A LAMP TO MY FEET. A LIGHT FOR MY PATH.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said to His disciples,

“Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

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Judas, who betrayed Him, said,

“Surely not I, Rabbi?”

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Jesus replied, “You have said so.”

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– Matthew 26:21,25 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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If I was sitting in a group with Jesus present,

and I hear Him speak about someone betraying Him,

would I anxiously look deeply enough into myself

to find out whether I could be the one?

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Whenever I go to church to be in Jesus’ presence,

do I examine my conscience

to find out whether I am betraying Him in one way or another?

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Am I betraying Jesus at this moment in time,

self-centredly acting contrary to His teachings and commandments,

but have found some excuse or other to convince myself that I am not,

and that Jesus will understand me anyway?

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What if Jesus where to look at me directly, now,

and ask me if I was betraying Him…?

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Am I…in any way?

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Jesus helps us see and decide if we are betraying Him…

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"It is the thought-life that defiles you.

For from within, out of a person’s heart, come

evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed,

wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure,

envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

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All these vile things come from within;

they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God."

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– Jesus Christ (Mk 7:20-23)

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“No one can serve two masters…”

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– Jesus Christ (from Mat 6:24)

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord Jesus, help me face the truth about myself,

and please forgive me.

I do not want to serve two masters – I shall only serve You!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“If any want to become my followers,

let them deny themselves

and take up their cross daily and follow me.

For those who want to save their life will lose it,

and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”

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– Luke 9:23-24 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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Very often,

as we wonder about whether we should do something, which we know is contrary to Jesus’ teachings,

we hear the world tell us

“Oh go ahead, get a life – just do it. After all you only live once!”

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This is the advice – specific or implicit – which an increasingly God-less society gives,

and it effects all of us, as it penetrates the mind-set of society

and seeks to change our attitude towards morality.

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In full contrast to all this, Jesus counsels us

and warns us that if we just go ahead with the so-called ‘getting a life’,

in order to satisfy those desires which He tells us we should not,

then we will spiritually lose our way

and also His promise of an eternal life, as a consequence.

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‘Getting a life’, for a true Christian, should mean following Jesus

and doing what He tells us.

Earning eternal life should be our ultimate aim,

but it all depends on how we live our life now.

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QUOTE…

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"There is no doubt about it:

a person who loves pleasure,

who seeks comfort,

who flees from anything that might spell suffering,

who is over-anxious, who complains, who blames

and who becomes impatient at the least little thing which does not go his way

– a person like that is a Christian only in name;

he is only a dishonour to his religion

for Jesus Christ has said so:

“If any want to become my followers,

let them deny themselves

and take up their cross daily and follow me”“

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– St. John Mary Vianney

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord Jesus, You are my life. Lead me.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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I love You, Lord;
You are my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my saviour;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.

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– Psalm 18:1-2 (NLT)

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QUOTE…

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"O my God,

who first gave me the help of Your call so that I could trust in You!

My protector, the guarantor of my well-being, and my redeemer;

You are my protector because I did not rely on my own resources,

did not raise the weapon of pride against You.

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You Yourself became my weapon:

I found the sure strength of salvation,

in such a way that as soon as You made it known to me

You redeemed me.”

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– St. Augustine

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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I love You, Lord; You are my strength..

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“Very truly, I tell you,

whoever keeps My word will never see death.”

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– John 8:51 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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It is our Lord Himself

who promises eternal life to those who accept His teaching

and who remain faithful to it.

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Do I want to listen to the Lord,

or does my self-centeredness bring about selective hearing

resulting in my failure to fully absorb the significance of what He is telling me?

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To those who truly listen to Him and keep His word,

Jesus promises eternal life.

It is a life that results from a close, loving relationship

with our heavenly Father and His only Son;

a life that is full and free and forever;

a life of inner peace, joy and assurance

where comfort, strength and hope abound.

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For those who truly listen to Jesus and keep His word,

not only is there the Glory to be attained beyond this earthly life,

but there is also an abundant life to be lived here and now!

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord, Your word is my delight!

Help me, Lord, treasure Your word in my heart

so that I will not sin against You.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples;

you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

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“I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin.”

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– John 8:31-32,34 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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If we are true believers,

then, Jesus’ words should imbue our whole life.

That is the kind of faith which will bring us to know the truth

and to become really free persons.

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The knowledge of the truth, which Christ is speaking about,

is not just intellectual knowledge;

it is rather the maturing in the soul

of the seed of divine Revelation,

the climax of which is to be found in Christ’s teaching,

which constitutes a genuine communication of supernatural life.

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Knowing the truth is knowing Christ Himself:

God who became man to save us.

Knowing the truth means realising

that the inaccessible God has become Flesh and Blood, our Friend, our Life.

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This is the only kind of knowledge which really sets us free,

and the liberation we obtain is not just light which shows us the way;

it is grace, which empowers us to keep to that way…despite our limitations.

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Our Lord also teaches us

that true freedom consists in not being slaves of sin,

and it was only He, the Son of God,

who liberated us from that sorry state through His redemptive work,

which reached its climax in His death and resurrection.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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My Lord Jesus Christ; my God; my Teacher; my Saviour!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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The people spoke against God and against Moses,

“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

For there is no food and no water,

and we detest this miserable food.”

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– Numbers 21:5 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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When God heard the cry of the Israelites

who were suffering under the harsh rule of the Egyptians,

He brought them His servant Moses,

who led them out of Egypt, to the Promised Land.

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God provided them with water along the way

– fresh clean water,

which miraculously gushed out of rock whenever God told Moses to strike.

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And the food?

It must have been the most nutritious and healthy food

– truly God-sent ‘manna’ from heaven –

and yet they complained

rather than trust in God’s grace

and in His plan for them!

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Many of us today behave like those Israelites

and we seem to overlook God’s grace, or take it for granted.

God, who knows what is best for us, for our soul,

and we forget that He is always there,

ready to carry those of us who have faith,

whenever things become too heavy for us to bear.

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Often, instead of appreciating, trusting and praising Him,

we focus on difficulties, large or small, which come our way,

and we start to complain.

We may sometimes yearn for those ‘better times’ in the past.

There could be times, when we may even blame Him!

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That’s what happens when our faith is not strong enough;

when we do not have full trust in the Lord’s ultimate plan for us.

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How do we see God when we face challenges?

Do we praise Him or complain?

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We Christians should always thank God in every circumstance

– if not for anything at all, for our salvation,

which came about when Jesus died for us on the Cross.

We should praise Him,

in the knowledge that He has the best of plans for us.

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QUOTE…

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“Do not worry about anything,

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

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– St. Paul (Phil 4:6-7)

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Thank You, O God, for You indescribable love;

for revealing Your great mercy;

for sending Your Son Jesus – the Water and the Bread of Life!

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The last two weeks of Lent – have faith!

It is now almost five weeks ago

that we undertook this spiritual journey through the desert

with Jesus by our side.

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We have not been alone

– we had asked the Lord to accompany us along the way

and we know that He has been right there by our side

…even though we may have sometimes overlooked this.

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We undertook the journey

to help ourselves draw closer to God;

to strengthen our resolve and will power to do only God’s will;

to look more deeply into ourselves

and to reflect on where we need to change, to develop, to strengthen.

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We may have faltered along the way;

we may have felt like we were losing the will to continue;

we may even have fallen to temptations along the way;

we may have almost given up…

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…but the Lord,

who looks at our heart, with love and understanding and forgiveness – as only He does –

encourages us and urges us on for these last two weeks.

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TODAY’S WORD…

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If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you,

then He who raised Christ from death

will also give life to your mortal bodies

by the presence of His Spirit in you.

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– Romans 8:11 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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I have a choice:

I either live “by the Spirit”

or I opt to live “by the flesh”.

Either I seek God above all things

and resist, with God’s grace, against my lustful desires,

or else I let myself be overwhelmed by my passions.

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Life according to the Spirit means a living-according-to-God

which influences everything that I, as a Christian, do.

I will be constantly trying to bring my thoughts, yearnings, desires and actions

into line with what God is asking of me;

in everything I do, I try to follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.

My choice is…

between planting in the field of my natural desires,

and gather the harvest of death,

or planting in the field of the Spirit,

and gather the harvest of eternal life. (cf. Gal 6:8)

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When I allow the glorious heavenly Christ to live in my heart

– that is when I truly live…as a child of my Father in heaven.

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QUOTE…

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"We need to submit to the Spirit,

to wholeheartedly commit ourselves and strive to keep the flesh in its place.

By so doing our flesh will become spiritual again.

Otherwise, if we give in to the easy life,

this will lower our soul to the level of the flesh and make it carnal again"

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– St. John Chrysostom

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Come live in me, O Lord. Take over!

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TODAY’S WORD…

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He died for everyone

so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves.

Instead, they will live for Christ,

who died and was raised for them.

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– 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NLT)

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REFLECTION…

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Christ underwent death, out of His great love for mankind.

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Christ’s death, is the price He paid for us

– our ransom, which sets us free from the slavery of sin, death and the devil.

As a result, we no longer belong to ourselves but to Christ.

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It is for His sake

and in the manner He taught us,

that we must strive to live the new life – in grace and freedom –

which Jesus has won for us.

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The awesome love of Christ should inspire all of us Christians

to commit ourselves to respond to His love,

and it should fill us with a desire to take the salvation won by Christ, to everyone.

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QUOTE…

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“Jesus Christ died for us;

by His death He has given us life;

we only live because He died;

He died for us, by us, and in us;

our life then is no longer ours,

but belongs to Him who has purchased it for us by his death:

we are therefore no more to live to ourselves but to Him;

not in ourselves but in Him;

nor for ourselves but for Him"”

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– St. Francis de Sales

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You,

because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world. .

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TODAY’S WORD…

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In Him we have redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

that He lavished on us.

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– Ephesians 1:7-8a (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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Redemption means "setting free".

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Christ’s work of redemption

brings God’s eternal plan to fulfilment.

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In carrying out this Redemption,

our Lord was motivated by His infinite love for man.

This love, which far exceeds anything man could hope for or could merit,

is to be seen above all in the universal generosity of God’s forgiveness.

This forgiveness, achieved by Christ’s death on the cross,

is the supreme sign of God’s love for us.

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Christ’s act of redemption frees us from the worst of all slaveries – that of sin.

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By enabling our sins to be forgiven,

the Redemption, that took place through the Cross,

has restored man’s dignity

and given back meaning to his life in the world,

a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Lord God, thank You for Your great love for me;

thank You for saving me;

thank You for forgiving me and setting me free.

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