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Home Sections The Daily B.R.E.A.D. March 13, 2009 - Friday Meditation (Wow! What a Great Pitcher!)
March 13, 2009 - Friday Meditation (Wow! What a Great Pitcher!) PDF Print E-mail
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Sections - The Daily B.R.E.A.D.
Thursday, 12 March 2009 22:38
When faced with what seems to be a negative situation, adjust your perspective and choose to see it positively.
 
 

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46  "Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. (34) When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; (35) and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. (36) Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. (37) Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, `They will respect my son.' (38) But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' (39) And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. (40) When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" (41) They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in  their seasons." (42) Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: `The very stone which the builders rejected  has become the head of the corner;  this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? (43) Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it." (45) When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. (46) But when they tried to arrest him, they feared the multitudes, because they held him to be a prophet. 
 
 
* Meditation by Eileen Wirth (Creighton)
 
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
 
After reading the warning in today’s Gospel that “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit,” it’s tempting to write a screed about how Jesus loved outsiders and we’d better be nice to them OR ELSE.
           
True enough, but not very helpful.  Instead I’ve been meditating on the quote from Scripture just above those lines – about the stone the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone. I think it’s useful for parents and teachers, especially, to ponder just  HOW that might happen with the people we are raising, teaching and mentoring. That’s central to my mission at a Jesuit university.

Two years ago, I spent an inspiring day interviewing students at Chicago’s Cristo Rey High School for a chapter in my book on the nation’s Jesuit high schools. Cristo Rey’s low income, mostly minority students pay much of their tuition by working one day a week at an off-campus job that they share with other students. They earn badly needed income for their education but more importantly, they connect with people who become their mentors and guides to a world far different than their neighborhoods. The results have been remarkable.

“My father tells everyone that he was a garbage picker in Mexico and now he has a daughter who is going to Georgetown,” one senior told me. I’m pretty sure Cristo Rey’s magic isn’t just introducing its students to rich and educated people so much as it is in exposing them to caring mentors, making real demands and holding them accountable. It works because the school and the mentors respect and value the students rather than pitying them.

I think Jesus wants us to open God’s Kingdom to a far broader collection of people than many of this world’s privileged people would do. We can help build the Kingdom of God here by extending ourselves in love, respect and genuine solidarity that banishes class and economic distinctions to “outsiders” as the Cristo Rey schools do. 
  
* Supplementary Reading

The Power of a Positive Attitude by Robert H. Schuller
 

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said, 'I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith–Matthew 8:10

 
 
N othing generates as much energy, enthusiasm, or vitality in life as a positive mental attitude.
I'm reminded of the story of a little boy who was overhead talking to himself as he strutted through the backyard, baseball cap in place, toting a bat and ball. "I'm the greatest batter in the world," he said proudly. He tossed the ball, threw it into the air, and said to himself as he swung at the ball again, "I am the greatest batter ever!" But again he missed. He paused a moment, then threw the ball into the air again and shouted, "I'm the greatest baseball batter who ever lived!" He swung hard but missed again. "Wow!" he exclaimed, "What a great pitcher!"
Now that's a positive mental attitude!

* * *
When faced with what seems to be a negative situation, adjust your perspective and choose to see it positively.

* * * 
 
Note: This excerpt was taken from the "Power for Life Daily Devotional
 
 
GOD BLESS US ALL!

PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.

http://his-ways-better-than-our-ways.blogspot.com

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Last Updated on Friday, 13 March 2009 02:41
 

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