Weekdays of 5th Week of Easter

"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 

Meeting Jesus through the Gospel

1. Sit quietly, recollect yourself. Concentrate on Jesus. Call on the Holy Spirit. Take your time. There is no rush and there is no fixed rule to follow. Be free in the Spirit.

2. Be aware that Jesus is with you. Use a mantra if you like, e.g. ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ..’

3. Read the passage with Jesus who was there and in the Holy Spirit who inspired it.

4. Note the words and sentences that strike you.

5. Pray about these and ask the Lord to speak to you through his Spirit.

6. Keep a journal of the inspirations you are given for your life. Jesus is present to you and he is speaking to you.

7. If the passage is a ‘dramatic’ one try and live the passage in your imagination. Remember it is not just imagination because Jesus is present now with you. Put yourself in the scene.  It is the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus real.

Reflections for the Weekdays of the 5^th Week of Easter

Monday 3^rd May 2010

John 14:6-14

Jesus said: I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him. ⁸ Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him, ⁹ 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. ¹¹ You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works. ¹² In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Other religions may talk of a Supreme Being, a God ‘out there somewhere’. We do not. God is a human being who ‘has pitched his tent among us’ (John1:14). He is Jesus. He invites us to be his friends. To live life to the full is to accept his invitation. It is a friendship which must grow day by day. Nothing more is needed in life. He is the Way and the goal.  We are to know him. He is and offers the fullness of human life. To know him is to live the authentic life. He is Truth. In him our life will blossom as no flower has ever blossomed. He is Life. This experience is to be ours now, not just ‘in some other life’. Are you having it? How are we to live? We are to live the life of Jesus in our world.   Are you?

Tuesday 4^th May 2010

John 14: 27-31

Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe. ³⁰ I shall not talk to you much longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me, ³¹ but the world must recognise that I love the Father and that I act just as the Father commanded.

: How does the world give peace? We’ll give you money, position,  acclamation. You can have everything. What more do you want? But what about your heart? Can it give you joy, contentment, a happiness that radiates to everyone you meet? Only Jesus gives this and he promises it to ‘his disciples’. Are you one?  How to get joy and peace? There’s no well to draw from. There is no peace ‘out there’. There is only your peace and my  peace. There is no substitute for resting in the arms of a beloved. There is no substitute for falling in love with Jesus. Only then will you experience his peace, of having no fear of anything or anyone. He is with you. How to fall in love? The Spirit works from the inside. Get to know him. He can make it happen. That’s his task.

Wednesday 5^th May 2010

John 15:1-8

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. ³ You are clean already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch -- and withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire and are burnt. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for whatever you please and you will get it. ⁸ It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit and be my disciples

We stand around a dying man. He is still there. He smiles. You hold his hand and you hold him. Then he’s gone. You hold his body. It’s not him any more. So it is with Jesus. If you live in him and he in you, then he is you. People touch him in you. People touched Jesus in Mother Teresa, in Padre Pio. Do they in you? We are to be the living body of Jesus as the branch is the living vine. How tragic for the world when through our sin Jesus is gone and people just hold a corpse. Unless we live in Jesus we cause irreparable damage to the world. Although they may not realise it, people long for the incarnation of Jesus among them in you and me. Only you and I can make it possible. “Remain in me and my words in you”. How? Through the Holy Spirit.

Thursday 6^th May 2010

John 15:9-11
I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete.

The Son is the perfect image of his Father and the Father sees himself in his Son. They are so perfectly one that they are one Being. There can be no closer union of two distinct yet identical Persons. Jesus loves us in the same way as his Father loves him. Though distinct he wants us to be one being with him. What must we do? We must open ourselves to his desire, for this is the purpose of our being born. It is here that we find the meaning of our life. It is to become the perfect image of Jesus the Christ and become one being through the indwelling of the Spirit. To be one being is to be one in action. In everything we become the manifestation of Jesus. This is to fulfil his every command. We become whole and so full of joy.

Friday 7^th May 2010

John 15:12-17
¹² This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. ¹³ No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ My command to you is to love one another.

How did Jesus love? Although God he became a man and lived among us. His love goes beyond emotional attraction. It makes us whole. It  makes us like God, sharing his life. His love made him pour himself out for our good, dying on a Cross for us while we were still his enemies. “He loved me and gave himself for me”. His love desires communion. Each of us is precious to him. His love makes him share himself with us in intimate dialogue, “I stand at the door and knock”, “We will dine together”. He commands that we love in the same way. With the Holy Spirit we can do so. His love shares his our own mission with us. “I chose you”. We are to live in deep love, with him and then as he inspires with his love for others and we will bear much fruit.

Saturday 8^th May 2010

John 15:18-21

¹⁸ If the world hates you, you must realise that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice of you has drawn you out of the world, that is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. ²¹ But it will be on my account that they will do all this to you, because they do not know the one who sent me.

Jesus came ‘from above’ and  proclaimed the truth without fear. He was hated because of it. He was the Lamb of God and “roaring lions open their mouths against me” (Ps 22:13) and hated him without cause (Ps 69:4). Jesus sends his disciples out “like lambs among wolves”. We carry the Word of God and must proclaim the truth to men who see things in their own way. We will be despised and even persecuted because of it. If we are true disciples of Jesus and live up to what we believe among people who see us as different and even as opposed to their views and practices, is it surprising that they will hate us as they hated Jesus. To be persecuted for the truth of Jesus is a gift, but let it not be because we are wealthy, powerful, political, or bearers of an alien culture.