I consistently ask the Lord for repentance because of my sinfulness? b. John knows Jesus. Do I show that I truly know the Lord by what I said and did this past week? c. I have followed the Lord because of my belief. Do I take enough time to renew my faith in the Lord every day? d. Jesus asks a very good question here: “What are you looking for?” As I consider my life right now, what am I looking for the most? e. The disciples answer “Where are you staying?” Do I recognize the Lord’s presence in everything around me? f. The early apostles spread their message to those close to them. Do I behave well toward those who are closest to me? g. Jesus gives Peter the name of “Cephas.” Jesus has called me by name also. Do I recognize enough that I have been called by God? h. My prayerthoughts….   Today, I will read 1 John chapter 3 and write  an important thought from it. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?  + I think that the question that Jesus asks of the two disciples in the Gospel is actually a very deep question and one that we can learn from           – because depending on the answer, it can shape our lives                      – the question:           What are you looking for?  + The Apostles with their Hebrew background had been imbued with the idea of a coming Messiah           – therefore, perhaps the best way of describing what they were looking for is that they were looking for someone to lead them                      – their answer to Jesus’ question was a statement of a desire to be led—“where are you staying”—as if to say, we hope that you can lead us                                – and they trusted that Jesus could do that  + We can think of that question at every encounter with Jesus, here in Church or in prayer           – as we are gathered here today, for example, what are we looking for, why are we here?                      – perhaps the answer is: a way to get to heaven – a rather selfish understanding of why we are here                      – or a way to prevent hell – likewise selfish                      – or to request an answer to prayer – again most of our prayer is selfish, asking for the things that are most important to us personally           – I believe that our answer to “what are you looking for” should be the answer of the apostles in the Gospel:           – we should be looking for Jesus who will lead us to God, that is, “where are you staying”—I will follow you                      – with the attitude of Samuel in the first reading—“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  + That should mean something in the way we go about our living           – fundamentally, it means accepting completely the person we have chosen to lead us and to follow completely his way of behavior and thought                      – which is nothing less than the total acceptance of God in every situation no matter what the circumstances                                – that is actually a way of stating the primary goal of religion: you and I are called to accept God as part of every one of our situations, no matter what those situations may be           – this is a story that comes out of the Hebrew religious tradition ***      – a long time ago, a rabbi traveled in a foreign country                      – besides his beloved book of the Torah, the Jewish law, he had taken with him the three principal possessions in his life—a donkey, a rooster, and a lamp—                                – and had stopped at night in a village where he hoped to find lodging                                – the people were not very friendly and they drove him away                                          – and he was forced to spend the night in a forest nearby           – but the rabbi bore all of what happened, the pains of life, with ease, and he said as he always said, “All that God does is done well”           – so he found a tree under which to stop, lit his lamp, and prepared to read from the Torah briefly before going to sleep                      – but a fierce wind suddenly blew out the flame, and since he had nothing to light it with, he was left with no choice but to rest                      – later that night wild animals came through and chased away his rooster                                – still later, thieves passed by and took his donkey           – yet in each case, the rabbi simply responded by “All that God does is done well”           – the next morning looking for some food, he returned to the village where he had stopped the night before                      – and he learned that an enemy army had come by in the night, killing almost everyone                                – had he been permitted to stay there, he too would have died                      – he learned also that the raiding army had traveled through the same part of the forest where he had slept                                – if they had seen the light of his lamp, or if the rooster had crowed, or if the donkey had brayed, again he would have been killed           – and how did the rabbi respond                      – he simply replied as he always did, “All that God does is done well”  + In our worship today, Jesus asks us: what are you looking for?           – our answer must be something like the question, “where are you staying” because we want to be led by him                      – it calls for a sincere belief that Jesus will lead us by this Word and Eucharist that we celebrate, and therefore that we choose him totally in our lives, and rely on him completely, saying, “All that God does is done well.” MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Cruel Summer” — Taylor Swift THE DIFFICULTY IN LOVE The Gospel JOHN 7:43-51 So a division occurred in the crowd because of [Jesus]. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this one.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?”

Gospelthink: Nicodemus finally came to understand who I was.

“Fever dream high in the quiet of the night. You know that I caught it. Bad boy, killing me slow, out the window, I’m always waiting for you to be waiting below. Devils roll the dice; angels roll their eyes. What doesn’t kill me makes me want you more. I’m drunk in the back of the car and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar; said, ‘I’m fine,’ but it wasn’t true; I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you. Oh, it’s a cruel summer. He looks up grinning like the devil.”

One of the most difficult aspects of growing for an older adolescent and “twenty-something” is the act of developing love relationships, and ultimately choosing one of them for marriage. It is not easy because every one of us have different ways of doing things and different ways of acting that we have learned from our backgrounds. Everyone’s personality is very different, and struggling to allow our own personality to mesh with another is indeed quite difficult. Taylor Swift’s song “Cruel Summer” expresses those feelings quite well. The initial reaction of her meeting her boyfriend is extremely exhilarating: a “fever dream” that she “caught.” But, as usually happens, the early relationship is shaky and she has “secrets” that she is not sharing with him. And in terms of their relationship, then the summer is “cruel,” that is their time together is difficult. Searching the Gospels for the same feeling. There may not be a romantic feeling as young people have early on, but one finds a number of people who were attracted to the personality and thought of Jesus Christ, but needed time and patience to develop it. Nicodemus was one of them. He had come to Jesus only at night, no doubt a little afraid of what his fellow Pharisees might think of him. Then after the initial fear, he finally worked up the courage to defend him as he and his fellow Pharisees were discussing what to do concerning his ministry. It takes time to develop any type of love relationship. The lesson is absolutely necessary for our modern world in which too many love relationships fall apart in bitterness and hatred. Modern man and woman must spend time and patience as we develop our romantic relationships with one another. If we manage to consider our developing love relationships in a cautious way, our summers and our lives will not be “cruel.” Most of us choose to get married as we live our lives in our complex world. We must strive to see that our final choice will be one that is happy forever, and in order to do that well, we must give it time and patience.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, it is difficult to develop true love in today’s world because of our individual feelings. Therefore, we need your help as we do it. Give us the grace to understand how to love well. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Developing love relationships is difficult and takes time and patience.  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. What does the song “Cruel Summer” teach young people? 2. Besides Nicodemus’ bravery in the Gospel, he brings up a good point: in general, why do people not listen to people before they accuse them? 3. Analysis: the lady in the song is obviously feeling strongly about the man. In general, do we tend to allow our emotions to dictate our behavior? Yes or no and why? 4. In general, how much time should someone spend before he/she makes a decision for a permanent commitment? 5. In your opinion, what is the principal cause of permanent commitment breakdown in our society? Why? 6. In what ways has “divorce” hurt our world?