 
General Theme: Pilgrims of Hope General Objective: To live with faith and hope this Jubilee Year Objective of the week: To grow in the hope revealed by Jesus in different situations in order to reach out to us. MONDAY Exodus 14:5-18; When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Matthew 12:38-42; Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. The Pharisees asked Jesus to show them a sign if he really is the Son of God even though it was so obvious at his missionary work. They are too blind to see Jesus as the Messiah. The only thing that makes man blind is “self-righteousness". It makes it difficult to see the truth because pride empowers his heart. On the contrary, humility makes man see the beautiful revelation of God's unconditional love and does not need to ask for a sign. The patience of Jesus over his sufferings, the healing and forgiving of the sinners are extraordinary examples for us to emulate that God is love and that life must be for loving and serving. Today, he continuously reveals himself to us in the different miracles that are happening every day from sunrise to sunset in the gift of people who accompany our journey and help us overcome our fears and problems in many ways. The gift of faith in the hope that the Lord may accompany us in our battles of life. The most remarkable revelation today happens in the holy mass, the turning of bread and wine into the real body and blood of Jesus. It is a significant manifestation of extravagant love of God that death is not enough for him, but he allows himself to become a morsel of bread to be near to us and to live in our hearts as his dwelling place. The blessed sacrament is another revelation of God's love where he makes himself available for us who are waiting and willing to listen to our success stories and failures. He is there open to give consolation to our weary hearts. "If today you hear his voice harden not your hearts." (Ps. 95:8) This is a strong invitation for all of us to make with the help of Mother Mary our model of faith and hope to open to Jesus full of humility in the hope that we will rediscover Jesus' presence in our daily lives, who is establishing a constant relationship with us.
TUESDAY Song of Songs 3:1-4b; All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?” Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me. John 20:1-2,11-18; Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. There are moments when God feels absent—when we seek, cry, and wander through the streets of our own inner confusion. But this sacred pursuit is not in vain. Spiritual life begins with longing, and that longing is the birthplace of encounter. Christ seeks us as much as we seek Him. Even in the pain of not finding Him, He is already near. Mary Magdalene’s dawn visit to the tomb mirrors this bridal search. She seeks not just a lost body, but a love that has changed her life. Her sorrow, like the bride’s, is transformed in the moment of recognition—when Jesus simply says, "Mary." It is in being known by name that we realize we have not lost God. We have found Him anew. He calls us by name. He sends us a message. Our lives become testimony. May we, like Mary, rise from our sorrow and declare with unshakable conviction: "I have seen the Lord."
WEDNESDAY Exodus 16:1-5,9-15; The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. Matthew 13:1-10; That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” There are instances in our life where our faith is challenged, and we complain or blame God for such events. Despite our lack of faith, God never abandoned us. God provides for our needs. We only have to trust in His timing, to be sensitive to His guidance and obey His will. We are then reminded that all that we have comes from God, even in our worldly needs. And that we are not meant to feed only from worldly food but also from the food that comes from God. For God’s provision may not always come in the form we expect but it will always be sufficient. In the Parable of the Sower, we are reminded of how we receive and respond to God’s Word. We are challenged to reflect on the state of our hearts, and how we can cultivate good soil within ourselves for God’s truth to grow and bear fruit. It also calls us to recognize the importance of sowing God’s Word in the world. We are invited to actively listen, be receptive, and to persevere in faith even when obstacles arise. His Word speaks to the reality that we must take care of our spiritual lives, ensuring that we are nurturing the Word in our hearts and allowing it to shape our actions, relationships, and lives in a way that glorifies God.
THURSDAY Exodus 19:1-2,9-11,16-20b; On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[a] trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.[b] The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up. Matthew 13:10-17; The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’[a] But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.” (Mt. 13: 16-17). Verbum Dei missionary disciples how blessed are we indeed for we found the greatest treasure-the Kingdom of God at hand! We are blessed beyond measure because Jesus revealed to us this wisdom of salvation and eternal life. And Jesus promises that the more we seek Him and listen to Him, the greater knowledge and understanding will be given to us. He invites us to persevere to thirst for this river of refreshing waters that continues to flow for those who seek Him Jn 4:10. And yes, all of us are convinced that the Word of God will always give us what we need daily. Amidst the challenges that we are facing in our respective realities, we truly need to listen to His Good News that gives us wisdom and hope each day. As we are grateful and blessed to receive God’s revelation, we are then challenged to do the mission to spread His kingdom to others. So, they too, can be blessed and receive the kingdom of God through us. Start with your nearest neighbor today.
FRIDAY 2 Corinthians 4:7-15; But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”[a] Since we have that same spirit of[b] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Matthew 20:20-28; Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Today is an opportunity to thank the Lord our God. For He has done many great things in our lives. As proclaimed in the Psalm of today's Liturgy: " The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed."(Ps 126 :2-3) Let us together say to the Lord in our prayer today, in a personal way, " Teach me Lord on how my tongue can put words of my rejoicing and praising because of your great goodness." (Ps. 126:2b) Today we are invited to ask the Lord Jesus to teach us on how to be more faithful in following Him, even in the midst of our sufferings. Let us always be sensitive to God's presence in every situation of our lives. For He always says, " I am with you till the end of age." We can ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to make us understand more deeply about the truth of the suffering we experience. As in 2Cor 4:10 says, " For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." How beautiful if we can express heartily our great thanksgiving saying: "Thank you Lord for allowing me to recognize that I am only an "earthen vessel." (2 Cor 4:7) Making me as the bearer to the treasure of real HOPE which is your life in me as my Lord and Savior." Here we can see concretely that to grow in hope is to recognize that our life is as simple as an earthen vessel, and it is the Lord who chooses us to be the bearers of hope for others. This hope is not just a mere word, but a person. He is Jesus our Lord and Savior to all. We are reminded in this Jubilee Year 2025 that besides being the pilgrims of hope, we are also the bearers of hope for others as well. As Jesus said, " Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) Let us again express our heartfelt gratitude to our Lord and Savior for trusting our life as bearers of hope. So that others can receive the saving power of God in the middle of their hopelessness. Jesus is very clear to us in the Gospel acclamation of today's Liturgy, "I choose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that lasts, says the Lord.” (Jn 15:16).
THE JUBILEE PRAYER Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom. May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally. May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever. Amen
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About the Guidelines SheetThe Guidelines sheet is a prayer guide with the Word of God to help us journey together and be one in our weekly prayer as one community. This contains daily passages from scriptures together with reflections focused on a common theme and intention for the week. Archives
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