(MAY we WITH MAMMA MARY live in holiness)
MAY 0️⃣3️⃣ – Mary, Mother of Mercy
💭 TO REFLECT
Mary herself experienced the Great Mercy of God, and invites us to become recipients of the ‘ocean of God’s unconditional Mercy!’
✅ TO PRACTISE
Recieve God’s Mercy, and become ambassadors of His Mercy
🙏🏻 TO PRAY
Mamma Mary, intercede for me, that I may always trust in God’s Mercy and reach out His compassion to all, Amen!
“Being inspired by St Philip and St James to be His True Apostles and thus live to a saintly life!”
(Based on the Feast of the Apostles – St Philip and St James)
A story is told of a lady who was very much zealous in telling about Jesus Christ to the world.
This lady was blind and illiterate…
… and yet found different ways to spread the Gospel.
One day, she went to a Missionary Priest and asked for a copy of the Bible in French.
When she got it, she asked the missionary to underline the Bible Verse – John 3:16 – in red, and mark the page, so that she could find it.
(Jn 3:16 = “For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Son…that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have Eternal Life!”)
The missionary wanted to see what she would do with this Bible that was marked with red…
… and so he followed her.
The lady went in the late afternoon to a school…
… and made her way to the entrance.
As the school children came out, she would stop one of them and ask if he knew how to read French.
If the boy would say “Yes” she would ask him to read the verse that was marked in red.
Then she would ask, “Do you know what this means?”…
… and then go on to tell him more about Jesus Christ and living a Life in the Lord!
The missionary priest would later testify that this lady led nearly a couple of dozen boys to become missionaries of the Lord!
As followers of Christ, each of us are bound to tell the world about the Precious Life of “Living in God!”
How well are we doing our Duty of Proclaiming God to the world?
Am I a Faithful Apostle?
Today Holy Mother the Church celebrates the Feast of two Apostles St Philip and St James…
They lived a faithful and courageous life as followers of Jesus…
… and made Jesus more known to the world by their faithful life!
The Apostle St Philip was a native of Bethsaida, on Lake Gennesaret.
He was among the first disciples of Jesus (Jn 1:43)
(a) At the miraculous feeding of the multitude, it was to Philip that Jesus asked, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” to which Philip replied, “Two hundred denarii worth food will not be enough for them to have a little” (Jn 6:5)
(b) When through Greeks came to meet Jesus, it was Philip whom they met and it was he who reported to Andrew and they both went to Jesus (Jn 12: 21-22)
(c) It was Philip who told Jesus, in the Upper Room, “Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us” (Jn 14: 8)
The Apostle St James is called as the Younger or the Less, because he was the second of that name who was an apostle of Jesus – distinguishing him from James the Greater, the son of Zebedee
St James the Less was also called as James the Just and is sometimes also called as the “Brother of the Lord”
(a) He is the author of one of the Epistles in the New Testament
(b) He was also ordained as the Bishop of Jerusalem.
The Gospel of the Day (Jn 14: 6-14) presents Jesus declaring Himself as “The Way, the Truth and The Life” (Jn 14: 6)
These two Apostles, St Philip and St James by their life, gave a faithful witness to Jesus – “The Way, The Truth and The Life!”
We are called and challenged, by these Apostles to do the same as well…
Being ready to embrace Jesus as The Way…
… seeking to follow only His paths and doing His Will
… being bold to stand firm in the face of hardships, while walking on the Way
Being ready to embrace Jesus as The Truth…
… wanting to let go a life of dishonesty and hypocrisy in our actions of life
… determined in the conviction to live for Christ and His virtues in day-to-day life
Being ready to embrace Jesus as The Life…
… willing to utilize all our talents, gifts, resources in life for the glory of God and His Kingdom
… being brave to let go off anything which prevents us from living a life for the Lord
The Apostles St Philip and St James…
… were greatly purified in their following of the Lord, through various persecutions and hardships
And finally, gave their life in martyrdom to the Lord and His Kingdom!
When there is determination and passion for God, we look for ways and means, to preach about God and His Love to the world!
No blindness can prevent us from showing people “the vision of Divine Life”
No illiteracy can stop us from declaring to people “the Word of Life!”
Let us wait at the “entrances of people’s life” and…
… point the “the red and passionate Love of the Lord” to the world!
Wish you a Happy Feast of the Apostles – St Philip and St James!
Let us also seek and work to be His True Apostles and thus live to be a Saint!
God Bless! Live Jesus!
Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
THE HOLY SPIRIT RECALLS THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
The Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work of salvation in the liturgy.
Primarily in the Eucharist, and by analogy in the other sacraments, the liturgy is the memorial of the mystery of salvation.
The Holy Spirit is the Church’s living memory.
The Holy Spirit first recalls the meaning of the salvation event to the liturgical assembly by giving life to the Word of God, which is proclaimed so that it may be received and lived: In the celebration of the liturgy, Sacred Scripture is extremely important.
From it come the lessons that are read and explained in the homily and the psalms that are sung.
It is from the Scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and that actions and signs derive their meaning (CCC #1099-1100)
(MAY we WITH MAMMA MARY live in holiness)
MAY 0️⃣2️⃣ – Mary, Mother of Divine Grace
💭 To Reflect
Mary allowed herself to be filled with the Grace of God, and cooperated fully, to fulfil God’s Plan of Salvation for the world.
✅ To Practise
Allow God’s Grace to work in one’s life
🙏🏻To Pray
Mamma Mary, intercede for me, that I may co-operate with the Grace of God, and fulfil His plans in my life, Amen!
(MAY we WITH MAMMA MARY live in holiness)
MAY 0️⃣1️⃣ – Mary, Mother of God
💭 To Reflect
Mary accepted the call of the Lord to be the Mother of the Word Incarnate, and said a YES to HIS WILL
✅ To Practise
Seek & do God’s Will
🙏🏻To Pray
Mamma Mary, intercede for me, that I may always seek and do God’s Will in my life, Amen!
“Transcending and rising up higher, to live our lives in the grandeur of Jesus and His Everlasting Kingdom, instead of merely being fixated in slimy earthly pleasures!”
(Based on Acts 6:8-7:1 and Jn 6:22-29 – Monday of the 3rd Week in Easter)
There is an old legend of a swan and a crane.
A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water, in which a crane was wading about, seeking snails.
For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in incredulous wonder and then inquired: “Where do you come from?”
“I come from heaven!” replied the swan.
“And where is heaven?” asked the curious crane.
“Heaven!” said the swan, “Heaven! Have you never heard of heaven?”
And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City…
She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations.
With eloquence, the swan described the beauty of the other world…
… but none of it, strangely, seemed to arouse the slightest interest of the crane.
Finally the crane asked: “Are there any snails there?”
“Snails??” repeated the swan; “No! Of course there are not!”
“Then,” said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, “you can have your heaven. I only want snails!”
The crane was satisfied with the lowly earthly “snails” and failed to have any interest for the divine “heavens”
How often we are also like this crane….
… interested only in earthly affairs, and least attracted to the heavenly realms
… busy only with gathering earthly pleasures but rejecting offers for heavenly happiness
The Gospel of the Day presents Jesus chiding the people for following Him, just for the sake of earthly desires, and instead, invites and exhorts them to seek for higher and heavenly longings in life…
“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (Jn 6: 27)
The people had witnessed Jesus’ great miracle of the multiplication of loaves.
Their hunger had been satisfied.
Their appetites had been gratified.
In Jesus, they found a person who was able to answer the bodily needs.
In Jesus, they found a person who was able to satisfy their material desires.
The people desired to crown Him as their King!
Is this not a trend in our society as well?
How often are the bread-givers and money-makers held in high esteem, even in our days…
… at the expense of people who are unable contribute much or do much work.
Think of the aged, the sick, the invalids in our own houses, communities and societies, who are unable to work or contribute anything materially…
How often do we neglect them!
How often do we put them down!
How often do we call them as useless!
We sometimes glorify people based only their work, their position and their activities…
The “being” of a person is often neglected
… only the “doing” of a person is exalted!The “essence” of a person is often not given value
… only the “work” of a person is given credit!
But Jesus refrains from being a victim to this mentality of the society.
He refuses to be their “Bread-Boss!”
He rejects to being their “Materialistic-Messiah!”
And so when people, come to Him, Jesus recognizes their motive in seeking Him…
… and He chides them saying: “Amen, Amen, I say to you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs but you ate the loaves and were filled.
“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (Jn 6: 26-27)
The Lord seeks to lead the people to desire for the higher realities of life.
And this is the wish of the Lord for each one of us too, that we…
… be interested not only in worldly affairs; rather, we be more attracted to the heavenly realms
… be busy not only with gathering earthly satisfactions; but, we accept and embrace more of heavenly happiness
It is true that “to the hungry one, food and other material wants demand higher urgency”
It is not denied that “to the one whose basic needs are not met, material satisfaction is important”
But having said this… one must also be willing to accept, that beyond these material aspects, the human person has greater needs – on a spiritual sense, that of the soul, towards the transcendental realities!
What is needed therefore, is a proper prioritizing…
Does God and the Heavenly realities mean more to me, than earthly desires?
Does Jesus and His Virtues occupy primal position in my life, than the worldly values?
A true prioritizing and firm conviction alone can help us to be the true witnesses of Jesus, the Messiah.
Jesus is our model and example, Who, in His life, accorded the first and primal place to God and His Will.
The lives of the saints and the martyrs are also proof for this fact.
In the Acts of the Apostles, 6:8-15, we read of how St Stephen, the first Martyr of the Church, “was filled with grace and power, and could withstand any persecution”, because he had a made a choice for Jesus and His Kingdom, above all!
He rejected all worldly promises and desires that blocked his view of the Kingdom!
Are we going to be a people, merely fixed in searching, through the slimy banks, for ‘snails’ of earthly pleasures?
or we going to be a people, who can transcend and rise up higher, to live our lives in the grandeur of Jesus and His Everlasting Kingdom?
God Bless! Live Jesus!
Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
JEWISH LITURGY AND CHRISTIAN LITURGY.
In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church.
The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the “communion of the Holy Spirit” who gathers the children of God into the one Body of Christ. This assembly transcends racial, cultural, social – indeed, all human affinities.
The assembly should prepare itself to encounter its Lord and to become “a people well disposed.” the preparation of hearts is the joint work of the Holy Spirit and the assembly, especially of its ministers.
The grace of the Holy Spirit seeks to awaken faith, conversion of heart, and adherence to the Father’s will.
These dispositions are the precondition both for the reception of other graces conferred in the celebration itself and the fruits of new life which the celebration is intended to produce afterward. (CCC #1097-1098)
Reflection Capsules 