 
General Theme: Pilgrims of Hope General Objective: To live with faith and hope this Jubilee Year Objective of the week: To be trustful and hopeful for the merciful love of God, as chosen disciples of Christ Jesus. MONDAY Genesis 18:16-33; When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[a] For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.[b] Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.” Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.” Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home. Matthew 8:18-22; When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” "The Lord is kind and merciful."(Ps. 103:8) This statement is very true and clear in the dialogue with the Lord and Abraham, who beg His mercy for the people of Sodom. Abraham keeps on bargaining with the Lord to spare his people from wrath. He spoke to God straight from his heart that shows a father-son relationship and subsequently, God listened to him with intimacy. God did not turn down Abraham's requests, however, God is not after destruction but rather, restoration- restoration of our broken relationship with Him due to sin. That is why our commitment is essential for Him so that others may restore their trust and confidence in Him. He wanted all of our brothers and sisters to experience his unconditional love. It is said in Ps.95:8, "If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts." This is our invitation because God's word is our light and strength to fulfill the mission. And so we must beg for His grace and mercy not to falter in our following but with filial trust in His great mercy like Sts. Peter and Paul who we celebrated their feast yesterday. We give honor to them for their steadfast love in the Lord even death cannot conquer their love for Jesus.
TUESDAY Genesis 19:15-29; With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,[a] please! Your[b] servant has found favor in your[c] eyes, and you[d] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.[e])By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. Matthew 8:23-27; Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” “He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm”, Yes it’s true, worries, problems, fears and difficulties are indispensable in our day to day living and it is normal to feel in this way while facing them, yet we are not hooked up with this feeling all day long else we have no life within. Jesus is telling us today just to disturb him and wake him up, to call him and to put our trust and hope in him and all will be completely calm, the problems in life will never end but the assurance that Jesus will always be there to respond to our call of distress. Hopefully, we will not be counting the problems we have rather count the daily amazement of the beautiful things Jesus has been doing in our life.
WEDNESDAY Genesis 21:5.8-20; Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[a] will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[b] began to sob. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. Matthew 8:28-34; When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[a] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. Both readings reflect on rejection, fear, and divine intervention. We are reminded that God hears and provides, even when hope seems lost. God sees those who are pushed aside, and He has a plan for everyone, including those who seem forgotten. He hears the outcast. Sometimes, we respond with fear when confronted with God's actions because of our own thoughts and desires. This fear can reject what is good for us. It shows how fear and attachment to comfort can blind us to the work of God. Yet God chooses to care for the vulnerable, the oppressed, the rejected. In this truth, we can move forward despite the criticism or rejection from our peers, for our hope in Christ Jesus can lead us to what is right.
THURSDAY Ephesians 2:19-22; Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. John 20:24-29; Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Today in the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle let us be reminded to nourish our faith as Jesus points out on today’s gospel. Like St. Thomas who doubted because he undergone moments of fear and sadness due to the death of Jesus on the cross, we too, can experience that our faith shakes due to many realities that we are facing. St. Thomas was so engrossed on his sorrows and doubts, thus blinding him of Christ’s resurrection after the cross. We too can be like St. Thomas who can focus only on our crosses and challenges and failed to see the resurrected Christ. But Jesus will always remind us of His constant presence and that, He is always in control. He offers “peace be with you” in times of doubts, anxieties and fears. Peace that Jesus alone can give. He will always come to us on our “locked doors” of unfaithfulness and lukewarmness in order to increase our faith. Let us then, continue to dialogue with Jesus constantly for He is our nourishment and strength in this challenging journey of pilgrims of life and as disciples. Let us frequent the sacraments offered by our Church especially the Eucharist to strengthened us. So, as we allow Jesus to draw us near to Him, we can be more hopeful and trusting on him; we then we can be channels of hope to others who are in many hopeless realities. Let us be like St. Thomas, who truly recognizing Jesus, strengthened his conviction with a strong renewal of his love, hope and trust to the Jesus by uttering the words “my Lord and my God”! May these words give us constant hope of the presence of Jesus in us as well.
FRIDAY Genesis 23:1-4.19; 24:1-8,62-67; Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites.[a] He said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring[a] I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate,[a] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. Matthew 9:9-13; As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."( Matthew 9:13) Here are again the beautiful words of Jesus . Where he strongly expresses his mercy and love. We need to listen and contemplate every word, for we are the Matthew of this present time. Today, Jesus passes by in our lives and chooses us to follow him. What is our immediate response? Are we going to respond like Matthew did? In our prayer today let us fix our eyes again on Jesus. Let us be sensitive to his gaze of mercy and love for each one of us. Like Pope Francis's papal motto, " Miserando Atque Eligendo" which means " he looked at him with mercy and called him". This is what Jesus is doing in our lives being his chosen ones. We are called to follow him not because we are pure, but because we make ourselves available for him in the midst of our sinfulness.The Kingdom of God is not for the flawless, but for those who let him reign in the middle of their mess. How trustful and hopeful are we of his loving choice? For our Lord and Savior will constantly look at us with mercy and love. Then he doesn't hesitate to call us by our names. Remember this " gaze of mercy" never ceases. He always looks at us with compassion and love. Where he never stops calling us . For we are his chosen ones. Let us come closer to our Lord Jesus Christ and say: " Visit me with your saving help, That I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, rejoice in the joy of your people, and glory with your inheritance." (Ps 106:4b-5)
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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