Archive for July 29, 2011

Have You Visited Me In Prison?

Posted: July 29, 2011 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Personal Thoughts & Reflections
2

Matt 25:36

How many of us will ever get an opportunity to visit someone in prison in his/her lifetime? But if you did have an opportunity to visit someone, then is that all you have to do?  How many trapped behind prison walls have more freedom then those on the outside because they have found God’s love through his son Jesus?  And it was all because someone like you had brought the love of Jesus to them.

Still there are many, maybe more on the outside who are trapped in their own personal ‘prisons’ and remain trapped because they never knew the love, peace and comfort that God offers them through His son Jesus Christ.  Someone like you and me can share Him with them to set them free!

Let us first identify some of them who are in ‘prison’ :-

  • Those who have an addiction…..
  • Those who are lonely…..
  • Those who feel abandoned….
  • Those who are sick and depressed….
  • Those who are aged and depressed because their children no longer make the time to visit them….
  •  Those who are hurt and angry and refuse to forgive…
  • Those who have never experienced true love…
  • Those searching for God and feel they have not found him…
  • Those who remain in sin….
  • Those who have been brought up to believe that survival is for the fittest only….
These are just a few examples and as you know there are many other forms out there.  So how do we help? Where do we start?
We can start by telling them that God loves them and move on from there…….Pray….listen….share…..pray….listen….share……pray……
God loves you my dear sisters and brothers and so do I !

July 31st, 2011 – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: July 29, 2011 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections
0

Sunday Bible Reflections with Dr. Scott Hahn

Food in Due Season

Readings:
Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18
Romans 8:35,37-39
Matthew 14:13-21

 

In Jesus and the Church, Isaiah’s promises in today’s First Reading are fulfilled. All who are thirsty come to the living waters of baptism (see John 4:14). The hungry delight in rich fare – given bread to eat and wine to drink at the Eucharistic table.

This is the point, too, of today’s Gospel. The story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 brims with allusions to the Old Testament. Jesus is portrayed as a David-like shepherd who leads His flock to lie down on green grass as He spreads the table of the Messiah’s banquet before them (see Psalm 23).

Jesus is shown as a new Moses, who likewise feeds vast crowds in a deserted place. Finally, Jesus is shown doing what the prophet Elisha did – satisfying the hunger of the crowd with a few loaves and having some left over (see 2 Kings 4:42-44).

Matthew also wants us to see the feeding of the 5,000 as a sign of the Eucharist. Notice that Jesus performs the same actions in the same sequence as at the Last Supper – He takes bread, says a blessing, breaks it, and gives it (see Matthew 26:26).

Jesus instructed His apostles to celebrate the Eucharist in memory of Him. And the ministry of the Twelve is subtly stressed in today’s account. Before He performs the miracle, Jesus instructs the Twelve to give the crowd “some food yourselves.” Indeed, the apostles themselves distribute the bread blessed by Jesus (see Matthew 15:36).

And the leftovers are enough to fill precisely 12 baskets – corresponding to each of the apostles, the pillars of the Church (see Galatians 2:9; Revelation 21:14).

In the Church, as we sing in today’s Psalm, God gives us food in due season, opens His hands and satisfies the desires of every living thing. Now, as Paul reminds us in today’s Epistle, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.