Sunday, May 04, 2014

 

Monday Third Week of Easter

May 5, 2014 
Monday Third Week of Easter
[St. Jose Maria Rubio]

Acts 6: 8-15 / Ps 119: 23-24, 26-27, 29-30 / Jn 6: 22-29 

Reading: Acts 6: 8-15
Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. As they were unable to face the truth, they bribed some men to say, "We heard him speak against Moses and against God." So they stirred up the people, the elders and the teachers of the Law; they took him by surprise, seized him and brought him before the Council. Then they produced false witnesses who said, "This man never stops speaking against our Holy Place and the Law. We even heard him say that Jesus the Nazarean will destroy our Holy Place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us." And all who sat in the Council fixed their eyes on him, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.

Gospel: John 6: 22:29
Next day the people who had stayed on the other side realized that only one boat had been there and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples; rather, the disciples had gone away alone. Bigger boats from Tiberias came near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. When they saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Master, when did you come here?" Jesus answered, "Truly, I say to you, you look for me, not because you have seen through the signs, but because you ate bread and were satisfied.  Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for he is the one the Father has marked." Then the Jews asked him, "What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?" And Jesus answered them, "The work God wants is this: that you believe in the One whom God has sent."

Reflection:
     The scene of a hungry crowd moved Jesus to ask his disciple where they could buy food to feed the people. Jesus had pity on the people because they persisted to follow him for they saw that he cured the sick.  Were these people hungry for the words of the Lord to move them to look for him or follow him? Listening to the conversation of Jesus and his disciples, one might ask: why was Jesus concerned with feeding the crowd?  By feeding them can he be assured of this crowd's fidelity to him? Even during the time of Jesus, people were attracted to material satisfaction. We elect in office those who can give us material things with an expectation that they will provide for our needs.
     The boy who had brought food for himself was an instrument by which Jesus fed the hungry crowd.  Let us contemplate on the boy who gave his provision so that everyone can have a share. How old was the boy? Was he there with his mother or father? Why was he there? Did he offer his bread and fish right away? Or did they have to force him?  If that boy had been selfish and had not shared his food, the multiplication of the loaves and fish would not have happened.  For what he did, say a thank you prayer to the boy.  
     Can we act as that boy in our day to day life? Our tendency is to keep things for ourselves as tested when calamities happen. The leaders of our Catholic charities call our attention to come out and share what we have to help the victims. Many do not want to part with things they have, even if they have much. Or we give away things we do not like or are useless to us - anyway, the poor can use our unwanted things. That is our mentality. But do they deserve only our useless things?  Did the boy give away his food because he had no use for it?  No, he was hungry himself, but he wanted to share with others who were as hungry as he was. 
     Lord, make us understand that we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters and we need to look after one another's welfare. Pray the Prayer for Generosity.

Prayer Requests:
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary
... for families who are in need of healing
... 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!

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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
   |            http://www.marythequeen.org
   |  Distributed free and for personal use only.  
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Saturday Second Week of Easter

May 3, 2014 
Saturday Second Week of Easter
[Feast, Sts. Philip And James, Apostles]

1 Cor 15: 1-8 / Ps 19: 2-3, 4-5 / Jn 14: 6-14 
 
Reading: 1 Cor 15: 1-8
Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you and which you received and on which you stand firm. By that Gospel you are saved, provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain. In the first place, I have passed on to you what I myself received: that Christ died for our sins, as Scripture says; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Afterwards he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive, although some have already gone to rest. Then he appeared to James and after that to all the apostles. And last of all, he appeared to the most despicable of them, this is to me.

Gospel: Jn 14: 6-14 
Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

Reflection:
    In the gospel, Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." By these words, one would think that Jesus has already given us the way on how to get to know the Father.  And yet one wonders why does getting to know him still seem so difficult?  When you think about it, this gospel is rather straight forward. To get to the Father, we need to go through the Son. Now, although the source of the next statement is somewhat unorthodox. The meaning of the words still rings true. 
    Taken from a recurring "urban myth" about Albert Einstein and his atheist teacher  "The link between man and God is --- FAITH." And there lies the crux of our seeming inability to accept Jesus' words at face value.  Given that we are such thinking beings, we find it difficult to simply accept that "Jesus is in the Father, as the Father is in the Son." For faith calls for a kind of believing in something that is not directly backed up by anything that we can truly see, hear, touch, taste or feel. That is why, even in our belief, often there lies a part of us that stays unbelieving at times. It is that small part that causes the greatest gulf between man and God. So what do we do to bridge that gap?  
    We believe in Jesus and in God the Father, even in the midst of their seeming intangibility. We believe, because we CHOOSE to believe. Reason and logic be forgotten, we choose to believe because in God we feel a "wholeness" and a sense of love that sets our minds, our hearts and our spirits at peace.

Prayer Requests:
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary
... for families who are in need of healing
... 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!

**************************************************
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
   |            http://www.marythequeen.org
   |  Distributed free and for personal use only.  
  +================================================+

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