Reflections of Faith
Read and be inspired by a reflection based on today's Gospel made by members of the Verbum Dei Family in Manila.
3/11/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 11, 2018March 11, 2018 Jn 3:14-21 For God So Loved the WorldJesus said to Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. For God so loved the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in Him might not perish but will have eternal life.
In this gospel, God is telling us that there is always hope. Like what Jesus said to Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up, Jesus is telling us there is this son of man that we can look up to and is inviting us not to look down on our weaknesses, our imperfections but to look up to the son of man who is lifted up. For in the son of man we have hope. This Lenten season is also the time we go deeper with our prayer with the passion of Christ for God has given His son because of love and that love gives us hope. The invitation for us is to look up to the son of man who is lifted up for we will find hope in him. God is inviting us also to go deeper with His passion, for in His passion we are able to experience love, we are able to see the true love, the love that is mature enough to withstand everything, the love that is eternal.
3/10/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 10, 2018March 10, 2018 - Saturday Lk 18:9-14 If You Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your HeartsJesus addressed the parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. The parable is about the Pharisee and the tax collector who prayed in the temple. The Pharisee prayed and said that he is thankful for he is not greedy or dishonest like the tax collector and that he is not like the rest of humanity. The tax collector prayed to God asking for forgiveness. At the end of the parable Jesus said that the tax collector is the one who went home justified and not the Pharisee.
Jesus is telling is that the righteous one in the eyes of God is the one who humbled himself before God. We have our own weaknesses and imperfections but we are blessed by God. We are righteous in His eyes as long as we humbled ourselves. God is inviting us to humble ourselves, ask for forgiveness when we are sinned, ask for help when we are suffering, put our faith to Him when we are confused. The invitation for us is to humble our hearts and seek the Lord in every moment of our lives. If you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
3/9/2018
Daily GuidelInes: Mar. 9, 2018March 9, 2018 Mk 12:28-34 You Are Not Far From The Kingdom of GodIn today's Gospel, Jesus summarizes the 10 commandments into two: to love God with our everything and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Jesus is telling us that there is more than the commandments. When Jesus summed up the 10 commandments into 2, He opened up our hearts for loving. He wants us to understand that the essence of the commandments is to love. If we are to take the commandments to the letter, then we are just obeying rules. But when God said to love Him with our everything then it goes beyond what is stated in the commandments. Same goes with our neighbors, God wants us to love them and not just to limit ourselves to what is written on the commandments.
The invitation for us is to go deeper in our prayer. To build a more constant and intimate conversation with God as we grow our relationship with Him and to grow our love from Him. God also is inviting us to pray for our neighbors, so that we may be able to love them as how we love ourselves.
3/8/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 8, 2018March 8, 2018 - Thursday Lk 11:14-23 Jesus Wants us to be United with Him.In the Gospel, Jesus is driving out a demon that is mute and many have witnessed this The crowd is divided into three. The first group is composed of people who were amazed; the second group is composed of accusers telling that Jesus drove the demon out using Beelzebul’s name and the third group is composed of people who don’t believe in this action of Jesus—they need to see evidence before they believe. At the end of the passage, Jesus says that a strong man (Jesus is pertaining to the demon) fully armed then his possession are safe but if it is attacked by a stronger man then the armor is removed and the spoils are distributed.
God is doing many things on our life. Are we able to recognize it? Are we the people from the first, second or third group on how the way we see things in life? There are instances that we are able to recognize God’s action in our lives especially when we receive blessings, like the people from the first group, but when we are pushed out of our comfort zone then there is a tendency to respond like the people from the second or third group. At the end of the passage, Jesus assures us that he is the strongest. He will overcome everything. He is stronger than any demons and God is inviting us not be divided but to be united as one. Let us not be like the people from the second group to see the things in life as if it all came from demon or it came from misfortune. Also, let us not be like the people from the third group that they still lack faith to be able to recognize that it is Jesus who works in our everyday lives. Today let’s go deeper and ask for a more intimate conversation with God and be assured that He is stronger than anyone and let our faith grow bigger in our hearts
3/7/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 7, 2018March 7, 2018 – Wednesday Mt 5:17-19 We Live Not Only By CommandmentsJesus in the Gospel is saying to His disciples that he did not come to abolish the law of the prophets but to fulfill it. Jesus, as we have witnessed in our lives, moves in an extraordinary way. Jesus did not live here on earth just following the commandments but lived spreading the good news to everyone and showing in that way his love for us. We communicate with God through prayer. We listen to what God is saying to us and those words make a change in our lives. Those words from God give us happiness, direction in life. They make us feel the unconditional love of God, give us countless blessings and strength to move forward in life and many more wonderful things!
We may choose only to follow the law by attending mass every Sunday, by not killing or stealing but in order for us to fulfill the great commandment of love, then we need to listen to what Jesus tells us in prayer. Our lives are not only to just follow the commandments but to have fulfillment and fruits in our lives. This Lent, we are invited to go deeper with our prayer life and ask Jesus, “Jesus, how do you want me to fulfill the commandment of love?” and “Jesus guide me not to live only by the commandments but to bear fruit in my life”.
3/6/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 6, 2018March 6, 2018 – Tuesday Mt 18:21-35 Forgive! Forgive! Forgive!In the Gospel, Jesus told Peter that he should forgive his brother who sinned against him not only by seven times but seventy-seven times. Jesus described the King of the kingdom of heaven as a king full of mercy. Whatever amount you owe to the king, as long as you beg for mercy, His compassion is so big that he will let you go and forgive your debt as long as you are compassionate and merciful to your brother who sinned against you.
Forgiveness is one of the important key as we journey this season of Lent—just as Jesus shows forgiveness as he goes through his passion. Forgiveness is an act of love. Forgiveness will make our hearts at peace. We all want to live a happy and peaceful life but we cannot attain total happiness and peace if we don’t know how to forgive. This time is the season to forgive those who need forgiveness and strive for happiness and peace in our hearts as we continue to journey this Lenten season. The invitation for us is that we ourselves reflect how merciful and compassionate our God is and put into our hearts the forgiveness we have received and testify to others how merciful and compassionate our God is. Through this, total happiness and peace will not stay only as an idea but will be a reality.
3/5/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 5, 2018March 5, 2018 - Monday Lk 4:24-30 Jesus Wants to be at Home in Our HeartSJesus in the synagogue at Nazareth said to the people that no prophet is ever accepted in his own native place like Elijah and Elisha. Jesus also who is a native of Nazareth was also rejected by the people of his own native place.
Jesus really wants to be at home in our hearts because your hearts and mine is his own native place, even though he knows that he might be rejected, still he tries in every moment to remain in our hearts. Maybe our reason for not accepting Jesus in our hearts is that many times we don’t want to listen to the truth because it is hard to accept. The invitation of Jesus is for us to listen to Him. Listen to everything He wants to say to us and welcome Him into our hearts. God is saying to us all the things and all the truth we need to know. Sometimes we are thinking that we might not able to bear it but let’s trust God and let him live inside our hearts and he will be the one to give us strength so that we will become free and we continue our mission as disciples: to knock each and everyone’s hearts so that they will welcome Jesus.
3/4/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 4, 2018March 4, 2018 Sunday Gospel: JN 2:13-25 Jesus Is On Fire!He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. Jesus is on fire not because of his anger but because of His devotion, as written in Psalm "My devotion to your Temple burns in me like a fire".
What is God's temple by the way? Saint Paul said, we ourselves are God's temple. Like Jesus, are we on fire to clean and purify this temple? Today, we are invited to renew our hearts and let Jesus reign in us, destroy the old and Jesus will raise it up. Jesus knows us. To whom can we trust more this life we have but to the one who understands us better than ourselves, Jesus?
3/3/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 3, 2018March 3, 2018 Saturday Gospel : LK 15:1-3, 11-32 He was Lost and has been foundToday's gospel is the famous parable of the prodigal son, we may say that we have already read it for many times but what if, we take one step backward from it and ask why did Jesus shared this parable in the first place? It is written that Jesus addressed it to the Pharisees and scribes who complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Therefore, the core message of the parable is in this complain itself - welcoming the sinners and eating with them. Now, the main question for us is this, "Are we welcoming the sinners or rejecting them? Are we eating with them or excluding them?"
God loves us so much that he will run for us, despite of our indifference with others, may we love like Him so that we may say the same words of Jesus, "Now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found."
3/2/2018
Daily Guidelines: Mar. 2, 2018March 2, 2018 Friday 1st Reading: Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a FastingOne brother said "let us kill him," the other said "throw him in the desert," while the last brother said "let us sell him." Joseph, not having the slightest idea of what his brothers were plotting to him, went to them. Let us reflect on this. Walking on this season of Lent, we are invited by the Church to abstain and fast, but not only from physical food, but also from our negative emotions, like what the brothers felt in the reading--anger, jealousy and greed.
Are we still walking on the right path, or we are turning on the other way? Let us identify these negative feelings we experience today, accept them, and bring them to the hands of God. Our God who is merciful, understanding and forgiving. |
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