Monday, May 01, 2006
Memorial, St. Athanasius, bishop & doctor
May 2, 2006
Memorial, St. Athanasius, bishop & doctor
Tuesday 3rd Week of Easter - Yr II
ACTS 8:1B-8
There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and
all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,
except the Apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament
over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church; entering
house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over
for imprisonment. Now those who had been scattered went about preaching
the word. Thus Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed
the Christ to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what
was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many
possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.
JOHN 6:35-40
Jesus said to the crowds, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me
will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I
told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything
that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone
who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one
who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but
that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my
Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have
eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day."
REFLECTION
Stephen defended Christian beliefs with fierce commitment and
dedication. He spoke the truth bluntly, pulling no punches, not
watering down his accusations against the Jewish leaders, not
minimizing the indictments he hurled at them. He spoke with the same
forcefulness Jesus used when he condemned the Pharisees.
Like Christ, Stephen was a man at the center of whose being peace
reigned. He did not respond to anger with anger, to violence with
violence. He forcefully presented the Christian attitudes he wanted to
the leaders to understand. As their anger exploded into fury, as they
dragged Stephen outside of the city to stone him, he rose above the
violence that was roiling the furious crowd. He calmly offered his
spirit to the Lord and he beseeched the Lord to forgive those who were
about to kill him. Stephen was a man in absolute possession of himself.
We Christians are called to respond with faith and therefore, to remain
at peace even in situations in which everyone else is calling for
violence, even in those situations in which violence is done to us and
demands that we respond violently. The Christian must remain his own
person. He is to call the shots, direct his own life, play the tune to
which he will dance. He is to act, as Christ would act. He is not
simply to react.
Where is the Christian to find the strength to act rather than react?
Jesus himself tells us the answer to this question in the Gospel. He is
the Bread of Life, come down from heaven. We need only go to him to
satisfy our hunger, to draw strength from him.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for the speedy recovery of Ester.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Winifer Co Cheng
- Ordination Day: Fr. Benjamin Sim, S.J.
- Wedding Anniversary: Lyndon & Tess Co
- Wedding Anniversary: Andy & Vickey Tong
- Wedding Anniversary: Fernando & Linda Yap
- for world peace and reconciliation.
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!
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DAILY-HOMILY" group.
To subscribe email: dailyhomily@gmail.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to Daily_Homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Daily_Homily
HOME: http://www.stjosephkingston.org/
Feel free to forward this to your frie nds, family and associates!
� 2006 Daily-Homily
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
