 Forging the Apostle - Missionary PersonalityJuly 9-15, 2018 General Theme: The Eucharist forms and transforms apostles General Objective: To renew constantly my identity as an apostle in the Eucharist To follow the same steps of Jesus Objective of the week: To experience in the Eucharist how our genuine personality as an apostle-missionary is forged
INTRODUCTION What is the genuine personality of an apostle-missionary of Christ? There is only one quality of an apostle-missionary of Christ; this quality is also measured on just one thing and that is by answering the question “how is our loving?” How do we love God and our bretheren? Our human love is forged into Agape through the Eucharist. The Eucharist allows us to experience how our genuine personality as apostle-missionary is forged. The Eucharist is the fire that transforms us. It takes time for us to be shaped. That’s why it takes time to change in prayer, and the Eucharist is offered again and again encouraging us to attend every week or even every day for our process of change. Hard metal is placed in the furnace and from there it can be shaped by hammering. The hard metal of our infirmities such as our pride will be hammered according to the will of God. Like St. Paul, we can have our same character but now with a different goal and intention. Our goal and intention are now in coordination with the goal and intention of God who created us. In the Eucharist our heart is little by little transformed into a heart that is Christ-like. MONDAY APOSTLE-MISSIONARY OF LOVE Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions Hosea 2:16-18 & 21-22 Therefore, I will allure her now; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak persuasively to her. Then I will give her the vineyards she had, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as on the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. On that day—oracle of the LORD—You shall call me “My husband,” and you shall never again call me “My baal.” I will betroth you to me forever: I will betroth you to me with justice and with judgment, with loyalty and with compassion; I will betroth you to me with fidelity, and you shall know the LORD. The Eucharist is the desert where God speaks to us and persuades us to see His love. It is where God again and again shows His great and unfathomable love for us. Like a husband who dearly loves his wife. He gave His life for all of us, and it is shown in the Eucharist as He gives His Body and Blood and we received it with gratefulness in the Holy Communion. Out of this love, he gently forges us with faithfulness and patience. God’s target is our heart—to be like His in giving mercy and in loving. God wants us to be tied up to Him forever, and He will never ever give us up until we know who He is in our life. When we are lost He will make a way to bring us back to His love. When we lose hope He gives hope. Lavish yourself with His love. Do I see how great is God’s love for me that transforms me into an apostle-missionary through each celebration of the Eucharist? TUESDAY APOSTLE-MISSIONARY STRENGHTENED BY GOD’S LOVE Matthew 9:32-33 As they were going out, a demoniac who could not speak was brought to him, and when the demon was driven out the mute person spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” Isaiah 50:4-7 He has given me a disciples’ tongue to give the Word of God. The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to answer the weary, a word that will waken them. Morning after morning he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; The Lord GOD opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my beard; My face I did not hide from insults and spitting. The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; Therefore I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. The Eucharist is where we are refreshed and sustained when we are tired, when we are persecuted, and when we don’t know what to say and do. It is where we are taught by God. Every day in the Eucharist he gives us strength and new learning of His goodness; there the Spirit of God works and shares with us His secrets, and through the Eucharist we understand what treasure God has given us, a treasure of proclaiming His life and love. Does the Eucharist become our source of refreshing when we are down and don’t know what to do or say, and do we see that through the Eucharist our genuine personality as an apostle-missionary is forged? WEDNESDAY APOSTLE-MISSIONARY HEALED BY GRACE Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot Matthew 9:18-26 Then, a woman, who had suffered from a severe bleeding for twelve years, came up from behind and touched he edge of his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned, saw her and said, “Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.” And from that moment, the woman was cured. The Eucharist is given to us every day that we may be healed with every infirmity and illness (those that we have recognized and those that we have not recognized) particularly our hardness of heart. The Eucharist forms in us an apostle-missionary heart that is healed. Our healing can be a multi-dimensional experience of the coming of God’s kingdom into our life. And through the Eucharist we are healed physically, socially, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually with God’s grace. Do we allow the Eucharist to forge in us our own healing through His grace that we may be a healed apostle-missionary? THURSDAY APOSTLE-MISSIONARY SACRIFICING LIKE CHRIST Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria Matthew 26:28 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of The Eucharist forges in us our sacrificial love like the sacrificial love of Christ for us. Like all those who have gone before us, such as St. Paul, who shares the same sacrificial love of Christ for all of us, they became a part of the Real Presence in the Eucharist as we also are, a mysterious communion between Christ and His Church. Does the Eucharist forge in me the same sacrificial love like that of Christ and the people who had gone before us? FRIDAY APOSTLE-MISSIONARY PLOWING A NEW GROUND Memorial of St. Henry, King Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves justice, reap the reward of loyalty; Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD, till he comes and rains justice upon you. Matthew 10:7 Go, instead, to the lost sheep of he people of Israel. Go and proclaim this message. The kingdom of heaven is near. The Eucharist forged in us the same mission Christ has, and that is to proclaim the LOVE of God through all ages and throughout the world. In the Eucharist many miracles had already and is still happening because we believe in the mission of Christ. Am I starting to plow a new ground that God called me to? Have I seen the need to introduce others in the Eucharist so they too may see the essence of the Eucharist in their lives? SATURDAY APOSTLE-MISSIONARY BRINGING CHRIST TO MANY Memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. The Eucharist forges in us a vessel where Christ stays and grows as we continuously receiving Him; thus making us the bearer of Christ for others. Have we recognized that we are the bearer of Christ and that Christ stays and grows inside us for others to see His presence and to see that Christ is alive through us? SUNDAY 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading – Amos 7:12-15
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 85 2nd Reading – Ephesians 1:3-14 Gospel – Mark 6:7-13 |
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