so that a man may eat it and not die. According to the reading, when the risen Lord appeared to Paul, there came a light from heaven all around him. The sheepfold mentioned in the gospel reading was an enclosed area. The story of Pauls conversion in the first reading has captivated artists down the centuries. The risen Lord can transform our lives too, making us more hopeful people. We all need something of the vision of Barnabas to see how the Lord is working in such unexpected and unplanned developments. Jesus is not calculating about his giving of the Spirit. so whoever eats me will draw life from me. In todays gospel reading Jesus declares, Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away. Accept cookies within the '%CC%' category to view this content. Even though we may have turned away from him in the past, he does not turn away from us. One of the tasks of life is to try and listen to the particular call that the Lord is addressing to me here and now. Christopher LaRocca, OCD Ash Wednesday, February 22nd - Easter Sunday, April 9th You can also hear them from your phone and receive daily reminders by using the Carmelite Institute App. The first letter of Peter was written from the church of Rome to churches that are now in modern day Turkey. Jesus shows himself to be the good shepherd in a second way; he knows us through and through, just as he knows the Father and the Father knows him. The journey of faith is not always straightforward. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert We might highlight the tragic dimension of what happened, but fail to see the signs of hope that are there as well. It follows that the Lord will never call us to something that would result in a diminishment of life for ourselves or for others. click to accept all cookiesAccept %CC% cookies. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood The gospel reading this morning encourages us to remain hopeful even in the face of situations that seem very unpromising. We tell the story of the person who has died, very often with a focus on the final days or weeks of his or her life. Because we do not yet see him face to face, our faith is always a faith that hopes. We are to take Jesus as our gate, going freely in and out through him, as the gospel reading puts it. Going out about nine o'clock, A Reflection for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Philips teaching led to the Ethiopian requesting baptism. The conclusion of the letter, which is the conclusion of todays first reading, sends greetings from your sister in Babylon. It is his loving communion with Christ that now drives him. His words were prophetic. 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. He had just said to Nicodemus that he needed to be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of heaven. The two disciples were journeying away from Jerusalem when the risen Lord joined them in the form of a stranger and opened the Scriptures for them. This particular gate is also the good shepherd who has laid down his life for us so that we might have life and have it to the full. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 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. We simply rest in the Word of God. That is one of the purposes gates can serve. Jesus wants to share with each one of us his own very intimate relationship with God; he wants to draw us into his own personal relationship with God, his Father. When the other disciples came to him in the power to the Holy Spirit to announce, We have seen the Lord, he could not bring himself to believe this news. She also wrote her great work, the Dialogues, describing the contents of her mystical conversations with Christ. Their purpose is not to keep people in or keep people out but to create an opening in the railings for people to come in and go out. When Jesus says in this mornings gospel reading, I am the gate, he is not really saying I am one gate among many. That is very evident from that reading we have heard this morning. Yet the two disciples on the road to Emmaus opened up to the stranger; perhaps they were feeling so desperate that they were glad of any opportunity to tell their story. He walked with them with a view to getting them to change direction, but before he could do that, he had to walk with them in the wrong direction for a while. We all have opportunities from time to time to create openings for people that allow the Lords work to be done. There is always a sense in which we can say with John the Baptist he must increase and I must decrease. Just click on the month of interest and scroll to the day required. Mark reminds us that living the gospel, following in the way of Jesus, is not easy; it makes demands on us; it stretches us. They reveal a certain insight into what has happened, but very often a limited insight. In the Eucharist we consume Christ in a very personal way. Like a flag blowing in the wind, we are to move in response to the movement of the Spirit. He has come and he continues to come that we may have life now and beyond this earthly life. Having listened to the Lords story from the Scriptures, they pressed him to stay with them, because he appeared to be going on, It is nearly evening they said and the day is almost over. In this fourth gospel, the words I am on the lips of Jesus suggest the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. In response to this preoccupation with Jesus as the provider of physical bread, Jesus speaks of the food that endures to eternal life which he is offering. Thomas too had locked himself away from the other disciples and from the Lord because of his strong doubt. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. The temptation to lock away our faith out of fear can be very strong. Those who have been through an experience of loss know how therapeutic it can be to tell the story of the last days of a loved one. We each need to say to the Lord the equivalent of Stay with us Lord. How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Today is Vocations Sunday. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.. Nicodemus heard Jesus say to him that he needed to born of water and the Spirit. Indeed, in the language Jesus spoke and in the language in which the gospels were written the one word could be translated either wind or Spirit. She was born into tumultuous times (1347-1380). 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. It leads him to ask questions which eventually results in his receiving baptism into the church at the hands of Philip. He who comes to me will never be hungry; and to hear the teaching of the Father, In this mornings gospel reading, Jesus declares, I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full. Someone from the nationalist community would tell the story in one way; someone from the unionist community would tell the story in a very different way. Yet, there is something that we must do as well. He is present among us and to us, offering us his peace, the gift of his faithful love. It was the time of the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. Irish Province of Carmelites | All Rights Reserved | Site by Marketing Inputs. We are very dependent on each other on this communal journey. He said to them, What matters are you discussing as you walk along? They stopped short, their faces downcast. If we face our doubts and our questions honestly, as Thomas did, and bring them to each other and to the Lord, we too can reach a point where we can make Thomas confession our own, My Lord and my God. Having told the story to each other, the two disciples told it to the stranger who joined them on the road. We are then sent out from the Eucharist to nurture and protect life in all its forms. We listen at the deepest level of our being to God who speaks within us with a still small voice. He feeds a multitude with five loaves and two fish. A gate that can be opened, on the other hand, creates an opening in a fence or a hedge that allows people to come in and go out. The risen Lord will always find a way for the gospel to be proclaimed, in spite of peoples best efforts to silence it. It is with confidence that we can pray, Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts. This can happen all too easily as we know. Sunday, October 30 Monday, October 31 Tuesday, November 1 Wednesday, November 2 Thursday, November 3 Friday, November 4 Saturday, November 5 Lectio Divina may involve discussing the implications of the Word of God for daily life but it cannot be reduced to this. Seeing that they were in need of food, he asked Philip where food could be bought to give them something to eat. He is an open gate, not a closed gate. Even if we try to lock the Lord out of our lives, he comes to us anyway. There were two other reactions in the story. Then, out of the mouth of the great sceptic came the fullest profession of faith in the gospel, My Lord and my God. He was reconciling them to himself, displaying his faithfulness to them, in spite of how they had failed him. The house I grew up in had a small garden to the front as well as railings and a gate. This was what Paul came to realize when the risen Lord appeared to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Yet, the Lord had great plans for this persecutor of the church, but first he had to endure a period of blindness, during which this proud man was completely dependent on others, they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand. Where could food be found to feed such a crowd? He not only calls on people to eat his flesh but to drink his blood. Todays gospel reading suggests that the Lord walks with us through life and listens when we share deeply with him. Sometimes the wind will be at our back and will help us along as we walk. Yet, Jesus does not qualify what he says but, rather, he goes on to say something even more shocking. God can only do so much. In that sense, each of us is called to be a shepherd to others. Jesus knew that something could be done and he involved his disciples in doing what could be done, calling on them to make the people sit down and then asking them to collect the pieces that were left over when everyone had eaten. Far from rebuking Thomas for his refusal to believe, the Lord accommodated himself to Thomas demands and, as a result, out of the mouth of the sceptic came one of the greatest confessions of faith in the gospels, My Lord and my God. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The gospel reading suggests that we respond by listening to his voice and allowing his word to make its home in us. Yet, when the Lord came to them, he offered them his peace, the gift of reconciliation. Whenever two people share a significant experience together, they invariably talk about it together afterwards; they each tell their own story about what happened. We are more aware today than in the past that our relationship with Jesus and with his followers is a choice we have to make. This is a light to be warmly welcomed, not to be extinguished or imprisoned. Just as God became flesh in Jesus, so the Spirit of God can become flesh in our lives. The Lords personal call to each of us will always be in harmony with that fundamental purpose of his coming among us. As disciples we are called to walk in the way of Jesus self-emptying service of God and Gods people, even when that means travelling the way of the cross. She was convinced that the wound in the body of Christ could only be healed by great sacrifice. We need the Lords help. They want more of the bread that Jesus provided in the wilderness. It is an image that speaks to us of the Lords determination to hold onto us and prevent us from becoming separated from him. It is a statement worth reflecting upon. He continues to offer the gospel to those who initially reject it. This Barnabas proceeded to do, urging the whole church to remain faithful to the Lord. The Black Death prowled the land; armies fought each other on behalf of their client-cities; the Pope had left Rome for Avignon. 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. There is a need for different groups of people to take responsibility for different ministries. Eternal life is not just a life that begins after death. He looks to us to take some initiative towards him. In response to that question Jesus goes on to speak not only of eating his flesh but of drinking his blood. Enter your email to receive notifications of new Daily Reflection Posts. Gods love was revealed most powerfuuly in the sending of his Son so that we might have life and have it to the full. Carmelites | Carmelitani | Carmelitas :: O.Carm :: Lectio Divina The Lords particular call to each of us will always be in harmony with that fundamental purpose of the Lords coming among us. The life of God is a life of love given and received. The stranger wanted to show his two companions that there was more to all that had happened in Jerusalem in recent days than their story allowed for. We are not strangers to the Lord; he knows us deeply, better than we know ourselves. 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. As St Paul says, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our website places 3rd party cookies from other 3rd party services which aren't Analytical, Social media or Advertising. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. Let each Daily Reflection inspire you to live each day as she lived. It has been the language of the church since its very earliest days. Seeing the risen Lord was enough to dispel his doubt. To look upon the flesh of Jesus, his human life, is to look upon God. Rather, his teaching is liberating and life-enhancing. The Lord stood in the midst of his fearful disciples; he spoke to their fear, Peace be with you, and he drove out their spirit of fear by breathing the Holy Spirit into their lives. In one of his letters he wrote, Christ Jesus took hold of me. He now knew that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah; he was the Son of God. 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. Please join us in praying these daily Lenten Reflections with Fr. The experience of Thomas shows us that religious doubt need not keep us from the Lord or the church; Thomas story suggests also that great doubt can be the prelude to great faith. Yet, the primary purpose of this loving light is to take away our sin. Daily prayer and reflections based on the Scripture readings of the day. My Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. We can be distressed at the degree of doubt that we experience within ourselves, troubled that such doubts may even become more pronounced as we get older. On his way to Gaza, he sat in his chariot to read from the Jewish Scriptures, the book of Isaiah. The Lord always meets us where we are, very often in our brokenness, but he also works to lead us beyond where we are. Some are asked by Jesus; others are asked by those who meet with Jesus. We can resist for various reasons. The gospel reading goes on to declare that because Jesus comes from heaven, he is able to bear witness to what he has seen and heard in heaven, what he has seen and heard from God his Father. and the Son of Man must be lifted up To believe is always to wait in joyful hope. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd - 8:00 pm Exposition followed by Conference, Night Prayer, and Confessions. The first words of the risen Lord to his disciples in todays gospel reading are, Peace be with you. However, the womens subsequent report of what they had seen and heard made no impression on the two disciples. After three years, she began the second great phase of her career. They were walking away from Jerusalem, when they really should have been staying put there, because it was in Jerusalem that the risen Lord intended giving them the Holy Spirit, and it was from Jerusalem that he would send them out to the ends of the earth. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. The image of Jesus as the gate emphasizes more what we must do in response to all that Jesus has done and is doing for us. Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. New book for 2021 'You Have the Words of Eternal Life' ~ Weekday Reflections for Liturgical Year 2020/21 at messenger.ie & @veritas.ie Fr. He looks to us not to stand in his way but to allow him to work with us and through us to bring about this great gathering of people from north, south, east and west, around the risen Lord, the good shepherd who laid down his life for all of humanity. He calls out to all of us to come to him, to know and love him as he knows and loves us. He then declared that he was sending them out on mission, in the same way that his Father had sent him into the world on mission. Paul and Barnabas went on to spend twelve months together in that church. In the gospel of Luke, Zacchaeus goes looking for Jesus in broad daylight, even climbing a sycamore tree to see him. His intimate relationship with God flows over into a loving and caring relationship with all who struggle under heavy burdens. God draws us towards his Son as the one who can satisfy the deepest spiritual hunger of our heart. He is the good shepherd because he is the faithful shepherd. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. The Jewish Sanhedrin were worried about the growing popularity of the disciples of Jesus. 2023 Society of the Little Flower. In his diary he wrote, It is not like a child that I believe in Christ and confess him. In todays gospel Jesus says, the wind blows wherever it pleases. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that he comes to us in the Eucharist so that we can draw life from him. Mark is often unsparing in his portrayal of the failure of the disciples to imbibe this vision of Jesus and to live by it. If the group is comfortable with silence, more time could be spent resting in the Word. He goes ahead of us towards this place and he calls us to follow him. Yet, the Father draws us to his Son in and through each other, just as God drew the Ethiopian to Jesus in and through Philip. Then he said to them, You foolish men! The Spirit is the Spirit of Gods personal love for the world. He is uniquely placed to bear witness to who God is because, according to Johns gospel, he has been with God from all eternity and has come from God. Mark wrote the first of the four gospels. However, that doesnt seem to have been true of the conversation the two disciples were having on the road to Emmaus. We have no control over the direction of the wind; sometimes its direction will be a help to us, at other times it will be a hindrance to us. They all gave access to the football stadium. Jesus knows that if the boy is prepared to part with his precious little store, great things can happen. Jesus often used images drawn from the life of the people to talk about himself and his message. He wanted to listen to their story in all its sadness and despondency. Andrew recognized that one of the crowd had a small amount of food but he dismissed this small resource as of no value. Such questions and doubts are not an enemy of faith. At a young age, she decided to give herself to the Lord, and she resisted the attempts of her family to find her a good husband. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. It was an unexpected moment which expressed an important truth about how the Pope sees his ministry in the church. Light exposes wrong doing. Marks gospel assures us that even when we are unfaithful to the Lord, he remains faithful to us; even when we fail, he continues to call us to become all he wants us to be. In the gospel reading this morning we hear of the shepherd who calls his own sheep. In this mornings gospel reading Jesus declares that he wants he wants his relationship with us his followers to be as close as his relationship with God his Father. We receive his body and blood in the Eucharist so that we may become more fully his body in the world. The risen Lords face to face meeting with Thomas dispelled all Thomass doubts. In a few sentences, he spoke about the wonderful ministry and the crushing death of Jesus of Nazareth and, then, as a perplexing appendix, the story of how women disciples found his tomb empty on the third day. He entered into their situation; he invited them to tell their story, What matters were you discussing as you walk along? The story they told was the reason they were leaving Jerusalem, the very city where the Lord wanted them to remain. As Jesus received all from God and gave what he received to us, so Jesus looks to us to receive all from him and to give what we receive to one another. He says, the wind blows where it pleases. We reach out towards the Lord who journeys with us in the context of the church, in the company of our fellow pilgrims, those who are stumbling along the path of discipleship with us. Reflections on Daily Readings November 22 - Carmelites We can always slip back into the mood of Good Friday, tentative about our relationship with the Lord, fearful of making it known. That same early tradition places Mark in the church of Rome, the city where Peter was crucified, the city where the church experienced the first real persecution lead by the Roman state. The way the risen Lord related to tthem is how he relates to us all. We are very security conscious in these times. This response is inspired by our reflection on the Word of God. unless a man is born from above, He will not allow the forces that are hostile to our relationship with him to get the better of us. Rather than seeking the consolations of the Lord we are to seek the Lord of consolation. He doesnt get behind us and drive us in this direction. He's in ALL OF IT. He does not retreat from us even though we might retreat from him. When we do than, like Paul, we too can become the Lords chosen instruments to bring his presence into the lives of others. Once the disciples show a willingness to take Jesus into the boat with them, they reach the shore. Their being locked behind closed doors out of fear was the mood of Good Friday. The story the two disciples told ended in death; the story the stranger told from the Scriptures ended in glory, Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and enter into his glory? Jesus was sharing Gods story with the disciples and inviting them to see their story in the light of that bigger, more glorious, story. In group prayer, much will depend on the type of group. Dostoevsky, the great Russian novelist, was in almost continual religious conflict. 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. Jesus is presented as working powerfully through very meagre resources. He can give them not just physical food that cannot last, but food that endures to eternal life. Ananias heard the Lord speak to him, directing him to where Saul lived. For a three year period she devoted herself to prayer and seclusion. 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. We also know that people can be stolen. Syria has been in the news for some time because of the unrest there and Damascus, the capital, has been mentioned more than once. Jesus said: I am the good shepherd. If we offer our own meagre resources to him, he can enhance them beyond all our expectations. If Jesus is the gate that leads to abundant life, we have to pass through that gate. We come to the Eucharist to draw life from the Lord, as branches draw life from the vine. Yet, the risen Lord always stands among us empowering us to be an Easter people. We cannot control the Spirit of God; like the wind, it blows where it pleases, or where God pleases. Here in the early church was the life of God in human form. Jesus speaks of himself in this gospel as the light of the world. Social mediaOur website places social media cookies to show you 3rd party content like YouTube and FaceBook. Many of those images stress what Jesus does for us. Even though Gods quest for us is the more fundamental one, we need to be engaged in our own quest for God. Sheep went one way through the gate to reach the security of the sheepfold and they went the other way through the gate to reach pasture. These cookies may track your personal data. Whenever we take on some new enterprise, or go in a new direction of some kind, we will sometimes find ourselves battling with the equivalent of a strong wind and a rough sea, perhaps with a kind of darkness coming over us. Supplied by the Madonna Magazine. We can become limp before it all. We begin to have hope again. We may not be able to eat the Lords body and drink his blood in the Eucharist in these times, but we can still remain in communion with him. In this mornings gospel reading we are told that the disciples were preaching everywhere in response to the risen Lords call, and that the Lord was working with them. We all need the Spirit if we are to reach our ultimate destiny, because, as Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. When the risen Lord appeared to the disciples a week later, this time with Thomas present, he did not rebuke Thomas for his refusal to believe the message of the other disciples. Reflections - Carmelite Spirit Reflections "But only now, with inward jubilee, I come upon earth's most amazing knowledge: someone is hidden in this dark with me." - Jessica Powers - Glorious Failure Embracing failure, imperfection, and incompleteness can be a spiritual practice that brings us closer to the heart of God in Jesus Christ.