Jan 19, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Friday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel - Mark 3:13-19
“Jesus went up into the hills and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he appointed twelve”. Jesus went up into the hills. And then He summoned those He wanted. That means, when Jesus went up into the hills, these people followed Him. These people were with him. From those who followed Him, He summoned those He wanted. So, these were people who followed Him where He went. And then there is another important point, from all those who were following Him, only twelve got called. Others were not called; they kept following Him. They were following Him because they wanted to follow Him. They did not expect anything other than to be in His presence. All the Apostles belong to this group which just wanted to follow Jesus. From our desire to follow Jesus begins our mission to be testimonies of His love. Let’s reflect: I must follow Jesus from my desire to be with Him and there I will be called to be a witness of His love.
Jan 17, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Thursday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel - Mark 3:7-12
“And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he warned them strongly not to make him known”. Jesus warns strongly not to speak about him. Because He did not want a testimony from the unclean spirits. The testimony for Jesus is His love. Not His miracle. Jesus wants that His love is His testimony. This reveals an important element of our witness of Jesus. Our witness or our testimony must be our personal relationship with Jesus. It must not be a miracle or something we received from Him. Our witness must be our relationship with Jesus. Our witness must be the statement of His love we received in our life. Our witness must be more than the revelation of His identity. It must the revelation of our relationship with Him. Let’s reflect: Jesus wants that our testimony of Him be the testimony our relationship with Him.
Jan 17, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Antony, Abbot
Wednesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel - Matthew 19:16-26
“But when the young man heard these words, he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth”. Today we are celebrating the feast of St. Antony, the originator of the monastic life. Born in Egypt, he listened to the words of the Gospel and gave all his belongings to the poor. He went to the wilderness and began a life of penitence, living in absolute poverty, praying, meditating, and living by manual work. Why he sold everything and went to the desert? Because he understood the words of Jesus we read in the Gospel of today. ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ Giving up everything one has makes the disposition to welcome Jesus into his or her life The young man went away sad because he cannot think about something bigger than his wealth. More than that, he lacks faith because the greatest challenge in selling everything we have is our thought about after the sales. When I have nothing, how do I live? This fear can be overcome only in the total faith in the Lord. Because what we can gain from selling everything, we have will enable us to enter into a relationship with Jesus. This relationship relativizes everything. Let’s reflect: The faith in Jesus must help us to overcome our fear in selling everything to follow Him.
Jan 15, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 2:23-28
“One sabbath day, Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to pick ears of corn as they went along”. The Pharisees are seeing Jesus but seeing the disciples’ picking ears of corn. Here we can see how the presence of Jesus is affecting two groups of people. The presence of Jesus is opening the mind of the disciples to understand the true meaning of Sabbath. That is to be with the Lord. At the same time, the presence of Jesus is making the Pharisees to close themselves to the light of Sabbath. They are closing themselves in their own interpretations and also wants to close others in it. And Jesus pronounces these words of liberation: ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath’. Any relationship with God is a relationship that liberates man and woman as sons and daughters of God. Let’s reflect: The relationship with God must open our hearts to see the light of the Word of God.
Jan 14, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 2:18-22
“‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’”. We are surrounded by comparisons in our life. The Pharisees are comparing the disciples of John and the disciples of Jesus. But the world of Jesus is without comparison. Because there is nothing to compare with the presence of Jesus. His presence is unique. His presence cannot be compared to anything. If we are trying to compare the presence of Jesus with anything, it will be like putting the new wine into old wineskins. The wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. In order to welcome the presence of Jesus in our life, we need to have new paradigms and approaches. Because the presence of Jesus is unparalleled and so unique. Our old concepts and ideas need to to be substituted with the new ones. The new one which thinks according to the Gospel. Let’s reflect: The presence of Jesus requires new paradigm to acknowledge Him.
Jan 13, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint Hilary, Bishop, Doctor
Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel – Mark 2:13-17
Our attention to the first part of this gospel we see how God interact with us. “Jesus went out to the shore of the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them”. Jesus went out to the shore of the lake. Jesus goes out to the lake. Then all the people came to him. Then he taught them. Then the second part: Jesus seeing Levi sitting by the customs house. Jesus went to him and talked to him. “he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him”. Jesus said that and Levi got up and followed him. We see Jesus going out to the lake and Jesus going up to Levi. Jesus always comes to us and guides us. The people listened. Levi followed Him. We are also called to listen to Jesus and to follow Him. Let’s reflect: Jesus always takes the initiative to come to me.
