MESSENGERS

“Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” – Acts 23:11

In 2018, I had the opportunity to visit Singapore again after eight years. Before the trip, I prayed to God that I would be able to meet the people He wanted me to meet there.

The Lord heard my prayer. What was supposed to be a leisure visit turned into a mission trip when my new friend, Jopay, who was serving at The Feast Expo-Singapore, invited me to give a talk to the women and youth servants of the various Feasts there.

At first, I was afraid, I was petrified! Then I realized that God had answered my prayer for an opportunity to love. With His courage, I met with the Feast servants and shared about my soul wounds and how God had healed me through His faithful love and healing Word.

I realized that wherever we are in the world, we undergo the same challenges, hurts, and trials. And that God’s love knows no boundaries. We are God’s witnesses wherever we go.

I am a living testament of the healing love of God. As I have testified in the Philippines through my book, Love Yourself as God Loves You, I have also testified in Singapore. Only by grace!

Sometimes, what’s needed is your yes and your story. And the Holy Spirit will do the rest. Marjorie Ann Duterte (writersretreatph@gmail.com)

Reflection: Where is God calling you to share His story?

Dear God, I am a witness to Your healing love. Send me to that place that needs Your light.

St. Norbert, bishop, pray for us.

Paul will not go quietly into the hands of the authorities. He sets the Sadducees against the Pharisees by fueling their disagreements and so takes the attention from himself. Paul takes every opportunity to bear witness to the Gospel.

Acts 22:30; 23:6-11

30 Wishing to determine the truth about why Paul was being accused by the Jews, the commander freed him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene. Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them. 23:6 Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all three. 9 A great uproar occurred, and some scribes belonging to the Pharisee party stood up and sharply argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute was so serious that the commander, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered his troops to go down and rescue him from their midst and take him into the compound. 11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.”

PSALM

Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

R: Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.

1 Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge; 2 I say to the Lord, “My Lord are you.” 5 O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. (R) 7 I bless the Lord who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. 8 I set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. (R) 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. (R) 11 You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus knows the Father’s desire for unity. Unity is essential for the best outcome of using the gifts and talents of many for a common cause or goal. Let us learn how to relate with each other and collaborate better in the proclamation of the Gospel. Only then will we be able to say that we have faithfully accomplished the commission to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  

May they all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that the world may believe that you sent me, says the Lord.

John 17:20-26

20 Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,23 I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. 26 I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

think: How are your relationships with family, friends, and fellow servants as you do God’s work?

Read the Bible in one year - 2 Samuel 21-24 

 

 

UNITY WITH JESUS

A pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that Christians should aspire to make. It is so gratifying to see the very places that have been made holy because Jesus visited them. During my own pilgrimage there, I happened to overhear a fellow pilgrim say this, “Those who lived during the time of our Lord are truly blessed. I mean, I cannot imagine how I would dispose myself if I am in front of our Lord. It must have been exhilarating to just be in His presence.”

That is so true. The psalmist even affirms this, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10). Imagine how good it is to be in God’s presence that a thousand days spent even in the happiest place on earth is nothing compared to a day with the Lord. Who will not be thrilled when you are face to face with God? I mean, a sincere and heart-piercing gaze from our Lord will surely fill anyone’s heart with gladness. Those people who got to see Him were really a favored lot.

But then, we are not in a disadvantageous situation at all—we who have lived long after that blessed time when Jesus walked on earth. Look at today’s Gospel. In praying to the Father, Jesus did not just lift to the Father the ones He has given Him to be His own. He also has in mind those who will eventually believe, by virtue of the preaching of those who have been blessed to hear Him and see Him in the flesh. Jesus prayed for us.

We were in His mind and heart as He communed with His Father in heaven. He thought of us even before we became believers. And that already suffices. We may not have been blessed to see Him physically, but we are so much blessed still, knowing how He has thought of us even before we even came into being.

And what did He pray to the Father for? That we may be in unity with Him just as He and the Father are one. And this unity will find completion during that day when we finally meet Him face to face in glory. Fr. Sandy Enhaynes

------- REFLECTION QUESTION -------

What will it take for you to be united with Jesus in the here and now?

Dearest Lord, thank You for thinking of me even before I was born. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _____________________________