Blessed are the poor in spirit

Welcome to my blog.

God speaks to us each day through the readings from the Holy Bible. These are chosen under the inspiration of God’s Spirit and provided for us by the Church founded and lead by the Spirit of Jesus.

You will find them here. If we take time daily to read, understand and in silence to pray from our heart, Jesus, through his Spirit, will nourish us and our life will be transformed.

May the Spirit of God be with you.

 

Monday 8 June 2020

 Ps 26: 1-2

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; whom should I dread?

When those who do evil draw near, they stumble and fall.

 

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Prayer

Father in heaven, from whom all good things come,

grant that we who call on you in our need,

by your inspiration may discern what is good

and then by your grace do what is good.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Christ Jesus our Lord

____________________

 

First reading

1 Kings 17:1-6 ·

The Lord sends Elijah into the wilderness

Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord lives, the God of Israel whom I serve, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except at my order.’

The word of the Lord came to him, ‘Go away from here, go eastwards, and hide yourself in the wadi Cherith which lies east of Jordan. You can drink from the stream, and I have ordered the ravens to bring you food there.’ He did as the Lord had said; he went and stayed in the wadi Cherith which lies east of Jordan. The ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening, and he quenched his thirst at the stream. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

The Bible does not introduce Elijah with his previous history.  He is introduced here for the first time, as if he is already known to the reader. He confronts the evil king Ahab. Ahab had married a pagan princess, Jezebel, from Tyre and she had brought her religious beliefs, traditions and customs with her. She built shrines and had her priests and induced Ahab to share in the worship.  As a result, the people were also following this false religion. Elijah arises as a prophet to save the religion of Yahweh and bring the people back to true worship.

A prophet is one who listens to God, speaks the word he hears and obeys the commands of God. A prophet speaks the Word of God. God’s Word, when spoken by his prophet is powerful to do what it says. What can we learn from Elijah? For him, the Word of God is supreme. Because he lived in union with Yahweh he had the courage to be lead by God’s Word and to confront even the king. He was a bastion for God in a hostile world.

Let us make the listening to God speaking through the Word of God in the Scriptures the task in our life.  Notice how God looks after his prophet. Will he not look after us?

 

Psalm (Make the psalm your inspired prayer)

Psalm 121

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains;

from where shall come my help?

My help shall come from the Lord

who made heaven and earth.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

 

May he never allow you to stumble!

Let him sleep not, your guard.

No, he sleeps not nor slumbers,

Israel’s guard.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

 

The Lord is your guard and your shade;

at your right side he stands.

By day the sun shall not smite you

nor the moon in the night.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

 

The Lord will guard you from evil,

he will guard your soul.

The Lord will guard your going and coming

both now and for ever.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

_

 

cf.2Th2:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Through the Good News God called us

to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alleluia!

 

 

Gospel

Matthew 5:1-12

How happy are the poor in spirit

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

‘How happy are the poor in spirit;

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy the gentle:

they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Happy those who mourn:

they shall be comforted.

Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right:

they shall be satisfied.

Happy the merciful:

they shall have mercy shown them.

Happy the pure in heart:

they shall see God.

Happy the peacemakers:

they shall be called sons of God.

Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven: this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

Prayerful refection

“Be holy, for I am holy” is a recurring theme in the book of Leviticus. Leviticus is the instruction given, through Moses, by God on Mount Sinai on how the Israelites, the People of God, are to worship and approach him. Now Jesus is the new Moses and he has established the new People of God. The command is the same. “Be holy as I am holy”. God alone is holy. To be holy is to be a reflection of God. We are to be a reflection of Christ, because he is God. The eight beatitudes of Matthew give us the characteristics of Jesus. To be like God, is to be like Jesus. God now shows himself in a human way. We must put on Christ Jesus. The Beatitudes describe Jesus. Those who wish to follow Jesus must strive to cultivate them.

“The poor in spirit”: the truth is that we are destitute in ourselves. We have come from nothing and so we have nothing that we can call our very own. We are completely dependent on our Creator. If I never forget this, I will be humble, gentle, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker and hunger and thirst for justice. Jesus embodies all these, as we will see as we read the Gospel, and so he is persecuted and killed by those who desire the beatitudes of this world – wealth, power, authority, prestige, and love for comfort and pleasure.

As we follow Jesus in Matthew, let us see how Jesus  exemplifies these in his life and learn from him to do the same. This is to be his disciple.

Do you see being a Catholic, being a disciple of Jesus? Do we become a disciple simply by reading the Gospel or by listening to Jesus in prayer?

 

Ps 17: 3

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer;

my God is my saving strength.

 

____________________

 

Prayer

Father in heaven, through your healing Word,

preserve us from doing evil

and inspire us always to do what is good.

We make our prayer

through your Son, Christ our Lord.