Weekly Guidelines
Read this week's guidelines and be nourished as you journey with our Community in Cebu.
 “I too will love them and reveal myself to them.”(cf. Jn.14:21b) September 24-30, 2018 General Theme: The Holy Trinity within us and the Exercise of Fraternal Love General Objective: To live in the ordinary the extraordinary presence of the Holy Trinity in us Objective of the week: To discover in the Trinity the true and permanent viaticum, the best travelling companion, the leaven and seed of Christian fraternity throughout the world.
INTRODUCTION
In our discipleship, the Holy Trinity is faithfully accompanying us. It is not only the Holy Spirit that accompanies us but it is the three divine persons who are with us because they are indispensable. They are the ones who continue to nourish us as we journey in life. We may appear physically healthy yet spiritually we may be weak. In terms of decision making, we may have difficulty to recognize between right from wrong, or in times of temptation we may not have the strength to resist it. The Holy Trinity is truly our companion in our journey who can influence us to have one mind and one spirit with them. Thus, the possibility to have similar action, speech, and thoughts in such a way that when we look at the person, we look at him/ her in the same way they see him/ her, as a child of God. The Trinity really teaches us how to live eternal life by loving, accepting, and understanding others as a disciple of Christ. We need the Holy Trinity to accompany us along the way, thus, we should be grateful to them - the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who are gratuitously eager to journey with us hand in hand and give us the grace how to live the kingdom of God. “Instead, be concerned about anything else with the kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.” (Mt. 6:33) Let us ask Mother Mary’s intercession to sustain our discipleship to the very end. MONDAY The Grace of the Trinitarian love 2 Cor. 13:13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 1 Cor 13:1-7 I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. 2 I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing. 3 I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned[a]—but if I have no love, this does me no good. 4 Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; 5 love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; 6 love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. 7 Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail. God does not want us to become highly intellectual about who he really is but what really matters to him is how to become a dwelling place of the Holy Trinity in order to assume God’s salvific plans and to be consumed being a tangible presence of his gentleness and compassion for others. How deep is your knowledge of the love of the Trinity in you? Would it be enough for you to testify of it as a believer? TUESDAY The Power of the Trinitarian Love Judith 9:11 11 Your power does not depend on the size and strength of an army. You are a God who cares for the humble and helps the oppressed. You give support and protection to people who are weak and helpless; you save those who have lost hope. There is nothing greater than the love of the Holy Trinity. We are invited to have a listening heart as we pray with the Sacred Scripture everyday for it is through God’s word that we are able to be one with the Trinity and make us become sensitive to the needs around us. Is my heart always ready to listen to God’s word? Am I sensitive to the calling of the Trinity? WEDNESDAY (Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs) The Trinitarian Love remains forever John 15:1-4 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit. 3 You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you. 4 Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me. In our abundance, we may fail to realize that we belong to God. Unknowingly, we practice idolatry because we averted our eyes from God and give focus on what we think can satisfy us, make us enjoy and feel better. When we suffer, we think that God is unfair. The Holy Trinity never abandons us. They always give us the chance to reconcile with them and to renew ourselves. In moments of suffering, we need all the more to hold on to them, because to detach from them, we can do nothing and we lose sense of direction in life. How can I become more aware of the presence of the Trinity in us? Is my heart always open to their love? THURSDAY (St. Vincent de Paul, Priest) The compassionate and merciful love of the Trinity Lk. 6:36-38 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you. 38 Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.” We are reminded by the Holy Trinity to live constantly as God’s children. Let us not be overwhelmed by our personal desires and intentions for these can truly detach us from others. Rather, let us be generous of what we have for no single gift is for our personal advantage. What distracts me from my relationship with the Trinity? How can I reflect this quality of love of the Trinity to others? FRIDAY (St. Lorenzo de Ruiz and Companions) The Trinitarian love creates communion Col.3:12-17 12 You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. 14 And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. 15 The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. 17 Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father. We are invited to manifest love in the way we live. God is the God of life and gives hope to those who are deprived and hopeless. How can this love be shown to them? Who can bring consolation amidst their troubled and discriminated life? It is the call of the Holy Trinity to allow them as they dwell in us to open the door for them that leads to life. Let this faith and love for the Trinity fuel us to work for unity. How am I challenge to live this love? SATURDAY (Sts. Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels) The Trinitarian love brings hope and consolation Rom. 8: 22-27;39 22 For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. 23 But it is not just creation alone, which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free. 24 For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. 27 And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. 39 neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. The love of God is greater than our sins. He opens the path of hope to everyone. Despite our sinfulness, he shows a glimpse of concern to each one of his children. We, as followers of Christ, must not shut the door of hope to others especially the last, the least, and the lost. How willing am I to intimately follow the Lord? In what way can I become a more mature disciple of the Lord? SUNDAY 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading Num 11:25-29 Res. Psalm Psalm 18 2nd Reading James 5:1-6 Gospel Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 |
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