March 22, 2013

Read It:
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”
And many there began to believe in him.

Reflect on It: There's great confusion today over whether Jesus is God. He's coming in the name of the Lord and this was SCANDALOUS. The things he's spoken are true and yet, everyone keeps trying to catch him in a lie. It's kind of rough to be Jesus right now, but he stands firm. Are you standing firm in the truth that Jesus speaks?

Pray about It: Lord, I know you sent your son in order that we might know you. To have eternal life and to be with you! Please let me always believe the things you're speaking into my heart. I love you!
Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Today, get yourself over to confession if you haven't been in a while. "The Lord never tires of forgiving us. It is us who tire of asking for forgiveness" Pope Francis (BOOM ROASTED!)

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March 21, 2013

Read It:
Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
So the Jews said to him,
“Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.
But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad.”
So the Jews said to him,
“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

Reflect on It: As we move closer to Holy Week, we see how

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March 20, 2013

Read It!
Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
A slave does not remain in a household forever,
but a son always remains.
So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
I know that you are descendants of Abraham.
But you are trying to kill me,
because my word has no room among you.
I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence;
then do what you have heard from the Father.”

They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works of Abraham.
But now you are trying to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God;
Abraham did not do this.
You are doing the works of your father!”
So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication.
We have one Father, God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here;
I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”


Reflect on It: The Truth will set you free. Are we people that live in the truth? Are we trying to be people who live in the light? Today, let the truth set you free.

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, you are the truth. Help me to live your love today.

Live It! Challenge: Today, do an examination of conscience before bed. How did you live in the light today?

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March 19, 2013: Solemnity of St. Joseph

Happy Feast Day of St. Joseph! Today is a day of celebration in the midst of our Lenten Fasting. It's a Solemnity, so today we celebrate the awesomeness.

Read It: (There are two gospel options today...I'm using this one for the blog)

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

Reflect on It: St. Joseph was a humble man tasked to be the earthly Father of Jesus. He was a righetous man who really gave his life to be about his son. He did not divorce Mary when she told him she was pregnant. He is someone who did exactly what the angel of the Lord told him to do. Imagine the pressure of living with the Incarnation and the Immaculate Conception! Two perfect people, and there's good old St. Joseph, loving and protecting and honoring his family. We do not hear alot about St. Joseph in Scripture after Jesus' infancy and then when Jesus is in the temple, and I think this is a true reflection of who St. Joseph was...a humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. He loved his family and he loved the Lord. May we have the same love and dedication to our family that he had to his.


Pray about it: Gracious Lord, help me to be small and humble like St. Joseph, but to have the gentle strength he had. I know he loved you and protected you. Help me to love you with his heart! St. Joseph, pray for us. Amen.

Live it! Challenge: Today, pray for your Father, whether he is an active or inactive part of your life. Then pray in thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father, for never leaving us.

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March 18, 2013

Read It:
Jesus spoke to them again, saying,
“I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
So the Pharisees said to him,
“You testify on your own behalf,
so your testimony cannot be verified.”
Jesus an
swered and said to them,
“Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified,
because I know where I came from and where I am going.
But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge by appearances, but I do not judge anyone.
And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid,
because I am not alone,
but it is I and the Father who sent me.
Even in your law it is written
that the testimony of two men can be verified.
I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.”
So they said to him, “Where is your father?”
Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father.
If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
He spoke these words
while teaching in the treasury in the temple area.
But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.


Reflect on It: Whoever follows him will have the light of life. Think about that for a second. If we follow the Lord, we walk always in his light. We don't just walk alone. He never leaves us, he walks with us, into his glorious light. Darkness has not overcome the light. No, light is present, light guides us and the light, never leaves us. Let's replace light with Jesus. He is the light of the world and we too are called to be light and life for others.

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, help me to be light and life like you are. I love you! Amen.


Live It! Challenge: Today do something that brings someone else out of the darkness.

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March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day.


Read About It:

Fifth Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 36

Reading 1 Is 43:16-21

Thus says the LORD,
who opens a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen,
a powerful army,
till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.
Wild beasts honor me,
jackals and ostriches,
for I put water in the desert
and rivers in the wasteland
for my chosen people to drink,
the people whom I formed for myself,
that they might announce my praise.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6

R. (3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Reading 2 Phil 3:8-14

Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

It is not that I have already taken hold of it
or have already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Gospel Jn 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Today, we hear a very familiar story of the woman caught in adultery. Sometimes because we have heard this reading so many times, we glaze over it. The truth of the matter is that this gospel is chock full of the goodness. Here we have Jesus not condemning a woman for her sinfulness, but instead forgiving her. I like to think about what her life was like after this encounter. Her life much have been radically different after this encounter with the Lord. His mercy, his compassion, his willingness to forgive. This is what the Savior of the world brings to us. Not condemnation, but simply mercy. Jesus says to the crowd, let he who is without sin, cast the first stone. Christ is without sin, could have done that, but instead, he forgives, not condemns. Some scholars say that this woman was Mary Magdalene, others just say it was a woman. Regardless of who she is, she in so many ways represents each of us. Instead of condemnation, we seek forgiveness.

Pray about It: Lord, today I ask that you forgive my sinfulness, that like the woman at the well, you look upon me with compassion and see my need for mercy, not condemnation.

Live It! Challenge: Today, offer mercy instead of condemnation in something small (what someone is wearing, the way they speak etc) and offer a prayer for them.

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March 16, 2013

Read It:
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Then each went to his own house.


Reflect on It: Who do you say that Jesus is?


Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, help me to never leave you.

Live It! Challenge: Access where you are this lent.

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