| Saturday, August 8th, 2015, 7:00 AM |
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Maranatha, Maranatha,
Come, Oh Lord.
And set us free!
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In Deo Speramus
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(In God We Hope) |
| Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time |
ELIE NOURRI PAR L'ANGE
Maggiotto, Francesco 1750-1805
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but then an angel touched him
and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked
and there at his head was a
hearth cake and a jug of water
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| First Reading 1 Kgs 19:4-8 Elijah went a day's journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
"This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree,
but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.
Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake
and a jug of water.
After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time,
touched him, and ordered,
"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
The Word of the Lord
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Discussion Questions
1.
In this reading sometimes we are Elijah and sometimes we are the hearth cake. Think of times in your life when you wanted to cry, "Enough" and you could have used help. Did it come? How?
2. God sent help to Elijah in the form of an angel. What kind of help do you think God would send today? Name some ways you can be the "hearth cake" for a person in a desperate state.
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| Second Reading Eph 4:30-5:2 Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
The Word of the Lord
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Discussion Questions
1. Do you think you could get better at "being an imitator of God?" How? Is it more likely to happen all at once because you want it to, or a little at a time because you work at letting God into you? If you were going to work at this, where would you start?
2. Do you know any "imitators of God?" What kinds of things do/did they do?
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| Alleluia, alleluia. Jn 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
Alleluia, alleluia. |
| Gospel Jn 6:41-51 The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,
"I am the bread that came down from heaven, "
and they said,
"Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
'I have come down from heaven'?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"Stop murmuring among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Gospel of the Lord |
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Discussion Questions:
1.
The crowd murmured when Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven. How did knowing his mother and father impact the crowd's willingness to believe him? Is it easy to accept a "prophet (one who speaks for God) in your own circle of acquaintances? Explain.
2. "And the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Explain this statement from the Gospel in the light of what Pope Francis says below. What is one way Jesus gives his flesh for the life of the world now?
And, with the love of Jesus, receiving the Eucharist, our life becomes gift, as Jesus' life was. Do not forget these two things: the measure of the love of God is to love without measure. And, following Jesus, with the Eucharist we make our life a gift.
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Oremus pro invicem
(Let us pray for one another)
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They
kept on
murmuring. Bread?
Down from heaven?
We know his mother and father.
They live down the street! Jesus replied,
It's not about knowing,
but believing, Believe
that I love you,
that I give my life for yours,
that I want you to be a part of me
forever. Jesus, we believe.
Oh, be our food
and drink.
Amen
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| For what are we born if not to aid one another? Ernest Hemingway "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then we'll have peace." By: Jimi Hendrix "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." Abraham Lincoln If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is brought to perfection in us.
1 John 4:12
Deus fit homo ut homo fieret Deus God became human so that humans might become God (Catholicism, Page 2 by Fr. Robert Barron) "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." Meyers, Robin R. (2009-02-19). Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus (Kindle Location 639). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
God "dwells in us."
God's love is not meant for us alone;
we must give it away.
Do small things today and for many tomorrows,
with a generous heart.
Give God Away Today!
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Help us then, Lord,
to be so united with the paschal mystery of Jesus,
that through Him the world can become a better place to dwell.
You promise us much for this life
and for our eternal presence with You;
may we live into that promise
each day.
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An interesting thought:
The birth of St. John is celebrated on June 24th, in the moment of the summer solstice. From that point onward, daylight begins to reduce. On the other hand, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated on December 25th, during the winter solstice. From that point onward, daylight begins to grow, to get longer.
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