Sep 2, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 22 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Luke 4:16-30
“And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman”. Jesus is referring to the lack of faith of the people in His own town. He is marked down as “Joseph’s son”. They did not see the miracles happening through Jesus or His Words. They noticed only the human side of Jesus and did not see His divinity. This is due to the lack of faith in God. When we do not have faith in God, we see only what we want to see. When we have faith in God, we see what God wants us to see. During the time of Elisha, only Naaman saw the hand of God working through the Prophet because he believed and came from far away in need of a miracle. Also, we must believe in others through whom God works. The faith in God is extended to those around us through whom, God works. If we fail to have faith in others, we will also fail to see the work of God through them. So, we must have faith in God and in those around us through whom God works. Let’s reflect: Do I have enough faith to see what God wants me to see?
Don Giorgio
Aug 31, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel - Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2024
“You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions… All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean”. Jesus points out one important element which are essential for our spirituality. It is not to give more importance to human tradition than the commandment of God. This happens when we take the shield of human traditions to protect our selfish interests. All evil things, as Jesus says, come from within and we want to cover or wrap it with so called human traditions. Every tradition must be challenged with the Gospel. Every tradition must be purified by the Gospel values. Because incarnation changed everything. God became man. And this has its effect in everything and in every tradition. So, we must see that each tradition is being transformed by the incarnation. Each thing that come out of my mouth and out of my heart is according to the Gospel. This is very challenging. But at the same time, that’s what is to be a Christian. Because it’s the faith that motivates this. Faith is not only that God loves us, but it’s also that I can live according to the fact that God loves us. Let’s reflect: Am I a blind follower of traditions or I give more importance to the commandment of God than clinging to human traditions?
Don Giorgio
Aug 30, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saturday of week 21 in Ordinary Time
Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel – Matthew 25:14-30
“I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back”. Our beautiful life can be so tragic like this if we are acting like this servant. What is his methodology? “I had heard”. In many of our decisions, we make this starting point. We have heard this and that, so we make this decision. Then the second part of this methodology is that “I have head bad about the other and I was afraid”. From hearsay to negative emotions. We don’t try to verify anything. We don’t think that we have in our hand his talent. No, we just see negative, and we act negative. Then the third part is that “I went off and hid your talent in the ground”. It’s your talent and we just hid it. We made it unproductive. We killed it. From hearsay to suppression. This we do also with the Word of God whenever we make the Word of God unproductive. Whenever we are not missionaries, we did the same with the Word of God. Let’s reflect: In whatever way I make the Word of God unproductive in my life?
Don Giorgio
Aug 29, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Friday of week 21 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Matthew 25:1-13
“But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.”. This is a frightening statement. These bridesmaids did everything to welcome the bridegroom. They came with their lamps. Then they run out of oil. They ran to buy the oil. By the time, they came back, the time passed. After doing all these, the bridegroom replied like this. I tell you solemnly, I do not know you. What did go wrong here? It’s about loving at the right time and loving enough. Many times, we love as we want. We don’t look at the need of the people whom we are loving. We love according to our concepts. And also, many times, we are happy with the minimum. Loving our parents, our siblings, our family members, in all these cases, this happens. I love minimum. I love according to my concepts. This is when the oil in my lamp is running out. This is when the I will not be there when the bridegroom comes. So, it’s important to love enough and to love when one is in need. Let’s reflect: Do I consider the necessities of the other when I love, or I just love as I want?
Don Giorgio
Aug 28, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Thursday of week 21 in Ordinary Time
Gospel Mark 6:17-29
In this Gospel passage the Beheading of St. John the Baptist is described. In this episode we can see how much courage and grace are needed to do good. Herod arrested John because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married. or John had told Herod, ‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife.’ As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to, because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him. Though he arrested John the Baptist, he listened to him. He gave him protection. He was following his inner desire to do the good. Then Herodias got this occasion to pressurize Herod to do evil. “The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her”. Here his ego took over his desire to do good. His ego did not allow him to follow the inner voice to do good. If we leave our ego to lead us, it leads us to the destruction of others, as we have seen in this episode. Let’s reflect: Do I leave my ego to lead my decisions, or I listen to the voice of God to make my decisions?
Don Giorgio
Aug 27, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Augustine, Bishop, Doctor
Wednesday of week 21 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Matthew 23:8-12
“The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will exalted”. This teaching of Jesus explains how the inner dynamism between His disciples. The inner dynamism among the disciples of Christ is one of being the servant of each other. This logic of Christian discipleship is based on the principle of incarnation. God became man. God humbled himself to save us. So, if we want to follow Jesus Christ, we must also be servants. We must humble ourselves to serve the other. This is a continuous effort as this must be the dynamism in our interpersonal relationships as disciples. This continuous search for humbling ourselves and serving each other make the Christian discipleship truly tangible and worthy of testimony. Every moment is a moment to humble ourselves, and serve the other. When we exalt ourselves, the image of Christ perishes from us. When we exalt ourselves, our testimony of Cross disappears from us even if we are wearing the cross. Let’s reflect: Do I really try to humble myself to serve others constantly and deliberately?
Don Giorgio
