carmelite daily reflection

However, many aspects of church life have not endured because they were not of God. Is he not the carpenters son? It is a verse worth pondering and reflecting upon at length. The Lord meets us where we are, in all our fears and doubts, and he does so to draw us into a sharing in his risen life. The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone, Catherine stood out as a beacon of light in a dark time in Europe and in the church. Even though we are an Easter people, we never stop being a Good Friday people, at least on this side of eternity. We try to listen to his voice, especially as it comes to us in the words of the gospels, of the New Testament as a whole, and, indeed, in all of the Scriptures. Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. The large gates you find in our rural landscape come to mind. In todays gospel reading, the crowd who had been fed by Jesus in the wilderness go to great lengths to seek him out. There is a striking statement in todays first reading, Saul then worked for the total destruction of the church. He is clearly speaking about himself. The door of the church here is open from about 9.00 in the morning to 6.00 or 7.00 in the evening every day of the week. These cookies may track your personal data. He understands of what we are made, why we do what we do and fail to do what we fail to do. He wanted them to know that he was at peace with them, in spite of the fact that they had abandoned him in the hour of his passion and death. Yet, the Lord had wonderful plans for this almost helpless figure. They began to see that there was more to what had happened than they realized; this stranger was giving them a whole new understanding of what they had come to see as an awful tragedy. In these changing times for the church, we have to trust that what is of God will endure and what isnt will pass away. Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. Jesus was making peace with his disciples who had failed him in the hour of his passion and death. December 26-31, 2022. As he said earlier, No one has greater love than this, to lay down ones life for ones friends. Catholic Daily Reflections - Today's Gospel Meditation for Mass As he says in our gospel reading, as I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life form me. When the gospel reading says that the light has come into the world, the reference is clearly to Jesus. We all have something to receive from someone else. In this he is being true to Gods will which is, according to the gospel reading, that all who see the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life. As they say to the religious authorities in that first reading, Obedience to God comes before obedience to men. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. It follows that the Lord will never call us to something that would result in a diminishment of life for ourselves. It was St Irenaeus, one of the early theologians of the church, who said that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. and has no concern for the sheep. They looked for him as the giver of bread; Jesus wanted them to look for him as the giver of food that endures to eternal life. Like Thomas, they may find it difficult to identify fully with those believers who acclaim with conviction, We have seen the Lord, and whose faith seems so much more assured than theirs. bears witness to the things he has seen and heard, Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. On his search he meets with a companion who helps him to find an answer to some of his questions, who throws light on the word of God that has so intrigued him. Jesus came among us, full of Gods grace and truth, full of Gods gracious love and faithfulness, and we are invited to keep receiving from this fullness of God in Jesus. He was a leader of the church in Jerusalem and he approved very much of what he saw happening in the church of Antioch where the gospel was being preached not only to Jews but to pagans as well. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. In the gospel reading, Jesus, speaking as the good shepherd, says the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice. Carmelite Spirituality, Gospel Reflection / By Ritche Salgado, O.Carm. Places associated with Mary are important places of pilgrimage for many Catholics, such as Knock Fatima and Lourdes. Lectio Divina - The Carmelites For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Jesus is portrayed as a young beardless man with a sheep draped around his shoulders. The Lord wishes to enter into communion with us in a very profound way so that, in the words of the gospel reading, we can draw life from him. The two disciples were journeying away from Jerusalem when the risen Lord joined them in the form of a stranger and opened the Scriptures for them. We find something similar happening in todays gospel reading. God sent his Son that the world might be saved through him. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Someone from the nationalist community would tell the story in one way; someone from the unionist community would tell the story in a very different way. is to come to me. What doesnt pass away, because it is of God, is Jesus capacity to work powerfully through humble human resources in the service of Gods people, such as feeding a large crowd with five barley loaves and two fish. According to early tradition, Mark was a disciple of Peter, which accounts for the first reading being from the first letter of Peter. We all need the Spirit if we are to reach our ultimate destiny, because, as Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. In todays gospel reading, the two disciples of Jesus had each other for support in the days after Jesus had been crucified. Lectio Divina with the Carmelites - CatholicMom.com In the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, there is often a connection between prayer and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The fourth evangelist is also clear that Gods initiative needs our response if it is to be effective. Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life. In that sense, each of us is called to be a shepherd to others. When he got there, according to the reading, he could see for himself that God had given grace. Indeed, it could be argued that the current is flowing in the opposite direction. This conflict in the church required the Twelve to clarify for themselves and for the other members of the church what their priorities were to be, We will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word. The Lord is always doing something new among us, and we all need to discern the ways the Lord is leading the church, especially in these times. That appears to be the situation of the two disciples in todays gospel reading. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, This really is the prophet who is to come into the world. Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself. That is why he calls out to us to pass through him, because he knows himself to be the gateway to all that we long for at the deepest core of our being. In this mornings gospel reading Jesus identifies himself as the one who can satisfy these deeper hungers in our hearts, the hunger for God, for a love that is faithful, for a life that endures beyond this life. The story they told the stranger was without any hope in it. He remains faithful to us, even when we are less than faithful to him. Even when we have turned against the Lord, he continues to call us to draw life from him. As the wind moves a sailing boat along towards its destination, so the Spirit moves and shapes our lives in ways that allow us to reach our final destination. and that I should raise it up on the last day. The light of Jesus is not the probing light of the grand inquisitor that seeks out failure and transgression with a view to condemnation. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.. Yet, the Lord finds other ways of coming to us when we cannot receive the Eucharist. Thomas journey to Easter faith was different to that of the other disciples. To do that well, we need a listening ear, an ear and an eye that is open to the surprising ways of the Spirit. Philip, who helped to open up Gods word for him, goes on to baptize him. The sequence for us has been a little different, because it began with baptism. but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.. As a result, many of the Jewish Christians there had to flee from the city. We have no control over the direction of the wind; sometimes its direction will be a help to us, at other times it will be a hindrance to us. In this mornings gospel reading, the risen Lord keeps faith with them, sending them out to proclaim the gospel to the whole world. He calls us to lead us a place of pasture, to a place where our deepest hungers and thirsts are satisfied. Each page includes a reference to each reading, as well as a link to the text of the readings. Carmelites | Carmelitani | Carmelitas :: O.Carm :: Lectio Divina He was drawn to Jesus in some way. Our calling is to surrender to the movement of the Spirit in our lives, to allow the Spirit to shape and mould us. He is coming from Jerusalem and is reading from the text of the prophet Isaiah, without really understanding what he is reading. They were in the throes of deep grief. The gospel teaches us that if we give generously from our resources to others, the Lord will work powerfully through those resources, small as they may seem to us. Supplied by the Madonna Magazine. This is one of the ways that friendships are formed and relationships take shape and deepen. We are to be constantly asking ourselves, What is the Lord saying to us? Each of us is responsible for someone or for some others. God will seek to draw us to his Son in a variety of ways. No one can come to me The Father and I are one.. The third stage is oratio (response) where we leave our thinking aside and simply let our hearts speak to God. The Lords faithfulness to us prompts us to keep faith with each other, especially with those who are close to us. All he asks is that we keep listening to his voice and keep trying to follow him. In the gospel reading this morning Jesus speaks of the shepherd who calls his own sheep one by one and leads them out. The Lords personal call to each of us will always be in harmony with that fundamental purpose of his coming among us. They bring us hope in our despondency and strength in our weakness. God is always drawing us towards his Son and if we come to Jesus, Gods Son, it is because we have responded to the drawing of God the Father. The Eucharist is a very special expression of our communion with him and of his with us, but our communion with him is to extend beyond the Eucharist. Parents are called upon by their children and then, as parents get older, it is the children who often get called upon by their parents. After Saul had his transforming encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he was taken in his blind state to a house of one of the members of the church in Damascus. Gradually the words of Scripture begin to dissolve and the Word is revealed before the eyes of our heart. Philips ministry to the Ethiopian led the Ethiopian to take an initiative of his own, Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptized? It is as if the final step of God drawing the Ethiopian to his Son was through the medium of creation, water. Surely he cannot reenter his mothers womb and be born again, can he? Jesus answered, Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Very ancient tradition suggests that Marks gospel was written in Rome and that Mark was a disciple of Peter. We all have a role to play in calling forth the gifts of others by recognizing situations that would be ideally suited to them and by creating space for them in which to work. Light exposes wrong doing. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, he sent them out to reveal Gods merciful love to all, those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. He doesnt get behind us and drive us in this direction. His words were prophetic. Catherine was a great mystic or contemplative, but her mysticism did not withdraw her from the world. However, she felt strongly called to live as the bride of Christ. Even in our advanced technological age, compared to that of the age of Jesus, we can harness the wind, but we cannot control it. We look forward to that eternal day when we will see the Lord, face to face. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. The self-assured Pharisee suddenly found himself completely dependent on others. As he did with Thomas, he accommodates himself to our doubt. Reflections - celticcarmelites.org God gave us his Son so that we might have life and have it to the full, what this mornings gospel reading calls eternal life. He declares that he knows his own and his own know him, just as the Father knows him and he knows the Father. If Jesus is the gate that leads to abundant life, we have to pass through that gate. Mark never knew Jesus personally; he was not an eyewitness. Mark may have written his gospel for the church in Rome in the aftermath of that cataclysmic event. It is the same for the church today and for all of us who are the Lords disciples today. The proclamation of the word leads to baptism and then in the gospel reading Jesus speaks in language that is clearly Eucharistic, the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world. The opening of our lives more fully to the Spirit of God is the journey of a lifetime, a journey we are asked to be faithful to until the end of our earthly lives. Barnabas was a nick name; it meant Son of Encouragement. Jesus came and stood among them. It was the Scriptures that Jesus opened up for the two disciples in order to tell them that story of God, a story which does not end in death, but in glory. The leaders of the Jerusalem church, the Twelve, realized that this problem would not be resolved unless they drew other members of the church into this ministry of providing for all the widows and the other vulnerable people in the church. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see. And he said to them, Oh, how foolish you are! He is clearly speaking about himself. Reflections on Daily Readings 2022 Introduction We have compiled a comprehensive set of reflections on the readings, covering the entire year. Yet, eating the bread that is Jesus, in the sense of believing in Jesus, comes before eating his flesh or his body in the Eucharist. In that sense we are always seeking after God, striving to know God more fully and to love God more deeply. Jesus challenges them to look for him not as the provider of food that cannot last but as the provider of food that endures to eternal life. Divine Office We have not seen the Son in the way Paul did; the risen Lord has not appeared to us as he appeared to Paul. Catherine was a truly extraordinary woman. In these Covid times when we cannot receive the Eucharist, it is good to be alert to the many other ways that the Lord comes to us. There is often some tension between the Easter cry, Christ is risen! In todays first reading, an Ethiopian court official comes to faith in Jesus. Later on, writing to the church in Corinth, he would say, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The last we see of Nicodemus in Johns gospel is at the foot of the cross, helping to arrange a dignified burial for Jesus; he had allowed himself to be drawn to Jesus more fully; he had opened himself to the Spirit a little more. They declared to the other members of the church that as the leaders they should be devoting themselves to prayer and to the service of Gods word. Perhaps, therefore, we find it easy to identify with Thomas in todays gospel reading. Unspectacular Beautiful Fidelity Easter celebrates Gods radical faithfulness, his extraordinary mercy. Barnabas brought Paul from Tarsus to Antioch. Catherine was one of the great mystics of the church. An Ethiopian officer at the court of the Queen of Ethiopia was on his way from Jerusalem to Gaza. Free Resources The Free Resources section provides information about the Carmelite Order, Spirituality and Catholicism. No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. When the other disciples came to him in the power to the Holy Spirit to announce, We have seen the Lord, he could not bring himself to believe this news. We try to discern, in the circumstances of our day to day lives, what the Lord is asking of us, the path he wants us to take. He presents himself to the crowd as someone who can satisfy not just their physical hunger but their spiritual hunger. He who comes to me will never be hungry; When one of the early preachers of the gospel, Philip, approached the Ethiopian, he asked Philip to explain to him what he was reading, Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else? Here indeed was faith seeking understanding. As they walked along together, they were telling each other the story of what happened in recent days. The agent of Gods life, the risen Lord, had triumphed over the agents of death. It is a city that no longer holds any attraction for them, because it is the city where their hopes have been dashed, where the perosn they have left everything to follow had been cruelly put to death. After three years, she began the second great phase of her career. As the shepherd calls his sheep one by one, so the Lord calls his followers one by one; he calls them by name; he calls them in a way that respects their individuality and uniqueness. Catherine remained loyal to Urban, judging that for all his faults he had been validly elected. These anxious days, when some have more time and space than they might usually have, can be a good moment to enter more fully into our search for the Lord who is always seeking us. Yet, it is clear from what Jesus has been saying that there isnt a sharp distinction between the earthly and the heavenly realm. She also wrote her great work, the Dialogues, describing the contents of her mystical conversations with Christ. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, Peace be with you. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. unless a man is born from above, He wants to give us what endures and we look for what perishes. Philip answered, Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peters brother, said, There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many? Jesus said to them, Make the people sit down. There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. What we want from him can be far too limited. The circumstances of our own lives can make it very difficult for us to sing the Easter Alleluia with any conviction. Below are links to various resources to inspire you on a daily basis. He was now alive with a new kind of life, and in that life he could come to his disciples wherever they were. Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. We are those who seek to take Jesus as the Lord of our lives. Christ is always working to create us anew. As Jesus received all from God and gave what he received to us, so Jesus looks to us to receive all from him and to give what we receive to one another. They reveal a certain insight into what has happened, but very often a limited insight. Josephs faithfulness to his task created the space for Jesus to be faithful to his calling. In todays gospel reading, Jesus says, whoever comes to me I shall not turn away. is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, Enter your email to receive notifications of new Daily Reflection Posts. What do we expect from him? Then they said to each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us? So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon! Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Having told the story to each other, the two disciples told it to the stranger who joined them on the road. The gospel reading refers to those who do not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but get in some other way. Thomas doubts speak to our own doubts. The Lord gives us the Spirit to draw us to himself and, through himself, to God the Father. Todays gospel reading gives us an insight into the prayer of Jesus, I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth Telling the story helps us to come to terms with what has happened. These cookies may track your personal data. The probing question he asks Philip about the text gives Philip an opening to speak to him about Jesus. Jesus speaks of himself in this gospel as the light of the world. The good shepherd takes on the role not primarily to get something out of it, but to give something in it. Today is Vocations Sunday. We seek to follow the Lord in the knowledge that he will stop at nothing to ensure that we remain members of his flock, people who belong to his new family, the community of believers we call the church. Obviously this transformation will have a profound effect on the way we actually live and the way we live is the test of the authenticity of our prayer. In that sense, we all find ourselves in the situation of Nicodemus. However, the more fundamental confirmation is the Lord confirming us as we strive every day to follow in his way. His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, Where can we buy enough food for them to eat? He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. In our own lives, the sequence is not so much word, baptism, eucharist as baptism, word, eucharist. The risen Lord is present in the crucible of doubt, drawing us to himself, calling out to us as he called to Thomas, Doubt no longer but believe. There is something of the searcher, the seeker, in us all. In one of his encyclicals, Faith and Reason, the late Pope John Paul II stated that the church remains profoundly convinced that faith and reason mutually support each other they offer each other a purifying critique and a stimulus to pursue the search for a deeper understanding. In other words, it is in giving that we receive; it is in giving life to others that we receive life and become fully alive. The Jews gathered round him and said, How much longer are you going to keep us. The suggestion is that Jesus needed to be in communion with God in prayer. The presence of a gate does not automatically mean that people will use it. The story the two disciples told ended in death; the story the stranger told from the Scriptures ended in glory, Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and enter into his glory? Jesus was sharing Gods story with the disciples and inviting them to see their story in the light of that bigger, more glorious, story. On Good Friday, humanity had crucified the one whom we believe to be Gods love made flesh. Even those of us who have been baptized and who have come to believe in Jesus are being drawn more closely to Jesus by God the Father. The city of Jerusalem had been a centre of pilgrimage for Jews for hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus. He has given us so much from his fullness that a life time is not long enough to receive it all. When Philip left him, the Ethiopian went on his journey rejoicing. As the search for God leads to the hearing of the word and as the hearing of the word leads to baptism, so baptism leads us to the Eucharist. Catherine was one of the great mystics of the church. However, for the good shepherd, the role is not just a job; it is a loving commitment. In this mornings gospel, in speaking about the wind he is, in reality, speaking about the Holy Spirit, This is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit, he says. It is probably true to say that we are all searching for something. The story of Pauls transformation is one of the founding stories of our Christian faith. As the gate, all who enter through him will be safe; as the gate, all who exit through him will find pasture. The evangelist is referring there not to daylight, but to the one who declares himself to be the light of the world.

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