CATHOLIC
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
Welcome to my blog. The Catholic Church under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives us each day at least two readings from the
Bible, plus several verses from a psalm which is an inspired response to one of
the readings, normally the first.
There is a cycle (a two-year cycle for weekdays
and a three-year cycle for Sundays) which covers the major parts of the Old
Testament, the Gospels and the New Testament writings.
Through these readings we get our spiritual nourishment.
In my blog I give the readings and the inspirations I have received in prayer.
I want to share them with others. If they help some to get in touch with God
and his image in this world, Jesus the Christ, then my purpose will be
fulfilled. May God bless you through his Spirit.
If we wish to grow spiritually, then we must set
aside time each day to prayerfully read the WORD OF GOD. In silence we allow
the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the reading. We can respond with the
PSALM.
If you find
these helpful, please share them with others and become a follower
Tuesday 26
May 2020
Eternal life is to know the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent
Rom 5: 5; cf. 8, 11
The love of
God has been poured into our hearts
through the
Spirit of God dwelling within us, alleluia.
____________________
Prayer
Father,
on those who open themselves to you in love, you never fail to grant them the
gift of holiness. This brings them and those around them joy and through it you
fulfil your plan in the world. As we remember the priest St. Philip Neri, may
we imitate his joyful sanctity which brought great peace to so many orphans,
widows and people in distress. Like him may we radiate peaceful joy wherever we
are. We make our prayer through your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.
First reading
Acts 20:17-27 ·
I have without faltering put before you the whole of God's purpose
From Miletus
Paul sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus. When they arrived he
addressed these words to them:
‘You know what my way of life has been ever since
the first day I set foot among you in Asia, how I have served the Lord in all
humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of
the Jews. I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I
have preached to you, and instructed you both in public and in your homes,
urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.
‘And now you see me a prisoner already in spirit;
I am on my way to Jerusalem, but have no idea what will happen to me there,
except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear enough that
imprisonment and persecution await me. But life to me is not a thing to waste
words on, provi ded that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission
the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News
of God’s
grace.
‘I now feel sure that none of you among whom I
have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again. And so
here and now I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are
concerned, for I have without faltering put before you the whole of God’s
purpose.’ THE WORD OF THE LORD
Prayerful reflection
Paul
is an example of the good shepherd. He instructs the people first by the
example of his life. He leads the people by saying, ‘follow me as I follow
Christ’. We are all shepherds to some degree. As a shepherd we are to reveal
the way, by walking in it ourselves first. Let the preacher himself first be
the sermon. Let us humbly pray to be the pattern for our flock, be it a parish
or a family or any kind of community. As a true shepherd his life and struggle
are not for himself but for the good of his people. The true shepherd will pour
his life out for his sheep, just as Jesus did. Paul’s life being indisputable
so are his words of instruction which he gave in season and out of season.
Most
of all, Paul sees his work of leading the flock as a work Jesus has
commissioned him to do. How are you a shepherd?
What can you learn from St. Paul?
____________________
Psalm
Psalm 67(68):10-11,20-21
Kingdoms
of the earth, sing to God.
You poured down, O God, a generous rain:
when your people were starved you gave them new life.
It was there that your people found a home,
prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
May the Lord be blessed day after day.
He bears our burdens, God our saviour.
This God of ours is a God who saves.
The Lord our God holds the keys of death.
Kingdoms
of the earth, sing to God.
____________________
Gospel
John 17:1-11
Father, it is time for you to glorify me
Jesus raised
his eyes to heaven and said:
‘Father, the
hour has come:
glorify your
Son
so that your
Son may glorify you;
and, through
the power over all mankind that you have given him,
let him give
eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.
And eternal
life is this:
to know you,
the only true
God,
and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent.
I have
glorified you on earth
and finished
the work that you gave me to do.
Now, Father,
it is time for you to glorify me
with that
glory I had with you
before ever
the world was.
I have made
your name known
to the men
you took from the world to give me.
They were
yours and you gave them to me,
and they have
kept your word.
Now at last
they know
that all you
have given me comes indeed from you;
for I have
given them the teaching you gave to me,
and they have
truly accepted this, that I came from you,
and have
believed that it was you who sent me.
I pray for
them;
I am not
praying for the world
but for those
you have given me,
because they belong
to you:
all I have is
yours
and all you
have is mine,
and in them I
am glorified.
I am not in
the world any longer,
but they are
in the world,
and I am
coming to you.’
What
good fortune it is to be conceived as a human being. There is nothing to compare
with it. How grateful we should be that we have been given the gift of
existence. The fact that we are should make us shout aloud with joy. It
doesn’t matter that we are nobody in this world, that we have nothing, no
money, power, prestige or pleasure. It is what is in store for us, that makes
us sing. Jesus wants to give us ‘eternal life’. this is the source of
happiness. It is his gift to those who turn to him. He won this for us by his
Passion and Death on the Cross. Now that he is risen and at the right hand of
God, he wants to give us the gift he has received himself. He is now equal in
every way with God in his humanity. That miserable body that writhed in agony
on the Cross, is now glorified with the glory of God. This is the gift he wants
to give you – to become like God. Quietly reflect that this gift is for you in
your body, soul, mind and spirit. You are to be just like the Creator of the
World. He is indeed your Father. If it wasn’t true, we could not imagine the
good fortune, nor believe it if we were told.
How to
receive it? Turn to Jesus. Are you amazed and grateful that you are?
Jn 15: 9
As the Father
loves me, so I also love you;
remain in my
love, alleluia.
Prayer
Father
having fed us with the bread of your Word, we pray that following St. Philip we
may always long for the Bread that gives eternal life
We make
our prayer through your Son, Christ our Lord.
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