#Gospel reflection

[chicoinematt7]

Corpus Christi Sunday: Living the Bread of Life through a Trinitarian Lens

Guest Post by: David Tonaszuck Reflection on the Gospel of Luke 9:11b-17 My dear brothers and sisters, Today the voice of God reaches out to us with gentleness and urgency: “My son, my daughter, I love you so very much and am always with you. Come and be with me and together our hearts shall be one; one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.” These words are not faint echoes from a bygone past;…

[pastorhogg]

Interrupted by Compassion

The Shepherd Who StayedA Day in the Life of Jesus The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand begins not with a miracle but with a need for rest. Mark 6:30–34 reveals a deeply human and divine moment in the life of Jesus. The apostles had just returned from their ministry tour, excited to share all they had done and taught. They had poured themselves out for others, and Jesus, recognizing their…

[mothermarysprotection]

Gospel Reading For Today | Catholic Mass Readings & Gospel Reflection: T...

[ohmysaint]

[josefallanesescoda]

Happy Sunday!

Good morning! Praised be Jesus and Mary.

Ready for today's Sunday Gospel?

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 6:51-58.

"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 Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Glory to You, o Lord!

In today's Gospel, Jesus expounds on the analogy of the bread and wine as His body and blood. It's very similar to the iconic verse of John 14:6, which says "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." In this one, He tells us that through the sacrament of the Eucharist, we are given a taste of His Salvation here on Earth. Interesting, isn't it? Our God is so good and generous that He has encouraged us to participate in a weekly event where He gifts Himself to us, that we, too, may be blessed.

For millennia now, Jesus never ran out of blessings to share to us, which is why this Sunday, halina sa parokya! Let's give thanks to our Lord for every little blessing He has given us and will continue to give us and ask forgiveness for all the times we took them for granted. Let's participate actively in all parts of the Mass, not just the Eucharistic Celebration, and recognize that Jesus is present in all that we do and go. Amen? Amen!

[thomastanker02]

Christianity is not about taking the moral high ground, and thanking God that we aren’t horrible sinners like the rest of the world.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Becoming a follower of Christ means becoming more aware of our failures, and of how we fall short of God’s holy standard. It’s a life of acknowledging that we can’t get to heaven on our own, and giving our lives to the only one who can make us righteous before God.

It’s when we do this that, while we don’t become lights of the world, we are able to point to the one who is.

His light fills us to the brim, to the point where we run over. This is how Jesus continues to shine his light in this dark world, through his children.

We are not the light, but are called to be witnesses of the light. We are called to carry out the deeds of our Father in the light, because he is the light. What is done in the light, cannot be done in darkness.

This means that we must live holy, as he is holy. We must let his light shine in this world, because it desperately needs to hear his message. This world of darkness must be lit up with the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The Christian life is a life of imitating Christ the Lord. His love that he has shown us both on the cross, and in how he lived his life, demands a life long response. It’s through our humbleness before him that we become the lanterns of the Holy Spirit to shine in this world of darkness and decay.

The Christian life is not a life of perfection or self righteousness, but a life of constant repentance and humility before the Lord. It’s acknowledging the futility of trying to be righteous in our own, and letting his righteousness flow through us.

We can’t let the light shine if we dim it with the mask of our self righteousness. God is trying to call those around us to himself, not to his to servants.

It’s through Christ we are saved, not ourselves or our works.

Let’s start acting like it.

God bless, Jesus loves you ✝️❤️

[love-others-despite-differences]

[littleflowerfaith]

It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:4‬

[thebirdandhersong]

Thought a moment of how Eun-gyeol is not only an instrument of healing in Cheong-ah and Yi-chan's lives in the past but ALSO !!!!! an instrument of healing for the pain that Eun-yu holds so closely to her heart, and how Eun-gyeol only becomes that catalyst and addition of miraculous grace, reconciliation, and love because he says yes to the call. And he does not understand his part in this greater story that the time travelling music store manager has placed him in, but all he does is the next right thing with as much kindness as possible and then wanted to bang my head against the desk

[holystormfire]

John 7:40-52

Nicodemus challenged his fellow pharisees.

Nicodemus Visiting Jesus,

Painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1957),

Painted in 1899,

Oil on canvas

© Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Gospel Reading

Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him. Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why haven’t you brought him?’ The police replied, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.’ ‘So’ the Pharisees answered ‘you have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned.’ One of them, Nicodemus – the same man who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee.’

Reflection on the painting

In today's Gospel reading, we encounter Nicodemus, marking his second of three appearances in the Gospel of John. Initially introduced as a curious seeker who approaches Jesus under the cover of night, Nicodemus is portrayed as intrigued by Jesus yet hesitant to fully embrace his teachings. His journey of faith is subtly woven through John's narrative, culminating in his participation alongside Joseph of Arimathea in ensuring Jesus receives a respectful (indeed, lavish) burial. This progression illustrates Nicodemus's gradual movement towards a deeper understanding and commitment to Jesus. Our reading today is the second (and middle) appearance of Nicodemus. Despite being a Pharisee, he displays remarkable bravery by questioning the outright dismissal of Jesus by his peers, who criticize Jesus based on his origin in Galilee, a region they regard as insignificant compared to the religious hub of Jerusalem. Nicodemus advocates for fairness and due process, arguing that Jesus should not be judged without first being heard. This stance places him at odds with the prevailing opinions of his colleagues, and his challenge is met with scorn, evidenced by their sarcastic comment "Are you from Galilee too?"

Nicodemus's growing relationship with Jesus left him increasingly isolated in the world where he had been so much at home. He actually reminds us that as we grow in our relationship with Jesus, there is often a price to be paid. We may find ourselves a lone voice among our peers. At such times, we know that the Lord is always with us.

Henry Ossawa Tanner painted our canvas in 1899, depicting the first of the three mentions of Nicodemus in John's Gospel (John 3:1-21). The painting was Tanner's entry to the 1899 Paris Salon. We see Nicodemus talking privately to Christ in the evening, a good example of Tanner's nocturnal light paintings. The painting was purchased there for the Wilstadt Collection, Philadelphia, and is now in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The narrative of Nicodemus' meeting with Jesus held significant meaning for Henry Ossawa Tanner's father, Benjamin Tucker Tanner. He was a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and had aspirations for his son to join him in the ministry. While Henry's decision to pursue a career as an artist fell short of his father's dream, his talent for painting ultimately produced works that his father could admire and support.

Article by Father Patrick van der Vorst

[chicoinematt7]

Reflection on the Gospel of John 16:12-15

Guest Post by: David Tonaszuck The Trinity: Living in the Heart of God’s Love My son, my daughter, I love you so very much and am always with you. Come and be by my side and together our hearts will be one; one with our Father in Heaven and the Holy Spirit. “Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come.” Today, as we gather to reflect on the…

[pastorhogg]

Mixed Legacies

Thru the Bible in a Year2 Chronicles 15–18 Some stories in Scripture don’t end the way we might hope. The lives of King Asa and King Jehoshaphat, detailed in 2 Chronicles 15–18, are powerful reminders that a strong start in faith does not guarantee a faithful finish. These chapters offer us a look at two men whose reigns were marked by seasons of both zeal and compromise, of courage and failure.…

[mothermarysprotection]

Gospel Reading For Today | Catholic Mass Readings & Gospel Reflection: T...

[chorus-the-mutate]

If I had a nickel for every time Jesus Christ himself gave me a media induced character arc right around Easter I'd have two nickels and no idea why I had either nickel in the first place

[goosessideblog]

Thinking about A Square being returned wrong. Mirrored. Irreversible

A Sphere fucks up, and puts him down in the wrong direction, wrong side up. It's not like he remembers, but A Square certainly does. When he wakes up- it's too late.

The third dimension never phased him, but what about something so intrinsic as your own body, flipped the wrong way? The world becoming upside-down, having to relearn to navigate the places you called home. And it's such obvious proof of the third dimension, but what if it's all in your head? No one can tell with your features being confined to a corner, you can only try to explain the distress you're going through, but if you try you'll certainly be deemed a madman.

We know his knowledge changed him, but what if it changed him physically? In a way he can never return from? He could've passed it off as the strangest dream, denied it's truth, lived the rest of his life at peace, but how do you disprove something so concrete? Would he think himself insane too, after a while?

Someone let me access a two-dimensional being i have a hypothesis that needs to be tested

[thomastanker02]

We often wonder why God is silent towards us.

Why is our Lord and Father silent when we consistently pray to him, and ask him to bring us closer to him? Why does he not answer our prayers, and we remain feeling distant from him?

But heres the thing. We end up being so caught up into trying to get an answer from God, that we forget that it’s in the silence that he often speaks the loudest.

God is anything but distant from us. In fact, he is closer than the very air we breathe, closer than our own skin. If someone where this close to you, they wouldn’t speak to you in a normal volume, they would whisper.

This is how God often speaks to us, through gentle whispers in our hearts and souls.

Remember the story of Elijah. The Lord had sent a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire down from heaven. But God was not in any of these. Instead, he communicated with Elijah through a gentle whisper.

It’s there where Elijah communed with the Lord, and where God strengthened him.

It’s in silence that we can finally make out the gentle whispers that God is sending to us in our times of need and despair.

But situations can obviously differ depending on the person. God’s silence towards us can mean many different things.

Silence could be a sign that you need to get right with God. There still could be sin creeping into your life that you may not know about.

Silence could mean that God is preparing you, and building up your faith. It can mean that your faith will still be rooted in him, even when you don’t have the answers to anything that you are looking for.

Silence can mean a call to humility. God doesn’t owe us anything. If he decides to not give us an answer, or answer a prayer, then we must be content with his will. The silence can be an act of spiritual discipline, meaning that you’ll be growing stronger in him day by day.

While there are many reasons as to why the Lord can be silent to us, one thing remains clear, it’ll always be what we need.

A good father doesn’t give his children everything they want, but everything they need. The Lord will always give us what we need to get us back on the right track with him, or to build up our faith.

Nothing that God does is meaningless.

So I urge you, cling to God in the silence, and let his word your light in what appears to be a dark place. You will soon hear from him again, and when you do, he will be saying, “Well done”.

God bless, Jesus loves you ✝️❤️