May 22, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Wednesday of week 7 in Ordinary Time
Saint Rita of Cascia
Gospel – Mark 9:38-40
“You must not stop him:” This is a temptation in our life to stop others because they are not conforming to us. Our way of doing is not the model that everyone must follow. Others can follow Jesus Christ in the way they want. The plan of God is bigger than our way of doing things. We cannot confine the plan of God to us. Each one of us, has a plan of God. We must respect that and love that plan of God. And we must not be adamant that God must work according to my plan. God can work out His plan in hundred different ways. For us, what is important is to be close to Jesus. If we are close to Jesus, we will be able to give space for each person around us. Let’s reflect: Do I give more importance to follow Jesus Christ or how others follow Jesus Christ?
May 21, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of week 7 in Ordinary Time
Gospel Mark 9:30-37
“He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’” Jesus showed this gesture when the disciples were arguing which of them was the greatest. Often, we are confronted with this question from ourselves. “Am I better than others?” Or we feel a certain superiority than others. This is the moment when we must remember the gesture of Jesus. We must be like the children, and we must welcome the “littleness or simplicity” of the situation in the name of Jesus. Often the vulnerability or the humble situation gives us difficulty to accept that situation. We think we deserve better because we are better or greater. But in these circumstances we must welcome the difficulties in the name of Jesus Christ who embraced the fragility of human nature. Let’s reflect: Do I welcome the humiliating circumstances in the name of Jesus Christ?
May 20, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Mary, Mother of the Church
Monday of week 7 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – John 19:25-34
“Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home”. Jesus Christ in His moments of pain wanted to alleviate the pain of His mother. So, He wanted that she becomes the mother of His disciples which she accepted very well as the gospel says. From that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home. This is the gift of Jesus dying in the cross. He gave us along with great gift of redemption, also the Mother of the Redeemer. The Mother of the Redeemer becomes the Mother of the Church. Only that we must create a space for her in our home, in our heart, in our plans, in our designs. That space is sacred not only because it’s the space of the Mother of the Redeemer but it assures the effect of Redemption which Jesus Christ brought to us in the Cross. The presence of Mary the Mother of Redeemer in our plans is the visible sign of the Redeemer in our plans. Let’s reflect: Do I create a place for the Mother of the Redeemer in my plans?
May 18, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Pentecost
Gospel – John 15:26-27, 16:12-15
We are celebrating the solemnity of Pentecost. The Paschal mystery reached its culmination in Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and the disciples present in the upper room in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit has changed each one of them. They shared in the life of Jesus Christ in a very specific way about which we read in today’s Gospel. When the Spirit of truth comes “you too will be witnesses”. We are not anyone, but we are witness to the love of God manifested in Jesus Christ. Again, Jesus says, “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth”. The Holy Spirit opens us to the complete truth and not be stuck by the partial truth or taken up by bits of truth. The complete truth is that gives us complete liberation which St. Paul is speaking in his letter to Galatians in the second reading of today. “Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit”. And Spirit brings “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control”. This is what changed by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let’s reflect: How much I am docile to the changes which the Holy Spirit brought into my life?
May 18, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saturday of the 7th week of Eastertide
Saint John I, Pope, Martyr
Gospel – John 21:20-25
“There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written”. These are the words St John, the Evangelist writes at the end of the Gospel. This is true because what Jesus did is something transhistorical. What Jesus did is something more than tangible. What Jesus did is divine. So, it can never be written enough. So, it can never be written adequately. More than writing, what Jesus did can never be understood fully. That’s why we want the Holy Spirit. And only in the due course of the history we will understand more and more what Jesus did. Not only, in the same passage, when St. Peter asked to Jesus about St. John, He said, “If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me”. That also means Jesus has a personal plan for each one of us. So, it’s each one of us to find out what is the personal plan of Jesus Christ for each one of us. We need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to find that out. Let’s reflect. Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit so that we can find out what’s the personal plan of Jesus Christ for each one of us.
