Posts Tagged ‘living in the Spirit’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 15, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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The fundamental question for us this Eastertide is how can we remain joyful? How can we continue each day to live in the peace, joy and light of our Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ?

The answer is simple and had already been revealed to us long ago. However many of us had chosen either to ignore or brush it aside either due to lack of knowledge or know how, lack of  belief or simply we gave in to our inertia. Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Life had revealed and given us the Holy Spirit to be our Counsellor and our guide. Hence choosing to live in the Spirit is what enables us to live in the light of the Resurrection. Being docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit is what enables us to be obedient to the Lord our God and enkindles in us the fire to become great instruments of His grace. What flows through us then is His peace, love and joy. It all begins with a simple prayer every morning, “Come Holy Spirit, Come; Come dwell in my heart, take full control, lead and guide me this and everyday.”

By His guiding hand, we are no longer slaves to fear, we live as children God our Father so loved by Him. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Acts 5:27-33 ·

We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit

When the officials had brought the apostles in to face the Sanhedrin, the high priest demanded an explanation. ‘We gave you a formal warning’ he said ‘not to preach in this name, and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and seem determined to fix the guilt of this man’s death on us.’ In reply Peter and the apostles said, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men; it was the God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, but it was you who had him executed by hanging on a tree. By his own right hand God has now raised him up to be leader and saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins through him to Israel. We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’

    This so infuriated them that they wanted to put them to death.

Gospel

John 3:31-36

The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him

John the Baptist said to his disciples:

‘He who comes from above is above all others;

he who is born of the earth is earthly himself

and speaks in an earthly way.

He who comes from heaven

bears witness to the things he has seen and heard,

even if his testimony is not accepted;

though all who do accept his testimony

are attesting the truthfulness of God,

since he whom God has sent

speaks God’s own words:

God gives him the Spirit without reserve.

The Father loves the Son

and has entrusted everything to him.

Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life,

but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life:

the anger of God stays on him.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 19, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Following yesterday’s reflection on death and new life in Christ; St Paul through the grace of our Lord and the Holy Spirit gives us a wonderful, keen insight on how and what it will be like for us in our resurrected form. Just as how it is like for him and all the saints in Heaven. And by our faith we know this to be true for through our baptism the Holy Spirit has awakened in us the new birth of life in Him. We no longer see just with our eyes or hear just with our ears. And the peace, love and joy that we have comes not from this world but through our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

So today the question for us is, are we then living in the Spirit that has been outpoured in us? How can we say that we are, if we do not spend time daily reflecting on His Word for us? If we do not cherish His Word by living it out daily in our lives? If we do not constantly struggle and fight to resist all evil and temptation? If the gifts we have been given are not used for the good of others?

For if we are living in the Spirit as we should then we will see the gifts we had been given bear fruit. For others will see and experience the joy of our Lord through the work of our hands. We will always discover new and wonderful gifts we can use for His glory. Our reward is simply the joy of living in the Spirit in His presence. Amen!

First reading
1 Corinthians 15:35-37,42-49 ·
The resurrected body is heavenly by nature

Someone may ask, ‘How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?’ They are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit.
    If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.


Gospel
Luke 8:4-15
The parable of the sower

With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, Jesus used this parable:
    ‘A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell amongst thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into rich soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.’ Saying this he cried, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
    His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, and he said, ‘The mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed to you; for the rest there are only parables, so that they may see but not perceive, listen but not understand.

‘This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved. Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up. As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and do not reach maturity. As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.’