carmelite daily reflection
We all have the potential to be a Barnabas, to open doors for others so that the Lord can work powerfully through them. Not that anybody has seen the Father, We would normally think of eternal life as beginning after our earthly life is completed, but this mornings gospel reading suggests that eternal life is somehow accessible to us here and now, during this earthly life. Following on his conversion, Paul had returned to Tarsus, his home city. Yet, God is prepared to wait, as Jesus was prepared to wait for Nicodemus. Even those of us who have been baptized and who have come to believe in Jesus are being drawn more closely to Jesus by God the Father. They then fail him completely when he enters into his passion and death; all of them deserted him. The gospel reading calls on us rather to have an expectant faith, a faith in the Lords power to work wonders with even the little that we give him. The word of the Lord nurtures our faith in preparation for our encounter with him in the Sacraments. Daily Gospel & Reflections Home / Daily Gospel & Reflections Easter 3rd Week : Wednesday 26th April, 2023 Daily Word Of GodJohn 6:35-40 Jesus said to the crowd: 'I am the bread of life. The Jews started arguing with one another: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? they said. A rule of life was given to the early Carmelites by St Albert Avogadro, Patriach of Jerusalem between the years 1206 - 1214. In the second scene of todays gospel reading, the focus is on one disciple, Thomas. There are several stories in the gospels of people who go looking for Jesus. It was the time of the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. 1 Peter appears to have been written from the church in Rome sometime after the year 70. At some level we are all seekers or searchers. They understood, as Jesus did, that prayerful attentiveness to Gods word would allow their lives to be shaped by Gods purpose and would best serve the life of the believing community. Joseph reminds us that our own personal response to our own calling from God will always have huge consequences for others. The initiative we take towards the Lord is always one we take with other disciples. We are probably to understand my son as my spiritual son. In todays gospel reading, the people who had been fed by Jesus in the wilderness go looking for him, getting into boats and crossing the Sea of Galilee to find him. We refer to this as kidnapping or people trafficking. Ive been in the coffee shop before and at a neighboring table the people were speaking a language I didnt understand. We spend our lives growing in our openness to the Spirit. No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. We must take what we read in the Word of God into our daily lives. In one of his encyclicals, Faith and Reason, the late Pope John Paul II stated that the church remains profoundly convinced that faith and reason mutually support each other they offer each other a purifying critique and a stimulus to pursue the search for a deeper understanding. She died at the age of thirty three. This is a message we need to hear today. and whoever comes to me I shall not turn him away; Perhaps we can never know what exactly happened on that day, but the gospel reading is suggesting that the Lord can work powerfully through what are apparently very insignificant resources, a small boy and his few loaves and fish. That beatitude embraces all of us gathered here this morning. That fundamental message of Marks gospel remains a word of encouragement to the church, the community of the Lords disciples, today as we battle with our own storms. Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. Do not be afraid. For us this involves seeking out Jesus, as Nicodemus did, because we believe Jesus to be God in human form, the en-fleshed Word. According the Acts of the Apostles, the name Barnabas means son of encouragement. However, there will always be a reserve in our receiving. We need to keep praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit afresh upon us, if we are to live our faith to the full in todays world. However, the more fundamental confirmation is the Lord confirming us as we strive every day to follow in his way. He was drawn to Jesus but he could not quite grasp what Jesus was asking of him, not initially at least. His question, How can that be possible? becomes our question. Below are links to various resources to inspire you on a daily basis. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. In todays gospel reading, Jesus tells Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee and expert in the Jewish Law, that he needs the Holy Spirit. AdvertisingOur website places advertising cookies to show you 3rd party advertisements based on your interests. The two disciples were suddenly joined by a stranger who invited them to share their story with him, What matters are you discussing as you walk along? He was inviting them to open their hearts to him. It is the story we find in the Jewish scriptures and in the Christian New Testament. The risen Lord can transform our lives too, making us more hopeful people. The opening invitation of Jesus in this gospel is Come and see. Yet, in Marks gospel the risen Jesus remains faithful to his disciples. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. In the language Jesus spoke, and in the language the gospels were written in, the same word could mean either wind or Spirit. The passage reminds us that we need the Holy Spirit to come to Christ and to grow in our relationship with him, but the Spirit, in turn, needs our contribution, our own good desires and our willingness to respond to the call of others. At the meal that followed they recognised the strangers true identity in the breaking of bread. This new life has an extraordinary impact on their lives from the moment the child is born. We need to be in communion with the Lord if our presence in the world is to be truly life-giving in the way Jesus presence was. He took the few resources that the young boy was generous enough to part with and, having prayed the prayer of thanksgiving to God over these small pieces of food, he somehow fed the enormous crowd. He understands of what we are made, why we do what we do and fail to do what we fail to do. they will never be lost You must be born from above. Do not be afraid. He immediately goes on to say, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Our relationship with the Lord is no different. Sometimes our own grief, or anger, or deep disappointment, can cause us to head off in wrong directions too. Here and now the Lord wants us to know something of that life to the full which is our ultimate destiny. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God; everyone who, Copyright 2020 The Jesuits | All Rights Reserved | Powered by, Easter 4th Week : Sunday 30th April, 2023, Easter 3rd Week : Saturday 29th April, 2023, Easter 3rd Week : Friday 28th April, 2023, Easter 3rd Week : Thursday 27th April, 2023. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. Jesus is the en-fleshed Word, God in human form. We appreciate it when someone listens to our story and takes it seriously and then, in response, shares something of their story with us. Nowadays we can harness the wind to generate electricity, but there is so much about the wind which is beyond our control and understanding. God draws us towards his Son as the one who can satisfy the deepest spiritual hunger of our heart. It is difficult to know exactly what happened that day in the wilderness when Jesus and his disciples found themselves before a large hungry crowd. God gave us his Son so that we might have life and have it to the full, what this mornings gospel reading calls eternal life. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. It was winter, and Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down in the Portico of Solomon. The risen Lord remains faithful to his failed disciples and his faithfulness finally allows them to see clearly and to go out afresh to preach the gospel. I am the gate. That is the calling of each one of us. and that I shall raise him up on the last day.. The works I do in my Fathers name testify to me. We are very dependent on each other on this communal journey. Jesus also speaks as one who invites all who are overburdened to come to him for rest. Thomas stood in the light of Easter, yet that light did not dispel his darkness. We all know from our own experience that liturgical time doesnt always correspond to where we are on our own lifes journey. Yet, his work on our behalf is always more significant than our work on his behalf. There are many voices competing for our attention today, but in the midst of them all we need to be attentive to the voice of the Lord so that we can follow him each day. are thieves and brigands; We take hope and wisdom from St. Therese of Lisieuxs sayings and reflections from her Story of a Soul and other writings. He is coming from Jerusalem and is reading from the text of the prophet Isaiah, without really understanding what he is reading. He was dependent on Ananias, a member of the church of Damascus, to receive back his sight, be baptized and received into the church. Jesus uses many images of himself in Johns gospel. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. The Lord may not be calling on us to take on some particular work but he may be calling on us to encourage someone else to take it on, as Barnabas encouraged Paul. There is a clear reference here to the Eucharist as the moment when we enter into communion with the body and blood of the Lord. Obviously this transformation will have a profound effect on the way we actually live and the way we live is the test of the authenticity of our prayer. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus was making peace with his disciples who had failed him in the hour of his passion and death. Yet this mornings gospel assures us that the Lords hold on us is stronger than the forces which seek to remove us from him. Reflections on Daily Readings 2022 October 30th - November 26th, 2022 October 30 - November 5, 2022 Ordinary Time - The Thirty-First Week | Readings: Sunday Cycle C; Weekday Cycle 2. the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. Just as the risen Lord would not allow the disciples fear to lock him out of their lives, so he would not allow Thomas doubt to lock him out either. In a sense, Jesus is calling on them to get their priorities right, to put most energy into what is ultimately important. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. Most of us like the light. The sheepfold mentioned in the gospel reading was an enclosed area. This content is blocked. The origin and destination of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is wrapped in the mystery of God. Vocations Sunday reminds us that the more fundamental call we hear in life is the call of the Lord. She prayed that she might atone for the sins of the church, and shortly afterwards collapsed and died. Our website uses analytical cookies to make it possible to analyze our website and optimize for the purpose of a.o. Our presence at the Eucharist is one of the primary ways we come to the Lord in faith and open ourselves to his presence as the bread of life. Another member of the church there, Ananias had a vision of the Lord in which the Lord asked him to go to Saul and to heal Sauls blindness. The sequence for us has been a little different, because it began with baptism. What are we looking to him for? In his own way, he tries to give us the fuller picture, he helps us to see the crucial bit of the story we may be missing, and, in that way, he prompts us to take a different direction, to take a different road, one that will be more life-giving for us and for others. The house I grew up in had a small garden to the front as well as railings and a gate. This response is inspired by our reflection on the Word of God. Such questions and doubts are not an enemy of faith. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.. When Peter preached the gospel there, the Holy Spirit immediately came down upon this pagan household, just as it had come down on Peter and the other disciples at Pentecost. Here and now they already share in the life of God which Jesus brings us. Perth/Singapore/Philippines: 7am; Timor-Leste/Tokyo: 8am; New Zealand: 12pm; Los Angeles: Thursday 4pm; New York/Toronto: Thursday 7pm] to prayerfully reflect on the Gospel of the coming Sunday. Just as Jesus was always in communion with his Father so he wants us to be always in communion with him. In the gospel reading this morning Jesus speaks of the shepherd who calls his own sheep one by one and leads them out. As Jesus says in that gospel reading, I give them eternal life. It is with confidence that we can pray, Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts. Philip answered, Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peters brother, said, There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many? Jesus said to them, Make the people sit down. There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. We can certainly notice a stretch in the evenings these days. There are places to which Christians have been going on pilgrimage for a very long time. In Johns version of this episode, which we have just heard, he is first referred to by Andrew, Simon Peters brother, but he is referred to in a way which suggests his relative insignificance, There is a small boy here with five loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many? However, Jesus does not consider the presence of this small boy with his meagre resources to be insignificant. In Jesus, the earthly has become the revelation of the heavenly, and Jesus shows us how to see the deeper, heavenly, reality in and through the earthly reality. The bread of the word is a necessary first course, as it were, that prepares us to receive the Eucharist well. People who go on pilgrimage are often seeking to know God more fully. In group prayer, much will depend on the type of group. One by one, according to the gospel reading, the shepherd calls his own and leads them out. We seek to follow the Lord in the knowledge that he will stop at nothing to ensure that we remain members of his flock, people who belong to his new family, the community of believers we call the church. The Lord can work powerfully through the members of the church, even when they seem few in number and increasingly frail, especially in the Western world. In todays gospel reading, Jesus says with reference to himself: Light has come into the world. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares, whoever eats me will draw life from me. In the gospel reading, the risen Lord sends out his disciples to proclaim the gospel to the whole world, and the evangelist then says that as they went out to preach everywhere, the Lord was working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it. In the words of the gospel reading, though the light has come into the world, people have shown that they prefer darkness to the light, because their deeds were evil. Gradually, a group of followers gathered around her, men and women, priests and religious. We can be tempted to ask the somewhat despairing question of Andrew in todays gospel reading, What is that between so many? We sense that there is much for the church to do and our resources seem so small at times. It is nearly evening they said and the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. The wounds on his hands and his side that he showed them were now glorious signs of his love for them. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming towards the boat.
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