Posts Tagged ‘Christian’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: June 16, 2025 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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We are reminded today that we have a higher calling as Christians. Forgiveness is not an option it is a must! Hence there is no such thing as tit for tat, and we do not repay evil with evil. We must go out of our way to love just as Jesus loves us.

So that indeed all will know that we are Christians by our love. We show and give genuine love by our sacrifice and dedication in ministering to our Lord’s flock. There is no room for pretense nor is there any need to impress. All that we do, and say is for the glory of God. Amen

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First reading
2 Corinthians 6:1-10


How we prove that we are God’s servants

As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.
    We do nothing that people might object to, so as not to bring discredit on our function as God’s servants. Instead, we prove we are servants of God by great fortitude in times of suffering: in times of hardship and distress; when we are flogged, or sent to prison, or mobbed; labouring, sleepless, starving. We prove we are God’s servants by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by a spirit of holiness, by a love free from affectation; by the word of truth and by the power of God; by being armed with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, prepared for honour or disgrace, for blame or praise; taken for impostors while we are genuine; obscure yet famous; said to be dying and here are we alive; rumoured to be executed before we are sentenced; thought most miserable and yet we are always rejoicing; taken for paupers though we make others rich, for people having nothing though we have everything.



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Gospel
Matthew 5:38-42


Offer the wicked man no resistance

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: July 29, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Living a Christian life and being true to our faith is a constant struggle. We can frown upon how much easier it is for us if we were not Catholic let alone Christian! No need to stress over being called to a higher standard or in another word higher calling. No need for uncomfortable conversations with non believers about our faith. We only need to abide but the laws of the land and be ‘free’ to live according to our whims and fancies.

If we possess such thoughts then it only means one thing. We have not encountered our Risen Lord! We do not have a deep personal relationship with Him such that our hearts pines for His presence. In trusting and knowing with certainty that He stands with us in every struggle and difficulty we may face. Our heart aches if we do not speak about Him with family, friends even strangers for love of Him; far more than any rejection we might receive from doing so. We strive for Holiness because we have received the grace of His peace, love and joy in our hearts and we want to be more like Him in every way. Let us acclaim with wholehearted conviction as Martha did, ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’ Amen, alleluia!

St Martha pray for us…

First reading

Jeremiah 15:10,16-21 ·
They will not overcome you, because I am with you‘Woe is me, my mother, for you have borne me to be a man of strife and of dissension for all the land. I neither lend nor borrow,
yet all of them curse me.‘When your words came, I devoured them:
your word was my delight and the joy of my heart; for I was called by your name,
Lord, God of Hosts.
I never took pleasure in sitting in scoffers’ company; with your hand on me I held myself aloof, since you had filled me with indignation.
Why is my suffering continual, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Do you mean to be for me a deceptive stream
with inconstant waters?’To which the Lord replied, ‘If you come back, I will take you back into my service;
and if you utter noble, not despicable, thoughts, you shall be as my own mouth.
They will come back to you, but you must not go back to them. I will make you a bronze wall fortified against this people.
They will fight against you but they will not overcome you, because I am with you
to save you and to deliver you – it is the Lord who speaks.
I mean to deliver you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the clutches of the violent.’

Gospel

John 11:19-27
I am the resurrection and the lifeMany Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:‘I am the resurrection and the life.
If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’