Thursday, April 19, 2018

Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 66:8-9, 16-17, 20, John 6:44-51

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;

whoever eats this bread will live forever. Jn 6:51

Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 66:8-9, 16-17, 20, John 6:44-51


Acts 8:26-40

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

The Apostles provide a model that we are called to imitate by our own call to discipleship and mission. First and foremost we must listen in order to hear You speak to us. Once we receive direction from the Holy Spirit our response must be one of prompt obedience. God had already planned that the eunuch who was truly seeking would find the answer by sending Philip to him.

The eunuch was an important official in the Ethiopian court and he was chosen to bear the Good News to a new country. He was reading the prophet Isaiah and the chapter on the Suffering Servant. He did not understand what he read as he did not know about whom the prophet was writing. When we are struggling to understand Scripture we have the deposit of Faith in the Catholic Church to help us understand. Philip opened his mind to understand Scripture in the way that You had taught Your disciples. He proclaimed You to him using this Scripture text that the eunuch was reading as his starting point. 

Here again is another insight into how we too can evangelize. We accompany the person beginning from where he or she is at and go on from there. We must trust the Holy Spirit to provide the direction. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to lead to conversion.

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who will tell of his posterity?
For his life is taken from the earth.


Once the eunuch understood and believed the natural outcome was to desire baptism. Philip baptized him and the newly baptized Christian, strengthened in his new found faith, went back home rejoicing. He in turn evangelized and made You known and loved in Ethiopia.


Each of us has already been given a mission from the moment we were conceived. It is up to each one of us to cooperate with the graces given to us from Baptism and all through our lives and to preach the Good News by the way we live our lives.

Psalm 66:8-9, 16-17, 20

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

Praise must be the language of all God's people. We are an Easter people and our song is Alleluia as St. John Paul II has said. Our lips must constantly confess what You in Your goodness have done for us. How You have saved us from the jaws of death and crushed the devourer under Your heel.

You have given each of us an angel so we do not slip and if we do You have given us the means by which we can return to the fold through Confession. We have to be aware of the blessings that You pour upon us from the moment we were first conceived. When we praise You Beloved our own souls are lifted with joy and filled with gladness and gratitude. You become present in our lives as we count our blessings. Thank You for always being attuned to my prayers and for answering every one of them perhaps not always in the way I desired but in the way that was for my good.

Blessed be God who refused me not
my prayer or his kindness!


John 6:44-51

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

From the beginning of Your mission, after You were baptized in the river Jordan, You preached the Good News of God's love. You revealed to all who came to You that God was our Father and that it was He who sent You into the world in order that we too may know Him, love Him, and believe that it was He who sent You to save us.

God our Father sent You into the world in order to fulfill what the prophets said, 

They shall all be taught by God.

We need grace in order to listen to the Father and be drawn to You. This is why You sent Your Holy Spirit as our Helper, Protector, Guide, and our Paraclete. He opens our minds to understand the Truth to believe and receive eternal life.

You reveal to the crowds who have come in search of You after You performed the miracle of the loaves and fish, that it is You Yourself who is the Bread of Life. Unlike the manna that their ancestors ate and were hungry again, those who eat Your Flesh will never know hunger again for Your Flesh gives life to the world. Demons tremble for they know they have lost and this is why we have such depravity in the world today where every divine principle is being scorned, mocked and trivialized.  But this is God's world - He, its Creator, You, its Redeemer and the Holy Spirit, its Sanctifier. We know the end of the story. You Beloved, are victorious. You have triumphed. We are saved.

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