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Sharing by a Sister in Christ

Posted: September 14, 2019 by CatholicJules in Testimonies

Eileen from our CG LOL Small Christian Community

Bear with me, my lol brothers and sisters. I’d like to share my christ encounter with you.

Svdp had corporal works of mercy today. I didn’t sign up for old folks home but was posted there. I knew God had a reason for putting me in the aged home instead of children’s home.

We had colouring activity. This old catholic man refused to colour any of the pictures (flowers, gumball, ice cream) because he did not like any of them. He insisted on a lighthouse picture but we did not have. He was adamant about a lighthouse picture with boats. I didn’t think I could draw well so asked a 21 year old girl to draw. She couldn’t draw too and i ended up copying the pic from Google.
I drew a lighthouse and boats that he wanted. I didn’t think I did a good job with the drawing and colouring. The old man told me he fell in a lighthouse before.
I also wrote a bible verse at the bottom of the picture.
“Oli, you are the light of the world.” (Matt5:14)
And around the lighthouse, I wrote “Jesus is the eternal light.”
He looked at my picture n the words and repeated the verse. I think he was moved because he took off his specs twice and rubbed his teary eyes. I was moved too. The lighthouse meant a lot to him and to me. There were many people who were lighthouse to me, in my moments of darkness. Others brought light and christ to me, now it was my turn to bring light n christ to him.
The old man took my lighthouse pic (he was so delighted!), went to his bedside and wedged the picture in his bible. 😭

Reflection over breakfast with Jesus

Posted: September 14, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Personal Thoughts & Reflections

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. 🙏❤️

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 14, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, exaltation of the holy cross

Today as we gaze upon the crucifixes in our homes, around our necks, in our Parish, let us ponder over the word in John’s Gospel, the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Indeed it is Not so much a symbol as it is a truth of God’s great love for us! Of how our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ suffered death to liberate us once for all from the clutches of sin. A victory over death and sin won for each and everyone of us by His very own death and Resurrection!

We are drawn to eternal life with Him, when we willingly take up our cross to follow Him. So on this feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, let our hearts and minds be also raised, as we set our sights to the Heavenly Banquet that awaits us through Christ our Lord. Amen

First reading

Numbers 21:4-9 ·
If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived

On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’
At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

Gospel

John 3:13-17
God sent his Son so that through him the world might be saved

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven,
the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.’

A thought..

Image — Posted: September 13, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections, Photos

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 13, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, faults of others, leadership

Why is it that we seem to see the faults and shortfalls of others ever so clearly yet see nothing of our own; let alone try to be and do better? If we cannot be faithful to friends and acquaintances by our comments when not in their presence, how can we be expected to be faithful to Jesus who sees or knows all whether or not we are aware of His presence?

We are ALL called to lead one another into Holiness even while there are some amongst us who are appointed leaders in our church or communities. If we do not lead others by example by attending daily Eucharist, going for Adoration and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as we can, how can we perfected by Christ to lead His flock? St Paul shares with us today as he will again this Sunday of how his own conversion began through Christ Jesus our Lord. He acknowledged his own wayward ways, his ignorance and arrogance if you will at one time. But through believe and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ there was a great outpouring of grace, mercy and love upon him which transformed him to be more and more like his master. Let us therefore acknowledge our own sinfulness, our need for the grace and strength of our Saviour Jesus Christ so that we too can be better Shepherds for His flock.

Amen

First reading

1 Timothy 1:1-2,12-14 ·
I used to be a blasphemer, but the mercy of God was shown me

From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus appointed by the command of God our saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, true child of mine in the faith; wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, and who judged me faithful enough to call me into his service even though I used to be a blasphemer and did all I could to injure and discredit the faith. Mercy, however, was shown me, because until I became a believer I had been acting in ignorance; and the grace of our Lord filled me with faith and with the love that is in Christ Jesus.

Gospel

Luke 6:39-42
Can the blind lead the blind?

Jesus told a parable to the disciples: ‘Can one blind man guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit? The disciple is not superior to his teacher; the fully trained disciple will always be like his teacher. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,” when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 12, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, love

Too hard it is to follow the loving ways of our Lord and His command to love. Formation after formation, retreat after retreat amounts to nothing if there is no change of heart, of will and fortitude to endeavour the trials of carrying the cross which we are to bear in love. How are we ever going to love our enemies when we cannot love our own family who knows how to push our buttons let alone to love our neighbour? How are we going to bless those who curse us when we are quick to curse them back so as not to fall victim? What about those who treat us badly or ‘slap’ us? ”Ooh I cannot wait for them to try and cross me again” we utter with vengeance in our heart. So indeed it is no effort at all to love those who love us in return!

The painful falls we took to learn to ride a bike, rollerblade (skate), the pains of riding a horse for the first time, the endurance of climbing/hiking up a mountain, the cuts, burns and criticisms when learning to cook, the long hours and hardships of completing a project, all of these at the very end brought us a great sense of accomplishment and overwhelming joy! In addition wonderful lasting memories. How much more will we receive when we love and endure all for Christ Jesus our Lord! It all begins with baby steps in His love. To endure a little more each day, putting on a small piece of cloth of love upon us each time, as a badge of our success. Before we know it we will have a full length cloak upon us, a woven tapestry of love.

Then we can truly sing high praises and hymns to the Lord our God with great gratitude of heart, for we would have become more like Him, compassionate, merciful, most of all loving. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Colossians 3:12-17 ·
Be clothed in love

You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.
Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Gospel

Luke 6:27-38
Love your enemies

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 11, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: beautitudes, Catholicjules.net, in christ, poor, rich

How does our loving Lord and God want us to live our lives? In poverty, hungry all the time and sorrowful? Nay! Afterall Jesus our Lord did say,”I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) We have life to the full indeed when we live in Him, with Him, for Him and for one another. Sounds simple enough? But as we very well know, it is far from simple.

There is nothing wrong with being rich, but are we rich for ourselves and our family alone? Have we enriched the lives of others? Do we see the poor and do nothing? There is nothing wrong with being well fed, but do we feed those who have nothing? Have we performed corporal and spiritual acts of mercy? There is nothing wrong with being joyful, but have we brought joy in the lives of others who are lonely, downtrodden, distraught? Have we shared the joy of knowing Christ with others?

Like all good things we need to work hard at and for it by setting our sights to Heaven as our only goal; for us, our families and all our dearly beloved sisters and brothers. We must strive for Holiness as we reject all sin, sinfulness and temptations. We must choose always to live in the light in which Christ had bought and paid for by laying down His life for us. In the same way how much of how we live our lives for others determines how Christ-like we become.

Jesus I want to live my life for You. Be with me, dwell in me, stay with me, now and forevermore. Amen

First reading

Colossians 3:1-11 ·
You must look for the things that are in heaven

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; all this is the sort of behaviour that makes God angry. And it is the way in which you used to live when you were surrounded by people doing the same thing, but now you, of all people, must give all these things up: getting angry, being bad-tempered, spitefulness, abusive language and dirty talk; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

Gospel

Luke 6:20-26
Happy are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep

Fixing his eyes on his disciples Jesus said:

‘How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.
Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh.

Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

‘But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now.
Alas for you who have your fill now: you shall go hungry.
Alas for you who laugh now: you shall mourn and weep.

‘Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 10, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, faithful, prayer

Our life in Christ began with prayer, it was through the prayer of the faithful that the Holy Spirit decended upon us at our baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We became God our Father’s children inserted into the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore prayer is central in the life of a Christian. What is prayer then?

Well there are many facets and many forms of prayer all of which lead us to into the loving embrace of the Lord our God in a ‘Heavenly Dance’ if you will. Our mouth whispers to the heart of God and the mouth of God whispers to our heart. Yes it is as simple as that and yet still many find it difficult to pray as if our Lord demands of us a certain form or discipline in order for us to speak with or hear Him. The only requirement in a sense is that we do so in the quiet. For it is in the quiet that He speaks to our heart. We can hear Him most clearly and profoundly. We are gradually led deeper and deeper into His bosom over time and as we seek Him more and more frequently.

Through prayer, prayerful contemplation of His Word, and often seeking to be in His presence, we become more like Him each and every day. Others will see us becoming more loving and merciful. Through Him we become powerful instruments of His grace for others.

I have no need to turn to anyone or to look anywhere else, all that I will ever need is to be found in You alone Jesus my Lord. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Colossians 2:6-15 ·
The Lord has brought you to life with him

You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving.
Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some second-hand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ.
In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power.
In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision not performed by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your body of flesh. This is circumcision according to Christ. You have been buried with him, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.
He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross; and so he got rid of the Sovereignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession.

Gospel

Luke 6:12-19
Jesus chooses his twelve apostles

Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 9, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, love without boundaries, teach, train one another

Everyday is an oppoturnity to love, to give thanks and glory to God by loving others with the same love He first loved us. So how can we ask when is it a good time or place to do so? Only when it is convenient to do so? After all our Lord’s commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love one another as He had loved us.

Was the man’s condition in today’s Gospel dire? Was it life threathening? Could he not work to provide for himself with his other hand and feet? Was his withered hand the cause of any other ailments? If we are asking all these questions then we are missing the point completely! The Lord had told us ”It is love that I seek, and not sacrifice.” Hos 6:6 and again Matthew 9:13 ”Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’’ We are called to love beyond boundaries, to love without question.

In order to understand more deeply this call to love, we must look to the mystery of our Lord’s great love for us revealed through His life, death and resurrection. His love for ALL mankind not a select race or few. His desire that we have life and have it to the full. His hope that by our response to His Will for us we will share eternity with Him in His Heavenly Kingdom. It is our responsibility therefore to learn, teach, train and lead one another into the reality of life eternal with Him. Amen

First reading

Colossians 1:24-2:3 ·
God’s message was a mystery hidden for generations

It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church. I became the servant of the Church when God made me responsible for delivering God’s message to you, the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his saints. It was God’s purpose to reveal it to them and to show all the rich glory of this mystery to pagans. The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory: this is the Christ we proclaim, this is the wisdom in which we thoroughly train everyone and instruct everyone, to make them all perfect in Christ. It is for this I struggle wearily on, helped only by his power driving me irresistibly.
Yes, I want you to know that I do have to struggle hard for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for so many others who have never seen me face to face. It is all to bind you together in love and to stir your minds, so that your understanding may come to full development, until you really know God’s secret in which all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

Gospel

Luke 6:6-11
Is it against the law on the sabbath to save life?

On the sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the sabbath, hoping to find something to use against him. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up! Come out into the middle.’ And he came out and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I put it to you: is it against the law on the sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?’ Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was better. But they were furious, and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.

LISS Testimony

Posted: September 8, 2019 by CatholicJules in Testimonies

( My LISS grouping of 2018 which I facilitated)

Life in the Spirit Seminar (LISS) Testimony

“I am with you always, until the end of time”
Matthew 28:20

I recalled last October 2018 when I was going through a very difficult period in my life on my professional and personal front, Sharon from Emmanuel Charismatic encouraged me to sign up for the Life in the Spirit Seminar. Honestly-speaking, I was rather doubtful and skeptical whether it would make any difference. However, I was feeling so down and hopeless that I was willing to try anything if my life could be on track again.

During the 8-week journey, I did not see any dramatic changes, but I soldiered on trusting that God would show me the way eventually. The changes came very gradually but surely, I started noticing that my response to difficulties started to change. In the past, I would face each issue with gloom and doom but after the LISS, I could calmly surrender my problems to Jesus with relatively more ease. Peace would descend upon me each time I let go and let God take over. What was interesting was that my personal situation remained grim, in fact, there was a period after the LISS, my situation worsened but I continued to call out to the Holy Spirit to guide me. Step by step, my life slowly transformed, and things started to be on track again.

Fast forward to today, problems remains in my life, however, my walk with Jesus has changed dramatically. Whenever I pray, I can see clearer what to ask, what God’s plan is for me, all within the framework of a submissive heart, free from worldly objectives. There is now a place in my heart where God’s love is untouched and unaffected by the events of this earth. I have become increasingly sensitive to wrong – both in all that surrounds me and in myself. I will feel deeply that “wrong” where once I merely “observed” it.

So, my dear Sisters and Brothers, I urge you to take that first step to come and join the LISS,

● Come because God is calling you – It is not coincidental that you are reading this;

● Come even you are unsure whether you can commit to the 8-week journey – Do your part, God will do the rest;

● Come even though you are afraid, and no one is accompanying you – God will find companions to walk with you during this journey;

May God bless you all the days of your life!

With Love
Catherine Lim

A little on Today’s Gospel…

Posted: September 8, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections

Luke 14:25-27

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Ask anyone who has left ministry and a prayer community for a sabbatical of sorts; they will tell you that they had become spiritually dead over time. To be filled with the grace , peace and love of Christ Jesus our Lord is to love Him with all our heart, mind and soul. And to love our brethren His one Body. Which means we must put our love for Him and brethren into action. For worship of Him is never a private affair.

You have all been bought and paid for, do not be slaves of other men. (1 Co 7:23) Do you listen then to anyone be it family or not that you should not serve and that charity begins and ends at home? Can you truly love our Lord without loving your neighbour? Can you love your neighbour without first loving Him Your God? Whom first loved you?

This is what I have learnt in my own journey, that we must all make love our aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that we may prophesy. Amen

Personal reflection on my typical weekend…

Posted: September 7, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Personal Thoughts & Reflections

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

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: September 7, 2019 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections

Counting the Cost: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

Wisdom 9:13–18
Psalm 90:3–6, 12–17
Philemon 1:9–10, 12–17
Luke 14:25–33

Like a king making ready for battle or a contractor about to build a tower, we have to count the cost as we set out to follow Jesus.
Our Lord today is telling us up front the sacrifice it will take. His words aren’t addressed to His chosen few, the Twelve, but rather to the “great crowds”—to anyone, to whoever wishes to be His disciple.
That only makes His call all the more stark and uncompromising. We are to “hate” our old lives, to renounce all the earthly things we rely upon, to choose Him above every person and possession. Again He tells us that the things we have—even our family ties and obligations—can become an excuse, an obstacle that keeps us from giving ourselves completely to Him (see Luke 9:23–26, 57–62).
Jesus brings us the saving wisdom we are promised in today’s First Reading. He is that saving Wisdom.

Weighed down by many earthly concerns, the burdens of our body and its needs, we could never see beyond the things of this world; we could never detect God’s heavenly design and intention. So in His mercy He sent us His Spirit, His Wisdom from on high, to make straight our path to Him.
Jesus Himself paid the price to free us from the sentence imposed on Adam, which we recall in today’s Psalm (see Genesis 2:7; 2:19). No more will the work of our hands be an affliction; no more are we destined to turn back to dust.

Like Onesimus in today’s Epistle, we have been redeemed. We have been given a new family and a new inheritance, made children of the Father, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We are free now to come after Him, to serve Him—no longer slaves to the ties of our past lives. In Christ, all our yesterdays have passed. We live in what the Psalm today beautifully describes as the daybreak, ready to be filled with His kindness. For He has given us wisdom of heart and taught us to number our days aright.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 7, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: authority, blameles, Catholicjules.net, lordship

Every day we are faced with struggles and new challenges be it at work, home or with our faith. How do we cope? How do we make it through each day? How did we get through the day yesterday? Question really is who is in charge of your life? If you are in charge then yes you are subject to human limitations. But if our Lord is in charge and you subject yourself to His authority without question then you will be amazed at how things work out. How much more gets done in a day and still there is joy in your heart. At the end of the you are granted a peaceful rest.

Therefore we should always begin our awakening with prayer, calling for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For His counsel throughout the day. We praise and thank God for the new day and the opportunities to glorify Him through the challenges of the day. Through Him and with Him, we will persevere, grow and walk blameless in His sight. We therefore submit ourselves this day and everyday to His Holy Will for us. Amen

First reading

Colossians 1:21-23 ·
God has reconciled you by Christ’s death in his mortal body

Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless – as long as you persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope promised by the Good News, which you have heard, which has been preached to the whole human race, and of which I, Paul, have become the servant.

Gospel

Luke 6:1-5
The Son of Man is master of the sabbath

One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 6, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, order, sacred tradtitions, worship

There is and must always be discipline and order in the way we conduct ourselves since we are created in the likeness and image of the Lord our God who created the world and breathed order into it. So too there is order in the way we worship, therefore we embrace and follow the sacred traditions handed down to us.

However above all and above all created things is Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Hence all that we say or do whether in matters of worship, administrative or pastoral must be centred primarily on Him of whom we love and who first loved us. Everything must be built upon the foundation of our rock and this can only be so through and ever growing, deepening relationship with our Lord and God Jesus Christ.

Jesus my Lord, You are the source of all life. You first born of creation and first born of the dead; by Your very life, death and resurrection You have opened the gates of Heaven for us and so we have hope of eternal life with You. Help us to remain true and focused on the prize that awaits us at the very end of our trials and tribulations. Amen

First reading

Colossians 1:15-20 ·
All things were created through Christ and for Christ

Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God
and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Domination, Sovereignties, Powers – all things were created through him and for him.
Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity. Now the Church is his body, he is its head.

As he is the Beginning,
he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way; because God wanted all perfection to be found in him
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace
by his death on the cross.

Gospel

Luke 5:33-39
When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast

The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.’
He also told them this parable, ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
‘And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 5, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: agape, Catholicjules.net, fishers of men, net of love

Who are you before the Lord our God?
The answer to this question determines where your faith and your relationship with Him lie therein. So ponder over this slowly and carefully.

It is far too easy to cry I want to follow Him! However before we can really do so, we need to know who we are before the Lord our God. Otherwise it is simply lip service while we hold on to full control of all that we say and do! Hence the key to following Him as we read at the very end of today’s Gospel is to leave everything behind. We have to leave behind first and foremost all our Sins, sinfulness behind us, our earthly attachments, our prideful ways, our self reliance on everything , the grandeur of thinking we have more knowledge and are better than others.

Yes we must first acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of His mercy and grace as we cry out to Him, ”Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” Through His mercy and grace as when we were first baptised we are perfectly cleansed of our sins. We can then strive to sin no more! For through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ we have been set free to live fully in His love. We can live as children so loved by God our Heavenly Father; We seek to strengthen and grow our relationship with Him day by day. Through prayer and the indwelling of His Word. By our love (agape) in action and the sharing of the word we draw others unto Him. Men and women caught up in the net of His everlasting love. Amen

First reading

Colossians 1:9-14 ·
God has taken us out of the power of darkness

Ever since the day we heard about you, we have never failed to pray for you, and what we ask God is that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you should reach the fullest knowledge of his will. So you will be able to lead the kind of life which the Lord expects of you, a life acceptable to him in all its aspects; showing the results in all the good actions you do and increasing your knowledge of God. You will have in you the strength, based on his own glorious power, never to give in, but to bear anything joyfully, thanking the Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light.
Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.

Gospel

Luke 5:1-11
They left everything and followed him

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 4, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, heroic faith, intercession, interior life

We need to renew our interior life constantly through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who loves us immensely. Otherwise we will be caught up with our own selfish inclinations, consumerism and myopic Sunday Catholic faith. We are unlikely to look beyond our immediate family concerns let alone care for the poor and downtrodden.

So what does a grace filled life in Jesus Christ look like? Well for one it is filled with His peace and joy. It is always outward looking seeking to build His Kingdom through the sharing and proclamation of the Good News that we all share in a life lived for Him and in Him. We pray for and live for the goodness of one another. Sin and sinfulness is rebuked in His name as we strive towards holiness.

Recently a dear sister and brother in Christ whose son just recently came out of the woods from being stricken with cancer for a second time, is working hard to help an eleven year old girl from Batam who is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant which cost an obscene amount of money! The young family were strangers to them and yet they reached out with love and compassion. Never mind that they themselves have been put through the mill so to speak, by their constant worry for their own son who has not fully recovered. This is the kind of heroic faith we speak about which is only to be found in and through our Lord Jesus Christ!

So please join me in prayer for this little girl Chorinda from Batam and many like her who suffer the indignity of cancer, and for folks like Vincent and Marilyn who set aside their own struggles to help others like them, all for the glory of God.

Lord Jesus let me live for You and when it is time let me die for You. Amen

First reading

Colossians 1:1-8 ·
The message of the truth has reached you and is spreading all over the world

From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy to the saints in Colossae, our faithful brothers in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We have never failed to remember you in our prayers and to give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you show towards all the saints because of the hope which is stored up for you in heaven. It is only recently that you heard of this, when it was announced in the message of the truth. The Good News which has reached you is spreading all over the world and producing the same results as it has among you ever since the day when you heard about God’s grace and understood what this really is. Epaphras, who taught you, is one of our closest fellow workers and a faithful deputy for us as Christ’s servant, and it was he who told us all about your love in the Spirit.

Gospel

Luke 4:38-44
He would not allow them to speak because they knew he was the Christ

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to wait on them.
At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.
When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, but he answered, ‘I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.’ And he continued his preaching in the synagogues of Judaea.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 3, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: busyness, Catholicjules.net, community, holy one of God

(notice how the possessed man is dressed in this depiction)

We are all very busy people looking forward to the end of day, to unwind a little if possible before retiring for bed. For those with children who are still very young it’s a little more challenging to unwind. This goes on day after day till perhaps the weekend repreive. The thing is where is the Lord our God in all our busyness? There is simply no time? Or not enough time in a day? What about those in need whom can they turn to, whom can they rely on since everyone is too busy? We might say we have no time for our Lord at this point in our lives, yet many can make time for their mobile, computer games, television, netflix, secular books and many other forms of distractions. And yet there is only One who offers and can give us true peace, joy and contentment!

In a sense perhaps we have a dark spirit within us, one which seeks to confuse and distract us from what is truly important. To stop us from growing in Holiness and in our relationship from the Lord our God. Whether or not there is really one such spirit within us, any and all spirits know as we should the Holy one of God! For He is the Lord God almighty above all things visible and invisible. Perhaps we were blinded or have allowed ourselves to be so, but so long as our hearts cry out to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ He will free us from all bondages and sin. So that we can truly live life to the full according to His will for us.

That is why it is so important for all of us to belong to a community of like minded believers in Jesus Christ our Lord, so that we can pray, affirm and encourage one another towards greater Holiness. To keep us accountable and focussed; as we stay awake and alert for His coming or our eventual return into His Heavenly embrace. So let us keep faith burning in our hearts. Amen

St Gregory the Great pray for us….

First reading

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6,9-11 ·
Keep strengthening one another

You will not be expecting us to write anything to you, brothers, about ‘times and seasons’, since you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are saying, ‘How quiet and peaceful it is’ that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it.
But it is not as if you live in the dark, my brothers, for that Day to overtake you like a thief. No, you are all sons of light and sons of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober. God never meant us to experience the Retribution, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that, alive or dead, we should still live united to him. So give encouragement to each other, and keep strengthening one another, as you do already.

Gospel

Luke 4:31-37
‘I know who you are: the Holy One of God’

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath. And his teaching made a deep impression on them because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man who was possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil, and it shouted at the top of its voice, ‘Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus said sharply, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the devil, throwing the man down in front of everyone, went out of him without hurting him at all. Astonishment seized them and they were all saying to one another, ‘What teaching! He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.’ And reports of him went all through the surrounding countryside.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 2, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, fulfilled, jesus

The long awaited Messiah foretold was fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord, His arrival was proclaimed by the angels and at the right time He announced His own coming and His mission, which was accompanied by signs and wonders yet the world did not embrace Him and this truth. Still it did not change the reality.

Whether others believe or not, it does not change the reality that Jesus Christ our Lord is the Lord of lords, King of kings. By His life, death and resurrection we have life to the full and for all eterntity. And so we must have such conviction of faith in our risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yes our faith will be tested time and time again as we face an uncertain future in the world we live in, with all its trials and tribulations. Yet we must set our sights on heaven, to the reality of life with our risen Lord that awaits us; for those of us who believe and know this to be true.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, I trust in You now and forevermore. Amen

First reading

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ·
Do not grieve about those who have died in Jesus

We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him. We can tell you this from the Lord’s own teaching, that any of us who are left alive until the Lord’s coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them; to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay with the Lord for ever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another.

Gospel

Luke 4:16-30
‘This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen’

Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’
But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’
And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.
‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’
When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: August 31, 2019 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections

To Go Up Higher: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

Sirach 3:17–18, 20, 28–29
Psalm 68:4–7,10–11
Hebrews 12:18–19, 22–24
Luke 14:1, 7–14

We come to the wedding banquet of heaven by way of humility and charity. This is the fatherly instruction we hear in today’s First Reading, and the message of today’s Gospel.

Jesus is not talking simply about good table manners. He is revealing the way of the kingdom, in which the one who would be greatest would be the servant of all (see Luke 22:24–27).

This is the way, too, that the Father has shown us down through the ages—filling the hungry, sending the rich away empty, lifting up the lowly, pulling down the proud (see Luke 1:52–53).

We again call to mind the Exodus in today’s Psalm—how in His goodness the Lord led the Israelites from imprisonment to prosperity, rained down bread from heaven, made them His inheritance, becoming a “Father of orphans.”
We now have also gained a share of His inheritance. We are to live humbly, knowing we are not worthy to receive from His table (see Luke 6:7; 15:21). We are to give alms, remembering we were ransomed from sin by the price of His blood (see 1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

The Lord promises that if we are humble we will be exalted and find favor with God; that if we are kind to those who can never repay us, we will atone for sins and find blessing in the resurrection of the righteous.

We anticipate the fulfillment of those promises in every Eucharist, today’s Epistle tells us. In the Mass, we enter the festal gathering of the angels and the firstborn children of God. It is the liturgy of the heavenly Jerusalem in which Jesus is the high priest, the King who calls us to come up higher (see Proverbs 25:6–7).

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 31, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections

Put your love for God and the love of God into action!

God our Father loves us so much that He pours out His graces upon us ever so lavishly. All of us by virtue of our Baptism have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit and as we grow in our love and relationship with the Lord our God, much more gifts, talents and wisdom are added on; for we would have already put whatever we had received into action for building of His kingdom. The Spirit we received is certainly not one of timidity but one that is bold to proclaim His love to all.

True servants after the heart of God know that all what we have received according to our Lord’s will must be put to use, invested, shared. For only then we will harvest abundant fruits which are profitable for Him. The only fear a disciple should have is Holy fear, fear of disappointing our all merciful and loving Lord and God.

Lord Jesus let all that I do and say bring You glory, now and forever. Amen

First reading

1 Thessalonians 4:9-11 ·
You have learnt from God how to love one another

As for loving our brothers, there is no need for anyone to write to you about that, since you have learnt from God yourselves to love one another, and in fact this is what you are doing with all the brothers throughout the whole of Macedonia. However, we do urge you, brothers, to go on making even greater progress and to make a point of living quietly, attending to your own business and earning your living, just as we told you to.

Gospel

Matthew 25:14-30
You have been faithful in small things: come and join in your master’s happiness

Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out.
‘The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more. The man who had received two made two more in the same way. But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
‘Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made.”
‘His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”
‘Next the man with the two talents came forward. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with two talents; here are two more that I have made.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”
‘Last came forward the man who had the one talent. “Sir,” said he “I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back.” But his master answered him, “You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest. So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the five talents. For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 30, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, filled lamps, prepared, wedding feast

Time and time again we are called to Holiness for the good of the Lord our God? Nay sisters and brothers for our own good. So that we may partake fully in the Lord’s goodness. Holiness demands sacrifice and a will bent on resisting sin at all cost. So then are we at this very moment reflecting the image and likeness of God of whom we are created from? Are we living authentic lives of love and service of and for one another?

Next to the sin of pride, one of the most heinous and prevalent sin in our society is the sin of lust. It does not help that social media, television, movies, games and soundtracks are filled with ideas of loose living, immoral activities and creative ideas for immodesty! Human dignity is stripped and the person is one to be objectified. Other Sins easily follow to fill us up to the point of our own destruction.

So let us make a decision this very day if we are going to leave our ‘lamps’ empty of the love of God? Devoid of His mercy and grace? Do we continue to live selfish meaningless lives? Or do we choose instead to fill our lamps with the ‘oil’ of His love, filled with corporal and spiritual acts of mercy for one another. Filled with the Holy Spirit such that we love as we are called to love and to lead one another home to Him. Surely He will take us by the hand and lead us into His heavenly kingdom.

Oh Holy Spirit sanctify me, that I may be a worthy instrument of Your love. Amen

First reading

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ·
What God wants is for you all to be holy

Brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.
What God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from fornication, and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans who do not know God. He wants nobody at all ever to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord always punishes sins of that sort, as we told you before and assured you. We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Gospel

Matthew 25:1-13
The wise and foolish virgins

Jesus told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 29, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, losing your head, sin, walk blameless

Who are the Herodias’ in our lives that keep us rooted in our sins? Who keeps us living in a fog of obscurity? Who feeds us with evil thoughts as we give in to our base inclinations? How easy it is then that as a result’ the Salomes’ of the world can entice us such that we are willing to forgo our souls! Who is it that will actually lose their head for all eternity? For God’s justice will prevail always!

We only have ourselves to blame if we Do Not CHOOSE to walk blameless before the Lord our God. If we refuse to hear His call to repentance so as to grow in Holiness. To rid ourselves of all evil thoughts and desires by living according to His Word. We most certainly can overcome all obstacles, challenges and evil; Through and by the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who desires that we be with Him for all eternity. For He conquered death and sin so that we might live life to the full in Him.

Let us strive then to live our lives with and in His grace. Let us encourage one another to grow in love and holiness as we journey on home to Him. May He so confirm our hearts in holiness that we may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all His saints.

Lord You are my Shepherd there is nothing I shall want. Amen

First reading

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13 ·
Now we can breathe again, as you are still holding firm in the Lord

Brothers, your faith has been a great comfort to us in the middle of our own troubles and sorrows; now we can breathe again, as you are still holding firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel before our God on your account? We are earnestly praying night and day to be able to see you face to face again and make up any shortcomings in your faith.
May God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, make it easy for us to come to you. May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.

Gospel

Mark 6:17-29
The beheading of John the Baptist

Herod sent to have John arrested, and had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married. For John had told Herod, ‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife.’ As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to, because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.
An opportunity came on Herod’s birthday when he gave a banquet for the nobles of his court, for his army officers and for the leading figures in Galilee. When the daughter of this same Herodias came in and danced, she delighted Herod and his guests; so the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me anything you like and I will give it you.’ And he swore her an oath, ‘I will give you anything you ask, even half my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the Baptist.’ The girl hurried straight back to the king and made her request, ‘I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head, here and now, on a dish.’ The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her. So the king at once sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John’s head. The man went off and beheaded him in prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 28, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, humble servitude, interior life

Not easy to listen and hear the Word of God which pierces the hearts of many so that change might take place from within. So much so that some have chosen to preach only about the Saints whose feast day we celebrate in hopes perhaps that more will be moved to change by emulating their lives.

Yes those who choose to live only exterior lives of Holiness, piety but have little or no true love of God or His people will bring about curses upon themselves by their actions whether or not they are concealed! For God sees within us all. In this day and age murder of the prophets as spoken in the Gospel does not and will not take place you might say. What about character assassination? Defamation? Do they not murder the spirit of their intended targets or the Holiness of the community? How many priests and modern day prophets have suffered at the hands of those who gossip and plot against them? How many who speak up for truth were silenced or dealt with by the higher echelon?

St Paul reminds us how to live according to the teachings of Christ who once said that the greatest among you must be your servant. Any one who exalts himself will be humbled and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted. That we should work hard and not rely on anyone as to be obligated in such a way that we are not free to proclaim the Good news and work for the glory of the Lord our God. Having heard the Word of God we must live our lives worthily and in the Spirit, whose power will effect change in our lives as well of those who will come to believe. For the Lord draws His faithful unto Himself. Amen

St Augustine pray for us….

First reading

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 ·
We slaved night and day so as not to be a burden on any one of you

Let me remind you, brothers, how hard we used to work, slaving night and day so as not to be a burden on any one of you while we were proclaiming God’s Good News to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, that our treatment of you, since you became believers, has been impeccably right and fair. You can remember how we treated every one of you as a father treats his children, teaching you what was right, encouraging you and appealing to you to live a life worthy of God, who is calling you to share the glory of his kingdom. Another reason why we constantly thank God for you is that as soon as you heard the message that we brought you as God’s message, you accepted it for what it really is, God’s message and not some human thinking; and it is still a living power among you who believe it.

Gospel

Matthew 23:27-32
You are the sons of those who murdered the prophets

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of corruption. In the same way you appear to people from the outside like good honest men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who build the sepulchres of the prophets and decorate the tombs of holy men, saying, “We would never have joined in shedding the blood of the prophets, had we lived in our fathers’ day.” So! Your own evidence tells against you! You are the sons of those who murdered the prophets! Very well then, finish off the work that your fathers began.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 27, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, inside, tattoos

Recently our archbishop wrote about his encounter with a few young people who were sporting studs and tattoos. He shared they were wonderful, good natured, talented and hard working. Prayerfully no one read it and decided that they too would get tattoos *grins* And I too have encountered similar folks in my own parish. I remember distinctly giving a talk one year on encountering God through prayer for some primary 4 (junior) parents and at the very end of the talk only one pair came up to me to thank me for the talk and they were the ones who had tattoos all over. Today’s Gospel says it all! It is what is on the inside that counts. How the Lord our God had changed us from within and is continuing to work in us through His grace.

Many are still very much more concerned with appearances. Even church leaders are not exempt from this form of insecurity. They want to be respected and carry an air about them which they mistake to be spirit filled. St Paul reminds us however that we should be unassuming in our disposition with hearts only after our Lord Jesus Christ. So that in all things we bring glory alone to Him. Let us strive therefore to continually renew ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit and to frequent the sacraments. So that docile to His promptings we give glory to God in all we say and do.

Jesus I am Yours. Amen

St. Monica pray for us…..

First reading

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 ·
We were eager to hand over to you not only the Good News but our whole lives

You know yourselves, my brothers, that our visit to you has not proved ineffectual.
We had, as you know, been given rough treatment and been grossly insulted at Philippi, and it was our God who gave us the courage to proclaim his Good News to you in the face of great opposition. We have not taken to preaching because we are deluded, or immoral, or trying to deceive anyone; it was God who decided that we were fit to be entrusted with the Good News, and when we are speaking, we are not trying to please men but God, who can read our inmost thoughts. You know very well, and we can swear it before God, that never at any time have our speeches been simply flattery, or a cover for trying to get money; nor have we ever looked for any special honour from men, either from you or anybody else, when we could have imposed ourselves on you with full weight, as apostles of Christ.
Instead, we were unassuming. Like a mother feeding and looking after her own children, we felt so devoted and protective towards you, and had come to love you so much, that we were eager to hand over to you not only the Good News but our whole lives as well.

Gospel

Matthew 23:23-26
Clean the inside of the cup first, so that the outside may become clean

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, mercy, good faith! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels!
‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 26, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: blind faith, Catholicjules.net, love of god, ritualistic

You can see the stark contrast between the worshippers of the Lord our God in the first reading and those spoken of in the Gospel. The first have surrendered their all to Him, have built up their relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through prayer, the Word lived out in their lives and the sharing of His love with the community. Then each new community is built upon the teachings and foundation of the old. The Lord Himself adds to their numbers.

The latter however have only an idea of who the Lord their God is and how they think they should live out their faith in Him ritualistically. There is no depth of understanding neither is there the required love that goes into the worship of the Lord their God. What lessons then will they have taught their followers in the ways of God? What would their children have learnt? How then can the Love for God grow in their hearts? How can they love one another as they ought to when they have not experienced His love the way they are meant to? They have shut themselves out from encountering Him in the deep personal way that He wants them to. Do we not have such leaders or parishioners in our Church today?

Lord Jesus be my guide in all I say and do, let my heart burn for love of You; such that the fire of Your love will spread to all You have sent my way. Amen

First reading

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5,8-10 ·
You broke with idolatry when you were converted to God

From Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonika which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; wishing you grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know, brothers, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you, it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction. And you observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your instruction, since it was from you that the word of the Lord started to spread – and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for the news of your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell other people about it: other people tell us how we started the work among you, how you broke with idolatry when you were converted to God and became servants of the real, living God; and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from heaven to save us from the retribution which is coming.

Gospel

Matthew 23:13-22
Alas for you, blind guides!

Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who shut up the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to.
‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when you have him you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.
‘Alas for you, blind guides! You who say, “If a man swears by the Temple, it has no force; but if a man swears by the gold of the Temple, he is bound.” Fools and blind! For which is of greater worth, the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? Or else, “If a man swears by the altar it has no force; but if a man swears by the offering that is on the altar, he is bound.” You blind men! For which is of greater worth, the offering or the altar that makes the offering sacred? Therefore, when a man swears by the altar he is swearing by that and by everything on it. And when a man swears by the Temple he is swearing by that and by the One who dwells in it. And when a man swears by heaven he is swearing by the throne of God and by the One who is seated there.’

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: August 24, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Sunday Reflections

Gateway to Life: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

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

Lord do you hear me cry?

Posted: August 24, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys

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

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 24, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, gate of heaven, holiness, stay awake

How wonderful it will be to hear Jesus say to us, ”Ah here comes my disciple who had spoke the truth and strived for holiness come dine with your master.” Then we might say, ” ”Lord You know who I am?” and He will reply, ”Yes, how often have I seen and heard you praying to me. I know how you have struggled to do my will always therefore the gates of heaven are opened to you.”

How have we progressed in deepening our relationship with the Lord our God and living our faith in Him from the start of the year? Have we truly been striving to lead our families and one another closer to this heavenly reality? We are already past the halfway mark for the year closing in on Advent have we stayed awake? Ready to greet our Lord when He returns?

My Lord, my God, from my heart; I’ve come to do Your Will. Amen

Saint Bartholomew pray for us…

First reading

Apocalypse 21:9-14 ·
He showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven

The angel came to speak to me, and said, ‘Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.’ In the spirit, he took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. The walls of it were of a great height, and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Gospel

John 1:45-51
You will see heaven laid open, and the Son of Man

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ ‘From Nazareth?’ said Nathanael ‘Can anything good come from that place?’ ‘Come and see’ replied Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, ‘There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.’ ‘How do you know me?’ said Nathanael. ‘Before Philip came to call you,’ said Jesus ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathanael answered, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus replied, ‘You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.’ And then he added ‘I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.’

In your…

Image — Posted: August 23, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 23, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, love, love of god

If we declare that we love the Lord our God with all our heart. Then we would have already entered into a deep and personal relationship with Him. We are fully aware of His abundant love for us individually as well as collectively. We should therefore love ourselves as uniquely created in the image and likeness of our Lord and God. And it is through His love and with that same love for ourselves that we are called to love others.

Love not as an emotion but love that wills the good of another. One that wills that the other have joy and peace in their hearts. Love that is faithful to the end. In a sense to love when no one else can and will. Such great love can only come from our faithful ever loving God. A love which gives us the strength, power and fortitude to put that love into action for His glory. His mercy flows most profoundly from such radical love. And we have witnessed this in the many lives touched by the Saints who had responded wholly to that call to love, most recent of which are St John Paul II, St Theresa of Calculta.

We can witness the making of such Saints in our midst too, Parents who care lovingly for their helpless child, especially those with special needs, sons and daughters who care for their aged parents, especially those who are sick, suffering terminally, struggling with dementia, those who care for the outcast and downtrodden in society to name a few.

Sweet heart of Jesus reign in my heart. Let my love not be one of speech alone but one put into action for love of You. Through my love may all encounter Your love for them. Amen

First reading

Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22 ·
Ruth the Moabitess is brought to Bethlehem by Naomi

In the days of the Judges famine came to the land and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went – he, his wife and his two sons – to live in the country of Moab. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she and her two sons were left. These married Moabite women: one was named Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died and the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. So she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people. But Ruth clung to her.
Naomi said to her, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. You must return too; follow your sister-in-law.’
But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you and to turn back from your company, for

‘wherever you go, I will go,
wherever you live, I will live.
Your people shall be my people,
and your God, my God.’

This was how Naomi, she who returned from the country of Moab, came back with Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Gospel

Matthew 22:34-40
The commandments of love

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 22, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, heaven, wedding feast, wedding garment

Let our yes be yes and our no be no. Why do we think we can barter with the Lord our God or bargain with Him? Or even have the need to? Perhaps we have chosen not to grow in our relationship with Him? We do not yet realise just how much He truly loves us and wants only the best for us. All He wants from us is faithfulness and obedience unto Him. To grow in His love and live in His peace together as His children.

And so what are we doing now to prepare ourselves for the wedding feast in heaven? How have we responded to the invitation to put on the wedding garment that is to grow in Holiness, in mercy, charity and love? Have we chucked away the invitation by the busyness in all matters of our heart’s desires? Have we inadvertently declined the invitation to life eternal with Him? How have we treated the sister and brother who was sent to lead us into home to Him? How is it our hearts and minds are not wrapped round the awesome mind blowing fact that we have been given the unique privilege and honour of attending it to begin with?

Lord Jesus indeed You have called and I respond with all my heart, mind and soul. Allow me to stand as one of your chosen. Amen

Dearest Blessed mother and Queen of Heaven pray for us…..

First reading

Judges 11:29-39 ·
Jephthah sacrifices his daughter in fulfilment of a vow

The spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, who crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through to Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead made his way to the rear of the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, then the first person to meet me from the door of my house when I return in triumph from fighting the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord, and I will offer him up as a holocaust. Jephthah marched against the Ammonites to attack them, and the Lord delivered them into his power. He harassed them from Aroer almost to Minnith (twenty towns) and to Abel-keramim. It was a very severe defeat, and the Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.
As Jephthah returned to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out from it to meet him; she was dancing to the sound of timbrels. This was his only child; apart from her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and exclaimed, ‘Oh my daughter, what sorrow you are bringing me! Must it be you, the cause of my ill-fortune! I have given a promise to the Lord, and I cannot unsay what I have said.’ She answered him, ‘My father, you have given a promise to the Lord; treat me as the vow you took binds you to, since the Lord has given you vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites.’ Then she said to her father, ‘Grant me one request. Let me be free for two months. I shall go and wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity.’ He answered, ‘Go’, and let her depart for two months. So she went away with her companions and bewailed her virginity in the mountains. When the two months were over, she returned to her father, and he treated her as the vow that he had uttered bound him. She had never known a man.

Gospel

Matthew 22:1-14
Invite everyone you can to the wedding

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 21, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, God's chosen, labourers in the vineyard, leaders

We are all called to labour to build the Kingdom of God. And His kingdom is built upon the hearts of His children in the salvation of souls. There are many opportunities and ways to do this but all we need is to respond to the call. All else will be provided for. How then do we respond to this call? Do we agree to do so only when promised a fair return? Then later on grumble expecting more for the long hours in doing so? Comparing our blessings with others who seem to work far less? Or do we respond with joy in our hearts just for being given the opportunity to labour in His love! Not concerned with returns only that we trust in Him and work to glorify the Lord our God in all that we say and do.

Some of us will be called to lead the rest closer into His Kingdom. Do we reverently pray to discern who it is the Lord our God has sent to us? To struggle and wrestle with our decision so that he or she who is chosen will lead after the heart of our Shepherd. Or do we simply cast our vote not concerned with who takes up the position so long as we don’t have to? Or else we choose someone likeable who is easily swayed to do our bidding, one who will allow us to come as we please and do as we please? In short, do we elect someone to lead us closer to heaven or closer to hell?

Lord Jesus let me joyfully bear my cross for You always. Amen

Saint Pius X pray for us…

First reading

Judges 9:6-15 ·
The tale of the trees and their king

All the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-millo gathered, and proclaimed Abimelech king by the terebinth of the pillar at Shechem.
News of this was brought to Jotham. He came and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted aloud for them to hear:

‘Hear me, leaders of Shechem,
that God may also hear you!

‘One day the trees went out
to anoint a king to rule over them.
They said to the olive tree, “Be our king!”

‘The olive tree answered them,
“Must I forego my oil which gives honour to gods and men, to stand swaying above the trees?”

‘Then the trees said to the fig tree,
“Come now, you be our king!”

‘The fig tree answered them,
“Must I forego my sweetness,
forego my excellent fruit,
to stand swaying above the trees?”

‘Then the trees said to the vine,
“Come now, you be our king!”

‘The vine answered them,
“Must I forego my wine which cheers the heart of gods and men, to stand swaying above the trees?”

‘Then all the trees said to the thorn bush,
“Come now, you be our king!”

‘And the thorn bush answered the trees, “If in all good faith you anoint me king to reign over you, then come and shelter in my shade.
If not, fire will come from the thorn bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.”’

Gospel

Matthew 20:1-16
Why be envious because I am generous?

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, and sent them to his vineyard. Going out at about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place and said to them, “You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage.” So they went. At about the sixth hour and again at about the ninth hour, he went out and did the same. Then at about the eleventh hour he went out and found more men standing round, and he said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?” “Because no one has hired us” they answered. He said to them, “You go into my vineyard too.” In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first.” So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each. They took it, but grumbled at the landowner. “The men who came last” they said “have done only one hour, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day’s work in all the heat.” He answered one of them and said, “My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? Take your earnings and go. I choose to pay the last comer as much as I pay you. Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?” Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 20, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, follow him, rich

Does all the things we have come from the Lord our God? If so then why do we hold on so tightly to what we have such that it is very difficult for us to let go? Yes not all of us are rich, in fact it is pointless to compare our wealth with others for we are rich in many different ways. Question really is how much are we willing to give up for our Lord? For our sisters and brothers? Can we leave behind physical, emotional, sentimental ties behind to follow our Lord? Knowing that even while we may be little in numbers, wisdom, gifts and talents; when we offer up all we have He will multiply them. Great is our God and with Him nothing is impossible!

We fret and worry over inconsequential worldly things, when our only concern should be; how are we living in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and working to build His Kingdom?

Lord Here I am to do Your will, uphold me in Your strennght that I may do great things to glorify Your name. Amen

First reading

Judges 6:11-24 ·
‘Peace be with you; have no fear; you will not die’

The angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash of Abiezer. Gideon his son was threshing wheat inside the winepress to keep it hidden from Midian, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘The Lord is with you, valiant warrior!’ Gideon answered him, ‘Forgive me, my lord, but if the Lord is with us, then why is it that all this is happening to us now? And where are all the wonders our ancestors tell us of when they say, “Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?” But now the Lord has deserted us; he has abandoned us to Midian.’
At this the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength now upholding you, and you will rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Do I not send you myself?’ Gideon answered him, ‘Forgive me, my lord, but how can I deliver Israel? My clan, you must know, is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least important in my family.’ The Lord answered him, ‘I will be with you and you shall crush Midian as though it were a single man.’ Gideon said to him, ‘If I have found favour in your sight, give me a sign that it is you who speak to me. I beg you, do not go away until I come back. I will bring you my offering and set it down before you.’ And he answered, ‘I will stay until you return.’
Gideon went away and prepared a young goat and made unleavened cakes with an ephah of flour. He put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot, then brought it all to him under the terebinth. As he came near, the angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Take the meat and unleavened cakes, put them on this rock and pour the broth over them.’ Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff in his hand and touched the meat and unleavened cakes. Fire sprang from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and the angel of the Lord vanished before his eyes. Then Gideon knew this was the angel of the Lord, and he said, ‘Alas, my Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!’ The Lord answered him, ‘Peace be with you; have no fear; you will not die.’ Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it The-Lord-is-Peace.

Gospel

Matthew 19:23-30
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you solemnly, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ When the disciples heard this they were astonished. ‘Who can be saved, then?’ they said. Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he told them ‘this is impossible; for God everything is possible.’
Then Peter spoke. ‘What about us?’ he said to him ‘We have left everything and followed you. What are we to have, then?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you solemnly, when all is made new and the Son of Man sits on his throne of glory, you will yourselves sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or land for the sake of my name will be repaid a hundred times over, and also inherit eternal life.
‘Many who are first will be last, and the last, first.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 19, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, perfection, time for God

There is a time for God and there is a time to earn a living so that I my family and I shall not want; when I no longer choose to or am able to work, then I will serve Him. The soonest perhaps will be when my children are all grown and living on their own. I will then devote all my time to God.

So while you were so busy with your work where was the Lord your God? Where was He in all the much needed holidays taken? One day in a foreign church to fulfill the ‘obligation’?Whom were you praying to in your ‘spare’ time? Will you be offering your version of ‘first fruits’ at your retirement? Will you even be able to serve then? Will you be caring for the old and sick when you are old and sick yourself? Will you be teaching children about the faith when you have not grown in your own faith? Your very own children were watching you all those years they were growing up, what will they have learnt from you?

Keeping the commandments of our Lord is only the start, we are called to grow in Holiness and to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. And if we are only perfected through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ then should we not do all we can now to grow in our relationship with Him? So that when the sufferings and pain come to perfect us, we will face them with joy in our hearts.

Lord Jesus You are my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. Amen

First reading

Judges 2:11-19 ·
The Lord appoints judges to rescue the men of Israel

The sons of Israel did what displeases the Lord, and served the Baals. They deserted the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from the gods of the peoples round them. They bowed down to these; they provoked the Lord; they deserted the Lord to serve Baal and Astarte. Then the Lord’s anger flamed out against Israel. He handed them over to pillagers who plundered them; he delivered them to the enemies surrounding them, and they were not able to resist them. In every warlike venture, the hand of the Lord was there to foil them, as the Lord had warned, as the Lord had sworn to them. Thus he reduced them to dire distress.
Then the Lord appointed judges for them, and rescued the men of Israel from the hands of their plunderers. But they would not listen to their judges. They prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed down before these. Very quickly they left the path their ancestors had trodden in obedience to the orders of the Lord; they did not follow their example. When the Lord appointed judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and rescued them from the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, for the Lord felt pity for them as they groaned under the iron grip of their oppressors. But once the judge was dead, they relapsed and behaved even worse than their ancestors. They followed other gods; they served them and bowed before them, and would not give up the practices and stubborn ways of their ancestors at all.

Gospel

Matthew 19:16-22
If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own

There was a man who came to Jesus and asked, ‘Master, what good deed must I do to possess eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is one alone who is good. But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said, ‘Which?’ ‘These:’ Jesus replied ‘You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not bring false witness. Honour your father and mother, and: you must love your neighbour as yourself.’ The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these. What more do I need to do?’ Jesus said, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But when the young man heard these words he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: August 17, 2019 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections

Consuming Fire: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

Jeremiah 38:4–6, 8–10
Psalm 40:2–4, 18
Hebrews 12:1–4
Luke 12:49–53

Our God is a consuming fire, the Scriptures tell us (see Hebrews 12:29; Deuteronomy 4:24). And in this week’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of fire to describe the demands of discipleship.

The fire He has come to cast on the earth is the fire that He wants to blaze in each of our hearts. He made us from the dust of the earth (see Genesis 2:7) and filled us with the fire of the Holy Spirit in Baptism (see Luke 3:16).

We were baptized into His death (see Romans 6:3). This is the baptism our Lord speaks of in the Gospel this week. The baptism with which He must be baptized is His passion and death, by which He accomplished our redemption and sent forth the fire of the Spirit on the earth (see Acts 2:3).

The fire has been set, but it is not yet blazing. We are called to enter deeper into the consuming love of God. We must examine our consciences and our actions, submitting ourselves to the revealing fire of God’s Word (see 1 Corinthians 3:13).

In our struggle against sin, we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding our own blood, Paul tells us in this week’s Epistle. We have not undergone the suffering that Jeremiah suffers in the First Reading this week.

But this is what true discipleship requires. To be a disciple is to be inflamed with the love of the God. It is to have an unquenchable desire for holiness and zeal for the salvation of our brothers and sisters.
Being His disciple does not bring peace in the false way that the world proclaims peace (see Jeremiah 8:11). It means division and hardship. It may bring us to conflict with our own flesh and blood.

But Christ is our peace (see Ephesians 2:14). By His Cross He has lifted us up from the mire of sin and death—as He will rescue the prophet Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 38:10).
And as we sing in the Psalm this week, we trust in our deliverer.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 17, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, children of God, conviction

God our loving Father dotes on us His children always looking out for us to keep us safe. All He asks of us is that we love one another, be obedient and faithful unto Him. For He wills only the best for us which is to live life to the full in Him.

Which father’s heart will not break when he’s child says to him, I don’t want you, I want another father! I don’t care what you say and I choose to live my life in sin! It’s my choice! Yes indeed it is our choice to make whether we want to honour God our Heavenly Father or Not.

O Heavenly Father I am your little child so loved by you. Forgive me all my sins, and I am truly sorry for having offended you in the past. Let me always run back into Your loving embrace. Let me live my life in the light of Your Son my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Such that I will proclaim Your love and message of salvation to all I meet; as I declare with conviction ”As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.’’ Amen

First reading

Joshua 24:14-29
‘The Lord is a holy God, a jealous God’

Joshua said to all the people, ‘Fear the Lord and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if you will not serve the Lord, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.’
The people answered, ‘We have no intention of deserting the Lord and serving other gods! Was it not the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery, who worked those great wonders before our eyes and preserved us all along the way we travelled and among all the peoples through whom we journeyed? What is more, the Lord drove all those peoples out before us, as well as the Amorites who used to live in this country. We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’
Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, because he is a holy God, he is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you desert the Lord to follow alien gods he in turn will afflict and destroy you after the goodness he has shown you.’ The people answered Joshua, ‘No; it is the Lord we wish to serve.’ Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ They answered, ‘We are witnesses.’ ‘Then cast away the alien gods among you and give your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel!’ The people answered Joshua, ‘It is the Lord our God we choose to serve; it is his voice that we will obey.’
That day, Joshua made a covenant for the people; he laid down a statute and ordinance for them at Shechem. Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a great stone and set it up there, under the oak in the sanctuary of the Lord, and Joshua said to all the people, ‘See! This stone shall be a witness against us because it has heard all the words that the Lord has spoken to us: it shall be a witness against you in case you deny your God.’ Then Joshua sent the people away, and each returned to his own inheritance.
After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died; he was a hundred and ten years old.

Gospel

Matthew 19:13-15
Do not stop the little children coming to me

People brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 16, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, faithfulness, fidelity, marriage

I prefer not to have free will so that I may always do as the Lord bids me to do. To be Holy and chaste of heart. But without free will how will I love Him unconditionally? How will I love Him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength?

Because of His great love for us, the Lord our God has given the freedom to choose to love and follow Him. But over the centuries and throughout history we had made very bad, terrible choices and had turned away from Him. Cursed to live in sin He came to turn our curses into blessings, to free us from all bondages. He laid down His life for us so that we may live. He alone has been faithful, merciful and loving. Traits we look for in a spouse, yet how faithful, merciful and loving are we ourselves? How then can we be faithful to God and declare we love Him when we cannot be faithful, merciful and loving to our own spouses; and by extension family and friends. How are we faithful to our sisters and brothers in Christ not in our presence?

Fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ is fidelity to His one Body. What God has united, men must not divide! Let us choose always to be faithful to our calling through Christ our Lord. Amen

First reading

Joshua 24:1-13
I gave you a land where you never toiled, vineyards and olive-groves you never planted

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem; then he called the elders, leaders, judges and scribes of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Then Joshua said to all the people:
‘The Lord, the God of Israel says this, “In ancient days your ancestors lived beyond the River – such was Terah the father of Abraham and of Nahor – and they served other gods. Then I brought your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan. I increased his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountain country of Seir as his possession. Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron and plagued Egypt with the wonders that I worked there. So I brought you out of it. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the Sea; the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen as far as the Sea of Reeds. There they called to the Lord, and he spread a thick fog between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea go back on them and cover them. You saw with your own eyes the things I did in Egypt. Then for a long time you lived in the wilderness, until I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan; they made war on you and I gave them into your hands; you took possession of their country because I destroyed them before you. Next, Balak son of Zippor the king of Moab arose to make war on Israel, and sent for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; instead, he had to bless you, and I saved you from his hand.
‘“When you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, those who held Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites and Perizzites, the Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I put them all into your power. I sent out hornets in front of you, which drove the two Amorite kings before you; this was not the work of your sword or your bow. I gave you a land where you never toiled, you live in towns you never built; you eat now from vineyards and olive-groves you never planted.”’

Gospel

Matthew 19:3-12
Husband and wife are no longer two, but one body

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and to test him they said, ‘Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’
They said to him, ‘Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?’ ‘It was because you were so unteachable’ he said ‘that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife – I am not speaking of fornication – and marries another, is guilty of adultery.’
The disciples said to him, ‘If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry.’ But he replied, ‘It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.’

He Has Shown you..

Posted: August 15, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 15, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: assumption, blessed mother, Catholicjules.net, mary

Why do so many around the globe have such a devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary? What is so special about this woman other than that she had given birth to our Lord Jesus Christ? What does it mean for us that she was assumed into heaven? Is it simply an assumption?

Well where do we begin? In the beginning I suppose, where a little girl was born without original sin! The immaculate conception through the almighty and powerful grace of God. A grace filled girl born after the heart of God our Father who devoted her life to living out her call to holiness. Then when an opportunity came for her to glorify God our Father with all her heart, mind and soul, she said Yes to His Will for her to be the mother of His only begotten Son. She surrendered herself fully to Him and allowed herself to be filled completely with the Holy Spirit. Love of God our Father was born into the world, the light for all nations. Dearest Mother, praised the Lord our God with all her grateful, grace filled heart! She praised and worshipped Him such that to this very day her canticle is sung every evening at vespers. Blessed Mother Mary dedicated her life to bringing Jesus up caring for him with every breath, every fibre of her being. Her firstborn and only son was consecrated to God our Father for His purpose alone. For her extraordinary role the deepest thoughts of many hearts are revealed to her such that a sword would pierce her soul. A reality as she stood at the cross of her beloved son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and an on-going one throughout the ages. Then towards the end of His life we hear our Lord’s deep affectionate love for us in the words, ”mother behold your son, son behold your mother.” The shared maternal love of God through our Blessed Mother outpoured for the whole world!

Today we celebrate the Assumption of our Blessed Mother for we know that Our Blessed Mother through the almighty grace and love of the Lord our God was taken up wholly body and soul into heaven. By His resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ had opened the gates of heaven for his mother and for us all. Amen

Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen

First reading

Apocalypse 11:19,12:1-6,10 ·
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman adorned with the sun

The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it.
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had made a place of safety ready.
Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ.’

Second reading

1 Corinthians 15:20-26 ·
Christ will be brought to life as the first-fruits and then those who belong to him

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.

Gospel

Luke 1:39-56
The Almighty has done great things for me

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
And Mary said:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit exults in God my saviour;
because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.
Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.
He has shown the power of his arm,
he has routed the proud of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy
– according to the promise he made to our ancestors –
of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 14, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, community, holiness, promised land, pseudo

Can there be no quarrel or disagreements within a community? If there are totally zero quarrels or disagreements then it is more than likely you belong to a pseudo community. For every community struggling to grow in holiness and faith know that each and every member is flawed in some way and therefore our community is made up of sinners striving to be more like our Lord and Saviour each and every day. Some members may exhibit stronger feelings and emotions about something while another may be more opinionated. The important thing is that all of us are open to fraternal correction, in the process of growing in faith and love we grow in mercy and love for one another. This can only come about when the community is a praying one and our Lord Jesus is present in the hearts and minds of all gathered together in His name. Without doubt He is truly present amongst us.

We must strive not only for personal holiness but to lead one another into greater holiness. And there must always be joy in our hearts when doing so. For the Holiness of our Lord must be reflected at all times on our faces, hearts and actions. Failing of which we will always fall short of arriving at our destination. In our lifetime we may never enter into the land of milk and honey but through our struggle and faithfulness we will one day walk with our Lord in His Kingdom.

Jesus remember me when you come into your Kingdom. Amen

St Maximilian Kolbe pray for us….

First reading

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 ·
Moses dies and is buried

Leaving the plains of Moab, Moses went up Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land; Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the stretch of the Valley of Jericho, city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross into it.’ There in the land of Moab, Moses the servant of the Lord died as the Lord decreed; he buried him in the valley, in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but to this day no one has ever found his grave. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye undimmed, his vigour unimpaired. The sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days. The days of weeping for the mourning rites of Moses came to an end. Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. It was he that the sons of Israel obeyed, carrying out the order that the Lord had given to Moses.
Since then, never has there been such a prophet in Israel as Moses, the man the Lord knew face to face. What signs and wonders the Lord caused him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh and all his servants and his whole land! How mighty the hand and great the fear that Moses wielded in the sight of all Israel!

Gospel

Matthew 18:15-20
If your brother listens to you, you have won back your brother

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.
‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.
‘I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 13, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, children, heaven, promised land, souls

What sort of legacy are we leaving behind for our children and their children? Will they have faith? Faith in the one loving God who will see them through it all? Faith that is alive through the living water that never runs dry? Or will that faith be lukewarm? Will it cease to exists after we are buried?

If we truly love our children will we not want them to live life to the full? And as you and I know, life to the full is and only to be found in a relationship with our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. At the very end will we not want our children to be reunited with us in heaven? What then are we doing for their souls? To prepare them for the challenges they will face ahead? While we are still able, it is our duty to lead them on the journey into the ‘promised land’ so that together with all the angels and the saints before us we will one day rejoice as we praise, worship and glorify the Lord our God in Heaven.

Likewise all of us are created in the likeness and image of God our Father. Hence all of us are His children and therefore we must love one another as He loves us. It is our duty to lead one another into greater Holiness thereby paving the way to our Heavenly inheritance. Let us not look upon our differences but the unity to be found through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

First reading

Deuteronomy 31:1-8 ·
Joshua shall cross the Jordan at your head

Moses proceeded to address these words to the whole of Israel, ‘I am one hundred and twenty years old now, and can no longer come and go as I will. The Lord has said to me, “You shall not cross this Jordan.” It is the Lord your God who will cross it at your head to destroy these nations facing you and dispossess them; and Joshua too shall cross at your head, as the Lord has said. The Lord will treat them as he treated Sihon and Og the Amorite kings and their land, destroying them. The Lord will hand them over to you, and you will deal with them in exact accordance with the commandments I have enjoined on you. Be strong, stand firm, have no fear of them, no terror, for the Lord your God is going with you; he will not fail you or desert you.’
Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel said to him, ‘Be strong, stand firm; you are going with this people into the land the Lord swore to their fathers he would give them; you are to give it into their possession. The Lord himself will lead you; he will be with you; he will not fail you or desert you. Have no fear, do not be disheartened by anything.’

Gospel

Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14
Anyone who welcomes a little child in my name welcomes me

The disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, ‘I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
‘Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.
‘See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven.
‘Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 12, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, communion, debt, redeemed

The Lord of Lords, King of Kings, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ laid down His life to pay for us a debt He did not owe, for He knew it was too hefty a debt for us to ever pay. So that we might have life to the full with and in Him.

Can you fathom the awesome, abundant love the Lord our God has for you and me? The intimate relationship He desires for us to have with Him. When it is we who should desire it more!? One full shekel paid fully for Peter and Himself at the temple. The full communion we have with Him at every Eucharistic Celebration through the one for all Holy sacrifice at the altar. Are we then living our fully redeemed lives for His glory?

Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world have mercy on us and grant us Your peace. Now and forever Amen.

First reading

Deuteronomy 10:12-22 ·
The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords

Moses said to the people:
‘Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only this: to fear the Lord your God, to follow all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and laws of the Lord that for your good I lay down for you today.
‘To the Lord your God belong indeed heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all it contains; yet it was on your fathers that the Lord set his heart for love of them, and after them of all the nations chose their descendants, you yourselves, up to the present day. Circumcise your heart then and be obstinate no longer; for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, triumphant and terrible, never partial, never to be bribed. It is he who sees justice done for the orphan and the widow, who loves the stranger and gives him food and clothing. Love the stranger then, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. It is the Lord your God you must fear and serve; you must cling to him; in his name take your oaths. He it is you must praise, he is your God: for you he has done these great and terrible things you have seen with your own eyes; and though your fathers numbered only seventy when they went down to Egypt, the Lord your God has made you as many as the stars of heaven.’

Gospel

Matthew 17:22-27
‘They will put the Son of Man to death’

One day when they were together in Galilee, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men; they will put him to death, and on the third day he will be raised to life again.’ And a great sadness came over them.
When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel came to Peter and said, ‘Does your master not pay the half-shekel?’ ‘Oh yes’ he replied, and went into the house. But before he could speak, Jesus said, ‘Simon, what is your opinion? From whom do the kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from foreigners?’ And when he replied, ‘From foreigners’, Jesus said, ‘Well then, the sons are exempt. However, so as not to offend these people, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that bites, open its mouth and there you will find a shekel; take it and give it to them for me and for you.’

Retreat…

Posted: August 11, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Memory Book

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

Helmet of Salvation

Posted: August 10, 2019 by CatholicJules in Life's Journeys, Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, helmet of Salvation, sober

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!

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted: August 10, 2019 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections

Faith of Our Fathers: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

Wisdom 18:6–9
Psalm 33:1, 12, 18–22
Hebrews 11:1–2, 8–19
Luke 12:35–40

We are born of the faith of our fathers, descending from a great cloud of witnesses whose faith is attested to on every page of Scripture (see Hebrews 12:1). We have been made His people, chosen for His own inheritance, as we sing in this Sunday’s Psalm.

The Liturgy this week sings the praises of our fathers, recalling the defining moments in our “family history.” In the Epistle, we remember the calling of Abraham; in the First Reading we relive the night of the Exodus and the summons of the holy children of Israel.
Our fathers, we are told, trusted in the Word of God, put their faith in His oaths. They were convinced that what He promised, He would do.
None of them lived to see His promises made good. For it was not until Christ and His Church that Abraham’s descendants were made as countless as the stars and sands (see Galatians 3:16–17, 29). It was not until His Last Supper and the Eucharist that “the sacrifice . . . the divine institution” of that first Passover was truly fulfilled.
And now we too await the final fulfillment of what God has promised us in Christ. As Jesus tells us in this week’s Gospel, we should live with our loins girded—as the Israelites tightened their belts, cinched up their long robes and ate their Passover standing, vigilant and ready to do His will (see Exodus 12:11; 2 Kings 4:29).

The Lord will come at an hour we do not expect. He will knock on our door (see Revelation 3:20), inviting us to the wedding feast in the better homeland, the heavenly one that our fathers saw from afar, and which we begin to taste in each Eucharist.

As they did, we can wait with “sure knowledge,” His Word like a lamp lighting our path (see Psalm 119:105). Our God is faithful, and if we wait in faith, hope in His kindness, and love as we have been loved, we will receive His promised blessing and be delivered from death.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 10, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, giving

How much do you give for Holy Mother Church? How much do you offer to the Lord your God for His people? From your surpluses? Spare change? Spare time? Thin sowing means thin reaping!

For unless we die to the notion that all that we have, we got by our own means and efforts, we will trust only in ourselves. And hoard everything for ourselves. Even what gifts and talents we possess will be used for, our own ends. How much of all these if anything will we take with us when we die?!

Let us give till it hurts and then some more, for we know that all we will ever have comes from the Lord our God. We give all in love and for love. We give not to receive but receive from God our Father we will. For His graces and blessings flow abundantly unto His children who are obedient to His Son, our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. For having died in Him we will rise in and with Him. Amen

First reading

2 Corinthians 9:6-10 ·
God loves a cheerful giver

Do not forget: thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap. Each one should give what he has decided in his own mind, not grudgingly or because he is made to, for God loves a cheerful giver. And there is no limit to the blessings which God can send you – he will make sure that you will always have all you need for yourselves in every possible circumstance, and still have something to spare for all sorts of good works. As scripture says: He was free in almsgiving, and gave to the poor: his good deeds will never be forgotten.
The one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide you with all the seed you want and make the harvest of your good deeds a larger one.

Gospel

John 12:24-26
If a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it yields a rich harvest

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I tell you, most solemnly,
unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,
it remains only a single grain;
but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.
If a man serves me, he must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too.
If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 9, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections

I will obey and follow Him!

Two simple words, obey and follow. Yet most find both too difficult to put into action. How do you obey the Lord your God if you do not hear His will for you? Or DO NOT want to hear His will for YOU? I will have to give up many things which I am not prepared to give up just yet. I treasure my autonomy! I want to do what I what, when I want to. One hour a week I set aside for God providing there is no long weekend otherwise a much needed holiday I will take and I’m sure he will understand.

How many i’s did you hear above? ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.’says our Lord Jesus Christ. That is to trust the Lord Your God with all your plans and dreams. To know that He loves you ever so dearly and that He wills only the best for you.

For unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Therefore to die for our Lord, is to rise with and in Him. Many are the fruits we will bear for Him. You have not lived till you have lived in the Lord!

I will obey and follow You Lord. Amen

First reading

Deuteronomy 4:32-40 ·
‘Did ever a people before you hear the voice of the living God, and remain alive?’

Moses said to the people: ‘Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you, from the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard it, and remain alive? Has any god ventured to take to himself one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors – all this that the Lord your God did for you before your eyes in Egypt?
‘This he showed you so that you might know that the Lord is God indeed and that there is no other. He let you hear his voice out of heaven for your instruction; on earth he let you see his great fire, and from the heart of the fire you heard his word. Because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out from Egypt, openly showing his presence and his great power, driving out in front of you nations greater and more powerful than yourself, and brought you into their land to give it you for your heritage, as it is still today.
‘Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever.’

Gospel

Matthew 16:24-28
Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?
‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 8, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, child of god, holiness

By our baptism we have been anointed priest, prophet and king. And our primary duty is to lead one another into greater Holiness. That is to be Holy as our Heavenly Father is Holy. We may wear many different hats but all with the same role, to take the lead towards Holiness. Whether you are a spouse, a father or mother, child, student, office manager, employer or employee it makes no difference. For our call is to reflect the Holiness of the Lord our God in all that we say and do.

How is this accomplished then if all that people see is impatience? Dismay on our faces? Sarcasm in speech and anger in our tone? Do we reflect the ingratitude of others by our very own ingratitude? Did we somehow forget that all that we have, gifts, talents and power if any were all given to us by the grace of our loving and merciful God? How are we showing the love and mercy of the Lord our God that we preach about?

Yes indeed our Christian call to take up our cross to follow Jesus is never going to be easy. The cross we bear for Him and on the narrow and winding path will be arduous indeed. But we can gladly bear it with joy in our hearts for we know He is with us and leading us home to Him. We know this when we are in communion with Him, for we share in His thoughts and in His ways. For He has told us that “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways.” Amen

First reading

Numbers 20:1-13 ·
Moses makes water flow from the rock at Meribah

The sons of Israel, the whole community, arrived in the first month at the desert of Zin. The people settled at Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried.
There was no water for the community, and they were all united against Moses and Aaron. The people challenged Moses: ‘We would rather have died,’ they said ‘as our brothers died before the Lord! Why did you bring the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, only to let us die here, ourselves and our cattle? Why did you lead us out of Egypt, only to bring us to this wretched place? It is a place unfit for sowing, it has no figs, no vines, no pomegranates, and there is not even water to drink!’
Leaving the assembly, Moses and Aaron went to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They threw themselves face downward on the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Take the branch and call the community together, you and your brother Aaron. Then, in full view of them, order this rock to give water. You will make water flow for them out of the rock, and provide drink for the community and their cattle.’
Moses took up the branch from before the Lord, as he had directed him. Then Moses and Aaron called the assembly together in front of the rock and addressed them, ‘Listen now, you rebels. Shall we make water gush from this rock for you?’ And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the branch; water gushed in abundance, and the community drank and their cattle too.
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe that I could proclaim my holiness in the eyes of the sons of Israel, you shall not lead this assembly into the land I am giving them.’
These are the waters of Meribah, where the sons of Israel challenged the Lord and he proclaimed his holiness.

Gospel

Matthew 16:13-23
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’ Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
From that time Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. ‘Heaven preserve you, Lord;’ he said ‘this must not happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: August 7, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: Catholicjules.net, doubt, obstacles, prayer

When will we STOP doubting and believe wholly and wholeheartedly in the love the Lord our God has for us and that He is truly an indeed an almighty God; that nothing is impossible for Him!?

Why do we allow obstacles and challenges deter us from living out our faith with zeal and fervour? Such that we are unable to bear witness to Him? Can the Lord our God not change the hearts of the non-believers in our family? Can He not change the mind of the stubborn spouse? Can He not take away the pain and suffering of a loved one who is critically ill? Can He not forgive us the most heinous sin we have committed against man and Him? What or who are the ‘giants’ in our lives that prevents us from entering into the promised land? What other fears or doubts do you have? Turn to Jesus and lay them at His feet and He will cast them out. He truly is the Lord of Lords, king of Kings!

Let our prayers not be casual but fervent with zeal and love for Him. On our knees we shake and heaven and earth as He will surely say to us ”By your great faith your prayers are answered.” Let this be our faith now and forevermore. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Numbers 13:1-2,25-14:1,26-29,34-35
The spies return from Canaan

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Paran and said, ‘Send out men, one from each tribe, to make a reconnaissance of this land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel. Send the leader of each tribe.’
At the end of forty days, they came back from their reconnaissance of the land. They sought out Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They made their report to them, and to the whole community, and showed them the produce of the country.
They told them this story, ‘We went into the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey; this is its produce. At the same time, its inhabitants are a powerful people; the towns are fortified and very big; yes, and we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekite holds the Negeb area, the Hittite, Amorite and Jebusite the highlands, and the Canaanite the sea coast and the banks of the Jordan.’
Caleb harangued the people gathered about Moses: ‘We must march in,’ he said ‘and conquer this land: we are well able to do it.’ But the men who had gone up with him answered, ‘We are not able to march against this people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they began to disparage the country they had reconnoitred to the sons of Israel, ‘The country we went to reconnoitre is a country that devours its inhabitants. Every man we saw there was of enormous size. Yes, and we saw giants there (the sons of Anak, descendants of the Giants). We felt like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’
At this, the whole community raised their voices and cried aloud, and the people wailed all that night.
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said:
‘I have heard the complaints which the sons of Israel make against me. Say to them, “As I live – it is the Lord who speaks – I will deal with you according to the very words you have used in my hearing. In this wilderness your dead bodies will fall, all you men of the census, all you who were numbered from the age of twenty years and over, you who have complained against me. For forty days you reconnoitred the land. Each day shall count for a year: for forty years you shall bear the burden of your sins, and you shall learn what it means to reject me.” I, the Lord, have spoken: this is how I will deal with this perverse community that has conspired against me. Here in this wilderness, to the last man, they shall die.’

Gospel

Matthew 15:21-28
The Canaanite woman debates with Jesus and saves her son

Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.

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Counting the Cost: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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To Go Up Higher: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

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