Episodes
Thursday Jul 30, 2015
August 2 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Food that lasts for ever
Thursday Jul 30, 2015
Thursday Jul 30, 2015
First Reading Exodus 16:2–4,
12–15
The Lord feeds the Israelites with manna
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 78:3–4,
23–24, 25, 54
A song of praise to God for his deeds to Israel.
Second Reading Ephesians 4:17,
20–24
Christians become a new creation in Christ.
Gospel Reading
John 6:24–35
Jesus tells the crowd in this week’s Gospel that they are following him for the wrong reasons. They seek him because he filled their bellies. The Israelites, too, were content to follow God so long as there was plenty of food. Food is the most obvious of signs—because it is the most basic of our human needs. We need our daily bread to live. But we cannot live by this bread alone. We need the bread of eternal life that preserves those who believe in him. The manna in the wilderness, like the bread Jesus multiplied for the crowd, was a sign of God’s Providence—that we should trust that he will provide. These signs pointed to their fulfillment in the Eucharist, the abundant bread of angels we sing about in this week’s Psalm. This is the food that God longs to give us. This is the bread we should be seeking. But too often we don’t ask for this bread. Instead we seek the perishable stuff of our everyday wants and anxieties. In our weakness we think these things are what we really need.
Wednesday Jul 22, 2015
July 26 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: To place in the hands of Jesus
Wednesday Jul 22, 2015
Wednesday Jul 22, 2015
First Reading 2 Kings 4:42-44
Elisha the prophet feeds 100 people with 20 barley loaves.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 145:10-11,15-16,17-18
The Lord feeds his people and answers their needs.
Second Reading Ephesians 4:1-6
The Ephesians are encouraged to live the unity of their Baptism.
Gospel Reading
John 6:1-15
Today’s readings invite us to look into our hearts and to ask ourselves
this question: How much of our lives and our resources are we currently placing
in the hands of Jesus to do with as he wishes? Like the boy in today’s Gospel
who gave Jesus the little he had we too are called to place what we have in His
hands: our time, our talent, our prayers, our sacrifices, our resources and He
will use in a way that will exceed our greatest expectations. He will multiply
them beyond anything we dreamed of, Just as he did the boy’s loaves and fish.
Little is always much in the hands of the Lord.
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
July 19 - Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: work and prayer
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
First Reading Jeremiah 23:1-6
The Lord promises to shepherd his people Israel.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 23:1-3,3-4,5,6
The Lord is our shepherd.
Second Reading Ephesians 2:13-18
Christ has reconciled us with God and united us in peace.
Gospel Reading
Mark 6:30-34
Wednesday Jul 08, 2015
July12 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Called and Sent
Wednesday Jul 08, 2015
Wednesday Jul 08, 2015
First Reading Amos 7:12-15
The prophet Amos is sent from Bethel.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm
85:9-10,11-12,13-14
A prayer for the Lord's salvation
Second Reading Ephesians 1:3-14 (
shorter form Ephesians 1:3-10)
Paul teaches that we were chosen for Christ before the creation of the world.
Gospel Reading
Mark 6:7-13
We see in the first reading how Amos was chosen from the South to go to the North to be the “mouth piece of God”. In the same way Jesus “summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs” (Mk 6:7). One important aspect of the three-year earthly ministry of Jesus was that he formed a community of disciples. All the gospels mention the Twelve apostles, and the gospel of Luke even talks about a larger community of 72 others (Lk 10:1). We have been brought to life with a purpose. We are “called” in order to be “sent out” for a special mission which we need to discover as we mature in our faith. Blessed John Henry Newman says that “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another”. Let us ask God’s grace to discover our mission.
Thursday Jul 02, 2015
July 5 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: to Reject and to be rejected
Thursday Jul 02, 2015
Thursday Jul 02, 2015
First Reading Ezekiel 2:2-5
The Lord sends the prophet Ezekiel to the Israelites.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 123:1-2,3-4
A prayer to God for mercy
Second Reading 2 Corinthians
12:7-10
Paul bears insults and weakness for the sake of Christ.
Gospel Reading
Mark 6:1-6
Shortly after He began His public ministry, Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth but it was far from being a happy homecoming. They gave Him the cold shoulder and He ended up leaving Nazareth never to return. Why? It was because they could not believe that God could come in ordinary ways. When God came in human flesh they could not accept him because that story was ‘too good to be true”. Evasion and avoidance have not been limited to the people of Jesus’ own hometown. Jesus might pass without my realizing it and He might pass without my being ready to welcome Him. Today’s Gospel also tells us another point: that those who want to serve must be ready to go through the experience of rejection because “we don’t grow when things are easy but we grow when we face challengers”. Something positive always comes out of something negative. Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze us but they're supposed to help you discover who you are.