Matthew 8:23-27
                                    
When the disciples awakened Jesus from a sound sleep in the bow of their boat, he chastised them –not because they had awakened him, but because they were panicking. Had the disciples called out to Jesus before their boat was being swamped, when the storm first arose, “Teacher, help us! Calm the storm!”, the results would have been different. The storm would similarly have been calmed immediately, it is true, but Jesus would have not had had to discipline his followers and they would have saved themselves the wear and tear of frenzied actions and blaming (God) for their troubles: “Don’t you care that we (I) am perishing?” When I face the storms of my life -obligations, legal proceedings, or heavy responsibilities of several kinds – will I let the breakers of panic overtake me and lash out in blame, or will I early-on go to Christ Jesus, and ask him to calm the winds of change and waves of stress that threaten to swamp my heart, mind, soul and strength? Holy Spirit, help me ask Christ Jesus to calm the storms in my life.
 
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing (and a trusting) spirit. (Psalm 51:12)
 
If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.
Corrie Ten Boom  
 
www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca  
& Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook
Soli ad gloriam Dei
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul     
                                                                                                                                    
Acts 12: 1-11, 2 Tim 4:6-18 & Psalm 34

                                                          
Peter was so free from fear that he was able to sleep in a Roman prison cell flanked by four guards – and so could respond to an angel sent to rescue him.  Paul, who spent a life time dodging various traumas and tortures was so free from fear that he continued to proclaim the Gospel of Christ Jesus, even though it meant an intensification of his mis-adventures – and so could confidently proclaim freedom in Christ from his prison cell in Rome while awaiting execution. Fears and anxieties are always but a thought away, and compel me to make rash and often ‘dangerous decisions’.  Like passengers in a small boat flocking to the side of the captain in a storm, and make the boat capsize, our fears have the passive power to lead us into the wrong place at the wrong time. But when I allow my faith in God’s great mercy to put my (often unfounded) fears in perspective, then like the Apostles Peter and  Paul, I am able to fruitfully and generously endure and persevere through all kinds of conversations and challenges in my life. Today will I respond to life with fears or with faith? Holy Spirit of Jesus, set me free from all my fears.       
 
I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.    (Psalm 34:4)  
 
We fear the future because we are wasting today.
Saint Mother Teresa
 
www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca  
​& Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook                                                                            
Soli ad gloriam Dei

                                                                                                                                     
Matthew 10:37-42
                                                         
When I am hosting my family members, whether children, cousins or my spouse, first and foremost in my life, it limits my attention and time so that when Christ approaches me in the guise of someone in need, or circumstances that require patience, I have nothing left to give.  Perhaps I am not even mindful enough to offer a glass of fresh water to one who thirsts on a hot day, otherwise known as a giving a kind word or a welcoming glance to any person in ‘hot circumstances’ who crosses my path.  Jesus knew this and encouraged his listeners, including us today, to welcome God’s coming into our lives, whether in the form a person or a challenge (a.k.a a ‘cross’). When my love for the Holy Spirit of God is the operating system of my life, I will have plenty of time to attend and extend mercy to any person or any challenge that comes to me.  Today will my sentimental obligations to myself and my family harden my heart, or will I genuinely and generously welcome with heart, mind, soul, and strength, the Holy Spirit of Jesus in the form of ‘child’ or challenge? Christ Jesus, I welcome you with a generous heart.
 
Blessed are those who walk in the light of your countenance.   (Psalm 89)  
 
When we stop giving we stop loving, when we stop loving we stop growing, and unless we grow we will never attain personal fulfillment; we will never open out to receive the life of God.  It is through love we encounter God.
Saint Mother Teresa Where there is Love, there is God, p. 26
 
www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca  & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook                                                                            
Soli ad gloriam Dei
 

Matthew 7:1-5
                                                        
It is so easy to enter into a judgement of the actions, ideologies or stories of others, despite Jesus’ counsel, “Do not judge!” Why? “So that you may not be judged.” When [I] judge [you] – always wrongly, because I do not know the whole truth, and am not without prejudice –then you can and most likely will, judge me. The result of judgement (a.k.a. prejudice, diminishment, put-downs, racism, profiling, etcetera)  is an ever-escalating abasement and intrusion into the dignity and sacredness of ‘the other’ that is tossed back and forth from one party to another.  Yes, I am to discern the path for my life, but judging and fixing others is a role reserved for God alone.  Although He was the one human being whose sight was unhindered enough to judge others’ behaviors, thoughts, and life-stories, Jesus judged no one as he moved through the crowds, and even forgave the actions of his accusers and abusers in the depths of his agony on the cross. Will I find Jesus’ way to live in this world without judging it? Christ Jesus, teach me to not judge.  
 
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall have their fill.  (Matthew 5;6)  
 
The position of God has been filled, and you did not get it.
“Grandma” Henderson
 
 
www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca  
& Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook                                                                            
Soli ad gloriam Dei
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Matthew 6:1-18

                                                          
What I contemplate in my heart of hearts becomes my operating system.  If I continually self-focus and self-reference, I will become self-serving and confined by my own folly and the limits of my own imagination, especially in alms-giving.  When I focus on the status quo of others around me, I become more self-conscious and will consider how I look to onlookers, rather than where I am looking, especially in prayer. And when I focus on pious acts of my own doing, rather than on the One who calls me by love into a faithful relationship, any amount of self-serving fasting, praying or alms-giving will become an obscene abuse of my own life, rather than the power house of self-discipline spiritual refreshment they are meant to be.  But when I stay faithful to God by constantly practicing his holy and merciful presence in the secret and honest spaces of my own heart, then alms-giving, prayer and fasting, and all that I do, say and think, will grow up from my contemplation of the ways and plays of the Holy Spirit of God at work in the world, within and around me, and will be life-giving to all. Will I continue to meditate on my own good, or will I remain faithful to God in the secret of my heart? Holy Spirit of God, in the secret of my heart help me remain faithful to you.    
 
... and your Father who sees in secret will reward you...   (Matthew 6:3, 6, 18)  
 
We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.
 Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
 
www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca  
& Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook                                                                            
Soli ad gloriam Dei