The Ministry Center will be closed Tuesday, January 1st in observance of the New Year.
Psalm 95
Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
(1 Cor 16: 22b, see Rev. 22: 20c)
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
In his hands are the depths of the earth,
and the tops of the mountains are his.
His is the sea, for he has made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!
#dailyingodsword
This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent.
Advent is a time when the Church invites us to slow down, savor the anticipation of Christmas and prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. And Advent 2020 may well be a time of greater opportunity to do just that, if we let it. Since the Church is calling us to slow down, and the pandemic is forcing us to slow down, maybe this is the year we allow Advent truly to take deep root in our hearts.
As we light the first Advent candle in our church and our homes, may we welcome the Light of the world, stay awake to God’s presence and be encouraged in hope.
Psalm 33:20 – We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
115. At a time when everything seems to disintegrate and lose consistency, it is good for us to appeal to the “solidity”[88] born of the consciousness that we are responsible for the fragility of others as we strive to build a common future. Solidarity finds concrete expression in service, which can take a variety of forms in an effort to care for others. And service in great part means “caring for vulnerability, for the vulnerable members of our families, our society, our people”. In offering such service, individuals learn to “set aside their own wishes and desires, their pursuit of power, before the concrete gaze of those who are most vulnerable… Service always looks to their faces, touches their flesh, senses their closeness and even, in some cases, ‘suffers’ that closeness and tries to help them. Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people”.[89]
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
”Mary teaches us that, regarding the art of mission and hope, lots of words and programmes are not necessary. Her method is very simple: she walked and she sang.” – Pope Francis
#saturdayswithmary
Friday, Nov 27, 2020
Turn the page
The “Book of Life” is mentioned several times in the Bible. A bit like the contact list you keep on your phone, the Book of Life is the figurative expression of how God is said to keep track of those heading for heavenly repose united with the Divine. According to Jewish tradition, God opens the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah and leaves it open for 10 days, until Yom Kippur. During those days, believers spend time repenting of their sins and amending their lives in order to be written into the Book of Life. If there’s something you need to repent, today is a good day to turn the page.
TODAY'S READINGS: Revelation 20:1-4, 11—21:2 Luke 21:29-33 . “Then another scroll was opened, the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to their deeds.”
#takefiveforfaith
Let us return to promoting the good, for ourselves and for the whole human family, and thus advance together towards an authentic and integral growth. Every society needs to ensure that values are passed on; otherwise, what is handed down are selfishness, violence, corruption in its various forms, indifference and, ultimately, a life closed to transcendence and entrenched in individual interests.
The value of solidarity
114. I would like especially to mention solidarity, which, “as a moral virtue and social attitude born of personal conversion, calls for commitment on the part of those responsible for education and formation. I think first of families, called to a primary and vital mission of education. Families are the first place where the values of love and fraternity, togetherness and sharing, concern and care for others are lived out and handed on. They are also the privileged milieu for transmitting the faith, beginning with those first simple gestures of devotion which mothers teach their children.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
Psalm 84:3-5
Here God lives among his people.
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed are they whose strength you are!
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
Here God lives among his people.
#dailyingodsword
PROMOTING THE MORAL GOOD
112. Nor can we fail to mention that seeking and pursuing the good of others and of the entire human family also implies helping individuals and societies to mature in the moral values that foster integral human development. The New Testament describes one fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22) as agathosyne; the Greek word expresses attachment to the good, pursuit of the good. Even more, it suggests a striving for excellence and what is best for others, their growth in maturity and health, the cultivation of values and not simply material wellbeing. A similar expression exists in Latin: benevolentia. This is an attitude that “wills the good” of others; it bespeaks a yearning for goodness, an inclination towards all that is fine and excellent, a desire to fill the lives of others with what is beautiful, sublime and edifying.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
PROMOTING THE MORAL GOOD
112. Nor can we fail to mention that seeking and pursuing the good of others and of the entire human family also implies helping individuals and societies to mature in the moral values that foster integral human development. The New Testament describes one fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22) as agathosyne; the Greek word expresses attachment to the good, pursuit of the good. Even more, it suggests a striving for excellence and what is best for others, their growth in maturity and health, the cultivation of values and not simply material wellbeing. A similar expression exists in Latin: benevolentia. This is an attitude that “wills the good” of others; it bespeaks a yearning for goodness, an inclination towards all that is fine and excellent, a desire to fill the lives of others with what is beautiful, sublime and edifying.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
