Wednesday, April 22, 2015
FRIDAY, 3rd Week of Easter
April 24, 2015 FRIDAY, 3rd Week of Easter
White
Acts 9:1 – 20 / Jn 6:52 - 59
Reading: Acts 9:1 – 20
Meanwhile Saul considered nothing but violence and death for the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus that would authorize him to arrest and bring to Jerusalem anyone he might find, man or woman, belonging to the Way.
As he traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?" And he asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The voice replied, "I am Jesus whom you persecute. Now get up and go into the city; there you will be told what you are to do."
The men who were traveling with him stood there speechless: they had heard the sound, but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground and, opening his eyes, he could not see. They took him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. He was blind and he did not eat or drink for three days.
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision, "Ananias!" He answered, "Here I am, Lord!" Then the Lord said to him, "Go at once to Straight Street and ask, at the house of Judas, for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying, for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and placed his hands upon him, to restore his sight."
Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and now he is here with authority from the High Priest to arrest all who call upon your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well. I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer for my name."
So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands upon Saul and said, "Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me to you so that you may receive your sight and be filled with Holy Spirit." Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see; he got up and was baptized. Then he took food and was strengthened.
For several days Saul stayed with the disciples at Damascus, and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.
Gospel: Jn 6:52 - 59
The Jews were arguing among themselves, "How can this man give us flesh to eat?" So Jesus replied, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood live with eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.
My flesh is really food and my blood is drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, live in me and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread which came from heaven; unlike that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."
Jesus spoke in this way in Capernaum when he taught them in the synagogue.
Reflection:
Everything on earth has a time limit, an expiry date. There is no eternal warranty nor guarantee on things of this world. Nothing is forever. Therefore, even the best preserved food eventually spoils; the most durable car eventually breaks down; the best computer gets obsolete; the most advanced cell phone goes out of fashion; our clothes will get worn out. Last of all, our bodies will start aging and joints start aching. And then we realize painfully that even our bodies have an expiry date. We are limited human beings.
It is for this reason that Christ offers us bread that will last forever. Do we want to live forever? It is now possible with the bread that Jesus offers us. He gives us part of himself, which is eternal!
God can share his divine nature with us through his Son Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus came into our midst – to clothe us with this eternity. This is the gift of our Baptism and is constantly renewed in every Eucharist when we partake of the body and blood of our Lord in the form of bread and wine offered to us.
Our life has no direction, no meaning if we do not include God in the picture. It is Christ who runs the engines of our lives, helping us to discover the reason why God has put us on this earth.
Let us remember that material things do not last, nor will they give us real happiness. Therefore, let us not put nor stake our lives on material things. The world cannot give us much consolation nor salvation. It may entertain us for brief moments, but in crucial moments, it will abandon us.
Christ instead looks for us, runs after us, cares for us. Let us welcome him instead. Let us accept his offer to eat his bread and drink his blood so that we may forever experience his unfailing love.
WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:
BIRTHDAY
DIVINE LOPEZ
EVELYN CO YU
JUSTIN TIMONTHY O. CHOI
ROSILETA QUIMNO
IN MEMORIAN (+)
LIAO HO KIM TEE
LUISA V. BULAONG
THOMAS O'GORMAN, SR.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
**************************************************
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| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
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THURSDAY, 3rd Week of Easter
April 23, 2015 THURSDAY, 3rd Week of Easter
St. George, Martyr; St. Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr
White
Acts 8:26 – 40 / Jn 6:44 - 51
[Popularly featured as a knight slaying a dragon, St. George (d. 303) was martyred during the persecution of Diocletian. He is the Patron Saint of England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Genoa and Venice.]
[St. Adalbert (956 – 997) was Bishop of Prague and preached the Gospel in Eastern Europe.]
Reading: Acts 8:26 – 40
An angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south towards the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert road." So he set out and it happened that an Ethiopian was passing along that way. He was an official in charge of the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians; he had come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was on his way home. He was sitting in his carriage and reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip, "Go and catch up with that carriage." So Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah; and he asked, "Do you really understand what you are reading?" The Ethiopian replied, "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?" He then invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. This was the passage of Scripture he was reading:
He was led like a sheep to be slaughtered; like a lamb that is dumb before the shearer, he did not open his mouth. He was humbled and deprived of his rights. Who can speak of his descendants? For he was uprooted from the earth.
The official asked Philip, "Tell me, please, does the prophet speak of himself or of someone else?"
Then Philip began to tell him the Good News of Jesus, using this text of Scripture as his starting point. As they traveled down the road they came to a place where there was some water. Then the Ethiopian official said, "Look, here is water; what is to keep me from being baptized?"
Then he ordered the carriage to stop; both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The Ethiopian saw him no more, but he continued on his way full of joy.
Philip found himself at Azotus, and he went about announcing the Good News in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Gospel: Jn 6:44 - 51
Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise him up on the last day. It has been written in the Prophets: They shall all be taught by God. So whoever listens and learns from the Father comes to me.
For no one has seen the Father except the One who comes from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life. Though your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, they died. But here you have the bread which comes from heaven so that you may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh and I will give it for the life of the world."
Reflection:
In the Gospel reading, Jesus says that he is giving his flesh to save the world and the Jews react negatively. They misinterpret and misunderstand the language of Christ. They think that he is introducing cannibalism. The early Christians were, among other things, being accused of eating human flesh and drinking human blood. Since the Jews and the pagans could not understand the Holy Eucharist, they invented the notion that the Christians were cannibals.
Reason and human intelligence cannot entirely grasp matters on faith. There needs an illumination from God on things that have their origins from above, on things of the spirit. When Jesus speaks about bread, he is not talking about pandesal. In the Lord's Prayer, we ask for our daily bread. Certainly God provides our daily sustenance, but it is not sufficient for a Christian. Our spirit needs to be sustained as well.
"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." The bread of God is the Word of God which we must listen to or read about in the Scriptures. It is also the Eucharist – the body and blood offered by Christ to fulfil the will of the Father. And the Father's will is none other than our redemption.
During Holy Communion, when we say Amen, we are signifying our readiness to do God's will in our lives even if it entails sacrifices. This is possible if we believe in the goodness and love of God who is our Father.
WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:
BIRTHDAY
CAROL CHUA
ELENA SALAZAR
FR. XAVIER L. OLIN S.J.
JOBERT OCHOA
KATRINA BIANCA DY SIY
TEODORO V. CALAUNAN JR.
PRAYER INTENTION
MAURICIO & NATY GO DE JESUS & FAMILY
OTHER INTENTIONS
Specially for Joy Droke in Austin, Texas.
For the eternal repose of Maricris Zara.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
**************************************************
These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only. Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends, colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the following:
+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleGroup Address: http://groups.google.com/group/daily_homily
Archive: http://biblereflection.blogspot.com/
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