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BECOMING A FRUITFUL BRANCH

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WEDNESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER    Acts 13:1-6; Ps 122:1-5; Jn 15:1-8 The Vine and Its Branches The Son of Man uses the beautiful analogy of the vine and its branches to awaken our minds and hearts to ruminate on the kind of communion we share with him in God. Just as the vine and its branches form a single tree, the Son of Man forms a mystical union with all his members. We gain the membership of his body through profession of faith in the divinity of the Son of Man. As our head, the Son of Man, is hypostatically united to the Eternal Word. His resurrection from the dead proves his divinity beyond doubt. So, our faith in his divinity is also our faith in his resurrection. Our profession of faith enables us to share in the blessedness the Son of Man received for us as the head of our human nature. What he received without merit, he received for us, his brethren; and what he merited by his faithful obedience, he shares with us, so that we may also receive the fullness of ...
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RECEIVING THE LORD'S PEACE

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  SAINT VINCENT FERRER, PRIEST    Acts 14:19-28; Ps 145:10-13,21; Jn 14:27-31 Opening the Door for Eternal Peace All our interaction with God is initiated by God. This is why we refer to God as the uncaused cause or unmoved mover of all things. As God, He is the initiator of every interaction and all interactions serve his purpose, for the first in everything sets the goal or purpose. Many of us do not usually give much thought to our relationship or interaction with God because of our over-engagement with the external world. We should develop the habit of meditating on our relationship and interactions with God. This is impossible for anyone in mortal sin or habituated to a sinful lifestyle. So, if the attempt ends in repeated failure, then it is an invitation to follow a process of conversion aided by sacramental confession. The inability to live an interior life means we are spiritually dead or too weak for any meaningful interaction with God. The Lord, through a...
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OUR COMING TO THE FATHER

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MONDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 14:5-18; Ps 115:1-4,15-16; Jn 14:21-20 The Word belongs to the Father From all eternity, the Word belongs to God the Father because He is God from God and Light from Light. The Word carries the will of the Father and nothing else. He is God with the Father and does the will of God in all things. The Word brought things into existence according to the will of the Father. Everything created by the Word is therefore good, for they conform to the will of God the Father. The Word became flesh for our salvation according to the Father’s will and died for our salvation to fulfil the will of the Father for us. Thus, obedience to the Father’s will defines the Person of the Word. When we observe and imitate the life of the Son of Man, the Word Incarnate, we receive the Holy Spirit of adoption, who gives us the reality of the Son’s life. He gives us a spiritual birth by which we are enabled to walk the Way defined by the Word in his human na...
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WALKING THE SPIRITUAL WAY

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SUNDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE    Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,18-19; 1 Pet 2:4-9; Jn 14:1-12 I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life In considering the Son of Man as the way to the Father, we are wont to think of the way in a physical manner and understand the words of our Lord as such. But spiritual relations are quite different from material relations, in a way; while the latter is measured quantitatively, the former is not subject to such measurement. Using the same mode to understand spiritual and material realities is the source of our confusion in spiritual life and journey. Our Lord speaks in human terms in the Gospel but reveals divine truths. The human terms must be purified from our day-to-day usage to properly guide our minds to heavenly realities. To help us grasp high spiritual truths, which are mysteries to human minds, our Lord employs analogical language. This means that he models heavenly realities and relationships on earthly ones. The benefit of anal...
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DRAWING LIFE FROM GOD

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SAINT ATHANASIUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR    Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 14:7-14  To have Seen Me is to have Seen My Father Among the three Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son is regarded as the visible Worker, because he is the One we behold or is visible to us. But the Son represents the Father, for everything he does is according to the will of the Father. The Son obediently carries out the will of the Father. The Son is therefore, the fullness of the Father’s expression. Again, this is a mystery we can never fathom in this mortal existence and in the next, because the beholding of this mystery of the Trinity would be our eternal joy and gladness. The contemplation of the mystery starts here on earth as we come to know Jesus Christ. As we have often stated, our spiritual journey as Christians is a journey into the mystery of Jesus Christ. The same journey is into the mystery of the Father guided by the Holy Spirit, for the Son reveals the Father. The Son of Man s...
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FOLLOWING THE DIVINE WORKER

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SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER    Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2:6-11; Mt 13:54-58  The Imitation of the Divine Worker We usually miss the fact that work is a divine activity. Our celebration of Saint Joseph the Worker is an invitation by the Church to give our minds and hearts to this all-important consideration. Often, we consider work to be a result of the original sin of Adam and Eve. We are mistaken in thinking that way, for the mandate to work precedes the fall of man and woman. In fact, the Genesis account of creation presents the creation of the world as a divine work accomplished in six mystical days. God rested on the seventh day, which he made a sabbath day for rest. Thus, God worked in his own divine way to bring the world and all it holds into existence. After creating man and woman, he instructed them to take charge of the entire material creation and the Garden he had planted for their well-being. They were supposed to cultivate the land and govern the whole creat...
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PRAYING WITH THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

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FEAST OF OUR LADY, MOTHER OF AFRICA    Acts 1:12-14; Lk 1:46-55; Lk 1:26-38  The Source of Peace and Harmony The Church in Africa sets aside this last day of April to celebrate the feast of Our Lady, the Mother of Africa. As we celebrate the feast, we reflect on the situation of Africa as a continent. Remembering various parts of Africa that are still engrossed in war, poverty, hunger, diseases, and civil unrest. All these maladies are due to human sins and greed. A large population of people in many nations of Africa suffer and die daily because the few who control their wealth and power do not know how to use them to make the lives of their people better. We suffer many personal and social evils because we have failed to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. Many who enter the Church or profess Christianity do so for their own personal gains and not to truly serve God and do his will. As we noted in our previous reflection, the source of sin and evil ...
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