"Salt to the Earth"
Reflections on the Sunday Readings.
What People Say"spiritually stimulating and inspiring reflections...a wonderful book which will lead us and others to God," Bishop Anthony Poola, Bishop of Kurnool, India.
"deep and profound reflections which will nourish and sustain God-thirsting souls", Fr. Bernard Swarna D.C.L. Episcopal Vicar, Judicial Vicar, Archdiocese of Hyderabad, India.
"This book can transform your life" Fr. Kata Rajulu, Germany
"These reflections will serve their purpose if they encourage you to open the door to him (Jesus, Rev.3:20) and let him into your life. he will then dine with you and you with him and that will be another story - your story". From the author's Introduction.
If you would like to purchase this book just email me at jesus4ourworld@yahoo.com
price £6.50 + postage and packing
price £6.50 + postage and packing
LIFE WITH THE RISEN JESUS
To meet Jesus is prayer, sit quietly and comfortably. Call on the Holy Spirit to lead you in prayer. Concentrate on Jesus, using a mantra if you like (Jesus, Jesus, Jesus). Be aware that Jesus is present to you. Read the Gospel with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit who inspired it. Take your time. Place yourself in the scene, observe everyone and speak to Jesus. It is not mere imagination because Jesus is present and by faith we meet him. "I will be with you till the end of time" (Matthew 28:20)
Monday 19th April 2010
John 6:22-29
On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 However, boats from Tiber’i-as came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Caper’na-um, seeking Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
The people were interested in what they could get materially. They came to Jesus looking for bread. That was their focus and their priority. It was a consumerist mentality. If they had known Jesus, they would have wanted him. They would have come looking for him, for his friendship, his Word and his closeness. In Jesus’ friendship we find everything. He himself is the bread of life. He is trying to tell us through these miraculous signs that he will be everything for us if we believe in him, come close to him daily in our ‘prayer of his presence’. We should search for him in our lives and not for what he can give us. Do you make Jesus the centre of your life and for whom you search every day?
Tuesday 20th April 2010
John 6:30-35
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
We need to eat ‘true bread’. Natural bread is good and gives us health but it cannot allow us to live for ever. However long we live one day we will have to die. But Jesus tells us there is another kind of bread that gives life to the world. This bread will enable us to live for ever This bread is not a substance. It is a person. The bread that gives us everlasting life is Jesus himself. It is not a matter of eating. It is a matter of being. We must come to Jesus and we must believe in him. We must accept his offer of friendship. If our life turns around Jesus then we will not taste death and we will live for ever. This is not a doctrine to be believed, it is an experience to be enjoyed. Are you wiling to make the effort to focus your life on Jesus, the Friend of friends.
Wednesday 21st April 2010
John 6:35-40
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; 39 and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus will say to his disciples: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. Peter will say to his Christians: “You did not see him, yet you love him and still without seeing him you are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described because you believe”. Is this your experience?
Jesus will never send away anyone who comes to him in sincerity with their weaknesses and their sins. To a person who really wants to be healed of the wounds of sin, Jesus is always ready do works of healing. The question is: do I really want to be rid of my sins? Do you?
No parent would wish to see his child cast into everlasting torment, so the Father will do anything to prevent you going to eternal death. He would even die on a Cross.
Thursday 22nd April 2010
John 6:44-51
It is the holy communion with Jesus that gives us everlasting life. It is the holy communion with him which is the bread of life for us. It is not the ritual of receiving Holy Communion, eating the host and drinking from the chalice. If we want to live forever then we must be intimately united with Jesus in love through prayer. To give us this union with himself Jesus comes to us in all his humanity and Godhead under the appearance of bread and wine. It is Jesus we must meet when we eat ‘the bread and drink of the cup’ and not just go through the formality of eating and drinking. When we become him whom we receive then there is no possibility of tasting death, only of tasting life. Jesus is Life. Is your life Jesus?
Friday 23rd April 2010 .
John 6:52-59
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.
HHe who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him
His ‘flesh’ means Jesus with his body and in all his humanity and he will be present under the appearance of bread and wine symbolizing that he is our food and the means of our transformation from being weak and death-bound humans to being filled with the life and strength of God, divine human beings who will live with and like God for ever. His humanity is the only way. He will fulfill these words at the Last Supper when he instituted the Holy Eucharist – his Body given for us and his Blood shed for us. He is present in all his fullness and completeness to be our strength and our life. He is the one who loves us and gives his life for us. He is a Saviour who sacrifices himself for us and it is he offering the one eternal sacrifice of his life begun on the Cross who is present. Do you abide in him?
Saturday 24th April 2010
John 6:60-69
Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. 67 Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
To want to know Jesus as someone real is a gift from the Father through the Spirit. It is generously offered. Yet it is a gift that must be generously received. Through the Holy Eucharist we have bodily union with Jesus. Are you able to believe this? Of course you believe it but does it have any impact on you. Does the time after this holy communion become a precious time with Jesus? Can you believe that you become ‘one body in Christ’? You in your inner self have union with Christ through love. You have that now and so possess eternal life now. One day when your body is old or sick you will leave it behind but in Christ you too will ‘ascend to where he was before’. He will clothe you with a body like his own and you will be like him ‘because you will see him as he is’. Can you believe this with a faith that transforms you?
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