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God's Wonderful Love
Friday May 2, 2008
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”
John 16:20-23 (NAB)
Prayer Reflection
Dear Father we have the technology today that makes childbirthing easier for the mother, without the pain. Imagining all those who have gone before us, have birthed their child naturally. Jesus tells us about the joy a mother has when a child is born. He gave us a normal procedure in the life of a human being when they undergo a change such as the example he gave. Woman most of all can relate to it. How much they endure until the time they birth the child, the elation, not just for the fact that they are now relieved of anguish, pain and suffering, but they now can see the life that was within them. In a sense when we sin we lose part of the holiness that belongs to us, the part where we have Jesus within. As we too grow in faith and at times when we fail, we experience the pain a mother feels when her child is in distress. But as we reconcile our hearts to a loving God and let Jesus be part of our lives we see the beauty and joy of having him part of us as a mother does when the child in the womb is sleeping peacefully. For men it must be hard to imagine this, but as we have read Jesus words, it wasn't hard for him to know this truth. The joy of having him in our lives is a blessing, even he speaks to mens hearts and reveals his presence to them as if they too are about to give birth. When he is truly part of our hearts no one can take him away and I mean no one. Throughout the many years it has been tried with the Saints and Martyrs and look how they have survived.
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Tuesday April 29, 2008
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Now I am going to the one who sent me,
and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts.
But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go.
For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.
But if I go, I will send him to you.
And when he comes he will convict the world
in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation:
sin, because they do not believe in me;
righteousness, because I am going to the Father
and you will no longer see me;
condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
John 16:5-11 (NAB)
Prayer Reflection
Dear Father how easy it is to understand what Jesus is talking about. Those who have had personal encounters with him know of the beauty of his presence, and also the grief that fills their hearts when his presence is not felt. It is their faith that sustains them in those moments of loss. But he does something truly special he sends us the Advocate. We have him in spiritual and we have him as the one chosen to lead the flock. Where truth conquers. If the ruler of this world is condemned at the time of Jesus, who then is the ruler if it isn't man. Because he had just only appointed Peter as head of the Church in his stead. But we battle the unforseen, the foe that delights in sin. The Advocate opposes everytime, don't we see it ourselves when out of the depths of our being we know when we have done wrong and do it anyway. In those moments of clarity haven't we understood that we have lost by choosing to do wrong and the Advocate of righteousness was guiding us to keep us on the right path. In today's world we have lost the sense of following right conscience, we block it out and we have become part of the world that is condemned.
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Monday April 28, 2008
 Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
They will expel you from the synagogues;
in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you
will think he is offering worship to God.
They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.
I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”John 15:26-16:4a (NAB)Prayer Reflection The above picture came to mind when I read this mornings Gospel. Even though the picture is about the Cardinals pointing to the ceiling in the Cathedral. One could say the same in regard to this reading, look up to heaven that is where the Spirit of Truth comes from. We could also look upon our Pope as an Advocate sent from the Father. He speaks on behalf of Jesus and defends his cause, he is an advocat of peace. He is a person who pleads for or in behalf of another, he is an intercessor to God for us. The Holy Spirit works through him from the Father. Our Church suffers persecution and many are ousted from their misdeeds, and it reflects upon the Advocate who leads us in Truth. Many of us try to kill the Church because we are unhappy with ourselves rather than deal with our sinfulness and fix our brokeness. We are called to forgive, but grudges continue to mar the Church. In a sense the Church suffers from us not forgiving her for the errors that have nothing to do with us but only with those it was involved in. The Spirit of Truth speaks to us through the Advocate. Are we listening? | | | |
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Saturday April 26, 2008
 Jesus said to his disciples:
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.
Remember the word I spoke to you,
‘No slave is greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,
because they do not know the one who sent me.”
John 15:18-21 (NAB)Prayer Reflection Dear Father the Bible gives us exactly what Jesus stated, that he would be hated and persecuted. In the account of the ordeal he suffered in what we had recently gone through ourselves in the season of Lent. Holy week brings to us the truth of these words Jesus spoke. He did it for love of us, to save us because he wanted to do it for you dear Father. As Christians we too suffer in many ways, not as profoundly as Jesus did, but in lesser degrees. Mind you, Jesus did the ultimate suffering for us, so we would be able to endure for love of him. Our persecution at the hands of unbelievers, and even Christians themselves can never give us the true meaning of what Jesus went through. It is in keeping His Word bound to our hearts that we find the source of love. The picture below of the Sacrifice of the Mass with the Angels and Saints speak loudly of today's reading and the sacrifice given up for us. But we also have to remember he asks two specific things of us to love God first and love our neighbor. How hard is that, just think if we honestly loved God first, there would be no hatred nor persecution.  | | | |
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Friday April 25, 2008
Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Mark 16:15-20
Prayer Reflection
Dear Father your Son Jesus whom we love gave the disciples the Word to go out and proclaim the Gospel to every nation. It has been accomplished to the degree that it is around the world. Granted there are many places that still do not know of your Word, but after two thousand years plus, the disciples ministry has flourished. They do so much for your flock dear Father, many use their hands to bring healing to others by helping them when they are unable to do so themselves, as well as laying hands on those entering the Priestly Order. We are all called to be the hands of hope for others, giving signs of our belief. It is through those who believe that Jesus works through them. Faith and belief are the keys, how strong is ours that we are signs for others to see.
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