My Catholic Life! That may have been the experience of many during these Covid times. This is the carpenters son, surely? the usability. It always strikes me as strange that the gospel reading for his feast is taken from the longer ending of Mark which was probably a later addition to the gospel! Even those of us who have been baptized and who have come to believe in Jesus are being drawn more closely to Jesus by God the Father. The Lord continues to speak to us, to come to us, through his word today. and I know the Father; The Lord will not allow anything or anyone to come between himself and ourselves. We can make that same discovery. that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, The Eucharist is a very special expression of our communion with him and of his with us, but our communion with him is to extend beyond the Eucharist. He was sent because he was known to be a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. unless a man is born from above, A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. It was as if the risen Lord was creating him anew; his energies and gifts were being channelled in a new direction; he had become a new creation. The words of Jesus to Nicodemus in this mornings gospel reading are one of the strongest and most positive statements in the New Testament about God. The Lords words will always be life-giving for us. because I lay down my life In other words, it is in giving that we receive; it is in giving life that we receive life. The church has endured for over 2,000 years because it is from God. He was now alive with a new kind of life, and in that life he could come to his disciples wherever they were. We can always slip back into the mood of Good Friday, tentative about our relationship with the Lord, fearful of making it known. Indeed, we can all take heart from it, because there is something of Thomas in all of us. Jesus will do all in his power to keep us united with himself and to prevent us from being taken away from him or falling away from him. There are two ways of looking at gates. No-one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man who has come down from heaven. There are several stories in the gospels of people who go looking for Jesus. The most important decision we can make in life is to believe in the one whom God has sent into the world and allow that belief to shape the whole pattern of our life. Free Resources The Free Resources section provides information about the Carmelite Order, Spirituality and Catholicism. - 6:00 pm Dinner. Jesus immediately challenges him to take a much bigger step towards him; he calls on Nicodemus to allow himself to be born from above, to be born of water and the Spirit. This new life has an extraordinary impact on their lives from the moment the child is born. The risen Lord continues to pour out his Spirit into our hearts so that our lives may be Spirit-filled. As he says in his second letter to the Corinthians, the love of Christ urges us on. Todays gospel reading suggests that the Lord walks with us through life and listens when we share deeply with him. When we listen attentively to the Lords word, we are opening ourselves to Holy Spirit, and in the power of that Spirit we will be able to witness to our faith in the Lord with something of the courage shown by Peter and the apostles in todays first reading. There is a personal bond between the shepherd and this one sheep. We cannot control the Spirit of God; like the wind, it blows where it pleases, or where God pleases. Jesus is always calling us too to take some new step on our faith journey. This was what Paul came to realize when the risen Lord appeared to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Yet, the Lord had great plans for this persecutor of the church, but first he had to endure a period of blindness, during which this proud man was completely dependent on others, they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand. Any passage of Scripture can be used for this way of prayer but the passage should not be too long. Our website places 3rd party cookies from other 3rd party services which aren't Analytical, Social media or Advertising. He invites us to be honest with him, to share what is in our hearts, what is on our minds. In todays first reading it is was while the early church in Jerusalem was at prayer that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and in the strength of that Spirit began to proclaim the word of God boldly. They had a story they needed to tell and they told it to each other, and they listened to each others story. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them. She died at the age of thirty three. Life has triumphed over death!, and our own present experience. Jesus was looking beyond the group of Jewish disciples he had gathered. Our website uses analytical cookies to make it possible to analyze our website and optimize for the purpose of a.o. God gives him the Spirit without reserve. and no one can steal from the Father. The image from the Catacombs communicates a sense of the close personal connection that the shepherd has with his individual sheep. It was the time when the feast of Dedication was being celebrated in Jerusalem. The Carmelites of Australia and Timor-Leste are committed to the protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults from all forms of abuse and mistreatment. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. Catholic Daily Reflections - Today's Gospel Meditation for Mass Yes, it is my Fathers will Because it is a time of communion with the Lord, the church has always understood the Eucharist as the anticipation of eternal life. The words of Peter and the apostles to the high priest, Obedience to God comes before obedience to men, was a conviction which shaped the life of the first believers. She worked to persuade Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon. He was dependent on Ananias, a member of the church of Damascus, to receive back his sight, be baptized and received into the church. The Lord comes to us in the Eucharist to draw us to himself so that he can live in us and through us. Below you can choose which kind of cookies you allow on this website. Toggle Submenu for Novenas & Celebrations, National Shrine and Museum of St. Therese. In response, he looks to us for something of the same openness to being drawn displayed by the Ethiopian in our first reading. Like the early church in that first reading, we need to keep praying so as to open ourselves to the daily coming of the Spirit into our lives. Philips proclaiming of the gospel moved the Ethiopian to ask for baptism. That is what Jesus was asking of Nicodemus when he called upon him to be born of water and the Spirit. In other words, it is in giving that we receive; it is in giving life to others that we receive life and become fully alive ourselves. As he says in his letter to the Galatians, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. On one occasion he stood up to his fellow Pharisees and challenged them to give Jesus a proper hearing, declaring that this would be in keeping with the spirit of the Jewish Law. The light of Jesus is a light of love, the light of God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son. The Lord will do the rest. Catherine stood out as a beacon of light in a dark time in Europe and in the church. Sometimes our own grief, or anger, or deep disappointment, can cause us to head off in wrong directions too. The role of the shepherd was to give life to his flock, to protect them from harm and to lead them to pasture. It follows that the Lord will never call us to something that would result in a diminishment of life for ourselves or for others. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. The Lord points to that relationship to express something of his own relationship to us. It was St Irenaeus, one of the early theologians of the church, who said that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. I firmly believe that churches should be open as often and for as long as possible. This is one of the ways that friendships are formed and relationships take shape and deepen. That is why we treasure the books of the gospels so much, because if Jesus bears witness to God, the gospels bear witness to Jesus. In some mysterious way, Jesus worked with those few resources to feed the multitude. Nothing we do or fail to do will prevent the light of the gospel of Gods love from shining upon us, but we can chose to turn away from the light, to block it out, just as Judas left the presence of Jesus at the last supper and went out into the night. The spiritual person is the person whose life is shaped and directed by the Spirit. We depend on him especially when the wind is against us and the waters of life get stormy. If we become too attached to our way of telling the story, we can become blind to other ways of seeing and of understanding what has happened in our lives. Todays gospel reading assures us that the Lord understands a doubting, questioning, faith. Even if our relationship with the Lord seems tentative at times, Nicodemus encourages us to believe that it can become less so. In the first reading, Peter assures the churches he is addressing that even though they are having to suffer for their faith, the Lord will see that all is well again; he will confirm, strengthen and support you. When the Lord speaks about life to the full there, we might be inclined to think only in terms of eternal life, life beyond death. It has been said that to understand all is to forgive all. In group prayer, much will depend on the type of group. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that all who come to him have been drawn to him by the Father, No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me. Even when we turn from his presence, he remains present to us and will work with us as we strive to proclaim the gospel by our lives. Click on the underlined name below for the daily reflections. Jesus will go on to speak about the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood, which has even clearer Eucharistic overtones. He now knew that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah; he was the Son of God. We all have opportunities from time to time to create openings for people that allow the Lords work to be done. Read. Daily Scripture, May 1, 2023. This remains Gods work today, the work of gathering people together around his Son. It seems that it wasnt possible to lock the Lord out. In reality, Jesus was not just Nicodemus fellow teacher. Gamaliel said, in effect, that if this new movement is not from God, it will disappear, like so many other movements. Then, in response to the Lords greeting, the sceptical Thomas made one of the greatest confessions of faith in all four gospels, My Lord and my God. Reflections - Carmelite Spirit Reflections "But only now, with inward jubilee, I come upon earth's most amazing knowledge: someone is hidden in this dark with me." - Jessica Powers - Glorious Failure Embracing failure, imperfection, and incompleteness can be a spiritual practice that brings us closer to the heart of God in Jesus Christ. That is why we take Jesus so seriously, why we pay such close attention to what he does and says, to his life, death and resurrection. We speak of the Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. The self-assured Pharisee suddenly found himself completely dependent on others. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. Like the wind, the Spirit blows where it pleases; it blows where the Lord pleases. They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. This is in keeping with what Jesus says in todays gospel reading, Whoever comes to me I shall never turn away. In the first reading we have a good example of someone who bears witness to Jesus by his works. That new hope can generate new energy within us, moving us to take initiatives we might not otherwise have taken. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.. He highlighted in his gospel the failure of the disciples. The reflections are ordered by day and the reflection is available by clicking the writer's name. Jesus speaks about the wind in this mornings gospel reading. The Lord will always take the initiative towards us but he will never force himself upon us. When the risen Lord joined the two disciples, he first invited them to tell him what they had been talking about. There is a very early tradition in the church, which first surfaced in the early part of the second century, according to which Mark was a companion of Peter. A locked gate keeps people in and keeps others out. In todays gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the wind as having a mysterious quality. The Greek word translated obedience suggests attentive listening. Jesus was pleased that they came looking for him, but he wanted to refine their search. In this mornings gospel reading Jesus declares that he wants he wants his relationship with us his followers to be as close as his relationship with God his Father. Listening to the stranger opening up the Scriptures for them led them to the Eucharist. We can be distressed at the degree of doubt that we experience within ourselves, troubled that such doubts may even become more pronounced as we get older. In the world of Jesus, there were no sheepdogs to do the shepherds work for him. As Peter puts it in todays second reading, You did not see him, yet you love him. After a powerful, ecstatic experience of Christ in 1374, she commenced her public role, mediating in an armed conflict between the city of Florence and the Avignon-based papacy. Please check your email now and click the confirmation link to confirm your request. Telling the story helps us to come to terms with what has happened. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted. So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. for those whose sins you retain, Our ultimate salvation is much more the Lords doing than ours. Having come to know Jesus somewhat, he continues to draw us to himself. God the Father has entrusted everything to his Son. That is why we gather as a community of faith, in various settings, especially in the setting of the Eucharist. The story the stranger told the two travellers ended in the triumph of new life over death, Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory? This was the bigger story which the stranger told from the Scriptures and which complemented and completed the story of the two disciples. Jesus says to him that he needs to be born from above, to be born of the Spirit, if he is to see and enter the kingdom of God. Our emotions can dull our memories and cloud our reasoning. and my own know me, Do you remember the story of Elijah on the holy mountain of Sinai? He lifted the story of the two disciples into this bigger story of Gods faithful love. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Fathers hand. Our website places social media cookies to show you 3rd party content like YouTube and FaceBook. and learn from it, The risen Lord is present in the crucible of doubt, drawing us to himself, calling out to us as he called to Thomas, Doubt no longer but believe. Carmelites Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mary Mother of God. Sometimes, it is our very weakness that gives the Lord scope to work through us most fully, whereas when we are overconfident and too sure of our own ability and success we can block the Lord from working through us. Like Thomas, they may find it difficult to identify fully with those believers who acclaim with conviction, We have seen the Lord, and whose faith seems so much more assured than theirs. Barnabas was what we would call today, an enabler. So, according to Luke, great good came from the persecution of the church in Jerusalem. At some level we are all seekers or searchers. It was while Jesus was at prayer after his baptism that the Holy Spirit come down upon him. Like Nicodemus we can find ourselves at an impasse. In the estate where I lived as a child in Cabra, built in the early 1930s, all the houses had gates. There will always be the kind of tensions or storms within the church that we find in todays first reading. except the one who came down from heaven, The ruins of the city are still to be seen today. There is always going to be some tension between the Easter cry, Christ is risen! God never stops drawing us to his Son. There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. Having told the story to each other, the two disciples told it to the stranger who joined them on the road. He offered them the gift of his peace, the gift of his reconciling love. There is another way of looking at a gate. Our human resources, inadequate though they may be, matter a great deal to the Lord. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man once grown old be born again? Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them. The rapid expansion of new means of communication in recent decades can mean that we are on call more often. The evangelist, John, suggests that Jesus needed to be alone with God the Father who had sent him into the world. God alone endures; he is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, However, he also wants to bring us life here and now. When Jesus says in this mornings gospel reading, I am the gate, he is not really saying I am one gate among many. Believing in him is the one work that is required if that deeper hunger in our lives is to be satisfied, the hunger for a love that is unconditional, for forgiveness, for truth, for justice, for peace, ultimately, our hunger for God. Another purpose of a gate, however, is to provide access to an area. In Lukes second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, the risen Lord preaches the gospel again to the Samaritans through Philip, as described in our first reading, and on this occasion the Samaritans united in welcoming the message Philip preached. The second stage is meditatio (reflection) where we think about the text we have chosen and ruminate upon it so that we take from it what God wants to give us. There are other places which have been the destination of pilgrims for a much longer period of time, such as Santiago de Compostella. The risen Lord will always find a way for the gospel to be proclaimed, in spite of peoples best efforts to silence it. View the embedded image gallery online at: National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, https://www.carmelites.org.au/lectiodivina#sigProId061537aa3b, 25th Anniversary of Santa Cruz Massacre . The Lord spoke of himself as the good shepherd. I am often struck by a line in Saint Pauls letter to the churches in Galatia, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. The Jewish Sanhedrin were worried about the growing popularity of the disciples of Jesus. These cookies may track your personal data. If we listen to that story, if we are attentive to the word of the Lord, we will begin to recognize life where we thought there was only death, light where we thought there was only darkness. Having told the story to each other, the two disciples told it to the stranger who joined them on the road. As Jesus says in the gospel reading, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them. The Lord calls us to attend to ourselves, so that we can give of ourselves to others, so that we can be good shepherds. The painting conveys a sense of this powerful figure now rendered helpless before the risen Lord. It is with confidence that we can pray, Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts. not to condemn the world, He acknowledges Jesus as a teacher come from God. Paul once persecuted the Lord, but after his experience near Damascus, he went on to draw life from the Lord as he gather with other members of the church at the Eucharist. The Lord comes to us all in our moments of struggle, when we sense our vulnerability, our frailty, when a darkness of spirit threatens to engulf us. Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. Christopher LaRocca, OCD Ash Wednesday, February 22nd - Easter Sunday, April 9th You can also hear them from your phone and receive daily reminders by using the Carmelite Institute App. In the gospel reading, the Lord worked powerfully through the small amount of food that a young boy made available to him. Going out about nine o'clock, Daily Reflection Archives | E- Mail Us. Such communion, if entered into in faith, is an opportunity to draw life from the Lord. The journey of faith is not always straightforward. Having listened to the Lords story from the Scriptures, they pressed him to stay with them, because he appeared to be going on, It is nearly evening they said and the day is almost over.