[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, June 12, The Most Holy Trinity JOHN 16:12-15 The Spirit that I will send will instruct you. Prayerthoughts a. The apostles were not ready to hear the complete message of Jesus. I have the advantage of having the whole message. As I study the Christian message, what are the most important messages and how do they apply to me? b. The Holy Spirit will guide us to truth, meaning the truth of Jesus. But speaking in general of truth, am I a truthful person always? What are the times when I am not truthful and honest? c. The Holy Spirit will guide us to the message of Jesus. What are the different guides to    my life right now? The Christian message should be the most important guide, but is it      truly? Who or what do I truly follow? d. Once we have received the Christian message, we will be part of the Trinity—Father, Son and Spirit. Do my actions, say yesterday, show that I am truly part of God’s direction? e. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will list the different guides that I have in my life right now. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy THE TRUTHS OF GOD AND THE WORLD            We celebrate today the feast of the Holy Trinity, what we call a mystery: there is one God, three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that is, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.           The liturgy chooses a Gospel from Jesus’ Last Supper, and Jesus uses a phrase as he talks of the Spirit that is good to think about:           The Spirit of truth … will guide you to all truth. As Jesus explains it here, the whole Trinity is present: the Holy Spirit comes through the Father working with the Son guiding us to the truth. A spiritual question that comes from the fact is: what are the truths that should guide our lives and the truths that actually guide our lives?           We know what the truths should be. They should be the words of Jesus in these Scriptures, “the truth of God.” But there are other truths that are at work in our lives as well. Many of those, the Spirit has not led us to. They act against the works of God and unfortunately often guide our lives. We might call them “the truth of the world.” It is profitable for our spiritual lives to dwell on the contrast between the truth of God and the truth of the world.            I love this story that comes out of the early West, supposedly true. There was a notorious bank robber at one time by the name of Pepe Rodriguez. He lived across the border in Mexico, crept into Texas, robbed banks, and returned to Mexico with the money. The Texas Rangers were trying to get him, but he would always go back across the border away from their jurisdiction. Finally, a couple of Rangers illegally crossed the border, and cornered Pepe in a bar.            Since Pepe did not speak English, and the Rangers did not speak Spanish, they got the bartender who was known to be a “God-fearing” man, to translate for them. Through the good bartender, the Rangers told Pepe that if he did not tell them where all of the money was, they would put him into prison for life. As it turned out, Pepe was really a timid soul, and when he heard what the Rangers said, he was quite afraid, and finally told them everything, even where all the money was hidden.            When the good bartender heard what Pepe said, the bartender told the Rangers: Pepe just told me that he is a brave man and he says that you are a bunch of stinking pigs and he is not afraid to die. The bartender now knew exactly where the money was, and after the Rangers took Pepe back to Texas, he took the money for himself. The bartender may have known what the truth of God was, being a God-fearing good man himself, but the truth of the world, the truth that guided him—money, in this case—took over.            We say that we want the truth of God. We pray that way all the time. Whenever we think of God, we really do want the truth of God. But the chances are that, at times, the truth of the world tends to take over in our lives. Not only when there is a real chance for an extra amount of money as with the bartender in Pepe’s story, but in things like selfish enjoyment, getting what we want, always being satisfied, and the like.            As we think of the mystery of the Trinity this Sunday, perhaps a question that can guide our thinking is this: which is stronger in our lives at this moment of time: the truth of God or the truth of the world? MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Bad Blood” — Taylor Swift THE PROBLEM OF BAD BLOOD The Gospel LUKE 9:49-50 Then John said…“Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.” Jesus said to him, “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Gospelthink: Everyone who helps you in some way is good for you. Do I listen as well as I should to the people who want to help me?

“‘Cause, now we got bad blood. You know it used to be mad love. So take a look what you’ve done. Hey, now we got problems, and I don’t think we can solve them. You made a really deep cut, and, baby, now we got bad blood. Did you have to do this? I was thinking that you could be trusted. Did you have to ruin what was shiny? Now it’s all rusted. Did you have to hit me where I’m weak? I couldn’t breathe. And rub it in so deep, salt in the wound like you’re laughing right at me. Oh, it’s so sad to think about the good times, you and I, ’cause, baby, now we got bad blood.”

Taylor Swift’s song “Bad Blood” presents the occasion to talk about relationships that do not work out for some reason. There are many such times in life and perhaps the most common is the romantic one that the lady in the song is singing of. There was a breakup that occurred and the lady in the song is reflecting on it. But the situation carries over to other instances as well. Friends have a falling out, we move away from people who were close to us, or the like. What the person in the song expresses is extremely important–there may be times when things do not work out between people, but what she sings should never happen because it will only make matters worse. The falling out ought to be civil, and never with the malice as described in the song. It is the Christian principle of allowing others to be different from us, and accepting it as such. Jesus pointed out to his followers that even though there are others who are not following the way he was proposing, it does not make them bad people. It merely means that they have chosen another way of living their lives and attaining happiness. Unfortunately, many times we have not learned that lesson very well. We especially see it in a romantic relationship after some sort of breakup, as the song “Bad Blood” describes. What was described as “mad love” has ceased, but through someone’s fault–the song describes it as the other’s fault–it is not an amicable breakup at all. In the song’s case, the other ruined the relationship, and hurt the person in the song, “rubbing” it in, like salt in a wound. It is a situation that could easily lead to revenge, and therefore real problems in life. It is not an easy lesson, because someone is hurting very badly in the relationship. When it happens, it is very difficult to accept the consequences, let the other go their own way, and forget about it. It is true of course that we will never be able to forget about it completely, but it will lead to a happier life if we just ignore the malice that can be part of the break up, and move on without being vindictive. It is never easy to live with “bad blood” between people, and so it is best to let time heal the relationship and merely move on.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, our human interaction often involves some sort of falling out between people. Give us the grace to accept what happens without the desire to retaliate in any way. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: We will have to leave some relationships when they do not work out, but we should never do it with malice.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. In the Gospel, Jesus is advocating tolerance of others who may not be following what he is teaching. Religious tolerance is a virtue that is very important in our complicated world. In general, do Catholic Christians show enough tolerance of other religions? Yes or no and why? 2. Why have we not been able to be as tolerant as we should? 3.The two obviously had quite a confrontation. Why do confrontations often end up in heated arguments? 4. Analysis: As you study the song, what do you think will happen next in their relationship? 5. Why is it generally so difficult for a romantic breakup to be “civil”? 6. In general, do you agree that “revenge” is something that we should not allow in our lives? Yes or no and why? 7. Why is it true that one cannot just forget about something that has happened? 8. To act well after a difficult happening is very difficult, and many experts say that if we do, our lives will be better because of it. Why is it a true statement? 9. The meditation suggests that we allow time to help heal. What else can help a relationship heal?  10. What does the song “Bad Blood” teach young people?