| MINUTE MEDITATIONS
St. Adrian of Canterbury (d. 710)  Born in Africa, Adrian was serving as an abbot in Italy when the new Archbishop of Canterbury appointed him abbot of the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury. Thanks to his leadership skills, the facility became one of the most important centers of learning. The school attracted many outstanding scholars from far and wide and produced numerous future bishops and archbishops. Students reportedly learned Greek and Latin and spoke Latin as well as their own native languages. Adrian taught at the school for 40 years. He died there, probably in the year 710, and was buried in the monastery. Several hundred years later, when reconstruction was being done, Adrian's body was discovered in an incorrupt state. As word spread, people flocked to his tomb, which became famous for miracles. Rumor had it that young schoolboys in trouble with their masters made regular visits there. PresenceMy soul longs for your presence, Lord. Freedom"I am free." ConsciousnessKnowing that God loves me unconditionally, I look honestly over the last day, its events and my feelings. The Word of GodReading 11 JN 4:19-5:4Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Responsorial Psalm PS 72:1-2, 14 AND 15BC, 17 R. (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you. O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king's son; He shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you. From fraud and violence he shall redeem them, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. May they be prayed for continually; day by day shall they bless him. R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you. May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all the nations shall proclaim his happiness. R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you. GospelLK 4:14-22 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. ConversationI begin to talk to Jesus about the piece of scripture I have just read.What part of it strikes a chord in me?Perhaps the words of a friend - or some story I have heard recently- will slowly rise to the surface in my consciousness. If so, does the story throw light on what the scripture passage may be trying to say to me? ConclusionGlory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, Christmas Weekday Everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. (1 John 5:1) Have you ever played this game? You lounge around with family or friends and try to figure out which of their features came from their father and which came from their mother. It can be amusing to see how parents "show up" in their children and grandchildren. In today's first reading, John observes that it's not really possible to love God deeply but not love the people he has created. One reason is because the Father "shows up" in all of his children. This is especially true of our brothers and sisters in the faith, since his Holy Spirit is living in their hearts. Whether we can see it or not, he is slowly transforming them into the image of Jesus, who himself is the image of the Father. Doesn't it make sense, then, that if we really love God the Father, we should love his children too—if for no other reason than because we see expressions of him in them? So why can it be so hard to love other people sometimes? Perhaps one of the reasons is that it isn't always easy to see the Father in his children. It might be a lot easier to spot a person's faults instead. Of course, we are all far from perfect. But look at another observation John makes: "The victory that conquers the world is our faith" (1 John 5:4). Faith is the gift of being able to see what is hidden. Sometimes the Father's likeness in his children is just that—hidden. It calls for the eyes of faith to see that although someone may rub you the wrong way, that person is still worthy of your love and honor because God loves and honors him or her. Are there some people you're having a difficult time loving right now? In prayer today, try to see them with the eyes of faith. Imagine Jesus standing right beside them. See how much he loves them. Think about the special gifts God has equipped them with and the unique way they reflect his glory. Now do you see the resemblance? "Father, help me to see people with the eyes of faith. Show me how they reflect your beauty." Psalm 72:1-2, 14-15, 17; Luke 4:14-22 My2cents Allow me to translate today's spanish reflection from Mexico (5minutos) "The authenticity of our Christian life, is measured by our capacity to love life. Separate the love of God from the love of self conducts us to a life of lies, false. God is invisible; loving Him calls for a major effort than to love the brethren we see;for this, who is not capable of loving neighbor/brethren is impossible to love God, even though they may say to the contrary...A missionary nun was curing with much delicacy the impressionable wounds of a leper. She did her job smiling and talking with the sick, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. In a certain moment, she asked the sick: "And you, do you believe in God?", the poor man looked at her firmly for a while, and then responded: "Yes, NOW I believe in God".... A missionary traveled on a fast Japanese train and spent his time praying his book of prayers. A sudden jolt of the train made a picture of the Virgin Mary fall out of his book and fell to the floor. A little boy that was sitting in front of the missionary leaned over to pick up the image. Curious as all children, before giving it back, looked at it. "Who is this lady?" he asked the missionary. "It is my Mother", responded the missionary after a moment of surprise. The child looked at him and then the image, and said "You don't look very much like her". The missionary smiled and answered: "Regardless, I assure you that throughout my life I have been trying to look like a little like her." You, who do you look like?" It bears to repeat, the more holy and pure we are, the more we look like Jesus, God. The less we are holy, the less pure, then, the less we will look like God and the less the world will see Him. If it is so hard to see Him, then let Him be through you. Yesterday was a day of trials, test of faith for yours truly. I don't need to whine, especially because I believe the wine turns to blood, and it is the blood that courses through my veins. But, the tests came, people we helped so much now threatening to sue out of a fit of rage. That coupled with me running the business writing letters asking customers to pay or we too have to use attorneys. Problems galore, and they don't stop. It was overwhelming for a while, to the point that I went to go pray at the blessed Sacrament before I picked up my brother in law and sister in law from RCIA at church. Funny, the way I walked in, I had to pass by the image of our Lady, our Virgin Mother, a big statue with candles below. A thought "I can go to her before I go to our Lord" and so I prayed a Hail Mary. Then I walked a few more steps to kneel and pray in front of the Most Blessed Sacrament. You have to understand though, that before all this, I was very frustrated, to the point that I asked many mean questions of self and God. "Why can't I just give up like others, just stop going to church meetings, just stop being so involved, just quit as if it were nothing, if all I get is all this trouble". And "isn't there an 'escape' button in life? Isn't there an easy way out?" And as I drove to church I thought "no there is no 'escape' button, there is only a 'Help' button. So I went for it, I went to pray. I didn't know what to pray, but I knew I needed help. Faith had led me to that point, even though as I had entered thoughts and doubts were bombarding me "why all this for an invisible Kingdom and eternity??", yet I prayed. The problems somehow disintegrated. Peace came to be. It had taken all the faith to get there, being led by the Spirit, and I am glad. As I opened my eyes, peeping under my shoulder, I saw boots, "wait, I didn't here nobody...who? Oh, Oh Yeah, I had taken off my boots to approach the Holy of Holies, "You are standing on Holy Ground" LOL, I laughed to myself, I had thought of Moses and the burning bush and I knew I was approaching the Holiest of places I know of, the very Presence of Our Lord. It goes to say "For the Love of God is this, that we keep His commandments". The easy way leads to sin and then death, and the worst of deaths, a death of a life with God. This is hell, something we bring on ourselves by the love we are led by. I read last night some more Theology For Beginners and read a line "There is a marvelous phrase of St. Augustine -"amor meus pondus meum"-my love is my weight....He continues with a phrase roughly translatable as "wherever it is that I go, my love is what takes me there". One remembers the Scripture's grim phrase about dead Judas-"he went to his own place." His love bore him there, his love for Judas. " Now it's on me and you, where will our love take us? Who or what is your love of your life? Who do you look like? I am convinced that a sinful soul is a disfigured soul, and this is an obvious reason one could not enter the gates of Heaven..."who are you?" Lord ! Lord! It's ME!? "I don't know you". Oh, and about the invisible Kingdom and eternity....the Lord made it known that the Kingdom becomes visible through us. And the Kingdom of God is eternal. If you find yourself hating anybody, consider a disfigurement, consider it not loving God. Consider it not seeing the Kingdom. Consider it not even living in the grace of God. We are here for one reason alone...to seal our fate...our FAITH JESUS I LOVE YOU OH MY GOD : | ||||||||
Going4th,
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