Nov 6, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of week 31 in Ordinary Time
First reading – Romans 12:5-16
“Treat everyone with equal kindness; never be condescending but make real friends with the poor”. This is a beautiful piece of advice St. Paul is giving to Romans. In the first part of this passage, he is speaking about the foundation of this thought. The last paragraph is a piece of advice which comes from the former paragraphs. St. Paul is speaking about the unity between the different elements in the church. Church is the body of Christ, and we all belong to each other as parts of this one body. Whenever we forget this, we run into different difficulties. In order not to forget this we must be loving one another. “Love each other as much as brothers should and have a profound respect for each other.” In mutual love and respect we can be part of this body of Christ. And in this body every negative sentiment becomes positive. “Bless those who persecute you: never curse them, bless them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and be sad with those in sorrow”. Let’s reflect: Do I recognize my primary challenge to make unity by loving everyone with equal kindness?
Nov 5, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 31 in Ordinary Time
First reading – Romans 11:29-36
“God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice”. This is about the love of God for us. God loves us with all our disobedience by showing mercy. And his mercy is rich and deep. All that exists comes from Him. All is by Him and for Him. And He still loves us with all our defects and weakness. And what we must do is to give Him the Glory forever. So, when we recognize our disobedience toward the Lord, we must accept His merciful love. In accepting the mercy from the Lord, we acknowledge that all that exists comes from Him. We surrender our life to Him and be part of His mercy and His love. Let’s reflect: Do I recognize the love of God which shows mercy at my disobediences?
Nov 4, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
First reading – Malachi 1:14-2:2,8-10
“Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why, then, do we break faith with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?” The words of the Prophet Malachi must be awaking in us the sense of being sons and daughters of God and treating each other as sons and daughters of the same God. Whenever we thing of excluding a person, the first thought that should come to our mind is this: This person is also a son or daughter of the same Father. Often we forget that and we make differences and exclude others because of various reasons. Whatever the differences are, he or she is the son or daughter of the same Father. We have no reason to exclude that person for a reason. The main truth remains. We are all sons and daughters of the same Father. We all have the same creator. Whether it’s a thought or it’s an act, against this truth, we must avoid. Let’s reflect: Am I excluding anyone for any reason ignoring the truth that we are all sons and daughters of the same Father?
Nov 4, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop
Saturday of week 30 in Ordinary Time
First reading – Romans 12:3-13
“Our gifts differ according to the grace given us”. In the reading today St. Paul is giving some very important advises for the life in the Church. One of those is a fundamental teaching about grace and gifts. We have different gifts because of the grace given to us. And the grace is always gratuitous. So all the gifts we have is because of the grace given to us by the Lord out of His love. St. Paul is explaining that these gifts are to be used for the unity between us, “we belong to each other”. We cannot use our gifts forgetting the other. And St. Paul continues, “Love each other as much as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other”. So, our gifts are loving each other. Again, it is for working for the Lord with untiring effort, it’s for being cheerful. Let’s reflect: Am I using my gifts received from grace for loving the other?
Nov 2, 2023 | DAILY BREAD
Friday of week 30 in Ordinary Time
Saint Martin de Porres, Religious
First reading – Romans 9:1-5
“I would willingly be condemned and be cut off from Christ if it could help my brothers of Israel, my own flesh and blood”. St. Paul is ready to do the maximum sacrifice to help his brothers. This is one of the moments which we can understand the principle of incarnation. Creator becoming a creature. Every difficult to understand. Like what St. Paul is saying, he is ready to be cut off from Christ. How can one think about something like that? But out of love for humanity, God became man. The love of God for us is the most important reality on earth. The logic of St. Paul is like this: God out of his love for the humanity decided to become a mortal man giving up His glory. If that is the criteria for love, I also must give up the most glorious thing in my life, my relationship to Christ, to show my love for my brothers. The faith in Jesus Christ is measured by the sacrifice made of love for the other. Let’s reflect: Am I just proud to be Christian or do I want to act like a Christian?
