[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, June 18, Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time MATTHEW 9:38-10:8 I instructed the Apostles to go and preach the Good News. Prayerthoughts a. Jesus worked hard at helping people who were in need and preaching his Kingdom. Do  I help people whenever I see that I can? b. Do I pray that the Lord will help care for people by asking him to inspire people to work in the Kingdom? c. Matthew names the apostles who became the first missionaries. In a sense we are all missionaries, preaching Jesus’ Gospel by our lives. How am I living out that Gospel right now? d. Jesus restricts his Apostles to work only with Israel, the thrust of his ministry on earth. Most of my “missionary activity” will be with people whom I know. How am I treating those in my acquaintance whom I know best? e. Jesus’ first directive is to preach the Kingdom, that is, that God is present in our world. Do I show my belief in God as I go about my daily work? f. Obviously, I cannot heal the sick in my acquaintance. But do I show signs of personal  concern—a card, a visit, etc.—to the people that I know who are ill? g. The Lord tells me that I am to give without concern for cost, that is, to give without expecting anything in return. In my giving to others, what is my motivation? h. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will read Romans, chapter 5, and write an important thought from it.   Some Thoughts on the Liturgy HEAL YOURSELVES!           It is important to get a feel for how Jesus is thinking in the Gospel today. He is studying the people, wanting to help them as much as he can. In order to do it well, he realized that he needed assistance, he needed laborers. And so he chose the Apostles, telling them to stay in their own neighborhood to do their evangelization and giving them what to say and d           It was a difficult task. Those Apostles would eventually die as they carried it out. They discovered that in order to do it well, they needed people who would accept what they were doing, and make it part of their lives. That is where you and I come in: we are now the people who look at our world as Jesus and the Apostles did, and want to help it as much as we can.           One of the classic productions about Jesus is the play and movie Jesus Christ Superstar—it happens to be one of my favorites—and I quote from it a lot. In one of the scenes, Jesus is by himself after he cleanses the temple. Suddenly from all around him, injured people start to crawl toward him, singing: “See my eyes, I can hardly see; see me stand, I can hardly walk; I believe you can make me whole; see my tongue, I can hardly talk; see my skin, I’m a mass of blood; see my legs I can hardly stand; I believe you can make me well; see my purse I’m a poor poor man; will you touch, will you mend me Christ; will you kiss, you can cure me, Christ…” As they sing, they inch ever closer to him. They are all dressed in black, like spiders that are about to injure him. Jesus sings: “There’s too many of you, don’t push me; there’s too little of me, don’t crowd me” And finally in the play as they are engulfing him completely, he screams: “Heal yourselves!”           I believe that that image is an extremely good one. It is exactly what Jesus and the Apostles wanted to accomplish with the people who would be called Christians. We really are responsible for healing ourselves as much as we can, not in the sense that we become gods and become completely self-centered. But in the sense that we have to use what we have in order to do the things that need to be done. God will give us grace to direct us, help us in every way, but we have to do the action—we have to heal ourselves.           And the way that we heal ourselves? Jesus gives us two directives today—           1 – proclaim the Kingdom, make it clear that we really believe what we are doing as Christians; and           2 – bring about miracles in your own locale. We cannot do anything as spectacular as Jesus and the Apostles did, but we can make a difference in people’s lives. We do it by giving to others without expecting anything in return, or the like.                       I believe that natural disasters and tragedies happen for a number of reasons and one of them is that they provide an opportunity for miracles to happen, miracles that you and I can supply by opening ourselves to help others.           Jesus says in the Gospel:           Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Many people say that it means that we should pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. I think it goes much further than that. If our world is going to be led back to God, we absolutely need more than priests and religious. We need all kinds of dedicated people who labor for God and everything that is God-like. MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Concussion” — final session WHAT IS THE TRUTH? The Gospel JOHN 18:37-38a Jesus answered [Pilate], “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Gospelthink: I say the truth to Pilate, namely that I am a King. Have I made the Lord King of my life, as evidenced by my actions?

Dr. Bennet Omalu in the movie “Concussion” gradually discovered that the truth was that the popular sport of professional football could possibly kill the players later on in life. The violent sport could cause a brain injury that could not be discovered by any of our medical skills before the actual death of the player. Immediately the “business” side of the National Football League began to throw roadblocks against his work, and literally Dr. Omalu was ostracized as a pathologist in the town of Pittsburgh where he had settled. Losing his home and reputation, he had to move to another city to find another job. But he never gave in to the pressure to drop his discovery. He knew the truth, and as he said, he had hoped he would be rewarded simply because he told everyone about it. The NFL finally listened to him.

Pontius Pilate’s famous question of “What is truth?” was a much deeper question than merely the question of who Jesus was. It was a question that Pilate himself with his life had to struggle with. It is also a question that can be a guide for living well. Jesus knew that if people were interested in the truth, they would listen to what he said. We all must seek the truth in everything we are involved in. If we possess the truth, as Jesus said elsewhere (John 8:32), it will always give us the freedom to do what is right and just. Dr. Bennet Omalu knew the truth about the medical condition known as CTE ((Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). He had discovered and shown with proof that too many blows to the brain area of a person’s body could cause mental illness. His discovery, of course, caused the National Football League community to speak out against what he discovered. Since they “owned” Sundays, as the movie pointed out, they did not want their franchise to be threatened by anyone, even if it meant the death of some of its players. Dr. Omalu lost his home and job as a result of his discovery, but the “truth” was his guide. He understood that if people were told the truth, it may help some to live better lives, not unlike Jesus who wanted his truth to be known by all. Dr. Omalu faced the criticism with the help of his wife, by letting the “dead speak,” and suffered the consequences. The application to our lives of the action of Dr. Omalu is easy enough to say, just as the application of Jesus’ truth is easy enough to talk about. But to actually put it into practice involves an acceptance of the truth into our living styles. The truth will indeed set us free, but it may in the end cost more than we care to give.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, Your Son has told us the truth, and we accept it completely, although at times we fail. Enable us to have a true love of Jesus’ “truth,” indeed any truth, so that our lives will be better. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: No matter what the obstacles, one must be faithful to the truth.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 55 minutes) 1. What scene from this session of movie is most striking and why? 2. Analysis: Who are the people that belong to the truth of Jesus? 3. What is your definition of “truth”? 4. Why does the truth set us free? 5. Is it a true statement that the NFL “owns” Sundays? Yes or no and why? 6. What do you understand by the phrase “letting the dead speak”? 7. In what ways could the truth cost us? 8. Do you think that the NFL would actually order Dr. Omalu to retract his statements about CTE? Yes or no and why? 9. Scene analysis: Why would the FBI enter into the whole question of Dr. Omalu’s discovery? 10. Scene analysis: The movie gives the impression that Prema’s still-born was because of the pressure that was placed on her. Do you believe this is true? Yes or no and why? 11. Analysis: Should Dr. Omalu have taken the job in Washington, DC? Yes or no and why? 12. Analysis: Do you believe that it is true that 28% of football players will suffer from CTE? Yes or no and why?  13. Will this movie make any impact on football in America? Should it make an impact? 14. Give an argument in support of the game of football in America, even given the possibility of head trauma. 15. What does the movie “Concussion” teach young people?