?Even before I formed you in the womb I have known you; even before you were born I had set you apart, and appointed you as prophet of the nations!? ? Jeremiah 1:5

I was in second year college when The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren became popular. Because I heard the book was good, and I wanted to see what it was  all about, my mom bought the book for me. After the first few chapters, the book accomplished its purpose. I started to wonder what my purpose in life is.
      The book says I do have a purpose ? a specific mission for me to fulfill in my lifetime. Sometimes though, because of the routine of life, that thought gets lost somewhere in my brain.
      I wonder if I am just bound to live a mundane life and eventually die, leaving nothing to be remembered. I end up asking if my existence means anything at all. However, little by little, God is revealing that He has a mission for me, the purpose that I have been unconsciously looking for in the past.
      It may not yet be clear what it is to me now at my very young age, but I?m pretty sure God will reveal the fullness of His mission for me in His perfect time. Tina M.

REFLECTION:
Are you pressured to know what your purpose is? Look inside. Be patient. Let Him speak.

Reveal to me as I search within myself, what it is that You have created me for.

P S A L M 

Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17

R: I will sing of your salvation.

1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your justice rescue me, and deliver me; incline your ear to me, and save me. (R) 3 Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked. (R) 5 For you are my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. 6 On you I depend from birth; from my mother?s womb you are my strength. (R) 15 My mouth shall declare your justice, day by day your salvation. 17 O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds. (R)

2nd READING

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

There is very little to add to this reflection of Paul on the nature of love other than the encouragement to return to it regularly and see how we are going in living up to the nature of love in the things that we are doing. Love is first and foremost a decision. It can be guided by emotions and experiences but ultimately it comes down to the choices of how we live our lives. Let us pray for the grace to choose well so that we will be living examples of God?s love to the world.

31 Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way. 13: 1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, 5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, 6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

G O S P E L

Luke 4:21-30

Jesus will always speak the truth to us even if it hurts or we do not want to hear it! Jesus challenges His listeners to think about the way they are living their lives in relation to the demands of the Law and the Prophets. He challenges them to answer some difficult questions that they would rather not face. This eventually led them to seek to rid themselves of Jesus. But Jesus knows that it is only the truth that can set us free (John 8:31-32). Sometimes we have to do the same; at other times we have to be willing to be on the receiving end of such advice. In either case it can be a difficult but necessary part of a disciple?s way of life.

21 He said to them, ?Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.? 22 And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, ?Isn?t this the son of Joseph?? 23 He said to them, ?Surely you will quote me this proverb, ?Physician, cure yourself,? and say, ?Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.?? 24 And he said, ?Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25 Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. 26 It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.? 28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. 29 They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
  
my reflections
think: God has had His hand on our lives from the first moment of our creation.

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God?s special verse/thought for me today________________

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T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Leviticus 14-16

SABBATH PAUSE

My weekly time with God

THANK YOU LIST

Things to be grateful for from the past week

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SPECIAL NEEDS

Things to ask God for in the coming week

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HIDDEN TREASURE

Most important word God told me this week

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One of our basic human needs is the need to belong. Thus, consciously or unconsciously, we always strive to be accepted, to belong. And once accepted, we want to belong always.
      We cannot bear the pain of being rejected. We can hardly reconcile ourselves with the memory of how once we might have been rejected, denied, betrayed. Rejection counts among the major reasons for suicide.
      Of course, Jesus did not commit suicide but He did die because of rejection. ?To His own He came, but His own accepted Him not? (Jn 1:11).
      Jesus continues speaking to us, wanting to be accepted, longing to be loved. He continues to count Himself as one like us (except sin); but do we consider Him one of us?
      Jesus continues waiting for us as He identifies Himself with the least, the last, and the lost. Do we recognize Him? Do we welcome Him? Do we serve Him? Or, like His townmates in the Gospel today, do we try throwing Him down the cliff?
      But, as He did in the Gospel today, Jesus continues slipping through our midst and walks away. He searches for those who will accept Him in the distressing disguise of the poor. Sadly though, many keep on searching for Him, too, but miss Him simply because they want a glamorized Christ. Fr. Bobby T.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Have I really accepted Jesus?

I am sorry, Lord, for the times when I fail to recognize You. Forgive me and help me to accept You completely as You choose to reveal Your Self to me. I want to belong to You always. Amen.

St. Thomas Aquinas, priest, pray for us.