Jan 23, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop, Doctor
Gospel - John 15:9-17
“A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends”. Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis de Sales who said, “whoever wants to preach effectively must preach with love”. If St. Francis said this about preaching, it is true about every act in our life. Everything done with love is more effective. This is because when we do it with love, we are following the commandment of Jesus. And when we are following the commandment of Jesus, we are remaining in His love. When we remain in His love, it’s His power that’s acting. We become instrument of His love and that is why an act with love is more effective. And whether we are doing an act with love, can be tested by the fact that how much love we are putting in that act. From small amounts of love to total love where you give your life itself for the other. We always have the option how much to love. Let’s reflect: When we do anything with love for the other, we become instruments of God’s love.
Jan 22, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
St Marianne Cope (1838 - 1918)
Gospel – Mark 3:31-35
“The mother and brothers of Jesus arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him”. This attitude of the Mother Mary and relatives of Jesus arriving to see Jesus, standing outside and sending a message asking for Him is really touching. They are not presumptuous. The wait out patiently and sending a message for Him. Arriving to see Jesus, Waiting to see Jesus, and Messaging to see Jesus. Many times we also face ourselves in this situation. We want answers, and we want solutions. We come to Jesus. But we forget to follow the example to Mother Mary. The example of Mother Mary to wait and to message. To wait for the answer. To ask for Jesus. It’s very important we know how to wait for the answer of the Lord for our requests and our questions. And the answer is what Jesus says. The answer is our relationship with the will of God. Let’s reflect. Our relationship with the will of God depends on my reaching out to Jesus, my waiting for Jesus, and my messaging to Jesus.
Jan 21, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
Saint Vincent, Deacon, Martyr
Gospel-Mark 3:22-30
“Beelzebul is in him’ and, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts devils out.’” This accusation sounds so senseless. Yes, it’s because with this they are denying the existence of Holy Spirit who distributes the grace of God. The scribes who think of themselves as erudite group is really turning their back to the source of grace. They want to place the Evil Spirit in the place of the Holy Spirit. Their motive is that Jesus is not following their teachings. So, they want to manipulate the teaching of Jesus so much that they not only want to hide the light but even the source of light. That is why Jesus says that “but let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness”. They cannot have forgiveness because they deny the source and willingly place another source. Let’s reflect: We must not deny the source of Grace in each situation for our personal motives.
Jan 20, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday of the Word of God
St Agnes
Gospel - Mark 1:14-20
Three verbs Jesus is using in His proclamation. “The Kingdom of God Is close at hand”, “Repent”, and “believe the Good News”. These verbs, we must understand in the context of the Sunday of the Word of God in which the importance of the Word of God in our life has to be understand. It’s important the Word of God in our life to understand that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. It’s the Word of God that helps us with that. It’s important the Word of God so that we can repent. Only the Word of God can really invite us for repentance. Then at last, it’s important the help of the Word of God to believe in the Good News. The closer we are with the Word of God, the easier we understand that the kingdom of God is at hand. The dearer the Word of God is for us, easier we will repent. The deeper the Word of God is in us, it’s easier for us to believe in the Good News. Let’s reflect: We must be close to the Word of God, to recognize the closeness of the Kingdom of God, to repent and to believe in the Good News.
Jan 19, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saturday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Saint Sebastian, Martyr
Gospel - Mark 3:20-21
This is a very family situation where we find Jesus. Jesus went home. All the people arrived there, and the crowd was such that they could not even have a meal. People wanted more and more of Jesus. But when the relatives of Jesus heard this, they set out to take charge of Jesus. Because they thought that Jesus was out of his mind. The relatives of Jesus trying to take Jesus away from the crowd because they did not understand the mission of Jesus. We always have this challenge. People who are close to us and who love us, do not understand our mission. They will try to persuade to abandon our mission, or to take away from our mission, or to deviate from our mission. Let’s reflect: In the midst of people who does not our mission, we must continue to give witness to Jesus Christ.
