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
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
