Collect for 3rd Sunday of Year C and Gospel Reflection

COLLECT SERIES

THE MASS 

The Collect for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C reads as follows:

Almighty ever- living God,

Direct our actions according to Your good pleasure,

That in the name of Your beloved Son,

We may abound in good works,

Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son,

Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.    What does God’s good pleasure mean to me?

2.    What actions will I direct to God’s good pleasure?

3.    What is meant by good works and how might I abound in them this coming week?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

The Gospel is from St. Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21. In the first four verses of St. Luke's Gospel which we hear at Mass, listen carefully to what is read. As you hear it read, find yoru reason to be grateful to St Luke. He went to considerable trouble in order to put in a permanent form, in a written record, the essential facts concerning Christ, his words and his works, so that we "would understand (like Theophilus) the certainty of the faith in which we have been instructed."

The remainder of the Gospel read at Mass today is

"Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all (Luke 4:14-15)."

A number of questions emerge when I read these 2 verses for pondering during this week.
1. What is our relationship with the Holy Spirit?

2.Do we rely on His power for our lives.?

3. What is the meaning of the power of the Holy Spirit to me?

4. How do I spread the good News of Jesus Christ in my life? How will I spread it this coming week>?

5.How well do we listen to the priest giving the homily- teaching us about the word of God and helping us to understand more.

6. How often do we grumble/ give praise to the priest for the content and delivery of His homily. 

And that is all from a couple of verses to give us food for thought and to take action.

As we begin another week, may we be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, abound in good works and  take action to spread the word of  God.