[media presentation below] GospelThink Monday, January 15 MARK 2:18-22 I give you new understanding of former law. Prayerthoughts a. Spiritual practice includes some type of fasting, whether from food or things (such as television, Facebook, etc.). Do I spend too much time with created things? b. Jesus gives a new meaning to fasting. It involves not the old idea of restraint, but the new idea of love of God. When I am asked to fast (by Church law), do I spend the time when I am fasting to turn to God in prayer? (This is the task of the meditation.) c. The bridegroom, Jesus, is never taken away from us in the sense that the Lord is always with us. Do I acknowledge the Lord’s presence during the day as often as I should? d. Jesus’s approach to life is something new. How do I best describe the Lord’s law? e. New wine is poured into fresh wineskins. I must adjust my life to what the Lord wants. At this time in my life, what should I change the most according to Jesus’s law? f. My prayerthoughts….   Today, I will spend ten minutes of “fasting” from something that I like, and spend the time in some type of prayer. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  THE NEW WINE  + One of the problems that Saul had as king was that of obedience          – here, he is not following the Lord’s command through Samuel                   – and so the Lord rejects his leadership                   – Saul repents, and begs Samuel to appeal to God to give him another chance                            – but this is the beginning of the choice of David to be the king of the Israelites  + Of course, we believe, that the culmination of the Israelite history was Jesus          – during his days on earth, Jesus was responsible for major shifts of understanding religion                   – in the Gospel, Jesus setting up something new that in many ways does not fit in with the older ways of understanding things  + That, of course, was one of the major problems with the Pharisees and even John the Baptist’s disciples as seen here in the Gospel          – Jesus changed perspectives on many of the older traditions                   – here, fasting                            – Jesus’ new approach simply did not agree with the old  + What does this change of perspective mean for the spiritual person, for you and me?          1 – specifically, from today’s Gospel, there is value to fasting                   – since although the bridegroom is still with us in the Eucharist, he is not present in human physical form                            – fasting sets up a remembrance of what God has done for us                                     – and a practice that Jesus seems to sanction here                                              – but always with moderation          2 – we must accept the new wine of Jesus                   – that is, allowing Jesus and his thoughts to be a guide for our living                            – primarily his new thinking is in the area of                                     a) – love of neighbor                                              – and especially the idea of love of enemies                                                       – bringing about true peace and complete absence of prejudice (Martin Luther King Jr celebration)                                     b) – our understanding of God                                              – not a God to be feared, but a God who wants to be part of us and will always be present to us if we ask  +You and I have accepted Jesus and his new wine          – we have to carefully study whether we have put it into practice or not. MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Missing” – final session LOVE YOUR PARENTS The Gospel MARK 7:10-13 Jesus said [to the Pharisees]: “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”

Gospelthink: The Pharisees follow their own thinking rather than God’s.

The essence of the story of the movie “Missing” is the fact that June Allen’s mother Grace did not come back from Columbia like she had told June she would. We find out as the movie progresses that Grace was abducted before she even got on the plane to go to Columbia. It is only through the knowledge of technology (the subject of the beginning session in these notes) that June was able to see what happened to her mother. What is clear from the movie was the deep love that June had for her mother Grace, and vice-versa, the love of Grace for June.

The Gospel text calls to mind the rule of Moses that God’s people were to honor their father and mother. The Pharisees negated that command by teaching that they could give money to the temple in place of helping their parents in need. They took the legitimate qorban offering and used it in an illegitimate and devious way to defraud their parents and enrich themselves. Thus the Law of God was nullified. Jesus, of course, upheld the Law of Moses in this regard, telling his followers that they should honor a person’s father and mother. That Christian law has come down to be one of the pivotal laws with regard to everyone’s future lives. Basically, although there are exceptions, if a son or daughter has a good relationship with father and mother early on, that is “honor” them, their lives will be the better for it. The media is clear in pointing this out. Movies and television shows make it all too obvious that most of the “evil” people who are presented are that way because of a messed up early life. And the messed up early life can be blamed on the fact that father and mother were not what they should have been. In the movie “Missing,” June’s mother and father are presented for our consideration. It would seem that June was able to lead a good life “in spite of” her mother and father. Be that as it may, June loved her mother Grace and she shows it in a striking way as June discovers that Grace is missing. The lesson for our consideration of the movie and from the fourth commandment of the Law of Moses which Jesus endorsed is two-fold. One from the parents’ point of view, that they should be as good as possible to their growing children, and two, that their children grow up loving their parents. And as they do that, they should be willing to work with and perhaps help their parents as they grow older. Studying the directive, it must be pointed out, that the carrying out the law is not easy. Hence, a possible outcome, the situation of our world in which there are truly “evil” people. At the same time however, there is the hope that there would be more and more good families and therefore, better lives in our world.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, You created marriage and having children, and therefore the fact that there should be a good relationship between parents and their children. Give us the grace to grow well into adulthood, and the grace to treat our parents with love. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: There must be true love of father and mother to bring about a good world. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 56 minutes) 1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking? Why? 2. From your study of the Scriptures, what is the principal reason why Jesus had such a difficult time with the Pharisees? 3. It is clear that good families are the ideal for a good world. What are the principal reasons why families have difficult problerms? 4. In your opinion, what is the best means to bring about a “good” family? 5. What can young children who have reached the age of reason (say, 7 years old) do in order to bring about better families? 6. Taking care of older parents has become more and more difficult. What would be a “general” rule to direct children to help their older parents? 7. What does the movie “Missing” teach young people?