REFLECT

03/24/2024

"(...) let yourselves be taken over by the light of Christ, and spread that light wherever you are."           

- St. John Paul II


Finding God in Our World

Saint Joseph,
you who always trusted God,
and made your choices
guided by His providence
teach us not to count so much on our own plans
but on His plan of love.

You who come from the peripheries
help us to convert our gaze
and to prefer what the world discards and marginalises.

Comfort those who feel alone
and support those who work silently
to defend life and human dignity. Amen.

Pope Francis





"I have looked into your eyes with my eyes"

Adoration of the Christ Child by the Magi

"The Magi teach us to fix our sight on high, to lift our eyes to the heavens, to the hills, from which our help will come, for our help is from the Lord." 

"let us raise our eyes to the heavens, let us set out to seek the Lord, let us bow our hearts in adoration."
Pope Francis 2024

MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE


Source: www.oblates.ie

Awesomely simple, wonderfully direct,
easily understood…..and incredibly difficult.
So often the simplest things are the most difficult to achieve.
This Sunday's Gospel says this:
"Love God, Love your neighbour as yourself."
And that's it. There is no more to say…  Fr Brian Maher OMI


"Christ is a very good friend because we behold him as man and see him with weaknesses and trials, and he is company for us." Teresa de Ávila

source: oblates.ie

The Kingdom of God is for those who "produce its fruit", and it was Jesus who showed us what this fruit is: Forgiveness, gentleness, peace, justice, tolerance, joy, hope, love. It is to those who try to live according to these values….and who fail… and start again… and again… and again who will inherit the Kingdom of God. (www.oblates.ie)

'Son, go and work in the vineyard today .' He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." (Matthew 21:28-32)

source: "Holy Textures"




Forgive them until it works

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.


source: www.catholicnewsagency.com

Annual World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly 

"How much we need a new bond between young and old,.. so that the sap of those who have a long experience of life behind them will nourish the shoots of hope of those who are growing. In this fruitful exchange we can learn the beauty of life, build a fraternal society, and in the Church, be enabled to encounter one another and dialogue between tradition and the newness of the Spirit." Pope Francis



""Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up he cross and follow me is not worthy of me.…"  Matthew 10, 27

"What would Jesus do" ... "what will I do, based on the life and message left to us by Jesus?"
It is good to ask ourselves "what would Jesus do?" It is a question that will challenge and stretch us. I will admit that when I do it, I often find myself wondering if I would recognise Jesus at all if he was here and active among us.  (source: www.oblates.ie)


"Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart… … go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love."  (source: www.oblates.ie)

                                                                                                             "True love is never up to a certain point, and is never satisfied; love always goes beyond, it cannot do otherwise. (...) love one another like Heloved us. (...) This is the love that gives fulfilment to the Law, to faith, to true life!"  Pope Francis

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me. I will take you to the place where I am going. If you know me, you know the Father too. It is the Father living in me, who is doing this work. Whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself. Maybe even greater works because I am going to the Father where I can work on your behalf."

Refelct
Refelct

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"God never imposes his will (...) He "wants to be loved and not feared" (...) love can only be lived in freedom.

To learn to live one must learn to love, and for this it is necessary to discern, (...)  to invoke the Holy Spirit when we have choices to make."

Pope Francis


source: www.oblates.ie



We meet God, as Jesus did, in the human realities of our lives."You are my child, my beloved..." he will say to us, "... my favour rests on you."

Fr Brian Maher OMI


source: www.oblates.ie



"We were conceived in the heart of God,

and for this reason each of us is the result of a thought of God.

Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."

Laudato Si, 65


'He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.'"

Luke 20:38


.

Jesus said .... come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today"

Luke 19:1-10



"Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ looks compassion into the world.Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world."

St. Therese of Avila



invites us to acknowledge God's gifts with wonder and gratitude

Pope Francis


When human history seems to develop contrary to the will of God, "we are called to live this period as a season of trial, of hope and in vigilant waiting for the harvest". The Kingdom grows mysteriously; its power is hidden in a small seed that is filled with "victorious vitality". When times are dark, we need to trust in "God's quiet but powerful action," and "remain anchored in God's faithfulness, in his presence which always saves".

Pope Francis



We ask the Lord today for the grace of not falling into indifference, the grace that all the information we have about human suffering might penetrate our hearts and move us to do something for others.

Pope Francis




God is watching, and waiting, and hoping. God rejoices beyond measure when we restore dignity and value to even one human life.

Fr Brian Maher, OMI






"Jesus tells us that in order to follow him, to be his disciples, one must deny oneself - that is, the claims of one's own selfish pride - and take up one's very cross. (...) Then he gives everyone a fundamental rule. And what is this rule? 'Whoever wants to save his life will lose it.'"

Pope Francis




"Let us ask the Virgin Mary - who was humble all her life - to lead us every day on the way of humility, so that we are capable of making our own gestures of welcome toward and solidarity with the marginalised, seeking nothing in return, so that we might become worthy of the divine reward."

Pope Francis


"The lamp of faith needs to be nourished continuously, with a heart to heart encounter with Jesus in prayer, and in listening to His Word". "True faith opens the heart to one's neighbour, and spurs us on to concrete communion with our brothers and sisters, especially with those in need".

Pope Francis


Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous;

Teach me to serve you as you deserve,

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest,

To labor and not to seek reward,

Except that of knowing that I do your will.

St. Ignatius of Loyola



CHOOSIING THE BETTER PART

"The most important task in life is to pray, not to pray with many words ... but to pray with the heart" 

to gaze upon the Lord, to listen to the Lord, and to ask the Lord for what we need". "And we know that prayer can work miracles".

Pope Francis




"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."

Luke 10



"The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life."

St. Thomas Aquinas: 




"The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present in us, beyond the barriers of time and space, to make us His witnesses in the world," 

Pope Francis


"Love your enemies and pray ..."


"The Gospel within the Gospel"


What will you do when your nets are full?

She explains the situation to him and he seems to dismiss her; but she is not giving up that easy! She then goes to servants and confidently tells them, 'Do whatever he tells you.'


"no prophet is accepted in his hometown"


'Do whatever he tells you.'

 Image by Jesuit Fr. Marko Rupnik


GOD IS WITH US


May Mary help us to keep and ponder all things. 

Pope Francis


ADVENT 2023


Stong Faith in God

"Everyone has a destiny, but destiny is God"

Andrea Bocelli


The Power of Silence

"The wound is the place where light enters the heart"

Rumi



Bring It All To The Table

"So bring it all to the table

There's nothing He ain't seen before

For all your trials, all your worries, and your burdens. 

There's a Savior and He calls

Bring it all to the table."   

 Source: Musixmatch



The Church has one essential task -

 to pray and to teach how to pray

If prayer ceases, the Church has become like an empty shell that it has lost its bearings, no longer possesses its source of warmth and love.

Pope Francis

Read more here



Feast of the Annunciation

Ave Maria




For having left the path of others, you find a very special hand

Friday| March 19, 2021


Lent is a time to reflect on God's love
read full message here

"For Lent is not a time for useless sermons, but for recognising that our lowly ashes are loved by God," "It is a time of grace, a time for letting God gaze upon us with love and in this way change our lives. We were put in this world to go from ashes to life."

Pope Francis


Tuesday | February 16, 2021

Do You Want To Fast This Lent? 

Pope Francis

Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

Fast from worries and trust in God.

Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.

Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.

Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.

Fast from grudges and be reconciled.

Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.


Ordinary Miracle... Today

Monday | February 15, 2021


Make this world a better place

Monday | January 11, 2021

"Our duty is to work so as to make this world a better place, and to fight. Our faith is revolutionary through an impulse that comes from the Holy Spirit. We must follow this impulse in order to go out of ourselves, to be men and women in accord with the Gospel of Jesus. Any life is decided by the capacity to give oneself. It is there that one transcends oneself, that one becomes fruitful." - Pope Francis

Reflection:

When was the last time you called upon the Holy Spirit to help you reach out to another person and bear the fruit of kindness and mercy?


Children of God

Sunday | January 10, 2021 

CHILDREN OF GOD
CHILDREN OF GOD

"Do we remember that in baptism we received the 'seal' of our Heavenly Father, and that we became his children? To put it simply: we bear God's surname, our surname is God, because we are the children of God. Here lies the root of the vocation to holiness!"                 - Pope Francis

Reflection:

What do you know about the day you were baptised? How does being a child of God impact the decisions you make every day?

source: livingwatercatholic.org


Let Christ's light shine in love for one another

Friday | January 8, 2021

"May each one, as far as he or she is able, give his or her best in a spirit of genuine service to others."                   - Pope Francis

Reflection: Do you give others your best? If not, what holds you back from doing so?

source: livingwatercatholic.org


Gifts of God

Sunday | January 3, 2021 

"Creation and the goods of the earth are gifts of God bestowed upon all human beings who are at the same time their custodians and beneficiaries." - Pope Francis

Reflection: What gifts - spiritual and material - has God given you, and how do you use them to give God glory?

source: livingwatercatholic.org


Compassion for all

Saturday | January 2, 2021

"God] has compassion; he has compassion for all of us; he has compassion for humanity and sent his Son to heal, to regenerate, to recreate, and to renew it." -Pope Francis

Reflection: Where do see evidence of God's compassion for humanity today? What places are in most need of Christ's healing and renewal? Bring these to prayer as a sign of your compassion for all.

source: livingwatercatholic.org


Friday | January 1, 2021

"There was a beginning and there will be an end, 'a time to be born, and a time to die' (Eccl 3:2). With this truth, so simple and fundamental and so neglected and forgotten, Holy Mother Church teaches us to end the year and also our day with an examination of conscience, through which we review what has happened; we thank the Lord for every good we have received and have been able to do and, at the same time, we think again of our failings and our sins - to give thanks and to ask for forgiveness." - Pope Francis

Reflection: How do you end each day? For what in the past year do you give God thanks? Where in your life do you need to ask for forgiveness to enter the new year with a clean heart?

source: livingwatercatholic.org

Prayer in Action




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