Feb 5, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saints Paul Miki and his Companions, Martyrs
Tuesday of week 5 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 7:1-13
“You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions”. This is very important observation of Jesus about us. We often given importance to human traditions and not to the commandment of God. This can be seen in every human reaction. We are so worried about what others speak about us and about our actions. We are worried about what others comment about us and about our actions. We are worried about what other think about us and about our actions. But in all these situations, we rarely think about God and His commandments. We look around rather than looking up. By this attitude we make the Word of God null and void in our life. What is important in our life is the Word of God and not the words of men and women around us. Traditions are good and it’s good to follow them. But always the priority must be to the Word of God. Today we celebrate the feast of St. Paul Miki and his companions who did not have no regard for the word of men but only to the Word of God. Let’s reflect: We must be attentive to what God of God says rather than what others say about my actions.
Feb 4, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Agatha, Virgin, Martyr
Monday of week 5 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Luke 9:23-26
“What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self”? This is a very fundamental question. Your self is more than the whole world. Because without your self, how are you going to be part of the whole world you have? But to have your own self, or to save your own self, you must do what Jesus is telling us. We must lose our life for His sake. And how can we lose our life for His sake? We can lose our life when we renounce ourselves and take up our cross every day and follow Jesus. Following Jesus is to love. But this process has two more contents: to renounce ourselves that is by becoming humble so that Jesus can be present in us and taking up our cross which is accepting the sacrifices needed so that Jesus can be present in us. So, we can gain our self by following Jesus. Let’s reflect: Create space for Jesus in our life so that we can gain our self.
Feb 3, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 1:29-39
“Everybody is looking for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came”. In these words of Jesus, we can see that He wants to reach out to everyone. He is not going to those who already knew Him. He is going to new places and towns so that He can preach there too. The Good News that God loves us is not something exclusive to some. It must be preached to everyone. This is why we cannot consider someone or somewhere as strange. It’s comfortable to be in the midst of people who knows. But when we want to preach Gospel to new people and to new places, we will have different challenges. But that is why we are called for. So don’t turn away our faces to new people to whom also we must preach the Good News. Let’s reflect: We must move out of our comfort zone to preach Gospel to all.
Feb 2, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saturday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Saint Blaise, Bishop, Martyr
Gospel – Mark 6:30-34
“The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’” This is a beautiful passage because, we see something beautiful from Jesus. When the disciples came back after their missionary activities, Jesus first listened to them. They told him all they had done. Jesus is listening to everything they had done. Then comes the second part which is more beautiful. Jesus said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’. Jesus is asking them to go to a rest in a lonely place. This is the Jesus we believe, and we follow. He really takes care of us. He really wants that we rest after work. This is also a model in our life, to take care of others. A model to listen to others and to make sure that others get sufficient rest. Let’s reflect: It’s is important to know the Jesus who wants to listen to all what I do during the day and who asks me to take rest after a busy day.
Feb 1, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
Gospel – Luke 2:22-40
“My eyes have seen your salvation”. This is the point of departure of every vocation knowingly or unknowingly. When we find that all point of our life is in one person, Jesus Christ, then everything become relative on this person. When Simeon sees the baby Jesus, he is satisfied, he is fulfilled because he was waiting all his life to this moment. The moment to meet with his Lord, Jesus Christ. It’s so appropriate that we celebrate the feast of all consecrated persons on this date. Because like Simeon, we have found that only thing valuable in our life is the relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Carefully meditate the words of Simeon, “Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel”. With his own eyes he recognized all of these in Jesus Christ. Now it’s our turn, especially we who dedicated fully our life to Jesus. Someone can ask us, “why are you doing this with your life?” Our answer is the same: because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of each person in creation. Let’s reflect: It's important that our commitment to Jesus is based on our personal recognition of Jesus as the light of each person in darkness.
Jan 31, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Thursday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 6:7-13
“Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits”. Jesus is sending the apostles with the mission to preach repentance, to cast our devils, and to cure sick people. He wants to extend His mission with a personal touch. Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity, could have done a miracle to extend His mission to anyone and to everywhere. But He prefers to do through His apostles and disciples to have His mission extended to other with the same principle of incarnation. That is why the two conditions: Take nothing and stay in the same place. Take nothing because the only resource of this mission is the grace of God. It must be totally dependent on God and His providence. It’s a radical dependence on God not even to have the possibility of a spare tunic. Then to stay in one place. This is to have a true interpersonal profound relationship not just a superficial relationship with persons. If you are moving from one place of stay to another, there is no profound relationship with anyone. Only just fleeing and shallow relationships with the people you are interacting. Let’s reflect: To continue the mission of Jesus we must have radical dependence of God and profound relationship with others.
