December 7, 2013: Feast of St. Ambrose

Read It:
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

Reflect on It:
Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give...I think sometimes this piece of Scripture trips me up more than any other. Without cost, I'm called to give: of my time, of my life, of all sorts of things....I have been given so much and I should be giving even more. What have you been given without cost?

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, the harvest is abundant, and the laborers are few. Help me always to give myself to you without counting the cost, because your burden is light and your yoke is easy. Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Today, cross off one item from your Christmas list that you really, really want. Instead give something to someone else.

Read More

December 6, 2013

Read It:

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
"Son of David, have pity on us!"
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
"Do you believe that I can do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
"Let it be done for you according to your faith."
And their eyes were opened.
Jesus warned them sternly,
"See that no one knows about this."
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

Reflect on It:

In today's gospel, we see that Jesus asks the blind men if they believe that they can be healed. I think we often struggle with this question...Do we REALLY believe that Jesus can heal us? Really and truly. I know there are things in the depths of my heart that I wonder if the Lord can truly heal. Can he truly heal the ugliness of my sin, of the darkness that sometimes resides in the depths of my being? These men were healed because they believed. Jesus is quick to say, let it be done for you according to your faith. Would we be able to be healed based on our faith? Advent is about allowing the Lord in, preparing for him and making sure that we TRULY believe that the savior of the world is coming on December 25th and that he can and will give us everything we need to be with him in eternity. He desires to heal the darkness of sin and give us newness of life. This should wreck us with delight. In a few weeks, the Lord of healing, in the form of a child is going to grace us with his presence and all can be healed. May our faith save us.

Pray about It: God Our Father, we long to be healed by your son. Today, help us to be men and women who truly believe that he can do it and to look forward to the coming of our King.

Live It! Challenge: Read through the Announcement and Birth of Christ in the Gospel of Luke (Chapters 1 and 2)

Read More

December 5, 2013

Read It:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

Reflect on It: What is interesting about today's gospel is not that it says if the rain comes, it says, "The rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew". Here is some breaking news: There will be rain. There will be floods and there will be wind! The Lord promises us all of these, but the important part is how you respond to them. One man, the wise man, built his house on rock (the rock...Jesus...it's all coming together now!) and the fool, built his on sand (things of this world). The goal is not for us to be completely ruined when the rain and wind and floods come. Christ, our king is coming in three weeks. Are we built on Him? Will this rock our world? It should. Work to build your life on the rock.

Pray about It: Sweet Jesus, help us to be wise men and women who build our lives on you. Let us be strong enough to not have our lives be completely ruined when the rain, floods and wind comes. Thank you for being who I build my life upon.

Live It! Challenge: Eliminate something in your life that makes you be built on the sand.

Read More

December 4, 2013

Read It:
At that time:
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,
went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the deformed made whole,
the lame walking,
and the blind able to see,
and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place
to satisfy such a crowd?”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

Reflect on It:

What I love about this passage is that Jesus meets the needs of those around him. He sees that they have been there for a long time and are hungry and he wants to make sure that they are fed. That's who Jesus is...he meets the needs of those right in front of him. I love it! Then, he asks the disciples to go get the food that they have and it's multiplied. God is so good. I think that in this, I see that the Lord of the universe always provides...he saw how important it was to feed them before they went any further. I think some times, we ask the Lord for such lofty things, and truly, he sees that what we need first is to be fed. Today, let's be men and women who can trust that the Lord will feed us.

Pray about It: Lord, help me to see that you will always feed me when I'm most in need. Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Today, meet the needs of someone at school or work.

Read More

December 3, 2013

Read It:
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Reflect on It: Blessed are the eyes that see what you see...People desire to know Christ, to see him at work in their lives. So often, we see Christ and disregard him. Through the gracious will of the Father, we are able to have his son in the form of a human. A man who comes to redeem the world. Are you ready for that blessed day?

Pray about it: Father, help me to see you with the eyes of Faith. Help me to see Advent as a time of preparation.

Live It! Challenge: Today, in order to prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord, do something kind for another person

Read More

December 2, 2013: First Monday of Advent

Read It:
When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."
He said to him, "I will come and cure him."
The centurion said in reply,
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, "Go," and he goes;
and to another, "Come here," and he comes;
and to my slave, "Do this," and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
"Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.

Reflect on it: In this gospel, we see the words that we say in the Eucharistic prayer as our response: Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, only say the word and my soul shall be healed. On this first Monday of Advent, we see that we are HARDLY worthy to have the Lord enter our hearts and our lives this Christmas, which leads to the question of if you have prepared a place in your heart for him? As we Christmas approaches, is there space? Are we preparing for him the way we would prepare for any other guest? I hope so.

Pray about it: Sweet Jesus, as Advent starts, help me to realize how truly good you are to want to enter under my roof and it means to have you as an active part of my life. Help me to be ready and to watch for you this Advent.

Live It! Challenge: Today, pray through the words: "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, for only say the word and my servant will be healed". What is the Lord saying to you in that?

Read More

First Sunday of Advent

Read It:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Reflect on It:
Today, the first day of Advent, we see that we are being called to stay awake, to be alert. We are called to be people who wait. We always wait on the Lord, even when we're not comfortable with this waiting. It might be hard, but we are made for the next world, not this world. We have to stay awake and be alert. I think there are a lot of things we miss from the busyness of our lives. If we knew the hour that our house was going to be robbed, we would stay home...we wouldn't go out.  This is what we should be like...I'm not saying never go out, what I am saying is that we have to be ready for the Lord to come today. Don't wait for confession, don't wait for the craziness, go now and be ready for the Lord. Stay alert.

Pray about it: Lord, help me to live today like it's your second coming. I want to be ready and alert for you when you come back. Help me to live your love today. Amen.

Live it! Challenge: Today, think about one way you can ready yourself for Christ and what he is asking from you in order to be ready for his coming again. Do that thing.

Read More