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document.write('<h3>Scripture Reflection for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time<br>November 15, 2009</h3><p><strong><em>by <a target="_bl');
document.write('ank" href="http://www.parishwebmaster.com/services/authors/bio_npopadich.htm"><font color="#000000">Nick Popadich</font>');
document.write('</a></em></strong></p><h3>Reading I: <a target="new" href="http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/daniel/daniel12.htm#v1">Danie');
document.write('l 12:1-3</a><br>Reading II:<a target="new" href="http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/hebrews/hebrews10.htm#v11">Hebrews 10:11');
document.write('-14, 18</a><br>GOSPEL: <a target="new" href="http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark13.htm#v24">Mark 13:24-32</a></h3>');
document.write('<h3>One Word To Guide The Rest</h3><P>I would love to write an Oscar-winning screenplay. I\'d love to write a Pulitzer P');
document.write('rize-winning novel. Heck, I\'d love it if my students would just listen. Words can be amazingly powerful if we pay attent');
document.write('ion to them. In the readings today, words and stars are the symbols that help God\'s people remember their final destinat');
document.write('ion.</P><h3>Look To The Stars</h3><P>Do you remember "The Lion King"?  After Simba\'s father, Mufasa (the voice of Jame');
document.write('s Earl Jones) died, he told his son that he would never truly leave him. He would always be watching from the heavens, w');
document.write('here all of the old kings shined in the stars.</P><P>Daniel delivers a similar message today in the Hebrew Scriptures. ');
document.write('He speaks of a time when the dead will be raised and those who lead with justice will be like stars.</P><P>Stars have a');
document.write('lways been the guideposts for ships traveling through dangerous waters. Their light brings to the weary traveler hope of');
document.write(' reaching the destination. Wise men followed the star to find the newborn king in Bethlehem. </P><P>The same is true fo');
document.write('r us today. We are called to follow the light that is Christ\'s love, emanating through time. It is there to remind us of');
document.write(' creation\'s goodness and to give us hope of what is to come.</P><P>Like the Hebrews who were happy to hear Daniel\'s mes');
document.write('sage, Jews throughout history have been a people of hope. Holocaust survivor Gerda Klein once visited the high school wh');
document.write('ere I was teaching. She talked about persevering during the darkest time in her life in the concentration camps. She had');
document.write(' made a promise to her father never to give up or try to escape her situation by suicide. Gerda reminded students that i');
document.write('t is often on the darkest night that the stars shine the brightest.</P><h3>Words That Live On</h3><P>After the assembl');
document.write('y, it was evident that Gerda\'s words had touched the hearts of many students. All of the sophomore students also read he');
document.write('r autobiography, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809015803?ie=UTF8&tag=parishwebmast-20&linkCode=as2&camp=178');
document.write('9&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0809015803">All But My Life</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=parishwebmast');
document.write('-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0809015803" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;');
document.write('" />, and learned a great deal about what it takes to have faith in difficult times.</P><P>The power of words has alwa');
document.write('ys been amazing to me. There\'s something magical about them, and I\'m not just talking about magic words like "please" or');
document.write(' "abracadabra." Words that we hear enter us, are filtered through our brain, and become a part of us.</P><P>In Stephen ');
document.write('King\'s book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743455967?ie=UTF8&tag=parishwebmast-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&cre');
document.write('ative=390957&creativeASIN=0743455967">On Writing</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=parishwebmast-20&l=as2&');
document.write('o=1&a=0743455967" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />, he ');
document.write('talks about how writing is like mastering the art of telepathy. The writer chooses the best words, prints them, and then');
document.write(' the reader reads them and creates an image in his head. The reader may have never met the writer, but he can share the ');
document.write('same image. A good writer uses this power of telepathy to make the reader seem like he is experiencing everything first ');
document.write('hand.</P><P>Students, who had previously never met Gerda, already knew of her experiences through her writing, but were');
document.write(' given the complete picture when they met her.</P><P>Likewise, none of us have met Jesus in a formal sense, but we can ');
document.write('get a good idea of who he is through his words, actions, and the actions of the Body of Christ today. It is not until we');
document.write(' meet him at the end our lives that we will see the complete picture of who God is. </P><h3>Word Power</h3><P>In the g');
document.write('ospel Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."</P><P>This is an amazing concept ');
document.write('because Christ is known as the Word. What a complement to writers! God is the Word. He is the formal expression of the d');
document.write('ivine mind. </P><P>The writers of scripture and Gerda Klein have so graciously written about the human experience so th');
document.write('at others may learn from it. It is in hearing their words of compassion, devotion, and tolerance that we learn to accept');
document.write(' the Word, that is God.</P><P>Our mission as people of God is to use our words wisely. We must try our best to make sur');
document.write('e our words are the expression of the Body of Christ. Our words may not be pondered upon for centuries like those of the');
document.write(' Bible, or for decades like those of Gerda, but hopefully they are guideposts, bright stars, for those who need help alo');
document.write('ng the way.</P><hr><h3>Life Applications:</h3><P>Whose words have really inspired you in your life?<br>What words do y');
document.write('ou wish that you could have taken back?<br>How familiar are you with God\'s word?</p><hr><P>Copyright 2009 <strong><em>b');
document.write('y <a target="_blank" href="http://www.parishwebmaster.com/services/authors/bio_npopadich.htm"><font color="#000000">Nick');
document.write(' Popadich</font></a></em></strong><A HREF="http://www.ParishWebmaster.com/" STYLE="TEXT-DECORATION: NONE"><font color="#');
document.write('000000"><br>All rights reserved. </font></a></P><hr>');