carmelite daily reflection
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.. If Lectio Divina is used for group prayer, obviously more structure is needed than for individual use. and that I should raise it up on the last day. He is the full revelation of God. Ultimately, the object of our faith is beyond full human understanding, at least in this life. It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son should have eternal life. She was born into tumultuous times (1347-1380). offers daily reflections, meditations and prayers focused on the Gospel of the day, the gift of Divine Mercy, our Lord's Passion, our Blessed Mother, the saint of the day, feasts of the liturgical year, daily Mass readings and much more! We try to hear what he may be saying to us; we seek to follow where he is leading us. It has been the language of the church since its very earliest days. It recognizes that people can refuse Gods love, Gods gift of his Son, Gods offer of life. Paul portrays such a Spirit-filled life when he says in his letter to the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered them and said, Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. When Jesus says in this mornings gospel reading, I am the gate or I am the door, he was thinking of the gate or the door as an opening through which people could pass rather than as a barrier which prevented people from passing. In this mornings gospel reading, the Jews ask the question, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Far from pulling back in response to that dismissive question, Jesus goes on to speak of the need not only to eat his flesh but to drink his blood as well. because you are no sheep of mine. AnalyticalOur website uses analytical cookies to make it possible to analyze our website and optimize for the purpose of a.o. The proclamation of the word leads to baptism and then in the gospel reading Jesus speaks in language that is clearly Eucharistic, the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. The story of the Ethiopian shows that if we seek the Lord we will find him, because the Lord is always seeking us. Each of us has some responsibility for some little flock of our own, whether we are married or ordained or a religious or a single person. Below you can choose which kind of cookies you allow on this website. They feared that what was done to Jesus could be done to them. Even in our advanced technological age, compared to that of the age of Jesus, we can harness the wind, but we cannot control it. he who is born of the earth is earthly himself I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.. They had forgotten that Jesus had told them that, having been crucified by his enemies, God would raise him from the dead. Divine Office Given the way Jesus uses the image of the gate or the door of himself in the gospel reading, it is only right that the gates and the doors of churches should be more often open than closed, at least during daylight hours. If the wind is blowing from the north, we cannot make it blow from the south. My hosanna has come forth from the crucible of doubt. but so that through him the world might be saved. Light exposes wrong doing. There is a striking statement in todays first reading, Saul then worked for the total destruction of the church. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: In todays gospel reading, Andrew, noticing that a small boy has give barley loaves and two fish, asks the question, What is that between so many? His assessment was that the resources available were much too small to meet the need. How can this man, Jesus, give us his flesh to eat? The Lords personal call to each of us will always be in harmony with that fundamental purpose of his coming among us. Here in the early church was the life of God in human form. It is an image that speaks to us of the Lords determination to hold onto us and prevent us from becoming separated from him. As they were heading to a village called Emmaus, they were heading in the wrong direction. It was an unexpected moment which expressed an important truth about how the Pope sees his ministry in the church. Having allowed God to work through him to bring the Ethiopian to Jesus, Philip moved on from him, and the Ethiopian continued on his way rejoicing. Before he began his missionary career the Lord gave Paul this profound experience of his dependence on others, and, ultimately, on the Lord. The wind is a mysterious force which we cannot simply manage to suit ourselves. Jesus is always calling us too to take some new step on our faith journey. He wants us to recognize him not as a stranger but as leader who knows us through and through, who can see more clearly and more deeply than we can. However, the womens subsequent report of what they had seen and heard made no impression on the two disciples. His own reasoning did not allow him to believe that life had triumphed over death, that the crucified Jesus was now the risen Lord. Just click on the month of interest and scroll to the day required. A little later in that same gospel of John, Jesus declares that, after his death and resurrection, he will send us the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, who will guide us into all the truth. As they say to the religious authorities in that first reading, Obedience to God comes before obedience to men. It takes a certain amount of humility to make way for the gifts of others. The gospel reading suggests that people of faith, those who seek to be guided by the light of Christ, will always have something very fundamental in common with all who seek the truth with sincerity of heart. This step will always entail for us, as it did for Nicodemus, a greater surrender to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Yet, it is the language of Johns gospel. The cardinals, regretting their choice, elected another Pope, but failed to persuade Urban to retire. The two disciples were struggling with a deep sense of loss. Believing in him as the one sent by God will open them up to receive all that he wants to give them. we speak only about what we know These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name. There is a mysterious quality to the wind. [After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] Thomas doubts speak to our own doubts. The bread that we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ? This was the faith of the early church and of the church ever since. Easter celebrates the faithfulness of God to his Son Jesus, and the faithfulness of Jesus to all of us. If we remain true to our spiritual search, the Lord has his own way to meet each one of us and to invite us, as he invited Thomas, Doubt no longer but believe. OtherOur website places 3rd party cookies from other 3rd party services which aren't Analytical, Social media or Advertising. As John the Baptist had earlier said, he is the one on whom the Spirit descended and remained and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. However, the message that the evangelist seeks to communicate through his telling of that event is reasonably clear. In the world of Jesus, there were no sheepdogs to do the shepherds work for him. The birth of a child is one of the greatest causes of joy in human experience, especially for the parents of the child. Since the time of Jesus it has been a centre of pilgrimage not only for Jews but also for Christians. Occasionally when myself and my brothers were children, my parents would tie a cloth around the gate to keep it from being opened, so that we wouldnt run out on the road. The first reading suggests that no human power can block the preaching of the gospel, not even the imprisonment of the apostles, Jesus closest associates. Although a teacher in Israel, Nicodemus responds to Jesus words about this kind of birth with the question, How can that be possible? Yet, the good news is that Jesus came to draw us into his own relationship with God and he makes this possible in and through the gift of his Spirit to us, the Holy Spirit. God sent his Son that the world might be saved through him. The church now had two rival Popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon, a situation that was to last for several decades. so am I sending you.. The Lord works in life-giving ways in what can seem to be desolate places. Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life. It was while the first disciples were at prayer in the upper room on the Jewish feast of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came down upon them in the form of tongues of fire. Yet, Jesus declares that he wishes his relationship with his followers to have the same intimate nature. The origin and destination of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is wrapped in the mystery of God. Daily prayer and reflections based on the Scripture readings of the day. Then he said to them, You foolish men! You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things! replied Jesus. New upmarket housing blocks tend to be gated affairs. He then goes on to speak of Jesus, in the opening line of our gospel reading, as the one who comes from above and who, therefore, is above all others. Jesus goes on to make a comparison between the wind and the Spirit, or more precisely with all who are born of the Spirit. It seems that in the course of Jesus public ministry he gradually grew in his relationship with Jesus; he allowed himself to be drawn to Jesus more fully. Then, out of the mouth of the great sceptic came the fullest profession of faith in the gospel, My Lord and my God. The story of Pauls conversion in the first reading has captivated artists down the centuries. Having come to Gods Son, we need to remain in him, to remain in his love, and we do that by keeping his word, by living out his new commandment to love one another as he has loved us. He recognized that there was a boy present who had five loaves and two fish, but he realistically asked, What is that among so many people? Jesus, however, saw the rich potential of those meagre resources and immediately began to take control of the situation, Make the people sit down. FunctionalOur website uses functional cookies. The very personal call that the Lord addresses to each one of us will always be a call to give of ourselves in some way to others, to give life to others by our loving service. This was a letter that was written from Rome. Even if our relationship with the Lord seems tentative at times, Nicodemus encourages us to believe that it can become less so. She was born in 1347, the daughter of a prosperous wool dyer, and died in 1380, at the age of thirty three. The Bible is the Word of God which is always alive and active, always new. It seems that it wasnt possible to lock the Lord out. In todays gospel reading, Jesus presents himself as the only one who can truly satisfy the deeper, spiritual, hunger in our lives. In response, Jesus challenges them to work, not for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life. At the beginning of todays gospel reading we find the people of Galilee searching for Jesus. To believe is at the same time to wait in joyful hope. Gates can be understood as both barring the way and opening up a way. It is a great gift to be able to recognize the good that the Lord is doing through someone or some group and then to encourage it along. In this mornings gospel reading, Jesus sees crowds coming towards him. In that context, he speaks of the wind as an image of the Spirit. He had a sense of the Lord coming to him in the sound of a gentle breeze. As a result of his meeting with the risen Lord outside Damascus Saul the violent persecutor of the church became the great apostle to the Gentiles. The words of the stranger rekindled the hope of the disciples, as they said, Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road?. Reflections on Daily Readings. I firmly believe that churches should be open as often and for as long as possible. Catherine stood out as a beacon of light in a dark time in Europe and in the church. He is clearly speaking about himself. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. After a powerful, ecstatic experience of Christ in 1374, she commenced her public role, mediating in an armed conflict between the city of Florence and the Avignon-based papacy. These cookies are necessary to let our website work. In the gospel reading this morning, the people come to Jesus looking for more of the bread they ate when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. Jesus was looking beyond the group of Jewish disciples he had gathered. It was only after listening carefully to the two disciples that the stranger spoke. We encounter something of the mystery of God in and through every human birth. that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, A locked door was no obstacle to him. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.. When it comes to the Lord we are not just one of a crowd, lost in a sea of faces. Even if we try to lock the Lord out of our lives, he comes to us anyway. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. We cannot control the Spirit, no more than we can control the wind. There is an interesting sequence across the two readings this morning. At such times of great discouragement, very often we can only see what went wrong. Todays gospel reading assures us that the Lord understands a doubting, questioning, faith. Passing through Jesus the gate is always a response to his call; it involves allowing ourselves to be drawn by a love which knows us through and through and loves us without limit. (ii) Monday, Fourth Week of Easter (Year A). Leading and driving are two very different activities. It was the time of the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. the usability. the usability. In reality, Jesus was not just Nicodemus fellow teacher. The shepherd calls out to each of us individually, by name. At some level it does not make sense to us, or it appears to make too great a demand on us. We are all being encouraged to see ourselves as belonging to that group. We each have to ask ourselves, What does it mean for me to live out my calling to be the Lords disciple?. These days when we are deprived of the Eucharist can sharpen our awareness of the many other ways the Lord is always coming to us. He was reconciling them to himself, displaying his faithfulness to them, in spite of how they had failed him.
