Jan 17, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Thursday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 3:7-12
“And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he warned them strongly not to make him known”. Jesus warns strongly not to speak about him. Because He did not want a testimony from the unclean spirits. The testimony for Jesus is His love. Not His miracle. Jesus wants that His love is His testimony. This reveals an important element of our witness of Jesus. Our witness or our testimony must be our personal relationship with Jesus. It must not be a miracle or something we received from Him. Our witness must be our relationship with Jesus. Our witness must be the statement of His love we received in our life. Our witness must be more than the revelation of His identity. It must the revelation of our relationship with Him. Let’s reflect: Jesus wants that our testimony of Him be the testimony our relationship with Him.
Jan 17, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Antony, Abbot
Wednesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Matthew 19:16-26
“But when the young man heard these words, he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth”. Today we are celebrating the feast of St. Antony, the originator of the monastic life. Born in Egypt, he listened to the words of the Gospel and gave all his belongings to the poor. He went to the wilderness and began a life of penitence, living in absolute poverty, praying, meditating, and living by manual work. Why he sold everything and went to the desert? Because he understood the words of Jesus we read in the Gospel of today. ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ Giving up everything one has makes the disposition to welcome Jesus into his or her life The young man went away sad because he cannot think about something bigger than his wealth. More than that, he lacks faith because the greatest challenge in selling everything we have is our thought about after the sales. When I have nothing, how do I live? This fear can be overcome only in the total faith in the Lord. Because what we can gain from selling everything, we have will enable us to enter into a relationship with Jesus. This relationship relativizes everything. Let’s reflect: The faith in Jesus must help us to overcome our fear in selling everything to follow Him.
Jan 15, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 2:23-28
“One sabbath day, Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to pick ears of corn as they went along”. The Pharisees are seeing Jesus but seeing the disciples’ picking ears of corn. Here we can see how the presence of Jesus is affecting two groups of people. The presence of Jesus is opening the mind of the disciples to understand the true meaning of Sabbath. That is to be with the Lord. At the same time, the presence of Jesus is making the Pharisees to close themselves to the light of Sabbath. They are closing themselves in their own interpretations and also wants to close others in it. And Jesus pronounces these words of liberation: ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath’. Any relationship with God is a relationship that liberates man and woman as sons and daughters of God. Let’s reflect: The relationship with God must open our hearts to see the light of the Word of God.
Jan 14, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 2:18-22
“‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’”. We are surrounded by comparisons in our life. The Pharisees are comparing the disciples of John and the disciples of Jesus. But the world of Jesus is without comparison. Because there is nothing to compare with the presence of Jesus. His presence is unique. His presence cannot be compared to anything. If we are trying to compare the presence of Jesus with anything, it will be like putting the new wine into old wineskins. The wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. In order to welcome the presence of Jesus in our life, we need to have new paradigms and approaches. Because the presence of Jesus is unparalleled and so unique. Our old concepts and ideas need to to be substituted with the new ones. The new one which thinks according to the Gospel. Let’s reflect: The presence of Jesus requires new paradigm to acknowledge Him.
Jan 14, 2024 | POSITIVE IMPULSES
The more someone tries to cast shadows upon your radiant soul, the more you should guard the divine spark in yourself, the celestial gift bestowed upon you by the Creator. Though the trials of life: persons, and circumstances, might conspire to shroud your perception, causing your sight to dim and lose sight of this inner glow, remember this light is unextinguishable, because it’s the sublime presence of the loving God in you. Don’t let the darkness in others eclipse your vision, but rather, let your inner eyes remain wide open to see through the window of your soul, this divine light in the blossoming garden of your spirit. Simultaneously, let your outer eyes softly close, turning away from the night that tries to cover us, ensuring your own inner flame burns ever brighter against the backdrop of the shadows of the circumstances.
Don Giorgio
