Archive for October 12, 2018

How Great Thou Art

Posted: October 12, 2018 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Last night I had a rare opportunity to have a quiet dinner with my dear 88 year old dad. He was sharing with me his own struggles with the frailty of the human condition. And how I should prepare and start taking better care of myself if I have not already done so.

I told him that I do what I have and are able to, and let the Lord my God do the rest for He is in charge. I then updated him with how I’ve witnessed the Lord touching new lives and renewing others. He then requested to know when and how did my own faith journey begin, in which I became committed to following Christ.

I knew I had shared it with him before but he needed to hear it again and so I proceeded to share with my dad as though it was the first time. One of the many things I shared was the day I was struggling with whether to go for the second session of the Life in the Spirit Seminar. I was uncomfortable with raising of hands in praise and worship amongst other things. However upon seeing a Facebook post from my cousin I decided to go. The post read, “If God leads you to the edge of a mountain, trust in Him and let go. Only one of two things will happen. Either He will catch you or He will teach you how to fly. As I took the bus and was about to reach the Church, I had this overwhelming desire to sing ‘How great thou art’ I only knew the chorus then and so began to sing it and humming the rest. The first song they chose for that session was ‘How great is our God’ followed by the bridge which was ‘How great thou art’!

Again I shared all this with my dad last night, this morning at Holy Eucharist in Church of The Holy Trinity the recessional hymn we sang was ‘How Great Thou Art’!

Indeed how great thou art O Lord my God. Amen

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: October 12, 2018 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys
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Take heed that our bodies, mind and spirit must be constantly renewed through our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. By the ascent of our prayers, the indwelling of His precious word and the frequent reception of the sacraments given to us by His love. The Sacrament of reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.

Evil and its curses will have no hold over us. We live as free men and women in God’s precious love. Indeed even if we were to walk through the darkest valley, no evil shall we fear! For the Lord walks with us. Yes our bodies may be frail but we have been given a most powerful advocate to accompany us on our journey. Who fortifies and guides us through the many challenges and obstacles we may face.

Come Holy Spirit come. Come dwell in my heart, now and forever. Amen

First reading

Galatians 3:7-14
The sons of Abraham are those who rely on faith

Don’t you see that it is those who rely on faith who are the sons of Abraham? Scripture foresaw that God was going to use faith to justify the pagans, and proclaimed the Good News long ago when Abraham was told: In you all the pagans will be blessed. Those therefore who rely on faith receive the same blessing as Abraham, the man of faith.
On the other hand, those who rely on the keeping of the Law are under a curse, since scripture says: Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in observing everything prescribed in the book of the Law. The Law will not justify anyone in the sight of God, because we are told: the righteous man finds life through faith. The Law is not even based on faith, since we are told: The man who practises these precepts finds life through practising them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake, since scripture says: Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree. This was done so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans, and so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

Gospel

Luke 11:15-26
The finger of God has overtaken you

When Jesus had cast out a devil, some of the people said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.
‘When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, “I will go back to the home I came from.” But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.’