[media presentation below] GospelThink Saturday, October 21 LUKE 12:8-12 I will be with you if you want to be a follower of mine. Prayerthoughts a. Of course, I say that I acknowledge that the Lord is the guide of my life. But is it evident as I look at yesterday? b. I obviously have not spoken against the Lord in my life right now, but there have been times in the past. I should recall some of them, and renew my sorrow by asking for forgiveness once again, knowing that the Lord will give it. c. The sin against the Holy Spirit is the refusal of God’s mercy when it is offered. I should take the time to pray that those who have refused (without being judgmental), will be open to the graces that God gives them. d. The Holy Spirit is always there with me, no matter what the situation, giving me the guidance that I need. At what time in my life have I felt that Holy Spirit in particular. A prayer of thanksgiving is in order. e. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will read Romans, chapter 4:13-19,  and write an important thought from it. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  THE HOLY SPIRIT CONTINUES TO TEACH US  + The prayer of St. Paul as he writes to the Romans is that as Abraham’s descendants, we understand that everything is dependent on the grace of God           – the way that that is done in Luke’s thought as he remembers what Jesus said, is through the Spirit                      – Luke through Jesus gives us what is the job of the Holy Spirit:           The Holy Spirit will teach you.           – the Holy Spirit’s job is to teach us the real hope, the real riches, the real power  + With our human nature though, the problem comes in allowing ourselves to be taught           – especially in those areas that we don’t particularly like anyone to interfere with                      – the areas where we might have to change and we don’t want to change           – but if we want to grow spiritually, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to teach           – according to today’s Gospel, that will happen when:                      – we work on a relationship with Jesus                                – again here, we see the importance of Sacred Scripture                                          especially the New Testament and reading it every day                      – and it will happen when we do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit                                – what this verse means is debated among Scripture scholars,                                          – but it probably means the sin of attributing to Satan—evil—what should be attributed to God                                                    – that is, we are deliberately denying God                                                    – that is, that we deliberately forgetting about God’s work in our lives                                                               – it is an unforgivable sin because we are denying the source who can forgive sin  + From the liturgy, perhaps a couple of things for our spiritual growth:           – 1 – first of all, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us                      – that is, to put ourselves into a situation in which we will receive the Holy Spirit                                – to allow prayer to happen in our lives, to give ourselves the quiet time that we need to allow God to speak to us                                          – to put ourselves in an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit can operate in us           – 2 – we have to listen to the Spirit                                – which involves, listening to the words, thoughts and actions of Jesus                                – listening to the things that happen to us in our lives                                          – and realize that God talks to us through them                                – listening to our conscience telling us what to do in the situations in which we find ourselves  + The Holy Spirit is just as much alive today as in the time of Jesus and the early Christian writers           – but we have to allow that Holy Spirit to work in us. MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Marshall” — final session THE PREJUDICE AROUND US The Gospel JOHN 8:3-11 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to [Jesus], “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.

Gospelthink: I treated the woman with the respect that she deserved as a human being. Do I treat everyone with the respect that they deserve, especially those that I dislike for some reason?

As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall together with Sam Friedman early on in their careers defended Joseph Spell against the accusation that Spell had sex with Eleanor Strubing, his white employer, Marshall found that Spell outright lied to him. He had had consensual sex with Strubing at Strubing’s insistence, but Spell knew that even if innocent, as a black man he would be lynched in his native Louisiana for having sex with a white woman. He told the Judge Foster so and the judge allowed his statement to stand. It was a tribute to the judge that he let the statement stand because the prejudice was so strong that he could easily have been convicted. Both Marshall and Friedman went on to work against prejudice in the United States.

Prejudice comes in many forms, that is, it is seen in many different instances. In the Gospels, the ones who were “holy” or “righteous,” the scribes and Pharisees, showed a strong prejudice against sinners. Such was the case one time when Jesus was in Jerusalem. Intending to embarrass Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees made use of a sinful woman to bring out a point that they were making. Taking them to task in the simplest of ways, Jesus showed respect for the sinner, and taught a valuable lesson concerning prejudice. His lesson: the way to overcome any prejudice is to learn to respect the people involved. In the initial stages of working against the racial prejudice against African Americans in the United States, Thurgood Marshall was instrumental in overturning prejudicial lawsuits. The movie “Marshall,” presents one such case showing the problems that Marshall encountered. Even though Joseph Spell was innocent of the charges of rape, the very fact that he had sex with a white woman even though it was consensual condemned him to death. Although much of the racial prejudice has been successfully addressed over recent years, prejudice continues to be part of our world. It is present in the workplace, at school, and even at Church. Perhaps the only way to counteract it is to learn to respect the people who are involved. The letter of James in the New Testament gives the Christian reasoning against prejudice: “If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:9-10). If we act against our prejudice, if we overcome our feelings of what we think, we will begin to understand everyone’s environment and their problems from their point of view; we will overcome any prejudice we may have against them.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, we make judgments about different people all the time in our minds. Give us the grace to recognize the prejudices that we have and the courage to overcome them.  Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: We must do our best to work against the prejudice around us.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 54 minutes) 1. What scene during this session of the movie is most striking and why? 2. In the Gospel account, why do you think Jesus wrote on the ground? 3. In general, in your opinion, why is any kind of prejudice wrong? 4. What is the best way for you to work against racial prejudice? 5. What is your definition of “respect”? 6. What is the best thing to do when the court system is against what is morally correct? 7. Is “prejudice” a problem in your school? your place of employment? Yes or no and why? 8. What does the movie “Marshall” teach young people?