Friday 8th week of Ordinary Time

  The Visitation

While Mary rejoiced in God for all the good things He had done for her, it does not mean she had it easy. 

When she went to her cousin Elizabeth, she could have poured out her troubles to her. 

How was she going to tell her mother?

Would Joseph call off the wedding and divorce her?

What would the neighbors say?  They all like to talk. 

Instead she visited Elizabeth with Good News!

God had done great things for her. 

He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness. 

And all generations will now call her blessed. 

Everyday we visit people.  

Some formally,some casually. 

We visit family, friends, co-workers and strangers. 

Do we visit them with Good News or bad?

With hope and joy or with all our problems and what is wrong in the world. 

The latest gossip?

It takes a person of Faith to visit another with Joy. 

It takes a person of Faith to focus on all the good that God has done. 

Mary is that person of Faith. 

When we visit others what do we share with them?

It all depends on whether we are a person of Faith like Mary or not!

Thursday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

  Living stones 1 Peter 2:2-12

When St. Francis had his conversion,

God told him to go and repair His Church which was falling into ruin. 

So He went around repairing broken down churches brick by brick. 

3 years later Francis realized that God was not talking about restoring buildings brick by brick

But the People God, who were the Living Stones of the Church that had fallen into ruin. 

If we want to repair the church,

Then we must repair ourselves. 

For we are the living stones of which the church is built. 

Wednesday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

Ransomed!  1 Peter 1:18-25

What holds you hostage?

Fear? Anxiety?

Work?

Lust, drugs alcohol?

Peer pressure?

Christ has ransomed us from all that holds us hostage. 

He has unlocked the prison gates,

But we must follow Him if we want to be free. 

Tuesday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

 The riches of Heaven Mk. 10:28-31

How many hours a week do you work?

How much do you pay in taxes?

How much is left ?

What if I told you that you could receive a hundred times more than what you have now?

Just give up everything!

Brothers and sisters,father and children, and land for the Gospel. 

And you will receive a hundred times more;

Houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children and land

AND Eternal Life. 

Monday 8th Week of Ordinary Time

  The Inheritance 1Peter 1:3-9

When a person dies he or she usually leaves and inheritance behind for children and loved ones. 

It often consists of a house, possessions and money. 

When Jesus died He left His followers, His family an inheritance. 

What was it?

Eternal Life. 

And we receive our Inheritance of Eternal life through Faith. 

Faith therefore is more precious than gold

And should preserved and nourished. 

If we want our Inheritance. 

The Most Holy Trinity

 

God said it was not good to be alone. Gen. 2:18

So God made them male and female. 

In His own Image He made them. 

Well If was not good for humans be to alone

Then why should God be alone?

So God the Father from all Eternity begot His Son in His own image. Col. 1:15

And God did this because God is Love.  

The essence of Love is to be shared and to bear fruit. 

If it is not shared and does not bear fruit,

It is not love. 

So if God is Eternal Love,

Then God must have Loved someone eternally. 

So from all eternity, God the Father loved His only Son. 

And the fruit of the Eternal Love between the Father and Son is the Holy Spirit. 

God therefore must be a Trinity of Persons 

The Father and Son who love each other for all eternity. 

And the fruit of their Eternal Love is the Holy Spirit. 

 The Most Holy Trinity therefore is the greatest proof that God is Love. 

Eternal Love;

Giving Love;

Fruitful Love. 

We were created to share in that Love. 

To say that we are made in the image and likeness of God,

Is to say that Love is the reason for OUR existence,

For God is Love.

So with whom do WE share our love and what fruit does our love bear?

If only we could  love one another, as the Father and the Son love one another in the Holy Spirit,

Then this earth would be the paradise it was always meant to be  

Friday after Pentecost

 He will judge the living and the dead James 5:9-12

Sometimes we may look at someone and pass judgement. 

But how accurate is our judgment ?

How well do we know the person?

How much information do we have?

How objective are we?

Quite often our judgment is imperfect, even flawed. 

So why do we bother?

Leave it in God’s hands

Who sees all, even into the depths of the heart. 

Who knows all and from Whom nothing is hidden. 

For His judgment is honest and true. 

Thursday after Pentecost

 The poverty of riches James 5:1-6

Look in your closet, your garage, your bank account. 

Where will it all be in 100yrs. 

Either eaten by moths,

Thrown in the trash 

Or given to someone else. 

James tells us instead to store up tresures that will last. 

For God will one day take all of our treasures and give them to the poor. 

For He hears the cry of the poor. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 

Wednesday after Pentecost

 Tomorrow may never come James 4:13-17

We all have plans but we have no idea if they will ever come to pass. 

As. James says, “we are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.”

Life is merely a breath. 

So long as we live in this world however,

It is natural to make plans. 

But we must make plans aware that they will only come to pass if God wills it. 

And if God does not,

Then maybe it is because God has other plans for us. 

Tuesday after Pentecost

 Ask Rightly James 4:1-10

If Jesus tells us to ask for whatever we want in His Name and we will receive it,

Why then do we not seem to get whatever we want?

Because we ask wrongly. 

As James says, do not ask from your passions. 

Rather ask from your selflessness. 

Ask from God not what you want,

But what you can give to your neighbor. 

And if you do, then God will give you what you ask for

AND fulfill your every need as well. 

Monday Mary Mother of the Church

 

We all have birthdays.

And we have birthdays because we all have mothers!!

The birthday of the Church is Pentecost.

Pentecost is the day when the Disciples,

Having been filled with the Holy Spirit,

“came out” of womb of the upper room into the world.

Before Pentecost,  the Disciples were gathered in prayer around Mary,

Their spiritual Mother preparing for the coming of the Holy Spirit, her Spouse,

Upon them. 

Through the union of Mary and the Holy Spirit, Jesus was conceived,

So once again at Pentecost through the union of Mary and the Holy Spirit,

The Church is born. 

And this is why Mary is the Mother of the Church,

Of all those born of the Spirit. Jn. 3:5

Pentecost

What guides you?

The desires of the Flesh or the Spirit?

This is what St. Paul asked the Galatians. 

The Galatians were baptized in the Spirit

But then they started to return to the ways of the flesh. 

They wanted to gratify the desires of the flesh. 

Immorality, lust, gluttony, jealously, divisions, drunkenness and orgies. 

He warned them that those who live by the flesh and its desires will not inherit the Kingdom of heaven.

For there is no place in Heaven for the desires of the flesh. 

Because the Kingdom of Heaven is Spirit. 

The Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. 

It is not easy however to ignore the desires of the flesh. 

It always wants more. 

More Pleasure, More Power, More Food, Drink, Property, More Possessions and Money;

This is why those who live in the flesh will never be happy or satisfied. 

The flesh is a ravenous monster that says “Feed me.”

The more one feeds the flesh 

The hungrier it gets. 

This is why we need the Holy Spirit. 

Not just at Pentecost. 

But everyday!

For the flesh wakes up hungry everyday. 

And so everyday we must pray,

Come Holy Spirt Come!

So that everyday we are led not by the desires of the flesh

But by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.