[media presentation below] GospelThink Wednesday, March 29 JOHN 8:31-42 I want you to seek the truth because that is what will guide you. You have chosen me as the supreme truth. Prayerthoughts a. Jesus tells us to “remain in his word.” It means that I must read and savor the words of especially the New Testament. Am I continuing to read the New Testament every day? b. We have to always seek the truth. Am I a truthful person, never allowing falsehood to   enter my speech? c. Am I a slave of sin, that is, has some evil entered into my life that I do not want to get rid of? d. Jesus talks of being free. I am free to love God and practice my faith. Is it clear that I am living the faith that I believe in? e. The person of Abraham comes up in the discussion. Indeed, Abraham was a true believer in God. Do I have the faith of Abraham? See Genesis chapter 17. (This is the task of the meditation.) f. Jesus had to argue with the religious leaders. When I argue with my friends and relatives, am I truly loving in the way I speak? g. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will carry out letter e Some Thoughts on the Liturgy LIVING ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF GOD  + The familiar story from the Hebrew Scriptures’ Book of Daniel about Nebuchadnezzar and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is a story of refusal to worship an alien God             – it is also the story of the true living out of the teaching of Yahweh, the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego  + The Gospel is from John’s Gospel, and being from John, it is complicated in its approach but very direct in Jesus’ statement concerning his own divinity             – and one of the ideas that is easy to understand is the same idea as the reading from Daniel:                         – if you live according to the teaching of God, then you are truly God’s disciples  + That living according to God for us who have accepted and vowed to follow Jesus Christ means living specifically according to the teaching of Jesus as found in the Gospels and the New Testament             – and as we study the liturgy today, we are reminded of what it means in a couple of specific areas:             1 – the teaching of Jesus is that we keep away from worshiping idols                         – as the young men in the furnace                                     – translated for us, that we keep away from anything that occupies our minds in a more important way than living the life we have promised as Christians                                                 – those idols that can easily occupy too much of our energy,                                                             – and therefore keep us away from the perspective of God in the way we live             2 – priding oneself in Abraham                         – translated to our twenty-first century language: priding ourselves in the fact that we are Christians, that is belonging to Jesus,                                     – really belonging to Jesus is so much more than saying that we belong to Jesus                                     – it implies action and something that can be measured                                                 – the type of thing in which people know that this is how we believe                                                             – people outside and our family inside can see that we totally accept the Lord’s teachings, no matter how difficult they may be             3 – loving Jesus as Son of God is a necessity in the Christian spiritual scheme of things                         – that means not only following his teachings                                     – but true love that envelopes our thoughts, words and actions                                                 – especially seen in time spent in prayer                                                 – developing extra time of prayer with the Lord  + These are all attributes that we know and have talked about before             – and good meditation to improve our spiritual lives. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Summer” — Calvin Harris …BUT YOU LIED The Gospel JOHN 8:42-45 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? Because you cannot bear to hear my word. You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.”

Gospelthink: I call you to tell the truth with regard to me, but also in your own spiritual life. Am I a truthful person?

“When I met you in the summer to my heartbeat sound. We fell in love as the leaves turned brown. And we could be together as long as skies are blue. You act so innocent now, but you lied so soon when I met you in the summer.”

Calvin Harris’ song “Summer” appears to be about a relationship which is good and wholesome, but immediately he sings the problem. “But you lied,” he sings, saying to his friend that even though that friend acted as if everything was just fine with their time together, the person was deceiving him. The friend was lying, and therefore one would suspect, their relationship was over.     Jesus had many relationships with his fellow human beings when he was here on earth. If there was some foundational principle that he wanted in a relationship, it was probably honesty and the truth. At one time, he made reference to someone who was not “standing in truth,” as he put it. He said of such a person that he was a son of the devil because he was a liar. It is strong language showing Jesus’ feeling about people who tell lies. Perhaps one of the most common faults of young people is not telling the truth. They usually are not large lies, but ones that are often called “harmless.” Sometimes they are harmless and no one gets hurt except maybe the one who tells the lie. The one who tells the lie often can develop a habit of telling lies, and in the end becomes less of a person as a result. Telling lies is not only a fault of young people, of course. Adults also fall into the habit, and for them, it is actually more of a problem. Generally speaking, adults fully understand what they are doing when they tell a lie. Often the lie is nothing more than cover-up for an action that they do not want to admit, or a way to make themselves appear better than they are. Author Spencer Johnson once wrote that “Integrity is telling myself the truth, and honesty is telling the truth to other people.” We all should possess the integrity and honesty to make telling the truth part of how we live.

PRAYER  Good and gracious God, your Son reminded us how important the truth is as he spoke of the truth that He shared with You. May we learn the lesson of truth, and keep ourselves from the fault of telling lies in our lives. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Honesty should always be part of any relationship.  THE GOSPEL 1. In your opinion, why did the people not understand that Jesus was from God? 2. What is your understanding of the “devil”? (See Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, numbers 2850-2854). 3. Text analysis: “Stand in truth.” What does the phrase mean?  4. Text analysis: “When he tells a lie, he speaks in character.” What is the meaning of the sentence? 5. Give your own definition of “truth.” 6. In your opinion, why did Jesus use such strong language about lying?THE SONG   1. Text analysis: “My heartbeat sound.” What is the meaning of the phrase? 2. Why does lying destroy a relationship? 3. In general, do you believe that a person should confront another if he/she catches that person in a lie? Yes or no and why?     THE MEDITATION 1. In a romantic relationship, does “lying about how they feel about the other” always mean the end of the relationship? Yes or no and why? 2. How does lying hurt the one who tells the lie? 3. What does it mean to become “less a person” because of lying? 4.  In your opinion, is lying more of a problem for an adult? Yes or no and why? 5. Give an example from history of “lying” in order to establish a “cover-up.” 6. Give an example of someone who lied in order to appear better than they are. 7. Give your own definition of “integrity.”   8. What does the song “Summer” teach young people?