Feb 2, 2023 | SPIRITUALITY
“He has chosen you in a mysterious but true way to be saved, with Him saved. Yes, Christ calls you, but He calls you in truth. His call is demanding, because He invites you to let yourself be completely “caught up” to Him, so that your whole life sees the Light. Let yourself be raptured by Jesus and try to live only for Him!”
St. John Paul II, Rome, Italy, October 13, 1993.
Let’s try to imagine surrendering everything to Him – the people who are important to us, the work we do, the things we surround ourselves with, the place where we live. Let’s try to imagine that we live only for Jesus, without being attached to persons, things, activities or place. To what extent do these imaginings agree with our lives?
Feb 1, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
First reading – Malachi 3:1-4
World Day for Consecrated Life
“Who will be able to resist the day of his coming?” No one can resist the call of God. The one who listens to His call, will just surrender his or her life to Him. He enters his or her life and transforms it completely. “For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver,”. When we let the grace of God in work in us, it will be like the fire of the refiner. When we let our life be identified with the plan of God, He will refine us and purify us. The work of God in us will bring out the best in us. The listening to the call of God and giving our life to God completely will bring the best in us. What is best in our life other than the plan of God being realized in us! Then we become the best offerings… “then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made”. So, the question is how much after hearing the call of God, we let God refine us and purify us. It happens every time we give up our plan to accept the plan of God. Let’s reflect: Am I letting God to bring out the best in me?
Jan 31, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Wednesday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
First reading – Hebrews 12:4-7,11-15
“Suffering is part of your training”. The author is presenting a Christian way of looking at our difficulties and sufferings. The suffering is part of our training. God is treating us as his sons and daughters. He granted us all the freedom. Our freedom and wrong choices of ours or others bring suffering to us. Then God as a Father stands at our side and transforms our pain into a redemptive suffering as Jesus on the cross. Cross lead to resurrection. That is why the author says, “it bears fruit in peace and goodness”. Therefore, we should stop complaining about our difficulties and must see it in a different perspective. Our difficulties and pain must not deviate us from our path of Christian choices. “So, hold up your limp arms and steady your trembling knees and smooth out the path you tread; then the injured limb will not be wrenched, it will grow strong again”. The suffering must not be transformed into weaknesses but must be transformed into strength to walk in the way of the Lord. Strength to make peace with all and to take out any hatred in us. Let’s reflect: Am I transforming my sufferings into strength to make peace with everyone or into weakness to be angry with everyone?
Jan 30, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Saint John Bosco, Priest
First reading – Hebrews 12:1-4
The test is speaking about the necessity of perseverance in keeping our sight of Jesus. We must not lose sight of Jesus any moment of our life because He is the one who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection. To keep sight of Him we must throw off everything that hinders us in avoiding sin. Keeping the sight of Jesus means understanding the triviality of everything except Him. Keeping the sight of Jesus mean giving up everything that takes away His place in my life. Keeping the sight of Jesus is embracing the cross as He has embraced it. His path becomes our path. We must really fight against sin because we are really going against our own ego and our selfishness. Moreover, we must face the world around us which attracts us to follow its charm of being selfish. Let’s reflect: Are we losing sight of Jesus in our way because of the charm of the individualism and selfishness?
Jan 29, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
First reading – Hebrews 11:32-40
“These are all heroes of faith”. The heroes of faith, how beautiful is the title. How did they achieve that? They achieved that by letting the promise of God enter their life. They let their life be completely guided by the plan of God. They did not run away when difficulties came. They managed to see the difficulties as part of their faith. They were weak but the faith gave them strength. They were ill-treated by the world, but their faith gave them strength to go to desert where they found the truth of faith. The heroes of faith are those who are with us in our way of faith since the walk in this path is not alone. We walk with the heroes of faith. “These are all heroes of faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us”. Let’s reflect: Do you feel that in your walk of faith, you are walking with the heroes of faith?
