DO YOU LOVE

SURPRISES?

The person who invited me greeted me at the entrance of the venue. “God bless your talk on how God fires up our hearts to serve!” Uh-oh. I realized, at that moment, that I not only forgot about the talk, I also forgot the assigned topic! My steps were heavy as I went up to the second floor where the meeting would be held. I prayed silently to God, “Lord, this is for You. Take charge.”

My prayers were immediately answered when the prayer group leader welcomed me. “Bro, we initially wanted this to be a members-only meeting. But, as you can see, we have a lot of first-timers. Talking about fire in our hearts to serve would not be relevant for them. Is it possible for you to give a different topic?”

I simply replied with a smile. I talked about God’s awesome love that night. It was a wonderful talk, not because I was ready, but because God prepared everything that night. Alvin Fabella (alvinfabella@yahoo.com)

Reflect: How much do you depend on God when You come to serve Him?

Lord, we are nothing without You. May we serve You with the strength with which You empower me. 

Paul is at peace even though he knows that his days are numbered. He knows that he has done his best to proclaim the Gospel during his ministry. Can we say the same for ourselves? How faithfully are we living the Gospel today? Do we proclaim it including those aspects that many ignore and reject because it does not fit into their vision for their lives?

Acts 20:17-27

17 From Miletus, Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned. 18 When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, 20 and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. 21 I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, 23 except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. 24 Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace. 25 “But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. 26 And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27 for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”

Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21

R: Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

10 A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance; you restored the land when it languished; 11 your flock settled in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy. (R) 20 Blessed day by day be the Lord, who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation. 21 God is a saving God for us; the Lord, my Lord, controls the passageways of death. (R)

GOSPEL

Disciples of Jesus live in the world but must not be of the world. We must untangle our desires from those who belong to the world and free ourselves to embrace the truths and values of the Kingdom of God. We need to prioritize holiness and obedience to God over any other way of life.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.

John 17:1-11

1 Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, 2 just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. 3 Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. 6 “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, 8 because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, 10 and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

think: What do you struggle with as you serve the Lord? How do you overcome worldly distractions?

 

Read the Bible in one year - 2 Samuel 13-16 

 

 

THE EQUALITY THAT JESUS WANTS 

Jesus says in today’s Gospel that His desire is for us—the ones given to Him by the Father—to be one just as the Father and the Son are one. We know that His claim to oneness with God expresses His sense of equality with the Father. Could this be Jesus’ statement on humanity’s equality too?

This theme is prevalent throughout the Scriptures. To those who regard themselves highly because they are “the chosen ones,” Paul says, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also” (Romans 3:29). To those who draw lines between peoples and build walls rather than bridges, Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). To those who regard their gender as superior to the other, the Scriptures has this to say, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). The Book of Proverbs lays down the proper view on social standing, “The rich and the poor have a common bond, the Lord is the maker of them all” (Proverbs 22:2).

It may do us well if we examine how our actions today work against this oneness that Jesus desires for us. This is not just about unity that should characterize our being members of one Body, but about the kind of relationship we have with our fellow believers coming from different social status, with different histories, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

In the eyes of God, we were created equal. And we have to consciously work for this equality that Jesus Himself enshrines in the prayer that He offered to His Father in heaven. Fr. Sandy Enhaynes

------- REFLECTION QUESTIONS -------

How do you treat those who are below you in status? How does it make you feel, given today’s Gospel?

 

Forgive me, Lord, for not treating my fellow believers as my equal. Help me to repair my relationship with them. Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________