Posts Tagged ‘joy in the risen Lord’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 20, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: , ,
0

What a truly timely reminder by our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ; that we have already in fact been given a very precious gift that was breathed upon us at our baptism. The very same gift He breathed upon His Apostles when He walked into their presence behind closed doors. The Holy Spirit! The power of the Holy Spirit is upon us, the very same Spirit that rocked the house where the disciples prayed to the Lord our God. And so we have been born above and can see the kingdom of God. Honour praise and glory be to God!Therefore it is only right that we lead others to the same joy and peace in the Risen Lord to be found only in Him. Of whom we have received much grace and tender love. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we too can proclaim the word of God boldly. Alleluia!Lord Jesus we lift up to you this day all catchumens eagerly waiting the rite of Baptism. Through Your endearing grace may they receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Amen

First reading

Acts 4:23-31 ·
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldlyAs soon as Peter and John were released they went to the community and told them everything the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard it they lifted up their voice to God all together. ‘Master,’ they prayed ‘it is you who made heaven and earth and sea, and everything in them; you it is who said through the Holy Spirit and speaking through our ancestor David, your servant:Why this arrogance among the nations,
these futile plots among the peoples?
Kings on earth setting out to war,
princes making an alliance,
against the Lord and against his Anointed.‘This is what has come true: in this very city Herod and Pontius Pilate made an alliance with the pagan nations and the peoples of Israel, against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, but only to bring about the very thing that you in your strength and your wisdom had predetermined should happen. And now, Lord, take note of their threats and help your servants to proclaim your message with all boldness, by stretching out your hand to heal and to work miracles and marvels through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ As they prayed, the house where they were assembled rocked; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldly.

Gospel

John 3:1-8There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.’ Jesus answered:‘I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.’Nicodemus said, ‘How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?’ Jesus replied:‘I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God:
what is born of the flesh is flesh;
what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be surprised when I say:
You must be born from above.
The wind blows wherever it pleases;
you hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 18, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: ,
0

Have you woken up this morning bursting with Easter joy in your heart? If not then why not? What is preventing to you from experiencing the presence and love of our risen Lord Jesus Christ?Don’t look around, it is not the externals that is causing your sense of doom and gloom! All of us have a choice, Yes we do…. We can decide and choose to unite ourselves more profoundly with Christ Jesus our Lord by intensifying our prayer life. By listening attentively to Him through His Word and most of all putting our love for Him in action for others. Yes it can simply be calling or texting someone Jesus loves you. Or to lend a listening ear to someone and to comfort them. We can do so much more in the name of Jesus if we put our minds to it.Let us proclaim to the world that Jesus lives and He reigns our hearts. Amen

First reading

Acts 4:13-21 ·We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heardThe rulers, elders and scribes were astonished at the assurance shown by Peter and John, considering they were uneducated laymen; and they recognised them as associates of Jesus; but when they saw the man who had been cured standing by their side, they could find no answer. So they ordered them to stand outside while the Sanhedrin had a private discussion. ‘What are we going to do with these men?’ they asked. ‘It is obvious to everybody in Jerusalem that a miracle has been worked through them in public, and we cannot deny it. But to stop the whole thing spreading any further among the people, let us caution them never to speak to anyone in this name again.’ So they called them in and gave them a warning on no account to make statements or to teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John retorted, ‘You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God. We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.’ The court repeated the warnings and then released them; they could not think of any way to punish them, since all the people were giving glory to God for what had happened.

Gospel

Mark 16:9-15Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good NewsHaving risen in the morning on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom he had cast out seven devils. She then went to those who had been his companions, and who were mourning and in tears, and told them. But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him. After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country. These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either. Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 16, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
Tags: ,
0

Peace be with you… How comforting it is to hear the voice of Jesus telling us not to fear as He calms the storms within us. And He would readily dine with us though not in the same physical way He did with His Apostles. For He had promised when He said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Rev 3:20 And we know this to be true by our own encounter and relationship with our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.This reality came to be by our very own conversion experience. When we came to Jesus as we were, repentant and contrite. He ministered to us; He healed, restored and set us free to live freely in His love. For that is why the Son of God came. He died to save us from our sins and He rose that we might rise with Him.And so sisters and brothers in Christ, in this wonderful days of the Easter Octave, let us be bold and share the joy of the Risen with all that we meet. Even with masks on during this unprecedented period of the pandemic, let everyone see the eyes of Christ through ours. Amen

First reading

Acts 3:11-26 ·
You killed the prince of life: God, however, raised him from the deadEveryone came running towards Peter and John in great excitement, to the Portico of Solomon, as it is called, where the man was still clinging to Peter and John. When Peter saw the people he addressed them, ‘Why are you so surprised at this? Why are you staring at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or holiness? You are Israelites, and it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has glorified his servant Jesus, the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate after Pilate had decided to release him. It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a murderer while you killed the prince of life. God, however, raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses; and it is the name of Jesus which, through our faith in it, has brought back the strength of this man whom you see here and who is well known to you. It is faith in that name that has restored this man to health, as you can all see.
‘Now I know, brothers, that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were really doing; this was the way God carried out what he had foretold, when he said through all his prophets that his Christ would suffer. Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, and so that the Lord may send the time of comfort. Then he will send you the Christ he has predestined, that is Jesus, whom heaven must keep till the universal restoration comes which God proclaimed, speaking through his holy prophets. Moses, for example, said: The Lord God will raise up a prophet like myself for you, from among your own brothers; you must listen to whatever he tells you. The man who does not listen to that prophet is to be cut off from the people. In fact, all the prophets that have ever spoken, from Samuel onwards, have predicted these days.
‘You are the heirs of the prophets, the heirs of the covenant God made with our ancestors when he told Abraham: in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. It was for you in the first place that God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.’

Gospel

Luke 24:35-48
It is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the deadThe disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Jesus at the breaking of bread.
They were still talking about all this when Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost. But he said, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this he showed them his hands and feet. Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.
Then he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.’