carmelite daily reflection

The old Catechism definition of prayer was the raising up of our minds and hearts to God. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, now we see as in a mirror, dimly. It is evident that Jesus is not speaking literally. The Lord stood in the midst of his fearful disciples; he spoke to their fear, Peace be with you, and he drove out their spirit of fear by breathing the Holy Spirit into their lives. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. As such times, we need people like Barnabas who recognize that the Lord is behind this new direction and who encourage us to trust that the Lord is present in what is happening. The relationship between the shepherd and his sheep was more immediate than it is today. Sometimes we need someone else, perhaps even a stranger, to show us what we have failed to see. His investment in us will always be greater than our investment in him. Yet, as Jesus declares there, the Father is greater than anyone. In these changing times for the church, we have to trust that what is of God will endure and what isnt will pass away. His words were prophetic. After the execution of Stephen, the church in Jerusalem experienced a time of persecution. AnalyticalOur website uses analytical cookies to make it possible to analyze our website and optimize for the purpose of a.o. We need the same courage or boldness to proclaim the gospel of the Lord today. Any passage of Scripture can be used for this way of prayer but the passage should not be too long. It is based on the presumption that light is the enemy of anyone who might want to break into the premises. Leading and driving are two very different activities. Elsewhere Paul suggests that a Spirit-filled life is also a prayerful life. If we remain true to our spiritual search, the Lord has his own way to meet each one of us and to invite us, as he invited Thomas, Doubt no longer but believe. We are committed to safeguarding all people in our care, particularly children, young people and vulnerable adults. In the words of Saint Paul that Gods power was made perfect in weakness. As risen Lord he continues to be in communion with us, in all the ups and downs of our human condition. Jesus is portrayed as a young beardless man with a sheep draped around his shoulders. So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! They wanted more; they asked him to stay, and over table they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. When the two disciples told their story of the recent events in Jerusalem, the stranger who had joined them and who had listened carefully to their story told another story about those same events. The Lords contribution to the relationship between us and him is much more significant than ours. As they say to the religious authorities in that first reading, Obedience to God comes before obedience to men. I tell you most solemnly, EASTER SUNDAY: April 9th Day 47 (Easter Sunday): From Exodus to Ecstasy On his way to Gaza, he sat in his chariot to read from the Jewish Scriptures, the book of Isaiah. And there are other sheep I have In this mornings gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the wind that blows where it pleases. One of the images of Jesus that you find in the catacombs is that of the Good Shepherd. In the world of Jesus, there were no sheepdogs to do the shepherds work for him. The wind blows wherever it pleases; We need the Spirit of the Lord all the more in these days. This realization can keep us hopeful and energized in difficult times. There are no lengths to which the Lord will not go to hold onto us, to keep us in relationship with him. Looking upon the sheepfolds of his day, Jesus identifies with both the gate and the shepherd. The Eucharist is a celebration of life. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted. So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. Clearly the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd that we find in todays gospel reading spoke to Christians from the earliest days of the church. The cardinals, regretting their choice, elected another Pope, but failed to persuade Urban to retire. The risen Lords face to face meeting with Thomas dispelled all Thomass doubts. He had fed the multitude in the wilderness; this had made a great impression on them. It is to the Eucharist that we too will be lead as we open up our own stories to the Lords story in the Scriptures. Jesus seems to be saying to Nicodemus and to us that the Spirit of God is not something we can control. He says, I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. The Lord is always with his church in the various storms that will assail it. The gate was the opening to safety at night and to nourishment by day, and it was the shepherd who led the sheep through the gate to safety and to nourishment. In the gospel reading, Jesus also declares, The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice. Therein lies our confidence and hope. It was only when a member of the church of Damascus, Ananias, laid his hands on Paul in prayer that his sight was restored. The gospel reminds us that, while the physical and material is vital because we are physical and material beings, our searching must not stop at the physical and the material. That stage is more appropriate to adulthood. He comes to assure us that his love for us endures even when we fail him. There they were, locked into a room, in a self-imposed prison, out of fear. He declares that he knows his own and his own know him, just as the Father knows him and he knows the Father. There is a personal bond between the shepherd and this one sheep. The Lords invitation, Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened, was one she responded to every day of her life. Yet, the light of Easter is not like the light of the interrogation room. everybody who believes has eternal life. That is how the risen Lord speaks to us today. Other days we have a warm wind from the south. One by one, according to the gospel reading, the shepherd calls his own and leads them out. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares, whoever eats me will draw life from me. We struggle to empty ourselves sufficiently to receive all the Lord wants to give us. He immediately went off to Tarsus to look for Saul, or Paul, who had recently come to faith in Christ and Barnabas encouraged him to go to Antioch and support this new development there. Yet, it is clear from what Jesus has been saying that there isnt a sharp distinction between the earthly and the heavenly realm. Philip made a calculation: on the basis of the number of people and the amount of money available to buy food, and decided that nothing could be done. However, all Jesus needed was a little generosity on the part of a small boy to feed the crowd. Paul once persecuted the Lord, but after his experience near Damascus, he went on to draw life from the Lord as he gather with other members of the church at the Eucharist. The first reading suggests that Barnabas knew how to listen to the voice of the shepherd. His own reasoning did not allow him to believe that life had triumphed over death, that the crucified Jesus was now the risen Lord. All we can do is to surrender to the breath of the Spirit within us and around us, to allow the Spirit to direct us and to lead us. There is the reaction of the small boy who willing gave to Jesus the few pieces of food that he had. He comes to recreate us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus was looking beyond the group of Jewish disciples he had gathered. Mark portrays Jesus as the suffering Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve, and who was ready to lay down his life in the service of all. So the other disciples said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe., Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Having identified himself as the gate or the door, he immediately goes on to say, anyone who enters through me will be safe; they will go freely in and out'. The way the risen Lord related to tthem is how he relates to us all. Like the Lord, we carry our own wounds, some of them arising out of the crisis we are all going through, but, just as the Lords wounds were transformed by his rising from the dead, the risen Lord can transform our wounds too, recreating them as channels of new life for others. and I will raise him up at the last day. Mark, in a way, produced a new kind of literature, what became known as a gospel. MONDAY 26 TUESDAY 27 WEDNESDAY 28 THURSDAY 29 FRIDAY 30 SATURDAY 31. After three years, she began the second great phase of her career. Yet, it is language which expresses the depth of communion which Jesus wants to create between himself and his disciples. Jesus came and stood among them. In their own words, their hearts began to burn within them. The Lord considers anyone who is a seeker and who wishes to believe as a believer already. Then, in response to the Lords greeting, the sceptical Thomas made one of the greatest confessions of faith in all four gospels, My Lord and my God. he will go freely in and out An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life, working with the sick, the poor, prisoners and plague victims. The word of the Lord nurtures our faith in preparation for our encounter with him in the Sacraments. In his letter to the Romans he says, we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. We are those who seek to take Jesus as the Lord of our lives. It is Paul who teaches us in his letters that this communion with the Lord that we enjoy in this life will not be broken by death, because our ultimate destiny is to be with the Lord forever, as he says. unless a man is born from above, Yet, Peter was able to see the working of God in this unexpected development. We try to hear what he may be saying to us; we seek to follow where he is leading us. We are being reminded that the life of the church and the quality of our own personal relationship with the Lord is not all down to us. The two disciples were struggling with a deep sense of loss. We refer to this as kidnapping or people trafficking. After the question Jesus went on to speak not only of eating his flesh but of drinking his blood, which would have sounded even more shocking. One by one, the Lord calls his own. In the gospel reading this morning, the people come to Jesus looking for more of the bread they ate when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. AdvertisingOur website places advertising cookies to show you 3rd party advertisements based on your interests. The tendency of Philip and Andrew in the gospel story was to complain about the hopelessness of the situation, Two hundred denarii would not buy enough What is that between so many? We are all prone to throwing our hands up to the heavens in exasperation and even despair at the perceived extent of some problem. It is, he says, an exodus that leads us on a journey of adoration of the Lord and of service to him in our brothers and sisters. There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him. Jesus answered: I tell you most solemnly, It is said of Barnabas in that reading that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He had touched their hearts and they didnt want to let him go. The Lords unique call to each one of us is with a view to our being fully alive. In the language of Johns gospel, we are to remain in him, as he remains in us. We know that Jesus has a unique relationship with God his Father; that relationship is characterized by a profound loving intimacy. She prayed that she might atone for the sins of the church, and shortly afterwards collapsed and died. This is how the Spirit continues to shape the life of the church. We can certainly notice a stretch in the evenings these days. Even though the Lord drew near to the Ethiopian through Philip, the Ethiopian himself was drawing near to the Lord, through his reading of the Scriptures, his questioning spirit, and his request for baptism. If you did not receive an email please check your spam and other folders. We are all concerned about the church today. We are all aware of our limitations, our weaknesses, and, yet, we are not always so aware of the many ways that the Lord can work through us, in spite of our weaknesses, if we trust him to do so. Each one of them is at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Our calling as individual believers and as a community of faith is to allow the Holy Spirit to take flesh in our lives so that others can see heavenly things through our way of living and our manner of relating to one another. His last appearance in the gospel is alongside Joseph of Arimathea, as they both arrange for Jesus to have a dignified burial. He empowers us to live out his teaching. Eventually, her father relented. If the wind is beyond our control and understanding, this is true to an even greater extent of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

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