February 12, 2018
R. Reference Maccabees 12: 1-23
Strength is in unity –
A man who thinks only of himself is very
weak.
If an attacker comes, a dreaded disease,
how does he fen for himself when he
is wiped out.
Strength is in unity. Unity takes working
together and trusting others as brothers
in the Lord.
Relationships build strength.
When a man's whole life is bent on
himself and his independence,
and his doing what he wants –
how weak is that –
Our whole life should be seen as being
brothers under Christ – for is this
not what God wants of us – to be
brothers in Him –
Why would a creature fight the plan
of God who created him to love
Him and live in love and unity
with His brothers –
A man spent his whole life with his
goal to do what he wanted and
everybody around him bow
to him or get out of his space –
how weak is that man because
he sees not his own vulnerability
on this earth and how God created
us to be a network of love and
unity, depending on one another,
helping each other –
real brotherly love FROM our hearts –
How weak is a man who does not trust
or work with others in trust and unity
and love!
A wind can come and blow and
like a leaf blow off by itself and
who even cares.
Oh he was the man who was mean
to us. Children know such things –
Matthew 22:
36-40
‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said to
him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and
the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your
neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole
Law, and the Prophets too.’
Jesus: Have you not lived your life in
vain if you made yourself
the center of your life and
told everyone to "buzz off" or
tried to hurt them to act out
your ways of using them like
objects that were your enemies.
I called you to be brothers in
Christ. I called you in the Church
the body of Christ –
Why did you listen to satan and
wherever you went close down
in selfish pursuits –
You were created to love!
You were created to grow in
strength in unity –
Rejecting your Creator –
Rejecting God's Plan –
Walking an isolated angry path
is a fool –
You were created to unite and
work in love and trust with
your brother –
Finding a place to close everything
down for power is a
mad-man's game!!
Monday 6th Week Ordinary Time
James 1: 1-11
From James,
servant of
God and of
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ. Greetings to the twelve tribes of
the Dispersion. My brothers, consider it a
great joy when trials of many kinds come
upon you, for you well know that the testing
of your
faith
produces perseverance, and perseverance must
complete its work so that you
will become
fully developed, complete, not deficient in
any way. Any of you who lacks
wisdom must
ask God, who gives to all generously and
without scolding; it
will be
given. But the
prayer must
be made with faith, and no trace of doubt,
because a
person who
has doubts is like the waves thrown up in
the sea by the buffeting of the wind. That
sort of person, in two minds, inconsistent
in every activity, must not expect to
receive anything from the Lord. It is
right that
the brother in humble circumstances should
glory in
being lifted up, and the rich in being
brought low. For the rich
will last
no longer than the wild flower; the
scorching sun comes up, and the grass
withers, its flower falls, its beauty is
lost. It is the same with the rich: in the
middle of a busy life, the rich
will
wither.
Response
Psalm 119: 67-68, 71-72, 75-76
Before I was punished
I used to go astray,
but now I keep to your promise.
You are generous and act generously,
teach me your will.
It was
good for me that I had to suffer,
the better to learn your judgements.
The
Law you have uttered is more
precious to me
than all the wealth in the world.
I know, Yahweh, that
your judgements are upright,
and in punishing me you show your constancy.
Your faithful love must be my consolation,
as you have promised your servant.
John 14: 6
Jesus said:
I am the Way; I am Truth
and Life.
No one can come to the Father
except through me.
Mark 8: 11-13
The Pharisees came up and started a
discussion with him; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to put
him to the test. And with a profound sigh he said, ‘Why does this
generation demand a sign? In truth I tell you, no sign shall be
given to this generation.’ And, leaving them again, he re–embarked
and went away to the other side.
R. ENDURANCE under trial
Faith means we believe in the unseen God
is showing us – We see through the eyes of God.
We must try to live virtuously if we are
to imitate Jesus –
We must beg for grace and co-operate
with the grace to grow in virtue.
We live to follow in the footsteps of Jesus –
Our purpose in life is to live for the honor
and glory of God.
We want to let go of inordinate attachments
to pride and anger and jealousy, envy,
slothfulness, gluttony and lust.
We need to pray for clean hearts and
to live a holy life – ready to ask
for forgiveness and make amends
when we hurt God and others.
We need to live by the Father's will in love –
Seek the Father's will and do it because
we love God – we are under God –
we have a free will to obey God or not –
We are on a stage and God is watching
our performance 24/7.
We are sinful Fr. Carter says when
we are unloving to others –
Matthew 22:
36-40
‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said to
him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and
the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your
neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole
Law, and the Prophets too.’
James 1: 12-18
Blessed is
anyone who perseveres when trials come. Such
a
person is
of proven worth and
will win
the prize of life, the crown that the
Lord has
promised to those who love him. Never, when
you are being put to the test, say, 'God is
tempting me';
God cannot
be tempted by evil, and he does not put
anybody to the test. Everyone is put to the
test by being attracted and seduced by that
person's own wrong desire. Then the desire
conceives and gives birth to sin, and when
sin reaches
full growth, it gives birth to death. Make
no mistake about this, my dear brothers: all
that is good, all that is perfect, is given
us from above; it comes down from the Father
of all light; with him there is no such
thing as alteration, no shadow caused by
change. By his own choice he gave birth to
us by the message of the
truth so
that we should be a sort of
first-fruits
of all his creation.
Psalm 94: 12-15, 18-19
How blessed are those
you instruct, Yahweh,
whom you teach by means of your law,
to give them respite in
evil
times,
till a pit is dug for the wicked.
Yahweh
will not abandon his people,
he
will not
desert his heritage;
for judgement
will again become saving
justice,
and in its wake all upright hearts
will follow.
I need only say, 'I am
slipping,'
for your faithful love, Yahweh, to
support me;
however great the anxiety of my heart,
your consolations soothe me.
Matthew 11: 25
At that time Jesus exclaimed,
‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding
these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them
to little children.
R. When we have darkness in our hearts and
we lie to ourselves about our sins
and do not clean our hearts it
grows like yeast – in greater darkness –
Mark 8: 14-21
The disciples had
forgotten to take
any bread and they
had only one loaf
with them in the
boat. Then he gave
them this warning,
'Keep your eyes
open; look out for
the yeast of the
Pharisees
and the yeast of
Herod.' And they
said to one another,
'It is because we
have no bread.' And
Jesus
knew it, and he said
to them, 'Why are
you talking about
having no bread? Do
you still not
understand, still
not realise? Are
your minds closed?
Have you eyes and do
not see, ears and do
not hear? Or do you
not remember? When I
broke the five
loaves for the five
thousand, how many
baskets full of
scraps did you
collect?' They
answered, 'Twelve.'
'And when I broke
the seven loaves for
the four thousand,
how many baskets
full of scraps did
you collect?' And
they answered,
'Seven.' Then he
said to them, 'Do
you still not
realise?'
R. When we love Jesus Christ we are
ready to fight for Him. If we have turmoil,
anger, darkness, chaos and
confusion in our hearts, we will not
be ready to fight for God –
Being in one mind and one heart is
the focus of the Shepherds of Christ –
God wants love –
He is love –
God wants unity –
A person can have division in their hearts
from their past and keep working that
out on others –
In their unfinished business they can just
decide to punish, be divided and
live with that intention to do that.
That's what debris and division
can do to a heart –
This is not love –
This is not being an imitator of Jesus Christ.
Seeking division and anger acted out on
innocent others is sin –
God commands us to love our
neighbor as ourselves –
What we do to others – we do to Jesus.
If we are used to a divided, angry heart –
it's time to change – not continue
acting it out on innocent others –
it's sinful, it offends God and
it drives us away from Him –
Only in God can we be happy –
In obedience to God's will –
In obedience to authority over us –
The devil says –
Oh you can do what you want –
that's old-fashioned – justify
yourself – That is wrong
We are under God –
God must be first –
We can't put anger and sin before God –
We need to examine our conscience
and be accountable and responsible
before God for our sins –
We need to love
God is love –
We drive ourselves away from God
when we live in an unloving,
lying heart.
The golden rule –
"Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you" –
Wednesday is Ash Wednesday –
We receive ashes –
We receive ashes because we need
to repent for our sins –
God is merciful and forgiving, but
we must admit our sins and be sorry
for them – with a firm
purpose of amendment –
God is light and in Him is no darkness –
We need to pray for grace –
Jesus: Do penance – not for show – because
you are genuinely sorry for your sins.
Joel 2: 12-18
'But now — declares
Yahweh —
come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning.'
Tear your hearts and not your clothes,
and come back to Yahweh your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger, rich in faithful love,
and he relents about inflicting disaster.
Who knows if he will not come back,
relent
and leave a blessing behind him,
a cereal offering and a libation
to be presented to Yahweh your God?
Blow the ram's-horn
in Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly,
call the people together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even infants at the breast!
Call the bridegroom from his bedroom
and the bride from her bower!
Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh,
stand weeping between portico and altar,
saying, 'Spare your people, Yahweh!
Do not expose your heritage
to the contempt,
to the sarcasm of the nations!
Why give the peoples cause to say,
"Where is their God?" '
Then, becoming
jealous over his country,
Yahweh took pity on his people.
Sing: Hosea
Pray Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb
A
Prayer for Intimacy with the Lamb, the Bridegroom of the Soul
Oh Lamb
of God, Who take away the sins of the world, come and act on my soul
most intimately. I surrender myself, as I ask for the grace to let
go, to just be as I exist in You and You act most intimately on my
soul. You are the Initiator. I am the soul waiting Your favors as
You act in me. I love You. I adore You. I worship You. Come and
possess my soul with Your Divine Grace, as I experience You most
intimately.
Pray Prayer for Union –
Prayer for Union
with Jesus
Come to me, Lord, and possess my
soul. Come into my heart and permeate my soul. Help me to sit in silence
with You and let You work in my heart.
I am Yours to possess. I am Yours to
use. I want to be selfless and only exist in You. Help me to spoon out all
that is me and be an empty vessel ready to be filled by You. Help me to
die to myself and live only for You. Use me as You will. Let me never draw
my attention back to myself. I only want to operate as You do, dwelling
within me.
I am Yours, Lord. I want to have my
life in You. I want to do the will of the Father. Give me the strength to
put aside the world and let You operate my very being. Help me to act as
You desire. Strengthen me against the distractions of the devil to take me
from Your work.
When I worry, I have taken my focus
off of You and placed it on myself. Help me not to give in to the
promptings of others to change what in my heart You are making very clear
to me. I worship You, I adore You and I love You. Come and dwell in me
now.
-God's Blue Book, January 17, 1994
Sing: Be merciful, Oh Lord, for we have
sinned.
R. We must tell God we are sorry for sin
and be reconciled to Him –
2
Corinthians 5: 20 - 6: 2
So we are ambassadors
for Christ; it is as though God were urging
you through us, and in the name of Christ we
appeal to you to be reconciled to God. For
our sake he made the sinless one a victim
for sin, so that in him we might become the
uprightness of God.
As his fellow-workers, we
urge you not to let your acceptance of his
grace come to nothing. As he said, 'At
the time of my favour I have answered you;
on the day of salvation I have helped you';
well, now is the real time of favour, now
the day of salvation is here.
Jesus: Do Good works, be holy. Do good works
not to show others, but to
serve God.
You are to love and help one another
to do My work of helping to
build My Kingdom – with a
holy heart of love – of co-operation –
of caring for your brothers and
for your salvation and helping
others to get to heaven –
Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18
'Be careful not to parade your
uprightness in public to attract attention;
otherwise you
will lose all
reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give
alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is
what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets to win human admiration. In
truth I tell you,
they have had their reward. But when you give alms,
your left hand must not know what your
right is doing;
your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who
sees all that is done in
secret
will reward you.
'And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites:
they love to say their
prayers standing up
in the synagogues and at the street corners for
people to see them. In
truth I tell you,
they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to
your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to
your Father who is in that
secret place, and
your Father who sees all that is done in
secret
will reward you.
'When you are
fasting, do not put on a gloomy look as the
hypocrites do: they go about looking unsightly to
let people know they are fasting. In
truth I tell you,
they have had their reward. But
when you fast, put scent on your head and wash your
face, so that no one will know you are fasting
except your Father who sees all that is done in
secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in
secret will reward you.
Sing: Hosea
R. Heal our sins God –
Help us to grow in holiness
Outpour Your grace
Forgive our sins and have mercy.
A religious community should set themselves
apart from the worldliness of the world.
In a religious community there should
be holiness, obedience, unity,
peace and love –
R. Intensified prayer life – praying for
the priests, the Church and the world.
R. We are to be witnesses of holiness,
imitators of Jesus in example
before men – imitators in our hearts –
pure of heart –
Be zealous, enthusiastic about our
calling from God –
Not Slothful!!
R. Mighty Medicine
R. Here is our Lenten program –
the first 4 Masses of Lent
We concentrate on our soul –
We do not focus on the worldly
things.
Sing: Life or Death
Choose life! !
Psalm 1: 1-2, 3, 4, 6
How blessed is anyone who
rejects the advice of the wicked
and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread,
nor a seat in company with cynics,
but who delights in the law of Yahweh
and murmurs his law day and night.
Such a one is like a tree
planted near streams;
it bears fruit in season
and its leaves never wither,
and every project succeeds.
How different the wicked, how different!
Just like chaff blown around
by the wind
For
Yahweh watches over the path of
the upright,
but the path of the wicked is doomed.
R. We must die to those things that
are worldly –
Every action is to be performed
with our eternal life in mind.
We must take up our cross and
follow Jesus –
Luke 9: 22-25
He said, 'The Son of man is destined to suffer
grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and
scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third
day.'
The condition of following Christ
Then, speaking to all, he said, 'If anyone wants
to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his
cross every day and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life
will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, will save
it. What benefit is it to anyone to win the whole world and forfeit
or lose his very self?
R. We have a duty in a religious vocation
to be examples of Christ and
under obedience build up
the community and organization.
We must atone for our sins,
our neglect, our lies,
anger, division, unloving ways,
creating turmoil for meanness –
We cannot produce disorder or use
force on others to deal with
our disobedience to tear apart
an organization God has set up.
We have an obligation, a duty
to follow in the footsteps
of Jesus!! Godly example.
Fasting can be fasting from anger,
discord, pride, attention,
power – bringing chaos and confusion.
Fasting from disobedience. Be loving, doing
the will of God with a holy heart.
Isaiah 58: 1-9
Shout for all you are worth,
do not hold back,
raise your voice like a trumpet.
To my people
proclaim their rebellious acts,
to the House of Jacob, their sins.
They seek for me day after day,
they long to know my ways,
like a nation that has acted uprightly
and not forsaken the law of its God.
They ask me for laws that are upright,
they long to be near God:
'Why have we fasted, if you do not see,
why mortify ourselves if you never notice?’
Look, you seek your own pleasure
on your fastdays
and you exploit all your workmen;
look, the only purpose of your fasting
is to quarrel and squabble
and strike viciously with your fist.
Fasting like yours today
will never make your voice heard on high.
Is that the sort of fast that pleases me,
a day when a person
inflicts pain on himself?
Hanging your head like a reed,
spreading out sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call fasting,
a day acceptable to Yahweh?
Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me:
to break unjust fetters,
to undo the thongs of the yoke.
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break all yokes?
Is it not sharing your food with the hungry,
and sheltering the homeless poor;
if you see someone lacking clothes,
to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own kin?
Then your light will blaze out
like the dawn
and your wound be quickly healed over.
Saving justice will go ahead of you
and Yahweh’s glory come behind you.
Then you will cry for help
and Yahweh will answer;
you will call and he will say, ‘I am here.’
If you do away with the yoke,
the clenched fist and malicious words,
Matthew 9: 14-15
Then John’s disciples came to him and
said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples
do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot
mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them? but the time
will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they
will fast.
R. Self-control, discipline –
moderation in one's willful,
selfish behavior –
Praying to clean one's heart of
hatred, anger, unforgiveness –
DISCIPLINE
DOING GOD'S WILL
IN LOVE
Jesus: Doing God's work and not
creating turmoil for
attention, power, wasting
time, selfish, self-enclosure.
Repentance for sins, unloving ways!!
Asking God for forgiveness with a
sincere heart –
ready to make recompense for
damage done –
Isaiah 58: 9-14
Then you
will cry
for help and
Yahweh
will
answer; you
will call
and he
will say,
'I am here.' If you do away with the yoke,
the clenched fist and malicious words, if
you deprive yourself for the hungry and
satisfy the needs of the afflicted, your
light
will rise
in the darkness, and your darkest hour
will be
like noon. Yahweh
will always
guide you,
will
satisfy your needs in the scorched land; he
will give
strength to
your bones and you
will be
like a watered garden, like a flowing spring
whose waters never run dry. Your ancient
ruins
will be
rebuilt; you
will build
on age -- old foundations. You
will be
called 'Breach-mender', 'Restorer of streets
to be lived in'. If you refrain from
breaking the Sabbath, from taking your own
pleasure on my holy day, if you call the
Sabbath
'Delightful', and the day sacred to
Yahweh 'Honourable',
if you
honour it
by abstaining from travel, from seeking your
own pleasure and from too much talk, then
you
will find
true
happiness
in Yahweh, and I shall lead you in triumph
over the heights of the land. I shall feed
you on the heritage of your father Jacob,
for the mouth of
Yahweh has
spoken.
R. Repairer of the breach
Sing: Change Our Hearts
Luke 5: 27-32
When he went out
after this, he noticed a tax collector, Levi
by name, sitting at the tax office, and said
to him, 'Follow me.' And leaving everything
Levi got up and followed him. In his
honour Levi
held a great reception in his house, and
with them at table was a large gathering of
tax collectors and others. The
Pharisees
and their
scribes
complained to his disciples and said, 'Why
do you eat and drink with tax collectors and
sinners?' Jesus said to them in reply, 'It
is not those that are well who need the
doctor, but the sick. I have come to call
not the upright but sinners to repentance.'
Jesus: Self-Denial, Discipline
Romans 13: 12
The night is nearly over,
daylight is on the way; so let us throw off everything that
belongs to the darkness and equip ourselves for the light.
Psalm 51: 12, 14
Give me back the joy of your
salvation,
sustain in me a generous spirit.
Deliver me from bloodshed, God,
God of my salvation,
and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
Psalm 95: 8
Do not harden your hearts as at
Meribah,
as at the time of Massah in the desert,
Ezekiel 18: 31
Shake
off all the crimes you have
committed, and make yourselves a new
heart and a new spirit! Why die,
House of Israel?
Ezekiel 33: 11
Say to them, "As I live -- declares the
Lord
Yahweh -- I do not take pleasure in
the death of the wicked but in the
conversion of the wicked who
changes his ways and saves his life. Repent, turn back from your
evil ways. Why die, House of
Israel?"
