Aug 26, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Monica
Tuesday of week 21 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Luke 7:11-17
“When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said”. There are so many miracles which Jesus did as a response to requests and prayers. But this is an episode in which Jesus walks up to the widow who lost her only son. He saw her and He felt sorry for her. She did not ask Jesus for a miracle. But Jesus recognizes the pain of that mother who lost everything in her life. She is already a widow. Now she lost her only son. Jesus saw her grief. Jesus saw her suffering. He walks up to her. This is Jesus. He sees our tears. He sees our sorrows. He walks up to us and says, “Don’t cry”. Don’t cry because Jesus is there. He is going to make her sorrows go away. He asked the dead man to get up. “And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother”. Jesus gave him back to his mother. Today we are celebrating the feast of St. Monica whose tears also did the same miracle. The son about whom she cried was given back to her as St. Augustine. Jesus sees our tears in prayer, and He will walk into our life to say, “Don’t cry”. Let’s reflect: Do I recognize the voice of Jesus who says to me, “Don’t cry”?
Don Giorgio
Aug 25, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 21 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Matthew 23:13-22
“You who shut up the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to”. This is what happens when one cannot love. When we cannot love we close doors to others. And also, we close doors to ourselves. Door to where? The door to enjoy the love of God. The door to heaven. The door to enjoy the divine providence. Because when we are not loving others genuinely, we are closing ourselves inside our ego. We are closing ourselves inside ourselves. When we are closed ourselves inside ourselves, we can never be a path of love. We can never become a path towards the love of God. We can never become a path to heaven. This is what Jesus is saying to us in the Gospel of the day. He calls, “blind guides”. We are blind and we pretend to be guides. The moment, we cannot love, we become blind. Then don’t pretend to be guides. Love first and then guide, because when you can love, love becomes the path, and each act of love becomes the guide. Let’s reflect: Do I love genuinely so that I can guide others to the love of God?
Don Giorgio
Aug 24, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel – John 6:60-69
“The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life”. Exactly in the meaning of these words, we must understand the Word of God. The Words Jesus spoke are spirit and life. They are spirit because they are the energy to act in a way different. They are the energy to react in a good way to a bad act. They are the energy to pardon for something someone has commited. They are the energy to start again after a failure. The Words Jesus spoke are the energy to feel good after a trauma. The Words Jesus spoke are spirit and life. They are life because He even in His tomb He is life. So even in the worst circumstances, Jesus is life. His words are life. And His Words in us are life to overcome the challenges present. The Words of Jesus Christ is the motor of our action in our day today life. His life is in us with baptism. What we must do is to see how much we can really live according to the Baptism. Let’s reflet: How much I live with the Word of Jesus Christ?
Don Giorgio
Aug 23, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Bartholomew, Apostle – Feast
Gospel – John 1:45-51
Today we are celebrating the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is often identified with Nathanael, a disciple mentioned in the Gospel of John. This identification is supported by the consistent pairing of Bartholomew with Philip in the Synoptic Gospels’ lists of apostles, and Nathanael’s close association with Philip in the Gospel of John. Nathanael is the disciple to whom Jesus gave promises. “You will see greater things than that.’ And then he added ‘I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.” The heaven being laid open with the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. The heaven is open to us. It’s open to each one of us. The Angels of God are continuously ascending and descending. The graces are continuously pouring from heaven and our prayers are continuously taken to heaven by the angels. How beautiful is the Christian life! A life based on faith in the heaven open, in the graces pouring down, and in the prayers taken up to heaven. This is the promise given to Nathanael by Jesus. We are the People of God who live in this promise. Let’s reflect: Am I aware that I must live in the hope of the promise given by Jesus to Nathanael?
Don Giorgio
Aug 23, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Friday of week 20 in Ordinary Time
Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin
Gospel - Matthew 22:34-40
Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. You must love. How can love becomes a commandment? Can you command someone to love? Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est describes it well. The “commandment' of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be “commanded” because it has first been given. This means that God's prior love for humanity makes it possible for humans to love in return. Our ability to love God and others is rooted in God's initial gift of love to us. Love can be “commanded” because it has first been given. Our love for God and neighbor flows from having first received God’s love. It's not primarily about following rules but responding to a gift. Christian love goes beyond mere human effort or ethical imperatives. It flows from God’s grace and enables us to love in return. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. In this encounter, the encounter with the person of Christ, a response becomes imperative as a return of His love for us. Let’s reflect: Do I see my faith as an encounter with the person of Christ?
Don Giorgio
Aug 21, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Our Lady, Mother and Queen
Gospel Luke 1:26-38
The doctrine of the Assumption was promulgated in 1951, with its feast on 15 August. Today we remember that the Blessed Virgin reigns in heaven together with her Son. She reigns not because she is in any way equal to God but because she is the mother of Christ the King. Her privileges come from her willingly agreeing to become the Mother of God and make our redemption possible. The reading suggested to this memorial is the episode of Annunciation where Mary willingly accepts be the Mother of God. Mary, Mother of the God, reigns as Queen and as Mother of all of us. All Her apparitions around the world are visible signs of how She is a mother for all of us. Our devotion to Mary is not just a pious activity but it’s a real relationship. We are related to Mother Mary as we carry in us, the life of Her Son, Jesus Christ through our Baptism. This is not a theory. But a real relationship of love and redemption. Mary is our Mother in all senses and let’s enjoy Her maternity to us in all senses. Let’s be close to Her in all senses. Let’s reflect: How much am I close to Mother Mary in my daily life?
Don Giorgio
