[media presentation below] GospelThink Saturday, November 25 LUKE 20:27-40 Our God is a God of the living who takes care of us who are living. Prayerthoughts a. Quoting Deuteronomy 25:5, the Sadducees speak against the resurrection of the dead.  Obviously, I believe in life that is eternal. Do I think of my death in such a way as to prepare well for it? b. The religious leaders speak in a “flippant” way about marriage. If I am married, is my relationship with my spouse a good one? How can it be improved? If I am not married, am I treating everyone with the respect they deserve? c. Jesus doesn’t ridicule the Sadducees even though they were ridiculing Him. He simply answered them and told them the truth. When people ridicule me or do not pay attention to me, do I show signs of revenge? d. Jesus says that we will be like angels. In your opinion, what does that mean and why? e. Jesus reminds his inquirers that God IS and that God will ALWAYS be. In what areas do I see God most at work in my life and in the world? (This is the task of the meditation.) f. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will carry out letter e. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  LIFE, PART 1 AND 2  + The resurrection of the dead is one of the ideas coming from the Gospel today           – it gives rise to our Christian belief of eternal life           – Jesus takes to task the Sadducees and arguing from the book of Exodus, one of the first five books, and therefore part of Scripture that the Sadducees did believe in,                      – shows that the book of Exodus acknowledges a belief in the resurrection of the dead                                – since Moses called Yahweh the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who have already obviously died                                           – and Yahweh, God, must be a God of the living according to Exodus                                          – then their forefathers are alive, and therefore there must be a resurrection of the dead  + We all believe this doctrine of the resurrection of the dead           – we profess it every time we pray the Creed           – what it should do for us is to give us a little better understanding of life itself                      – life here and now should be different because of our belief in the life hereafter                                – we will live with the idea of a future                                          – that there is more to come  + One of our problems is what might be called a preoccupation with the present           – when we are preoccupied with the present, for example, it does not allow us to understand death and tragedy at all                      – in fact, many have turned off religion because they don’t understand such things as tragedies, and so forth                                – if we are only concentrating on the present, death really does not make sense                                – but if we really believe in the resurrection of the dead, death is only a passageway to further life, what might be called life, part 2           – when we are preoccupied with the present, we don’t allow much time for preparation for life, part 2                      – our “mind-set” is with the things of this life, part 1                      – we don’t want to alter our behavior and follow Jesus’s way to have eternal life because if we do, we will have less fun here                      – we see that sometimes we have to admit our guilt and do something about it—as in the first reading: Antiochus admitted guilt, but would not do anything about it                                – we don’t want to follow through with action because it is too difficult  + Our God is a God of the living           – a God who gives us only life                      – because of God, we cannot not live                                – our life right now is part 1 that must be spent in some type of preparation for part 2 of life,                                          – and if it is,                                                    – earthly death becomes a passageway                                – and life part 2 will be happiness forever with God. MEDIA PRESENTATION Movie: “Captain Phillips” — final session ACCEPTING THE PAIN The Gospel JOHN 18:10-11 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”

Gospelthink: I accepted the pain that was to come to me as difficult as it was. As I have pain for whatever reason, am I asking the Lord for help to accept it?

In this portion of the movie that can only be described as “intense,” Captain Phillips, in the movie named after him, is held captive by the Somalians inside the little lifeboat from the mother ship MV Maersk Alabama. His captors are constantly fighting among themselves with the constant threat of death for Captain Phillips. The Somalian “captain” Abduwali Muse is undecided about what to do since everything that was planned has not worked out. He decided to trust the Americans and allowed his fellow Somalian Najee to be in charge of the lifeboat. Najee is even more hostile to Phillips that Muse was, actually holding a gun to his head for a long period of time ready to kill him at any moment. Captain Phillips is eventually rescued, but severely disoriented by what has happened to him.

There is a theological debate about Jesus’ “consciousness,” that is whether he knew that he was God or not. It is important to note that whether Jesus knew or not, he chose to suffer the pain of the passion he was about to endure. He told Peter that he should suffer the pain that was directly in front of him. Generally speaking, we will not choose to suffer pain unless we have a spiritual reason for doing it, and even then, we should always choose very carefully under someone’s direction. But we all will suffer pain in our lives in some form simply because we are human beings. Captain Phillips in the movie named after him did not choose the pain that he was to suffer, but he had to endure it as best he could. A spiritual author, Sr. Frances Teresa, OSC, put this thought into words: “The most demanding struggles, and the ones which most mature us, psychologically and spiritually, are those that come upon us unsought, always undesired and for which we feel we have had no preparation at all. The struggles that we freely undertake, such as fasting, are much easier, simply because we remain in control.  We can always decide to stop.  What, though, are we to make of those formative experiences of pain and distress which we do not choose and do not like, perhaps can hardly bear, and which we cannot bring to an end when we are tired of them?” It is a great insight for anyone who suffers. That which makes us truly spiritual people is not what we choose; it is what we do not choose—the tragedies, the accidents, the misunderstandings, the complications, the extra stress, the moments when we can do nothing but exist, the necessity to take medication, growing older, the pain we did not expect. The spiritual person must continually question him or herself about how well he or she is suffering. Perhaps most of all, they must question what the illness does to the values which they believe in when they are not sick.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, your Son chose to suffer the pain that would come his way, calling it something that You desired. Help us learn from him, and choose to suffer well the pain that we must endure. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: Perhaps the most difficult thing for people is to put up with the pain they have.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (session: approximately 62 minutes) 1. What scene during this session of the movie was most striking to you? Why? 2. Many commentators say that it is significant that Peter had a sword with him in the Gospel reading.  What do you think it means? 3. In another Gospel, Jesus heals the man. That is, Jesus takes care of an enemy of his. What do you conclude from the action? 4. The “cup” refers to what will happen to Jesus. What do you think is the principal reason why Jesus chose to allow physical and mental suffering in his life? 5. Concerning Jesus’ knowledge of whether he was God or not, what is your opinion? 6. Project: the presenter may want to do a presentation on Jesus’ consciousness. The topic is covered in every theological book on Jesus, e.g., Catholicism, by Richard McBrien. 7. In your opinion, what are some good reasons to bring about “pain,” such as fasting and the like, to the body? 8. Why does pain which is “unsought” have more value for the human being than other pain? 9. From your knowledge of people who suffer not because of choice, but because it was caused by something else, do you think that most people suffer “well,” that is, accepting it from God? Yes or no and why? 10. Scene analysis: As the captors of Captain Phillips argue among themselves, it becomes evident that they are “unstable” in their relationships. What is the reason in your opinion? 11. The captors want more money. Why is “money” such a driving force in our world? How would more money help the Somali pirates? 12. Scene analysis: Captain Phillips helps with the foot problem of one of the pirates. What does this show about the character of Phillips? 13. Dialogue analysis: Phillips tells Muse that the Navy will not let him win. Why? 14. Dialogue analysis: Muse says that he cannot give up. Why? 15. Scene analysis: Phillips tries to escape by jumping and swimming toward the American boat. Do you think that this was a good decision? Yes or no and why? 16. Scene/dialogue analysis: The American gives Muse his word that his tribesmen will be part of the negotiation when they did not intend to do it at all. Do you think that there is anything wrong with the way the Americans handled this negotiation? Yes or no and why? 17. Analysis: Do you think that this type of “negotiation” happens often in the military? Yes or no and why? 18. Scene analysis: Phillips is obviously in shock as he is rescued. How would such a shock affect a person’s future? Note that in real life Phillips went “back to sea” a couple years after the incident. 19. What does the movie “Captain Phillips” teach young people?.