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The joy of Christ was bursting within me this Morning after Holy Eucharist and so I sat quietly one corner in my mum’s home to pen this…
Christmas joy!
All the toys of man or boy,
All the toasting and the cheer,
None but Jesus brings me joy,
For Emmanuel God is here!
Carrols, incense, prayerful bliss,
The Word made flesh salvation framed,
Elated I received Jesus in Eucharist,
His grace abounds His love be proclaimed!
O Sweet anointing from above,
Shine Your light upon us,
My Lord, my God, my Love,
Happy blessed birthday Jesus!
How does one get into the mood then slowly advance into the nostalgia then into the frenzy of Christmas?
Well the formula is pretty straight forward. It always starts with decorations! The basic colours are red, green, white, gold, blue and silver. The rest are optional or as one sees fit. Then the tree and legendary carols. Lights and more lights of all colours! Food, drinks and parties. Nativity sets are welcomed in most places but not all. Wah lah! Magical! Never mind that it is all a production of sort. Then even with everything up, some would still say I’m not really in the Christmassy mood.
Well if I personally have no Christmas mood it’s because of two main reasons. One, I have not prepared my heart for Christmas through Advent! And two I am inward looking! Instead of looking outwards on how I can bring the joy of Christmas to some one who is perhaps lonely, widowed, poor, alone, downtrodden, orphaned, jobless, sick. Even if I cannot afford to give money as much as I would like to, I can still offer my time and the gifts I am bestowed with by my Lord. Then you can strip away all the lights, music, decorations and I will still have the peace, love and joy of Christmas in my heart. For truly the reason for the season is Jesus and the face of Jesus is in those whom we serve.
Soon when all is laid bare, I will still have Jesus! Amen
The countdown has begun where we will celebrate the Incarnation of the Word made flesh. The birthday of the Savior of the World our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
As we draw close to the 4th and final week of Advent, I am elated and my heart is filled with joy as I look back from the start of Advent 2018. I’ve aged indeed and my body never fails to remind me but I still possess a youthful heart and outlook. Though at times I feel I’m rather immature rather then childlike. Still my Lord has allowed me to grow through my mistakes. My prayer life is good, though I know it can be better and I am very much comfortable in sharing my faith and the reason behind it. In any case there is always more to learn and grow.
So while the year was not always easy, with great challenges both physically and spiritually I am very thankful and most grateful to the Lord for the following…
A very loving and generous family who has always been very supportive.
For the various communities I am a part of who inspire to be better, more importantly Holier by their very own desire and drive to grow in Holiness. Ephraim SCC and CG lol in particular have both taken their growth as a community to the next level. St Louise group is shaping up nicely. The fraternal bonds have grown so much that anyone joining in for the first time can feel the love between the members and want to be part of the loving community; but most importantly they feel most profoundly our Lord’s presence and know in their hearts that God is truly with us.
I am also very thankful to the Lord that Focolare and Servants of the Lord have some how or rather for lack of a better word ‘adopted’ our family, they not open their doors to us but their hearts as well. A sure sign of God’s love that prevails in their communities.
All Glory and Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen
In last night’s LISS Session which happened to be the very last. Fr spoke on the topic ‘Be my witnesses’ which was a very impactful talk with many takeaways. Three and not in the order it was presented, neither is it verbatim but coupled with my own personal reflection and take are…
We cannot keep coming, coming, coming, coming, for formation talks, retreats, LISS, CER, and so on. We must also GO! Go make disciples of all nations, Go share the love of God, Go glorifying God by our lives. Go share that the kingdom of God is at hand! After all at the end of every mass we are sent but we do not GO! We just keep coming back.
We need to pray for boldness and zeal for God our Father’s house! So that we can stop living on the surface of our safe, comfortable faith lves. We need to grow deeper in our faith, by falling more deeply in love our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. Our love for Him must be seen and heard by putting into action the love and conviction in caring for His sheep, all His sheep even those from different folds. We must boldly proclaim Christ had come, Christ had died for our sins, He rose from the dead so that we might have life to the full in Him and that He will come again! We must be seen living in the light of our Lord’s resurrection.
We need to have faith in others, affirm and pray for them. Provide opportunities for them to spread their wings and fly! And if they fall be there to help them up and encourage them to fly again so that they might soar higher then before through the grace of God. I share this from personal experience!
A good and loving Shepherd after Jesus’s heart saw in me what I and no others saw at that time he saw a man of God, a disciple. Just as our Lord did, he beckoned me to come and see. Over the years he encouraged and provided many opportunities for me to learn and grow. Many a time he threw me into the deep end, having faith that if I did not swim, I would somehow float. Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself giving formation talks, sharing and giving testimony before the whole Church. Even being part of a team to form future leaders in our Parish. Truly it has been surreal indeed! And it all started with a spark of hope, trust and faith by our Lord’s shepherd. It enkindled in me a fire to love and serve my Lord and my brethren. The loving shepherd has moved on to shepherd his other flock still I will always remain grateful and thankful to him for leading me into the loving embrace of my Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise and glory be to our Lord Jesus. Amen
Here are my thoughts on what discipleship is about and how I struggle to live it out…. The first letter of each line spells out the word discipleship.
Isaiah 11:1–10
Psalm 72:1–2, 7–8, 12–13, 17
Romans 15:4–9
Matthew 3:1–12
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” John proclaims. And the liturgy today paints us a vivid portrait of our new king and the shape of the kingdom He has come to bring.
The Lord whom John prepares the way for in today’s Gospel is the righteous king prophesied in today’s First Reading and Psalm. He is the king’s son, the son of David—a shoot from the root of Jesse, David’s father (see Ruth 4:17).
He will be the Messiah, anointed with the Holy Spirit (see 2 Samuel 23:1; 1 Kings 1:39; Psalm 2:2), endowed with the seven gifts of the Spirit—wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.
He will rule with justice, saving the poor from the ruthless and wicked. His rule will be not only over Israel—but will extend from sea to sea, to the ends of the earth. He will be a light, a signal to all nations. And they will seek Him and pay Him homage.
In Him, all the tribes of the earth will find blessing. The covenant promise to Abraham (see Genesis 12:3), renewed in God’s oath to David (see Psalm 89:4,28), will be fulfilled in His dynasty. And His name will be blessed forever.
In Christ, God confirms His oath to Israel’s patriarchs, Paul tells us in today’s Epistle. But no longer are God’s promises reserved solely for the children of Abraham. The Gentiles, too, will glorify God for His mercy. Once strangers, in Christ they will be included in “the covenants of promise” (see Ephesians 2:12).
John delivers this same message in the Gospel. Once God’s chosen people were hewn from the rock of Abraham (see Isaiah 51:1–2). Now, God will raise up living stones (see 1 Peter 2:5)—children of Abraham born not of flesh and blood but of the Spirit.
This is the meaning of the fiery baptism He brings—making us royal heirs of the kingdom of heaven, the Church.
X is indeed the Greek letter and first letter for Christos.
And so in short Xmas is Christmas.
That being said ‘mas’ on its own has no meaning. Therefore without Christ, christmas means nothing.
Both may very well hold true that Xmas was used in the early centuries as a shorter form for Christmas and also that the secular world simply wanted to remove Christ from the celebration so that perhaps they could make more money by creating their own stories about the festive season or that it would be more inclusive for all those outside of the faith. Then again they had no clue that God our Father loves all His children.
Personally I will always say, wish and spell Christmas in its entire form. This is my own personal reverence and love for my Lord, who through His incarnation, death and Resurrection has given me life to the full. For me the more important thing is that we lead others to this reality. That the Lord our God came to save us and that we should be fully united with and in Him.
As we are closing in to the end of the liturgical year, I have been reflecting on whether I had been living in the light of Christ and have been asking those around me to do the same. Are we prepared for the 2nd coming of our Lord? Have we stayed awake? Advent is afterall a reminder and time of preparation. Have we led others closer to Jesus Christ our Lord? How do others see us?
I was hoping to have some honest opinions of what others thought about me without being so bold as to open my mouth to ask them. And I certainly didn’t want to rely on my opinion of myself. Well it was great to have unsolicited affirmation subtly as it may be….
On Friday even though my LISS group is only halfway through their LISS Journey, the group members shared some powerful testimonies on their much deeper encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ. And they were thankful for the guidance received.
Last night at a friend’s birthday party and a high school reunion of sorts, a girl friend I have not seen in a few years said this of me and asked this rather humorous question. She said that she never forgot how mischievous I was in school and now through all my Facebook posts and from what she’s heard of me through others, she was wondering if I was a pastor of sorts or at least heading in that direction. I told that we Catholics have priests who are celibate but that didn’t mean we could not have lay persons who are engaged in some form of pastoral care. That being said I was happy to share briefly my own conversion story and that no I am not a pastor.
This morning at our Steward’s reflection session on the readings for Christ the King, a very dear sister in Christ mentioned in her sharing that she was very thankful to our Lord to belong in our group and that another sister in Christ and myself were instrumental in her deepening of faith. Praise the Lord!
Then I rushed off to one of my God daughters, daughter’s baptism. Yup I’m actually not young anymore *chuckles* anyhow it was nice to receive a compliment from a lady I didn’t know who was waiting outside the church on how nice my tie was. Told her that the image of Christ was that of Christ the King. She asked if I had bought it specially for the solemnity. I simply told her no I didn’t because Christ is King all the time! *winks*
As we were seated a guy came up beside me and said hi and that he was a parishioner from my church. He then enquired as to where my rosary was which puzzled me a little. He then explained that he usually sees me with a rosary in my hand. Later at the post baptism reception I was asked by an aunty if I could bless the food. Told her that I could only lead in grace before meals and would be happy to lead, but I saw there was an uncle in the family who should rightly have the honour to do so.
Looking back I have indeed come a long way, and still there is a long way more to go. I humbly ask for your prayers… 🙏 ❤️
It is always a struggle for our parishes to encourage and start neighbourhood groups and small Christian communities. There is always the question of time, knowledge on how to do it and the resources to get one running. If only everyone got to experience just how wonderful an experience it is to journey together with and in the Lord, all the anxiety and challenges that one might perceive to face will be moot!
There is also a sad reality that there are some who had at one time belonged to a community of believers but have allowed the cares of the world to overshadow them. They give excuse after excuse till they decide that no excuse is necessary any longer for leaving behind their community behind. It is just the way it is, their priorities have changed. They will never admit that their lives become empty and shallow. They think they can grow in faith, love and spirituality on their own. The truth is that unless they practise a sort of monastic asceticism focused on Christ their growth is already stunted. We can only pray that they come back to the community who awaits them with open arms.
Here is something I put together to encourage everyone…..
**Importance of Belonging To A Small Christian Community**
Without going into depth, sharing my experience of the importance of being part of a Christian community as we are all called to do as believers in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Authentically we live out our faith as one Body In Christ.
2.Accountability, we become accountable to one another in striving for holiness.
3. We learn to be charitable and generous with one another and others outside our community.
4. We become aware of the importance of being present for one another and are willing to sacrifice to be there for one another.
5. Jesus blesses us with His presence in our homes and in the places we gather in His name; His mother our Blessed Mother Mary is always with us as well.
6. The word of God is alive and active in our lives because His Word reigns in our hearts.
7. Our other devotions like the rosary and divine mercy becomes more powerful and alive through His Word which stands above all.
8. We are affirmed and encouraged through the sharing of our testimonies of our Lord’s love in our lives.
9. We are witnesses to the transformations of one another that takes place through Christ our Lord.
10. We bear witness and affirm one another’s gifts of the Holy Spirit which we use collectively to build our Lord’s kingdom.
11. We bask in the love of our Lord through our fraternal bonds that grow stronger through our faith and love with and in Him.
12. With growth of His love within our community we become more inclusive, warm and inviting to others seeking our Lord.
13. Many within the community will be challenged to be more and do more. Always relying on His strength, grace and love.
14. We are witnesses to the effects of our own transformed lives which has a great positive impact on our families, friends and parish communities.
15. We grow in our zeal to share His love with all that we meet. We become bolder and more courageous in our endeavour.
16. We start living in the Spirit according to the Will of God.
17. We experience the peace and joy of Christ constantly in our lives.
18. As our community matures in faith we adore and praise God more and more as One Body In Him, as we come together to intercede more often for others.
19. We are there for one another in our joys as well as our sorrows. The experience of having your brothers and sisters in Christ with you in the these moments are out of this world and to be cherished.
20. As the community grows and matures further we are driven to Mission through Christ our Lord. Amen
What a wonderful reminder found in the train station, of the food and drink of the Saints! Having just partaken of it with about 400 or more saints at Holy Trinity Church 6:30am Eucharistic Celebration.
Have a blessed day dear sisters and brothers in Christ. 🙏 ♥️
So I was warmly invited to attend a Servants of The Lord prayer meeting in the home of the brother who first introduced me to the group which I had never heard of till about a month ago. Even he was not aware I was coming because another fellow brother in the group wanted it to be a surprise. I attended with no expectations except to experience the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we are approaching the month of the rosary, and in preparation I urge you all to watch and listen to this talk by Fr Don….it’s wonderful and enriching.
Today over a ‘breakfast with Jesus’ session the group shared about how the Israelites in the first reading complained incessantly about everything not unlike the culture we live in. There was mention of how some complaints might be viewed as feedback while another shared that when he asked a lady colleague why she complained about everything her reply intrigued him. She told him that she complained so she could get what she wanted, if it was just feedback she got nothing!
I started my sharing by quoting Philippians 2:14 then an insight came upon me. Think about it, I said, ”People who complain do not have God dwelling within them for if they did, they would have nothing to complain about.” The Israelites had no teal love for God and was far from Him. Even in tomorrow’s first reading they apostasised EX 32:7-11, 13-14, they wanted only what they wanted. And even though the Lord our God detested their sins to the point of destroying them in their sins, still He relented through the intercession of Moses His servant who prefigured the coming of His only Begotten Son who would intecede for us thereafter lay down His life for us to free us from all sin. So that through our repentance we can be fully reconciled so as to live fully in His loving embrace and love.
Let us never empty the meaning of the Cross and its value. 🙏❤️
Weekends are very precious for most to relax and unwind. To sleep in till very late in the morning. I haven’t in a sense, had this luxury for the past few years.
My typical Saturday begins with me waking between 4:30 to 5am. I then reflect on today’s reading and Gospel then post my reflections online. Then quickly bathe and rush for Morning Lauds at 6:15am followed by morning Eucharist. Every few weeks like today I will serve as the morning Lector for the Eucharistic Celebration. Today also being the first Saturday of the month we have the Rosary at the Grotto, otherwise I will proceed for ‘Breakfast with Jesus’ basically a small community gathered to share the word and testimony of our Lord at the coffee shop. Then it’s a rush home to see to my family’s breakfast. I then send my daughter for Cathechism class while I go for Adoration and if time permits then I run an errand or two. Then it’s back home for lunch. From time to time I will either attend a formation, focolare community meeting on first Saturdays, Healing EC or visit my parents. Today we were blessed to be invited for The Servants of The Lord family day. If the Saturday is not packed then I would honestly feel something missing.
Sunday is the latest I sleep in during the whole week, I wake up at 6am then off to church to prepare for the Sunday reflections at 8am with our group in the Stewards of the Banquet ministry serving the 9:15am EC. Then it’s a quick bite, then off for our SCC meeting if one is scheduled for that Sunday or for a couple Session with our spiritual director. If there is nothing on then it’s catching up on ironing, some housework and family time.
Yes it can be typically very tiring and draining, but the beauty and wonder of it all is that it isn’t! Because I do not rely on my own strength. I rely on my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ! And I thank Him for the opportunities to share Him with others even for the challenges that come with it, though I definitely prefer not to have too much of the latter.
If I do get worn and tired then it’s because I have either not spent enough quiet time with my Lord, am not living in a state of grace thereby not frequenting the Holy Sacraments the way I should, in short not walking in His light.
All glory and Praise to the Lord our God. Amen
Isaiah 66:18–21
Psalm 117:1, 2
Hebrews 12:5–7, 11–13
Luke 13:22–30
Jesus doesn’t answer the question put to Him in this Sunday’s Gospel. It profits us nothing to speculate on how many will be saved. What we need to know is what He tells us today—how to enter into salvation and how urgent it is to strive now, before the Master closes the door.
Jesus is “the narrow gate,” the only way of salvation, the path by which all must travel to enter the kingdom of the Father (see John 14:6).
In Jesus, God has come—as He promises in this week’s First Reading—to gather nations of every language, to reveal to them His glory.
Eating and drinking with them, teaching in their streets, Jesus in the Gospel is slowly making His way to Jerusalem. There, Isaiah’s vision will be fulfilled: On the holy mountain He will be lifted up (see John 3:14), and He will draw to Himself brethren from among all the nations to worship in the heavenly Jerusalem, to glorify Him for His kindness, as we sing in today’s Psalm.
In God’s plan, the kingdom was proclaimed first to the Israelites and last to the Gentiles (see Romans 1:16; Acts 3:25–26), who in the Church have come from the earth’s four corners to make up the new people of God (see Isaiah 43:5–6; Psalm 107:2–3).
Many, however, will lose their place at the heavenly table, Jesus warns. Refusing to accept His narrow way they will weaken, rendering themselves unknown to the Father (see Isaiah 63:15–16).
We don’t want to be numbered among those of drooping hands and weak knees (see Isaiah 35:3). So, we must strive for that narrow gate, a way of hardship and suffering—the way of the beloved Son.
As this week’s Epistle reminds us, by our trials we know we are truly God’s sons and daughters. We are being disciplined by our afflictions, strengthened to walk that straight and narrow path—that we may enter the gate and take our place at the banquet of the righteous
I am an old man now with a young heart trapped in a broken body. In my prime I climbed trees, swam long distances in the ocean, hiked up mountains, canoed and loved such exhilarating physical activities! Now I struggle to walk from one point to the next. My eyes are dimmed I can hardly see. And I often need help to clean up after myself.
Lord do you hear me cry?
My memory is shot on a rapid decline. I have wonderful, unique memories from my childhood, of my teens and young adult years I cherish; soon all will be lost yet I have no one to share them with. For who is patient enough to hear an old man who tends to repeat himself? Who is willing to hear of my triumphs, trophies as well as my losses? Who has time for me? Nowadays it is difficult for me to have, or even make new memories!
Lord do you hear me cry?
My children have their own struggles and lives to lead. Still they visit me when they can, I am blessed they still care for and love me. This gives me joy even though it is shortlived. I have never wanted to be a burden to anyone, especially not to my wife and kids. But I am helpless in this regard. Where are you Lord? Are you not my strength, my fortitude? Where is the dignity in growing old?
Lord do you hear me cry?
I pray when I can, that is when I remember to. I pray to see Your light in my clear and present darkness. Now I pray that there are kind souls out there who are praying for me and my aged wife. Amen
Catholicjules.net
You attend a retreat and the Lord speaks to you, you take notes then after the retreat you shelve your notebook all is lost!
You share keypoints and takeaways with your members, will they understand what has to be done, will they be moved? The nuances and graces received from the retreat are all lost on them!
You attend and are moved to do more, pray more, be more but afterwards go back to your old comforts and ways of doing what you have been doing. All is lost!
You attempt to put into practice what you have learnt and at the first sign of resistance you wave the white flag. All is lost!
Having attended a spirit filled retreat perhaps one should modify an old motto, ‘No retreat, No surrender! I will move forwards with and in the Lord and will only surrender all to Him’ Amen
Can you imagine the Lord teaching you how to face very challenging situations that you will be facing ahead through His Shepherd and His Word then minutes later He tests to see if you had learnt it and know how to apply it?
This just happened to me on the 2nd day of the combined ministry retreat! Put the helmet of salvation on. Eph 6:17 know that you are redeemed. No one can say anything about you or demeaning to you because you know who you are before the Lord. And again 1 Peter 5:8-9 remain alert or rather sober. Do not allow yourself to be drunk with anger, irritation, despair etc.
Then guess what, Phil 2:14 began behind me and targeted at me! Well I quickly put on the helmet of salvation and refused to allow anger to consume me, slowly but surely I managed to let it go. Praise the Lord!
Time and again you will hear it from the pulpit, formation talk, even in Scripture on the importance of belonging to a faith community. Yet most everyone turns deaf to this call. Some of these folks are more inclined to join a funfair, food and drink fellowship at most. Why?
Well they have varied reasons both spoken as well as unspoken. Here are some…
1. Too busy with work
2. Eats into family time
3. TV series, sports channel, movies to catch up on.
4. Too Holy moly for me
5. Uncomfortable with crowds.
6. Unfamiliar, I take longer to warm up to strangers.
7. Don’t like certain people in the group.
8. Don’t know enough about my faith to share.
9. No one invited me.
10. Some of the faith groups are exclusive
11. Value my privacy
12. More important things to do.
13. Prefer to go for Adoration
14. Time for the Lord is reserved only for one hour on Sundays the rest is me time!
All I can say to all the above is this, “You truly do not know what you’re missing.“ First and foremost the reality of our Lord’s Jesus’s amazing and unique presence in His community gathered before Him. So much so that if I had to choose between personal adoration or sharing in His presence at a prayer meeting at a specific given time, I’d choose the latter always.
Our Lord calls us all to come together with all our imperfections, in all our brokenness, of feelings of inadequacies and He will grant us the grace we need and fill all the voids in our lives. We are given an opportunity to grow and inspire one another to grow in faith; in His love. One Family, One Body In Him. With the blessings and anointings received we can better love the families we were born into as well as those yet to join us.
Here are some inspiring words from St Ignatius of Antioch…
Work together in harmony, struggle together, run together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, as stewards, advisors and servants of God. Seek to please him whose soldiers you are and from whom you draw your pay; let none of you prove a deserter. Let your baptism be your armor, your faith your helmet, your charity your spear, your patience your panoply. Let your good works be your deposits, so that you may draw out well-earned savings. So be patient and gentle with one another, as God is with you. May I have joy in you for ever!
May almighty God our Father bless us now and forever. Amen
Just finished attending my first ever men’s day of recollection (held in the evening once a month) and I’m loving it! Loved that there is reconciliation throughout and the whole session ends with Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
It was intellectually heavy in parts but hey that’s the way to grow!
So all in all I highly recommend attending the sessions. Praise the Lord!
*Apparently there’s a women only session held separately.
Looking back now I am in awe of how the Lord had transformed my life to the point that I am now helping, or at least, I think I am helping folks grow in their faith through my postings.
It all started when I realised that my vocabulary was turning to marsh for lack of practice, as my job at that time did not require me to write lengthy reports etc. So in Jan 2007 I took to journaling by way of the new technology available on the Internet through journaling in the blogsphere. At that time I could not decide between blogspot or wordpress and for a spell decided to blog on both. It then became obvious that wordpress was more serious in development so I switched permanently.
Juleslife.wordpress.com was given life to such a degree that I affectionately themed it of one ‘Living life with A Passion` I started blogging about everything and anything under the sun. But mostly what was of interest to me including bits of my own life and adventure. Somehow or rather I managed to get about 700,000++ visitors I referred to as ‘dew drops’ over the years.
That all changed when I encountered the Lord through the Life in the Spirit Seminar. I began to have an ever growing desire to talk about my experiences, share Him with others and in my own own little way contribute to evangelising others; so that they too could experience Him in a deep personal way as I had. Afterall I had some experience in blogging and so I decided to leave the worldliness of living life with a passion behind and start living life to the full in Him.
Still I had to start from scratch! How and where would I get anyone to start following me? Who would even be interested to hear what I had to say about faith matters? I had to start somewhere so I invited family and friends and got zero response. Afterall those who knew me in my past probably thought to themselves, it’s he for real? Has he changed? Really? For how long? (*chuckles*) but that did not deter me for I was on fire for my Lord and trusted that He would lead folks as and when He saw fit to do so. Very slowly but surely the numbers grew.
It then dawned on me that I had to be fully committed to sharing the faith, afterall I now had a following. What this meant for me, is that I could not take a break or a holiday. Rain, shine, sick, well, having fallen into sin or not I had to continue. I made a decision that I would only rest on Sunday, which is why I post the Sunday reflections of Dr Scott Hahn. Even when I went for a retreat where there was no WiFi or usage of any mobile phone, laptop or tablet allowed; I would then do my reflections ahead and schedule them to post automatically. Well even though I thought it unlikely then that I would be able to sustain or rather keep to this commitment; the Lord has granted me the grace and strength to do so.
Anyhow to shorten an otherwise longer story I now have a following of about 12000++ on my catholicjules Facebook page and about 300,000 visitors on Catholicjules.net on WordPress. All for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Prayerfully this will grow so that more are touched or inspired by the Lord through the sharings and reflections of His Word. Amen
Our Salvation history has a beginning and an end. And it is only through the entire journey that we see, feel, touch, know the great love and presence of the Lord our God.
We cannot start with the story of God’s people and their slavery in Egypt then fast forward to Joshua leading them into the promised land forgetting the Lord God’s mighty hand through His servant Moses. Neither can we start at Genesis then jump to Revelation.
Therefore it is a sacrilege to teach others to skip the old testament completely and just read and know the new testament.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Says the Lord… Rev 22:13
It is far easier to be silent than to be the voice of reason or the voice of conscience for the community. Afterall why put yourself at the mercy of detractors? Of those who would rather not listen or act? To be accused of being the one who causes divisiveness.
Yes it is far better to be silent and to remain at peace where you’re at, even to be loved if not then liked. But I will never forget a fiery homily by a beloved priest who spoke about the conspiracy of silence! In many ways he is a ‘John the Baptist’ of sorts, preparing hearts to receive our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many did not like or even respect him but it did not faze him in the least. For he had led many countless folks closer to the Lord our God. Just like him, I sleep soundly at night.
Praise and glory be to the Lord our God!
Like many of you I struggle with pride. And sometimes with one of the worst kinds empty pride. But the most heinous of them all to me is Spiritual pride! Because with it we can say and do things such that it leads others astray.
There are many who behave as though they are holier than the Pope and sometimes even present ideas contrary to Church teachings. While there are also others who are quick to comment on the shortcomings of others labeling them as being spiritually prideful while claiming themselves to be spiritually sound by their ‘silence’. This is still PRIDE of another shade.
I have taken extra care to share the faith through study, following the teachings of the Church and striving to lead an authentic life in the Lord because I know I am accountable to Him when I pass on. What did you feed my lambs? What did you feed my sheep? He will surely ask even though He would already know…
So let us pray for one another especially, for all Spiritual leaders, priests and religious. That we do the will of our Heavenly Father always. Amen
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. Luke 7:47
You and I, we are sinners and yet in His great love and mercy our Lord Jesus Christ saw us fit to receive His mercy and love. This very act of His love for us has transformed our hearts such that we can sing with joy that we have found Him whom our hearts love. Go and sin no more He tells us and so how our heart breaks with each time we lose sight of Him and fall back into sin. Have you seen him whom my heart loves?
Let us choose to stay focused on our love for Him and our mission that we should go and tell our sisters and brothers that He is here with us. The Risen Lord seeks to gather us all unto Himself. And one day soon we will be reunited with Him in paradise. Amen Alleluia!
St Mary Magdalene pray for us….
Song of Songs 3:1-4 ·
The bride says this:
On my bed, at night, I sought him
whom my heart loves. I sought but did not find him. So I will rise and go through the City; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my heart loves. I sought but did not find him. The watchmen came upon me on their rounds in the City: ‘Have you seen him whom my heart loves?’
Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my heart loves.
John 20:1-2,11-18
‘Mary, go and find the brothers and tell them’
It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’
Meanwhile Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.
This is my code of conduct, mission statement all rolled into one. Something I am striving to live out.
I have on numerous occasions through my on personal journey of faith been led, asked or tasked to take either the lead, consulted on or simply to run with what I would term spiritual matters of faith. From helping out in the Eucharistic Celebration in a variety of ways wearing different hats, to giving a formation talk at a RCIA session, a youth event, parish event, to being part of a prayer team to pray over others, to planning for a retreat or faith event, leading a prayer session or prayer meeting and so on. Was I qualified or experienced enough when I was first called upon? My answer would be NO! I simply said Yes to the call then would quietly panic as I asked for the Lord’s guidance on how to proceed. Often times just going with the flow, that is the flow of the Holy Spirit. Learning from making mistakes, allowing Him to teach and guide me so that I might grow a little more each day in wisdom and knowledge.
Trusting the Lord fully and surrendering our Will to Him so that He can lead us deeper in our faith journey is very difficult for almost everyone. Because whether we want to admit or not, most of us are control freaks and need to be familiar with a subject, topic before we will attempt to take the leapt to take charge or move with it. Hence if we were going for a retreat we want to know what to be prepared for, what to bring, the schedule, what are the topics covered before we will consider going. How then are we ever going to learn to trust the Lord to take the lead? How then are we going to proclaim to anyone that the Kingdom of the Lord our God is at hand, or simply to tell a stranger that Jesus loves him or her when we are too busy counting the cost of doing anything for Him!
We have received abundant blessings and graces freely from the Lord our God, how can we not serve Him and our brethren freely without counting the cost of doing so. In fact the best graces to be received through servitude of our Lord Jesus Christ and our brethren are purchased through sacrifice and suffering. Amen
Genesis 44:18-21,23-29,45:1-5
Joseph reveals himself to his brothers
Judah went up to Joseph and said, ‘May it please my lord, let your servant have a word privately with my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord questioned his servants, “Have you father or brother?” And we said to my lord, “We have an old father, and a younger brother born of his old age. His brother is dead, so he is the only one left of his mother, and his father loves him.” Then you said to your servants, “Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.” But you said to your servants, “If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not be admitted to my presence again.” When we went back to your servant my father, we repeated to him what my lord had said. So when our father said, “Go back and buy us a little food,” we said, “We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down, for we cannot be admitted to the man’s presence unless our youngest brother is with us.” So your servant our father said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two children. When one left me, I said that he must have been torn to pieces. And I have not seen him to this day. If you take this one from me too and any harm comes to him, you will send me down to Sheol with my white head bowed in misery.” If I go to your servant my father now, and we have not the boy with us, he will die as soon as he sees the boy is not with us, for his heart is bound up with him. Then your servants will have sent your servant our father down to Sheol with his white head bowed in grief.’
Then Joseph could not control his feelings in front of all his retainers, and he exclaimed, ‘Let everyone leave me.’ No one therefore was present with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers, but he wept so loudly that all the Egyptians heard, and the news reached Pharaoh’s palace.
Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?’ His brothers could not answer him, they were so dismayed at the sight of him. Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ When they had come closer to him he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives.’
Matthew 10:7-15
You received without charge: give without charge
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge. Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses, with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep.
‘Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house, salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you. And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet. I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgement it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town.’
Interestingly enough most people, inclusive of Catholics who stay away from church, service in ministry and community often use the excuse that they do so by saying they don’t want to be among hypocrites. What is a hypocrite by definition then?
**Hypocrite **
noun
hyp·o·crite
\ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\
: a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with thosebeliefs
Full Definition
1: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
If we follow the above definition then Catholics who call fellow Catholics hypocrite are themselves hypocrites are they not?
Afterall are we not all sinners in need of the mercy and love of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Are we not all called to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospels?
Do we not have a higher calling to lead one another into a deeper relationship and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Can we then continue our wayward way of life? Our ill discipline of late coming or non participation in meetings or sharing of the word? Of adopting a lax attitude in dress and reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ in the liturgy or in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament? Of criticising others for voicing wrongs through fraternal correction?
Instead of calling one another hypocrite, let us examine our very own lives. Just how well are we doing ourselves in the journey towards discipleship? Let us instead encourage one another to focus on the mercy and love of our Lord Jesus Christ and to build His Kingdom in the foundation of His love.
Tired after a very hard day at the office then later facing a little drama at home it was really difficult to focus on the mission of being there for someone who was sick. Still I would not be robbed of the desire and resolve to bring the light of Christ with me if I could. To add to the difficulty I got lost using the GPS to navigate my way with Hannah on the bicycle. Praise the Lord we managed to finally reach our destination which took us slightly over half an hour instead of ten minutes had I got it right.
A like minded fellow brother in Christ arrived before me and it was wonderful for us both to see our brother who is still sick, in good spirits. To hear testimony of how his seventy year plus old sister-in law took the time and trouble to care, pray with and help to nurse him back to health; so that his wife can work and tend to their young children. How Blessed indeed we are to have such people in our lives who are not only devoted to Christ but in following Him by their mercy and love put into action.
Thank you Lord for the opportunity to pray for our brother and may your mighty healing hand be upon Him. Bless his family and keep them in your loving care. Amen
How do you celebrate something which is not part of your own tradition to do so? Then again you will only remember it through the records of your parents unless of course they had made it a point to celebrate it as a family all the years before. Again no fault of theirs if they didn’t do so as again it is never really given any significant importance after the fact. What am I talking about?
Today is a very special day for me, for it is the day I was baptised and became a child of God my Heavenly Father, slightly less than a month after coming out of my mother’s womb. It must have been an extra special day for mum as she would have celebrated her own birthday the very next day.
I woke up this morning without fanfare knowing that there will be no elaborate celebration thrown for me but all the same with great joy in my heart. Then I received the one and only gift I was looking forward to receive and the most precious one at that, Jesus Himself in Holy Eucharist. Afterwhich I rushed home to have family breakfast together and to share my joy. If was not to be so as my family had other plans and so it was just me and Hannah.
No matter, I will spend this day reflecting if I have lived up to my baptismal promises, if I have strived enough to be Holy as my Heavenly Father is Holy and if I have brought the joy of Christ into the lives of, family, friends and all. So instead of wishing me Happy Baptism or something like that, instead simply say a prayer for me. Thank you and may our Lord Jesus Christ bless You and family always. Amen
CatholicJules.net 