Collect for 29th Sunday of Yr B

COLLECT SERIES

COLLECT

The Collect for the 29th Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

Almighty ever- living God,

grant that we may always conform our will to Yours,

and serve Your majesty with sincerity of heart.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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

1. What does God's will mean to me?

2.  How can I conform my will to God's will this coming week?

3. What areas in my life are not in conformity to God's will?

4. What area of my life will I change this coming week towards conformity to God's
     will?

5. How can I serve God's majesty this coming week?

6. What does it mean to have a sincere heart and to serve with a sincere heart?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Today's Gospel reminds us that The Son of Man came to give His life for the ransom of all.  In other words, God gave His only Son to the world to save all of us.
This is momentous when we think of it- God allowing His only Son to come into the world as a human like us in all things except sin.  Jesus knew joy and sadness, happiness and tears, knew the pain of grief when He lost His good friend Lazarus.  He knew the frustrations of life- the disappointments and the good times as well. He knew and experienced it all.

Despite His human fear, He still suffered grievously at the hands of humanity  who tortured Him and provided the worse possible death that could be offered- crucifixion.

Yet, in 3 days rose again- not just for Himself so that we too could share in the transformation and be able to enter Heaven too.  His death and resurrection provided healing for the evil our first parents had done for humanity.  His death and resurrection had cancelled the debt and provided us with a fresh start.

How often do we meditate on this enormous gift that God provided for us?  How often do we think of the sufferings of Christ and what they mean to us?   Do we feel uncomfortable and gloss over it knowing that the resurrection provided new life?

Perhaps as we listen to the Gospel  at Mass, we could hear the words with fresh ears and with fresh insight.  Perhaps look around at the congregation and remember every person in your parish/congregation was saved by Christ.  Every person you meet during the week is also saved by Christ.

We also want to acknowledge our gratitude to God for such a great gift.  We should not take His gift to humanity for granted. We need to accept that Christ suffered and died and rose again for ME.  Fill our hearts again with gratitude and know in our hearts that even if there was only one person on earth, Jesus still would have suffered, died and rose out of love for that person.  He suffered, died and rose again so that we could live life abundantly in His grace.

When I think of Christ's priceless gift, I often think of a hymn to sing- mostly How Great thou Art- the third and 4th verse actually speak to me most.  Perhaps this may help your meditation during the week too.

Collect for 27th Sunday of Yr B

COLLECT SERIES

COLLECT

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

The Collect for the 27th Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

Almighty ever-living God,

who in the abundance of Your kindness 

surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you,

pour out Your mercy upon us

to pardon what conscience dreads

and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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

1. How has God shown you the abundance of His kindness in my life?

2. How will i show God gratitude for His kindness in my life (past) and this coming
    week?

3. How do I recognise God's abundant kindness?

4. In what areas of my life do I need His mercy?

5. Name specifically what my conscience dreads (from the past) and presently?

6.  What do I hope God will give me, which I have not dared to ask in prayer?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

In today's Gospel, Jesus provides His teaching on marriage. God's plan is for a man or woman to marry for life as He quotes the book of Genesis (1:27,2:24).  Jesus provides His disciples who follow ''His way'' a clear ideal of marriage as a lifelong commitment to each other. Lifelong fidelity to each other in marriage by disciples becomes part their response in faith to God's powerful action in the world.  Living as disciples, trying like Jesus to walk His 'walk' as little one before God's power, can be the source of a fidelity in marriage that will last.

The Catholic teaching on marriage is that it is covenant between the 2 people- a man and a woman since both sexes complement each other and have an important role to play in bringing up children from the marriage.

Unfortunately, many marriages (including Catholic) end up in divorce.  This can be for a whole range of reasons including infidelity from one or both partners, abusive relationships.  lack of communication skills which causes many misinterpretations and understanding.

This does not mean that the Sacrament of Marriage in the Church should be changed or watered down. After all, Jesus in this scripture is actually raising the topic of respect of women.  In those times adultery was an injustice which a woman committed against her husband or a man committed against another man through that other man's wife.

For Jesus divorce and remarriage among His disciples by either a man or woman, points to a lack of faith in God, an evil like the infidelity of adultery itself.

Psalm 127 response: May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives also fits in well with the certainty of God's ever loving care for us and consolidates this from the Collect.  It also acts as a prayer for us during the week, especially when we need extra assurance that God will is with us.

A beautiful piece of music "The Lord Bless you and keep you" by Rutter  is  provided to add to your reflective thoughts this week.

Collect for 26th Sunday Year B:

COLLECT SERIES

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT

The Collect for the 26th Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

O God who manifest Your almighty power

above all by showing pardoning and mercy

bestow, we pray, your abundant grace upon us

and make those hastening to attain Your promise

heirs to the treasures of Heaven.

 REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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

1.How has God shown to me His almighty power in my life? 

2. How might God manifest in my life this coming week?

3. What areas in my life do I need God's almighty power to manifest?

4. How has God shown me pardon and mercy and how might I show others this same pardon and mercy this coming week?

5. What would it mean to me to have abundance grace bestowed on me. What difference would it make to my life this coming week?

6. Am I hastening to attain God's promise of the treasures of Heaven?  

7. Am I proactive in my pursuit of it or do I expect that God will deliver and I do not need to do anything at all.

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Today's Gospel from Mark (9:38-48) is challenging on a number of fronts.  However, Jesus is really inviting His disciples (and us) to be proactive in our pursuit of the Kingdom.  Essentially, we cannot be fence sitters when it comes to the things of God and our relationship with Him.  If we are fence sitters, then we are backing ourselves (and fooling ourselves) to have a foot in both camps. When we fence sit, we do not make a decision either way and our behaviours become wishy-washy and indecisive and eventually fade into nothing.

What Jesus is insisting upon in this gospel with His disciples is that a clear commitment is made and that where there are trouble spots in their lives that they address it radically.  Jesus is not suggesting self-mutilation literally by plucking out our eyes or ripping off our hands but the imagery is very intense.  Jesus therefore in this gospel invites us to look at our lives and focus our attention to these areas which need His abundant grace, ask Him for this grace and be proactive in pursuing God's way in our lives.

The Responsorial Psalm response"the precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart''  provide also food for thought during the week.  How true is this response for us in our lives?  Perhaps, in times of temptation, this response could be used as a prayer and to help us focus our attention back to God.  Perhaps in times of worry and anxiety, we can use it prayerfully to give us courage.

 So as we attend Holy Mass this weekend, let us listen carefully to the readings. Let us be inspired and moved to put God first place in our lives in every way.  We may wish to consider a particular area which needs God's abundance grace and work with full commitment to change the attitude/behaviour or circumstance which is less than what God wants.  

God is inviting us this week to recommit fully to Him whatever it takes.  God is merciful and waiting for us to return to Him.  God is ready to pardon our sins and absolve us in the sacrament of Reconciliation and for us to receive His grace.  This can be a very good first step toward commitment to God fully. God loves us and is always waiting to give us His abundant grace.  Whether we have received the sacrament years ago or just last week, we can always receive God's pardon, absolution and abundant grace in this sacrament. The grace we receive each time we attend this sacrament helps us fight our weakness and gives us grace to choose God's way.  Why would we not accept this wonderful assistance that God provides for us through His Church.

With full commitment and focus, we will be able to truly say in our hearts" the precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart''. and we will be hastening to attain God’s promise heirs to the treasures of Heaven.

                                             May we pray for each other as 

Collect for 25th Sunday of Year:

COLLECT SERIES

COLLECT

The Collect for the 25th Sunday of the Year reads as follows:

  "O God who founded all the commands of Your Sacred Law

upon love of You and of our neighbour,

grant that, by keeping your precepts,

we may merit to attain eternal life.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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

1.What are the commands of God's sacred law?  Do I know them?

2. How might I get to know God's commands more during this week?

3. What is the cost/benefits of keeping the precepts and commands of God's sacred  
    law?

4.  Reflect upon my life right now- am I ready for eternal life?  

5.  What aspects in my life do i need to change to be ready for eternal life?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Normally in my posts in this series, I reflect upon the Gospel of the Day.  However, today I would like to reflect upon the Responsorial Psalm.  The response in psalm 53 for Mass is:

The Lord upholds my life.

I would like to focus on these words.  Of course, read the whole psalm meditatively.  However, let's examine these words and make them our own this week.

The question arises do I believe these words in my heart? Is God first place in my life?
We can believe these words when our lives seem to be going well.  Yes, it is reasonably easy to say then ''The Lord upholds my life"' or we can be tempted to think that we have created our own success at work, buying the new house/ car, getting a promotion/new job.  It is even possible to let God slip from our lives. We might even say we don’t need God- I am creating my own success.  However, as we know none of this is possible without God. He wills for our lives since we are His children. He is upholding our lives when things are going well. We need to keep Him first place and praise Him constantly for all the good He is doing in our lives.

However, what happens to us when things are not going well. We feel stressed and we can even blame God or we might even say: ’God, where are you or why don’t you care God''.  However, God does care and He upholds our lives in the difficult times.  He helps us through the difficulty and gives us courage to face our enemy (addiction, people who bad mouth us, financial stress, loss of business, health issues etc).  What is your enemy right now? Name it and take it to God in prayer and ask Him to help you to realise in a deeper way that He is upholding my life.  During the day when we are facing the difficulties, we need to stop and say in our hearts'' The Lord upholds my life''. We may say it many times.

The question remains though- do you really believe these words for my life both in the fortunate and difficult times?  Maybe we do but our faith in them is weak. That is fine. God understands. Start with that.  Think of a time when things were going well and then something happens unexpectedly to make it better or you thought you had everything sorted and planned and then God steps in and provides you with an unexpected situation which took the good to great for you.  That is the Lord upholding your life.

Think of a time when things were difficult and somehow you got through this difficulty. Things turned around when you least expected it and not in the way you expected.  That is, the Lord upholding your life.

So, keep God first place this week (and every week) and know that He loves us because we are His children.  He wants to uphold our lives.  Give Him the praise and the honour and sing in your heart through a strong personal belief 

                                     ''The Lord upholds my life.''

Collect for 24th Sunday Yr B

COLLECT SERIES

 

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON.

COLLECT

The Collect for the 24^th Sunday of the Year reads as follows:

''Look upon us, O God,

Creator and ruler of all things,

and that we may feel the working of Your mercy,

grant that we may serve You with all our heart.''

 REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this Collect tangible for my life during the week, the following reflection questions emerged:

1. How does God being Creator and ruler of all things sit with my view of God?

2. What image/s arise in my heart when I hear this Collect read at Mass? 

3. How will those images impact my spirituality this coming week?

4. How do I feel the working of Your mercy in my life?

5. How will I help my family, friends, parishioners, work colleagues, strangers to feel the work of His mercy through me this coming week? (Name a person/ area/ task to accomplish it through God's grace).

6. How will I serve God- Creator and ruler of all things in my life this coming week?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Before I share my Gospel reflection for today's Gospel from Mark, the last line from the Collect spoke to me.  In our fast pace world and even with the best of intentions, we can get distracted from a core value/belief and we may even ask or someone may even ask us in frustration, sadness or hopelessness " What is the point of living- God does not even care''.  In these times when we feel dispirited, it is good to be reminded of what God's purpose is for us on earth.  The Compendium of the Catholic Church ( no 1) answers this succinctly as follows:

''God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness

freely created man to make him share in His own blessed life.''

In other words, God's purpose for us is to know, love and serve Him in this world and be happy with Him for ever in eternity. So, with these reflective thoughts, how will you serve God with all your heart this coming week.

Today's Gospel from Mark 8:27-33 asks an important question that each of us needs to answer: "Who do you say I am?" You can read a reflection on this Gospel from my Gospel Series of Mark 8.27-30 and Mark 8.31-33 by clicking on these links.

Before we answer this question, let us think about this for a moment.

Think of a person you would say that know (such as a family member, friend, parishioner, work colleague). Do you know them or do you know about them? In every relationship, we learn about a person- their likes, dislikes, what colours they like, what music they listen to, what art they prefer etc, but as the relationship develops, we can say that we know them, although we never really know a person fully. There is always more.

Now as we ask the Who do you say I am question now in relation to God and our relationship with Him- would we say that we know about God or do we know God- are we in relationship with Him?

If we answer in our hearts that I know about God- this is a great start. We need to know about God to help us come to know Him better. It also helps us to share our relationship with Him with others since we will not be giving them any false teaching. However, God asks us to come closer and know Him and be in relationship with Him. Why not take it to the next level.

So, let this week be an opportunity to reflect and consider our relationship with God. How will I come to know more about God and how will I come to know God this coming week?

Perhaps you might like to consider the way you will serve during the week

as you sing/listen to this.song.

Collect for 23rd Sunday of Year B

COLLECT SERIES

THE MASS: COLLECT SERIES ICON.

COLLECT

The Collect for the 23rd Sunday of the Year reads as follows:

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,

Look graciously upon Your beloved sons and daughters,

that those who believe in Christ,

may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance.

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

  REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1.What does it mean to me to be redeemed?

2. What difference will being redeemed make in my life this week with my family, friends, colleagues, strangers?

3.What does it mean to me to receive adoption from God?

4. What does it mean to me this week to be a beloved son or daughter of God?

5. If someone asked you this week why do you believe in Christ?- what answer would you give him/her?

6. What do you consider true freedom to be? Is it similar to/different from God's true freedom?

7. How can i examine my life ( or one area) of my life in the light of everlasting inheritance?  What can I change/improve this week?

 GOSPEL REFLECTION

In today's Gospel, we hear how Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.

You may wish to read my thoughts on this gospel from Mark (7:31-37).  There are a couple of key areas to consider as we hear this Gospel read. They are as follows:

·        Jesus heals the ears first and then tongue- we need to hear the word of God first before         we can proclaim it.

·        Healing of the deaf and dumb man is also me at any time.  I need to be healed from the       deafness that I have allowed to permeate my life.  I need to be healed from dumbness-        of not speaking out to help a neighbour/colleague at work when injustice has occurred.

•   Listening to this Gospel invites us to consider our deafness and dumbness. 

·  Jesus healing is miraculous for the deaf and dumb man. The crowd acknowledge it and say "' He does all things well''.  We may think that there are no miracles in our life. Every day when we wake up is a miracle and blessing- God is providing us with another day to know, love and serve Him.  Everything we do and say and even not say can be a miracle for another person. A kind word here or a smile there can light up another person's world- it opens them up to hearing the world from a God perspective and the chance for them to share it with others.  This is just with a smile or a kind word. What miracles do we hear and speak of in our own lives? Do we say "God has done all things well'' in gratitude.  

·   It invites us to think of those who experience physical deafness: with hearing aids, it             makes it easier for the deaf person to hear. However it is not easy for the deaf person - it      is not the same as having one's own physical hearing.  Perhaps we may wish to be more     patient with someone who suffers hearing loss.  We may wish to thank God for our    physical  hearing.

·   It invites us to reflect seriously on our own spiritual deafness and dumbness.  Here we can come to Christ in reconciliation and ask for healing. In what ways am I spiritually deaf and dumb? How well  do I hear Christ when He speaks to me?

·    It invites us to think of the emotional impact of being physically, emotionally and spiritually      deaf and dumb can have on our lives and the lives of others.

EXPERIMENT/CHALLENGE TO LISTENING and COMMUNICATION.

1. Place 2 chairs 1.5 metres apart ( social distancing) of the same height.

2. Invite a spouse, family member/parishioner/colleague to have a short 1-minute (or less) conversation on a topic of their choice. This can be done also on skype, facetime etc in these challenging times.

3.Actively Listen to the person. 

4. Then in your own words tell the person what you heard them say. Listen carefully to the adjectives they used and also to the underlying mood/feelings.

5. Ask the person what you did not hear- what was left out. How well did you listen? How did the other person feel when they were heard/not heard? It is best not to take notes since this is a distraction from listening but this can be used as an intermediate step to active listening if you find that neither of the parties involved are listening well.

4. Invite the person to share the experience.

5. Now it is your turn to have your conversation. Repeat the process.

The key to becoming a better active listener is to practise it as it is a skill.  Do not start on some topic that is likely to be stressful/ an unresolved conflict in a marriage.  Start with some topic that means something to you but does not carry any emotional baggage with it.  For example: My favourite flowers, a favourite movie or a movie I dislike b/c...
The other key to making this successful is keeping the conversation short at first- to give both speaker and listener the chance to develop good communication skills.

You can even tape it if you wish to really hone your listening skills or if you want to try this experiment/challenge on your own.  You can talk about something for a short time, write down what you think you said and then play the tape- what is the outcome? How well did you listen to yourself?

You can even try the listening challenge with Jesus in your prayer time. How well do we listen then?

 COMMUNICATION.

1.  .  . Imagine you are dumb.  You are wanting to express how you feel.  Imagine you are feeling sad- not depressed at the bottom of the emotional pit but sad and give it a number out of 10.

2.            2.   You are going to communicate with another person this level of sadness.

    3. The other person needs to establish what the emotion is and its intensity.

How well did you communicate and how well did the other person understand your emotion and its intensity?

In today's society we often take our senses for granted.  They are a gift from God. Perhaps today our prayer of thanksgiving can be:

                         

                               ''God does all things well'' Thank you God.

We may even like to pray this hymn as we listen or sing "Open our ears Lord''  or this well-known hymn ''Open my eyes Lord''

Collect for 22nd Sunday of Year B:

COLLECT SERIES

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT

The Collect for the 22nd Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

God of might, giver of every good gift,

put into our hearts the love of Your name,

so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,

You may nurture in us what is good,

and by Your watchful care,

keep safe what You have nurtured.

 REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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

1.Name the good gifts God has given you this week/fortnight/month.  (This is particularly useful when we are feeling down and/or life feels on top of us.  It is also useful to do to nurture grace of gratitude.).

2. What does the name of God mean to you?

3. How do you feel when I misuse the name of God and when others misuse it?

4. What can I do when God's name is misused?

5. What does a sense of reverence mean to me- are you fearful what others may think of you when you have a sense of reverence?

6. Name the areas in your life that God has nurtured good in you?  How do you want Him to continue to nurture these areas?

7. How can God keep safe what He has nurtured that is good in me?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

When it comes to God's name being used irreverently, we may feel that we have to keep quiet and cannot speak out.  We may fear what others might say to us if we politely correct them.  So, before you embark on improving this aspect and highlighting in your circle of friends, family, parishioners, colleagues, strangers etc. you may wish to listen carefully to oneself first.  How often do I take the name of the Lord in vain- do i even give it a thought?  Expressions such as OMG comes to mind.

Listen to yourself over a day or two and see what happens? What are the expressions I use myself which are irreverent to God?

During this coming week, why not join me in an experiment:  listen to conversations that we have, with ourselves, family, colleagues at work, watch the TV, read the paper, notice billboards and count up the number of times the name of God and the things of God are spoken or written about irreverently.  Perhaps if this seems too much just focus on one of these areas. 

Then for every time that God's name is irreverently used,  say a prayer- a Glory Be would be great as it praises God or Our Father or Hail Mary or your own prayer. Any prayer that praises God said with love and reverence offers reparation for the sin.  Remember the second commandment

 "' You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.(Deut 5:11) 

Jesus reminds us also  when He said  ''You have heard that it was said to the men of old, "You shall not swear falsely. . But I say to you, Do not swear at all.(Mt 5:33-34).

Jesus in today's Gospel of Mark that we forget the commandments of God and hold on to human traditions. You may wish to check out my thoughts on this Gospel chapter 7 from my Mark Series.  The Gospel also used 14-15,21-23 from chapter 7.

The second reading of James invites us to be doers of the word.  Like James, I invite us to join together to be doers of the word this week in whatever way we can.

Once we have examined our own use of God's name, we may wish to read Compendium of the Catholic Church and revise the Second Commandment.  Examine how it affects you personally as you read it.  Then be prepared to find your own ways to give God's name honour and reverence.

I can tell you a personal story of how I approached it myself.  I take an older lady shopping regularly.  She is not a catholic.  At first, I noticed how many times she used bad language and irreverent use of God's name. I used to cringe and wanted to say something, but thinking that she is not a Catholic and she is an elderly lady, I decided it was inappropriate.  First mistake: Every time someone misuses God''s name, it is belittling God, and the things of God. I , as a Catholic should stand up for what I believe and hold dear.

This went on for some time as I felt weak to say something.  Then one day, I decided, after some prayer on the matter, to say something.  I calmly said "' I would prefer you not to use God's name that way as it is offensive to my beliefs''.  She looked at me with great surprise- I felt sick but also happy. Then the biggest surprise of all- she said "' thank you for stopping me- I have got into a bad habit and have not been able to stop it''.

Years later, I still take that lady shopping and I seldom get an irreverent word from her- an occasional one slips out from time to time. There is always a very quick apology.

So, if we as Catholics do not stand up for what we hold dear ( provided of course we do), then we cannot expect society to take us seriously either.  We must stand up and be counted.

Start of course with ourselves of course because it is often easier to find the splinter in the eye of another and not the plank in our own as Jesus warns us.  However with God's help, this plank can be removed and with our constant love for Him and our efforts through the grace of God.

Perhaps you might like to start something like this or a version of this in your parish- pick an issue which as as parish you can work on together.  It starts with one person- and the ripple effect will take hold.