Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
John 6:25-51 For the displaced and besieged Palestinians of Gaza who are without house or food, bread from the ‘free world’ is life giving. Not only do those living in the war zone line up for the bread being distributed by emergency food agencies who are risking their lives to dispense food, but they receive and consume every crumb of bread and every drop of soup given out. These life-giving rations stave off pangs of hunger, strengthen the people who receive them and nurture faith, hope and love. So it is with the faithful who realize that the Son of God who is the Son of Man, Jesus Christ incarnated, crucified and risen again, is the Bread of Life. We the faithful recognize that we are dis-placed spiritually in this present world, and besieged by the darkness, death and despair that lurk in the shadows of policies gone rogue and shifting social appetites and structures. When we line up at Mass to receive the Bread of Heaven, will we realize that we are receiving the very body, blood, soul and divinity, of the Redeemer of the world? Will we – will I –take time to consume the Holy Spirit of Christ with my heart, mind, soul and strength? Will I notice how Holy Communion with Christ Jesus satisfies my deepest hungers, strengthens me to follow Him and feeds my faith, hope and love towards God, others and my own self? Risen Christ, help me receive you as Bread from Heaven. Trust in the Lord, have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord. (Psalm 27:14) Happiness keeps you sweet. Trials keep you strong. Sorrows keep you human. Failures keep you humble. And God keeps you going. Saint Padre Pio A Blessed, Holy and Happy Easter season to you and your family. May we evermore align our hearts with the will of God, as Jesus did! Alleluia! Alleluia! Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
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Acts 5:34-42 & John 6:16-21 When the waves of trauma are stirred up and tossing up the water around us, let’s take our cue from Peter and the other apostles! Sometime soon after the resurrection when the memory of their Master’s Ascension was still new and the fire of the Holy Sprit still fresh…. What a day they had! Within 24 hours, after tirelessly preaching to capacity crowds in the Temple, they were arrested and imprisoned; an angel attended them and opened the prison doors and sending them back to the Temple to preach; A few hours later they were re-apprehended and brought before the elders and the Temple Council and then held in remand while the Sanhedrin debated their fate; after some time they were brought in before the Council and had to craft a solid defense on the fly; Peter delivered a stirring 5-star sermon and then the apostles were all whipped and released back onto the streets of Jerusalem – during the Roman occupation. Their response? They could have slinked off to drink and lick their wounds. They could have retreated to plan their push back against the status quo, or to pray and preach to each other for a day or two. They could have widely broadcast the injustices of the Jewish elders and the Council and started an uprising. Or they could have turned around on the Temple steps and used their oratorical skills to blame and ridicule their accusers. But they did none of these things. We are told by Luke, the author of Acts, that they rejoiced in the Lord. They rejoiced that they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name of Christ Jesus, and had then continued to proclaim the Good News of new life in Christ Jesus as the Messiah. If I am imprisoned will it be for living out my faith in Christ and proclaiming the Good News, or will it be for some lesser charge that simply reflects my own sinfulness? When I am accused of being too ‘religious’ will I, like the apostles, be looking for Holy stamina and the help of angels because I, too, am committed first and foremost to acknowledge Christ Jesus in all my pathways and bypasses? Risen Christ, help me in all my ways to acknowledge you. The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doing. The Lord is near to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145: 17 & 18) The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden because God is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as the Spirit approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen and console Saint Cyril of Jerusalem A Blessed, Holy and Happy Easter season to you and your family. May you evermore align your heart with the will of God, as Jesus did! Allelulia! Even when all looks like death, really it can be Life! Alleluia! Alleluia! Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca John 3: 7 - 21 Crouching down in an overnight igluvigaq (a traditional Inuit snow house) you have no indication of the force or even the presence of the wind outside. Tightly packed snow blocks muffle sounds and the dome shape gives no resistance, and therefore no voice, to even the strongest winds that slip silently by on their journey unhindered across the arctic ice or tundra. Only when you exit an iglu and stand upright do you feel the wind and hear it whistle around you. Sometimes arctic winds are so strong that they roar around your stature and you can even lean on them! So it is with the mercy of God. If I do not exit my “igloo” of darkness insulated as it is by the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil, I can easily deny that the Spirit of God exists because I don’t ‘hear’ the mercy of God, or feel its power. But as I “do what is true”(v.21), that is live into my nature as homo sapiens, erectus – a human being standing upright , in this case spiritually, - I exit my frozen cocoon and stand upright into the light and love of God. That is when I become aware of the wind of the Spirit of God’s mercy whistling around and through me as a believer in Christ Jesus, now softly, then forcefully, in harmony with the kingdom of God. This is one image of what it looks like to “not perish but to have eternal life” (v.16). Will I continue to crouch down in the darkness of unbelief, with the mercy of God muffled by works of darkness, or will I stand up in the light of day and hear and feel the wind of the spirit (v.8), the mercy of God, that sometimes caresses my cheek and at other times bids me lean into its power? Risen Christ, help me believe and so stand up in your Spirit of truth. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:3,4) Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as the Spirit approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen and console. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem A Blessed, Holy and Happy Easter season to you and your family. May you evermore align your heart with the will of God, as Jesus did! Allelulia! Even when all looked like death, it was really Life! Alleluia! Alleluia! Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca Acts 4:1-12 Forgiveness is perhaps the most important – and the most challenging – choice we make in our lives. Whether it is passive or active, that is whether I am receiving the forgiveness of my own transgressions or forgiving someone their injustice against me, the choice to enter into forgiveness releases the same streams of the mercy of God that flowed through Christ Jesus at his death and resurrection. The moment I choose mercy over revenge, words of tenderness over speaking with cutting or vitriolic intent, and compassionate understanding rather than being powerful and right, I am aligning my broken and vulnerable spirit with the Holy Spirit of Father God. The Spirit of God, we must remember, chose to give up his only, human (made from earth), Son, “Jesus Emmanuel” , a.k.a. “God saves by being with us”, knowing that humankind would torture and crucify his beloved Son because it did not know mercy, had no vocabulary for tenderness and had sold out to the power and the “right” of the world, the flesh and the devil. That is the kind of mercy, of uncalculated Grace, that is unleashed when we choose light over darkness, love over spite and life over death -that is when we choose forgiveness and release from sin - in all aspects of our relationships. Then, upheld by the arms of mercy we are able to give and fore-give, ‘just like our Father in heaven’, and become who we are meant to be: sons and daughters of Father God released forever by forgiveness of sins. Will I have the wisdom and the courage to choose, the mercy of forgiveness – from others for the wrongs I have done to them, to others for their transgressions against me, and for my soul’s freedom and health? Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (Matthew 5:7) This is what Easter is: it is the exodus, the passage of human beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Pope Francis A Blessed, Holy and Happy Easter season to you and your family. May you evermore align your heart with the will of God, as Jesus did! Allelulia! Even when all looked like death, it was really Life! Alleluia! Alleluia! Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca Luke 24:15 -48 & John 21:1-14 It didn’t make sense, but it was great - if somewhat frightening! Their Master had died on a cross and was now risen from the dead. As the disciples talked and walked together those first few days after the Resurrection of Jesus, we can imagine that their hearts and minds were ‘all over the place’. But there was much more to the Resurrection than sudden appearances on a road, in a room, or at a blazing beach fire fish fry. Each time He appeared to his disciples, Jesus explained the significance of what they were living through. “Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms is being fulfilled”. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures… and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed… Finally, sometime during the 40 days Jesus was on earth in his resurrected form, before his Ascension into heaven, Peter, James, John, and all the disciples ‘got it’ – and then went on, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit of God to set the world on fire. Do I ‘get it’? Do I understand the sin-shattering and world-shaking significance of the Resurrection of the Son of Man who was/is the Son of God? Do I live into the reality of God’s redemption of Humankind from the bite of darkness and deceit, by really living into repentance and forgiveness for myself and for others? Will I take into myself the healing salvation of God brokered by Jesus Christ’s incarnation, ministry, death and resurrection by my thoughts, words and action? Risen Christ, help me real-ize how you redeem us. The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doing. The Lord is near to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145: 17 & 18) Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song. Saint John Paul II A Blessed, Holy and Happy Easter season to you and your family. May you evermore align your heart with the will of God, as Jesus did! Allelulia! Even when all looked like death, it was really Life! Alleluia! Alleluia! Soli ad gloriam Dei Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca |
AuthorBeverly Illauq lives in Kemptville, Ontario, where she greets each morning by seeking the Gospel Mystery of the Day - the Word of the Lord for direct and practical application to the specific challenges & joys of the day. Archives
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