Posts Tagged ‘pentecost’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: May 21, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Just two more days from today before we arrive at Pentecost! Are we ready to come out of our tombs into the light of our Risen Lord; to receive a great awakening of the Holy Spirit within us, so as to glorify God our Heavenly Father by living our lives in the Spirit?

Before we give a resounding Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes, Yes Lord!

We have to ask ourselves just how much do we really love Jesus? Are we fully reconciled with the Lord our God by turning away from and confessing all our sins? Have we emptied ourselves of all the baggage we carried in our hearts so as to be filled with His love? Have we moved past from lip service into using our hands and feet for love of Him and of brethren? Have we moved past a mere friendship with Him, are prepared to lay down our lives and have we picked up our cross to follow Him?  Are we ready to be sent into the world to nourish His flock with His Word, truth and life!

Lord Jesus I truly love You! Holy Spirit Lord Come!

Just as You moved upon the Void and darkness at creation.

Just as You moved in the tomb of Christ

Just as You moved upon the disciples at Pentecost

Move in my life, in my family, in the Church, in my Nation and in my World today. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Acts 25:13-21 ·

‘I ordered Paul to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar’

King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul’s case before the king. ‘There is a man here’ he said ‘whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation. But I told them that Romans are not in the habit of surrendering any man, until the accused confronts his accusers and is given an opportunity to defend himself against the charge. So they came here with me, and I wasted no time but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day and had the man brought in. When confronted with him, his accusers did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected; but they had some argument or other with him about their own religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to be alive. Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue. But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgement of the august emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar.’

Gospel

John 21:15-19

Feed my lambs, feed my sheep

Jesus showed himself to his disciples, and after they had eaten he said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?’ He answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Look after my sheep.’ Then he said to him a third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.

‘I tell you most solemnly,

when you were young

you put on your own belt

and walked where you liked;

but when you grow old

you will stretch out your hands,

and somebody else will put a belt round you

and take you where you would rather not go.’

In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, ‘Follow me.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: May 18, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Today’s readings appears gloomy filled with looming doom, but is actually filled with hope, courage and faithfulness that the promises of Christ Jesus will prevail over all! He has conquered the World! For through Him we have already entered into sonship and daughterhood of God our loving Father who is faithful. And He has never and will never leave us orphans! We have the Holy Spirit with us.

Just like in present times we now live with impending gloom and doom with the unrelenting hold of the covid pandemic! Many are already suffering hardship of putting food on the table, seeking medical attention as whatever resources they may have are depleting or have already depleted. While others are simply fearful for the safety and their loved ones. What hope do they have? Do they share the hope and joy we still have in our Risen Lord? How can they if do not share the truth, light, way and life with Jesus Christ with them? Through the Holy Spirit let us lead them all out of darkness and into the light of our Risen Lord! Amen Alleluia

I like to share this powerful prayer to the Holy Spirit I just learnt from Brother Lalith Perera from the Community Of The Risen Lord. Pray it with me as we count down to Pentecost….

Holy Spirit

Just as You moved upon the Void and darkness at creation.

Just as You moved in the tomb of Christ

Just as You moved upon the disciples at Pentecost

Move in my life, in my family, in the Church, in my Nation and in my World today. Amen

First reading

Acts 20:17-27 ·

I have without faltering put before you the whole of God’s purpose

From Miletus Paul sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus. When they arrived he addressed these words to them:

    ‘You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia, how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you, and instructed you both in public and in your homes, urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.

    ‘And now you see me a prisoner already in spirit; I am on my way to Jerusalem, but have no idea what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear enough that imprisonment and persecution await me. But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace.

    ‘I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again. And so here and now I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are concerned, for I have without faltering put before you the whole of God’s purpose.’

Gospel

John 17:1-11

Father, it is time for you to glorify me

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

‘Father, the hour has come:

glorify your Son

so that your Son may glorify you;

and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him,

let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

And eternal life is this:

to know you,

the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I have glorified you on earth

and finished the work that you gave me to do.

Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me

with that glory I had with you

before ever the world was.

I have made your name known

to the men you took from the world to give me.

They were yours and you gave them to me,

and they have kept your word.

Now at last they know

that all you have given me comes indeed from you;

for I have given them the teaching you gave to me,

and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you,

and have believed that it was you who sent me.

I pray for them;

I am not praying for the world

but for those you have given me,

because they belong to you:

all I have is yours

and all you have is mine,

and in them I am glorified.

I am not in the world any longer,

but they are in the world,

and I am coming to you.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: April 28, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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As we draw closer to Pentecost let us prepare our hearts, minds and souls to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Through earnest steadfast prayer, fasting and attentive listening to God our Father’s Word and Will for us. Then like St Paul and St Barnabas who were docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we too shall be led to be lights of Christ sent forth to illumine the hearts and minds of His flock.

Jesus light of the World, my Lord and my God. Let Your perpetual light shine upon me all the days of my life. Amen Alleluia!

First reading

Acts 12:24-13:5 ·

‘I want Barnabas and Saul set apart’

The word of God continued to spread and to gain followers. Barnabas and Saul completed their task and came back from Jerusalem, bringing John Mark with them.

    In the church at Antioch the following were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. One day while they were offering worship to the Lord and keeping a fast, the Holy Spirit said, ‘I want Barnabas and Saul set apart for the work to which I have called them.’ So it was that after fasting and prayer they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

    So these two, sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. They landed at Salamis and proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; John acted as their assistant.

Gospel

John 12:44-50

I, the light, have come into the world

Jesus declared publicly:

‘Whoever believes in me

believes not in me

but in the one who sent me,

and whoever sees me,

sees the one who sent me.

I, the light, have come into the world,

so that whoever believes in me

need not stay in the dark any more.

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully,

it is not I who shall condemn him,

since I have come not to condemn the world,

but to save the world.

He who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already:

the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.

For what I have spoken does not come from myself;

no, what I was to say,

what I had to speak,

was commanded by the Father who sent me,

and I know that his commands mean eternal life.

And therefore what the Father has told me

is what I speak.’