Posts Tagged ‘resurrection’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: May 12, 2021 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Lesser men would hide the truth of our Lord’s Resurrection from unbelievers for fear of losing their attention or being mocked for revealing such a thing. There is also the temptation to save the truth for a later time when the listeners might be more receptive. In today’s first reading St. Paul skilfully weaves the truth of the existence of their Unknown God with the One true living God for all of mankind! He then proceeds to share the truth held by all Christians, the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! This is what it means to be guided by the Spirit of Truth.

The divine nature of the Holy Spirit is once again revealed by Jesus in today’s Gospel. One with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Himself. And so if we surrender to the Holy Will of the Lord our God; we will be led by the Holy Spirit and we in turn will lead others to the complete truth to be found in Him alone.

Come Holy Spirit Lord, come and lead me. Amen Alleluia

First reading

Acts 17:15,22-18:1

I proclaim the God you already worship without knowing it

Paul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could.

    So Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech:

    ‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. Well, the God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.

    ‘Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything – including life and breath – to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said:

“We are all his children.”

‘Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man.

    ‘God overlooked that sort of thing when men were ignorant, but now he is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged, and judged in righteousness, and he has appointed a man to be the judge. And God has publicly proved this by raising this man from the dead.’

    At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, ‘We would like to hear you talk about this again.’ After that Paul left them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides.

    After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

Gospel

John 16:12-15

The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I still have many things to say to you

but they would be too much for you now.

But when the Spirit of truth comes

he will lead you to the complete truth,

since he will not be speaking as from himself

but will say only what he has learnt;

and he will tell you of the things to come.

He will glorify me,

since all he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.

Everything the Father has is mine;

that is why I said:

All he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: September 18, 2020 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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The idea of dying can send many into having panic attacks. Why? Because we have never experienced it for ourselves and so have many unanswered questions. Such as, is it really the end? Do we disappear into nothingness? All memories of our existence gone forever?  What will happen to our loved ones? Therefore the idea of death alone pains us.

We Christians have the answer and it lies in the truth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For indeed by His resurrection Christ has redeemed the world from eternal death. Through our faith in our resurrected Lord we have hope for eternal life with Him. So together with St Paul and with conviction we declare “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” and like the Saints who have gone ahead we too can die with peace and joy in our hearts in knowing we will rise again with Him.

Today we pause, reflect and remember the many women who have walked and those who are still walking in the presence of our Lord. Whose dedication to follow in His footsteps by their own lives have inspired us to do likewise. I have been blessed to know such women in my life including my own mother.

Blessed Mother Queen of Heaven we consecrate all these women after your own heart through you, to Your Son Jesus our Lord. Amen

First reading
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 ·
If Christ has not been raised, your belief is useless

Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he had raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.
    But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.


Gospel
Luke 8:1-3
The women who accompanied Jesus

Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: December 27, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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God our Father’s loving plan for our salvation began with the Incarnation of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, the light born into the world and was completed by His resurrection. And many whom our Lord walked with bore witness to this reality especially St John. This is the truth, this is our faith! Happy indeed are we who have not seen and yet believe.Yes, for even though we might not have seen Jesus our Lord with our very own eyes we can still testify to His great presence in our lives through the deep, precious, meaningful relationship we have with Him. We unite ourselves with Him most tangibly during Holy Eucharist and it is through Him alone that we are all united as one Body In Him.For this we rejoice and are glad! Amen Alleluia.At St John pray for us…

First reading

1 John 1:1-4 ·The Word, who is life – this is our subjectSomething which has existed since the beginning, that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands:the Word, who is life – this is our subject.That life was made visible:we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us.What we have seen and heard we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us, as we are in union with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete.

Gospel

John 20:2-8The other disciple saw, and he believedOn the first day of the week Mary of Magdala came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’ So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: November 26, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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How many funerals have you attended in your lifetime? Well as you grow older you will find yourself attending more and more till you’re too old to attend or its your very own. That being said how many have you attended and heard family or friends speak about the person’s faith life? How she or he touched them by their faith and the way they lived their lives? How truly they must be in heaven and the prayers we pray at their funerals are more for ourselves as they are already in heaven praying for us. No it does not only and always happen at the funerals of priests and religious who have passed on but why should it be rare for the laity? When truly the opposite should be true! So alive was he living in he light of the Resurrection of our Lord! That is what I would like to hear at my funeral, but will the folks say that of me?

The kingdoms we build for ourselves will all come to pass and sooner than we think. Just look around us? In a just short span of say thirty years, many changes have taken place, buildings, sites, food places, favourite haunts, things we cherished no longer exist; perhaps only in our fading memories. The only reality whether we believe it or not is that the Word of God and His kingdom will live forever. From personal experience I am fully alive only when I am building my Lord’s Kingdom and living in His love and light. Even amidst trials and challenges!

So as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD! Amen

First reading
Daniel 2:31-45 ·
Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream

Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, ‘You have had a vision, O king; this is what you saw: a statue, a great statue of extreme brightness, stood before you, terrible to see. The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet part iron, part earthenware. While you were gazing, a stone broke away, untouched by any hand, and struck the statue, struck its feet of iron and earthenware and shattered them. And then, iron and earthenware, bronze, silver, gold all broke into small pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing-floor in summer. The wind blew them away, leaving not a trace behind. And the stone that had struck the statue grew into a great mountain, filling the whole earth. This was the dream; now we will explain to the king what it means.
‘You, O king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength and glory – the sons of men, the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven, wherever they live, he has entrusted to your rule, making you king of them all – you are the golden head. And after you another kingdom will rise, not so great as you, and then a third, of bronze, which will rule the whole world. There will be a fourth kingdom, hard as iron, as iron that shatters and crushes all. Like iron that breaks everything to pieces, it will crush and break all the earlier kingdoms. The feet you saw, part earthenware, part iron, are a kingdom which will be split in two, but which will retain something of the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together. The feet were part iron, part earthenware: the kingdom will be partly strong and partly weak. And just as you saw the iron and the clay of the earthenware mixed together, so the two will be mixed together in the seed of man; but they will not hold together any more than iron will blend with earthenware. In the time of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms, and itself last for ever – just as you saw the stone untouched by hand break from the mountain and shatter iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold. The great God has shown the king what is to take place. The dream is true, the interpretation exact.’

Gospel
Luke 21:5-11
The destruction of the Temple foretold

When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, Jesus said, ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.’ And they put to him this question: ‘Master,’ they said ‘when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that this is about to take place?’
‘Take care not to be deceived,’ he said ‘because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened, for this is something that must happen but the end is not so soon.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines here and there; there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.’

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: November 23, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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As we draw closer to the end of the liturgical calendar for the year and begin preparations for Advent, let us take a moment to reflect on how have we lived out the year? And what if tomorrow never came for us? Are we ready to meet our Lord this very day?

Some very clear signs of whether we are living in the light of our Risen Lord is that we have peace, love and joy in our hearts. We look forward to each day with all its trials and challenges knowing that our Lord is present with us through it all. If and when we fall we turn swiftly back to His loving embrace and are reconciled. For we cherish our union with Him above all. We live out our lives in the service of our Lord and of our brethren.

If the above is not our experience then what is? Are we living with regret? With guilt and shame? With anxiety? Dread and fear of facing tomorrow’s emptiness? Discontent with our lives, always searching and hoping for more. Unable to sit still always on the move. Inward looking only striving to be more, achieve more for yourself in the guise that you are doing so for your immediate family. Church and community is an afterthought if there is any at all.

Sisters and brothers, if we do not strive to love our Lord and our brethren in all our imperfections then how can we have hope to love Him and our brethren perfectly in Heaven? For if we are true believers of Christ Jesus our Lord, then our only goal is to be with Him in paradise. Holiness through Christ is what we must seek always.

Jesus, Son of the living God have mercy on me a sinner. Amen

First reading

1 Maccabees 6:1-13 ·
‘I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem’

King Antiochus was making his way across the upper provinces; he had heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, renowned for its riches, its silver and gold, and its very wealthy temple containing golden armour, breastplates and weapons, left there by Alexander son of Philip, the king of Macedon, the first to reign over the Greeks. He therefore went and attempted to take the city and pillage it, but without success, since the citizens learnt of his intention, and offered him a stiff resistance, whereupon he turned about and retreated, disconsolate, in the direction of Babylon. But while he was still in Persia news reached him that the armies that had invaded the land of Judah had been defeated, and that Lysias in particular had advanced in massive strength, only to be forced to turn and flee before the Jews; these had been strengthened by the acquisition of arms, supplies and abundant spoils from the armies they had cut to pieces; they had overthrown the abomination he had erected over the altar in Jerusalem, and had encircled the sanctuary with high walls as in the past, and had fortified Bethzur, one of his cities. When the king heard this news he was amazed and profoundly shaken; he threw himself on his bed and fell into a lethargy from acute disappointment, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned. And there he remained for many days, subject to deep and recurrent fits of melancholy, until he understood that he was dying. Then summoning all his Friends, he said to them, ‘Sleep evades my eyes, and my heart is cowed by anxiety. I have been asking myself how I could have come to such a pitch of distress, so great a flood as that which now engulfs me – I who was so generous and well-loved in my heyday. But now I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there, and ordered the extermination of the inhabitants of Judah for no reason at all. This, I am convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am dying of melancholy in a foreign land.’

Gospel

Luke 20:27-40
In God all men are alive

Some Sadducees – those who say that there is no resurrection – approached Jesus and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, that if a man’s married brother dies childless, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Well then, there were seven brothers. The first, having married a wife, died childless. The second and then the third married the widow. And the same with all seven, they died leaving no children. Finally the woman herself died. Now, at the resurrection, to which of them will she be wife since she had been married to all seven?’
Jesus replied, ‘The children of this world take wives and husbands, but those who are judged worthy of a place in the other world and in the resurrection from the dead do not marry because they can no longer die, for they are the same as the angels, and being children of the resurrection they are sons of God. And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again, in the passage about the bush where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.’
Some scribes then spoke up. ‘Well put, Master’ they said – because they would not dare to ask him any more questions.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: November 20, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Do you think the story in Maccabees is highly exaggerated? Perhaps… What mother in her right mind would allow all her precious sons to perish just like that? How then would you account for the Holy martyrs over the centuries? Most of them had a choice, yet they chose the Lord our God over all else? The theological truth contained in the Scripture texts of today is that the Lord our God is Faithful to all who are faithful to Him. And death has no power over us, who live in the presence of our living God. For when it is time for us to die, we know it is only a momentary passing into new life with Him. Will our Lord Jesus Christ find such faith in us today?

From the treasury of His heart, our Lord has given us tenfold gifts and talents that we should build His kingdom. Do we instead bury them in linen cloth refusing to care and use them for His greater glory? Who then have we made the Lord of our lives? Will the Lord we choose to serve faithfully, lead us to everlasting life?

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, You alone are the Lord of my life! Here I am to do Your Will. Amen

First reading

2 Maccabees 7:1,20-31 ·
The creator of the world will give you back both breath and life

There were seven brothers who were arrested with their mother. The king tried to force them to taste pig’s flesh, which the Law forbids, by torturing them with whips and scourges. But the mother was especially admirable and worthy of honourable remembrance, for she watched the death of seven sons in the course of a single day, and endured it resolutely because of her hopes in the Lord. Indeed she encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors; filled with noble conviction, she reinforced her womanly argument with manly courage, saying to them, ‘I do not know how you appeared in my womb; it was not I who endowed you with breath and life, I had not the shaping of your every part. It is the creator of the world, ordaining the process of man’s birth and presiding over the origin of all things, who in his mercy will most surely give you back both breath and life, seeing that you now despise your own existence for the sake of his laws.’
Antiochus thought he was being ridiculed, suspecting insult in the tone of her voice; and as the youngest was still alive he appealed to him not with mere words but with promises on oath to make him both rich and happy if he would abandon the traditions of his ancestors; he would make him his Friend and entrust him with public office. The young man took no notice at all, and so the king then appealed to the mother, urging her to advise the youth to save his life. After a great deal of urging on his part she agreed to try persuasion on her son. Bending over him, she fooled the cruel tyrant with these words, uttered in the language of their ancestors, ‘My son, have pity on me; I carried you nine months in my womb and suckled you three years, fed you and reared you to the age you are now (and cherished you). I implore you, my child, observe heaven and earth, consider all that is in them, and acknowledge that God made them out of what did not exist, and that mankind comes into being in the same way. Do not fear this executioner, but prove yourself worthy of your brothers, and make death welcome, so that in the day of mercy I may receive you back in your brothers’ company.’
She had scarcely ended when the young man said, ‘What are you all waiting for? I will not comply with the king’s ordinance; I obey the ordinance of the Law given to our ancestors through Moses. As for you, sir, who have contrived every kind of evil against the Hebrews, you will certainly not escape the hands of God.’

Gospel

Luke 19:11-28
The parable of the talents

While the people were listening, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they imagined that the kingdom of God was going to show itself then and there. Accordingly he said, ‘A man of noble birth went to a distant country to be appointed king and afterwards return. He summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds. “Do business with these” he told them “until I get back.” But his compatriots detested him and sent a delegation to follow him with this message, “We do not want this man to be our king.”
‘Now on his return, having received his appointment as king, he sent for those servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made. The first came in and said, “Sir, your one pound has brought in ten.” “Well done, my good servant!” he replied “Since you have proved yourself faithful in a very small thing, you shall have the government of ten cities.” Then came the second and said, “Sir, your one pound has made five.” To this one also he said, “And you shall be in charge of five cities.” Next came the other and said, “Sir, here is your pound. I put it away safely in a piece of linen because I was afraid of you; for you are an exacting man: you pick up what you have not put down and reap what you have not sown.” “You wicked servant!” he said “Out of your own mouth I condemn you. So you knew I was an exacting man, picking up what I have not put down and reaping what I have not sown? Then why did you not put my money in the bank? On my return I could have drawn it out with interest.” And he said to those standing by, “Take the pound from him and give it to the man who has ten pounds.” And they said to him, “But, sir, he has ten pounds…”. “I tell you, to everyone who has will be given more; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
‘“But as for my enemies who did not want me for their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence.”’
When he had said this he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: July 29, 2019 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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How secure is your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? How deep is your relationship with Him? What will happen when you fall into difficulty? Despair? or Inertia? For if you do not work at growing your relationship with Him, then the ‘golden calfs’ of the world will emerge to rob you of your communion with the Lord your God. And life to the full will dwindle as you eventually die in your sins. Do you even know what are the ‘golden calfs’ in your life? Workaholism, pornography, television, excessive gaming, compulsive shopping, to name a few for there will be one unique to you.

Everyday must be a renewal of our faith and our love in Him, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Each morning as we awake we should renew our baptismal vows and pray to the Holy Spirit to guide us through the day. If we should trip and fall let us not despair, but repent instead, turn always to Him who loves us dearly. For He is the resurrection and the life! He will raise us from our sins which brings death into new life in Him. Amen

St Martha pray for us…

First reading

Exodus 32:15-24,30-34
The golden calf

Moses made his way back down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, tablets inscribed on both sides, inscribed on the front and on the back. These tablets were the work of God, and the writing on them was God’s writing engraved on the tablets.
Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. ‘There is the sound of battle in the camp’, he told Moses. Moses answered him:

‘No song of victory is this sound,
no wailing for defeat this sound;
it is the sound of chanting that I hear.’

As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the groups dancing, Moses’ anger blazed. He threw down the tablets he was holding and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He seized the calf they had made and burned it, grinding it into powder which he scattered on the water; and he made the sons of Israel drink it. To Aaron Moses said, ‘What has this people done to you, for you to bring such a great sin on them?’ ‘Let not my lord’s anger blaze like this’ Aaron answered. ‘You know yourself how prone this people is to evil. They said to me, “Make us a god to go at our head; this Moses, the man who brought us up from Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So I said to them, “Who has gold?,” and they took it off and brought it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.’
On the following day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. But now I shall go up to the Lord: perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’ And Moses returned to the Lord. ‘I am grieved,’ he cried ‘this people has committed a grave sin, making themselves a god of gold. And yet, if it pleased you to forgive this sin of theirs…! But if not, then blot me out from the book that you have written.’ The Lord answered Moses, “It is the man who has sinned against me that I shall blot out from my book. Go now, lead the people to the place of which I told you. My angel shall go before you but, on the day of my visitation, I shall punish them for their sin.’

Gospel

John 11:19-27
I am the resurrection and the life

Many 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.’