GOSPEL READING TODAY - Matthew 15:29-37 - Healing of many people; Feeding of the 4,000

29 At that time: Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. 30 Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. 31 The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel. 32 Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.” 33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” 34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” 35 He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over — seven baskets full.

Reflection

“Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.” ~ v. 30

The late columnist Ann Landers gave advice to people for over 30 years. One day an interviewer asked her, “What question are you asked most?” Ann said it was a very simple question, “What’s the matter with me? Why am I lonely?” When asked what answer she gave to this question, Ann said, “Get involved! Do something for other people. The people who need help are all about you. Everywhere you look you see them.”

The advice of Ann Landers and the example of Jesus in the Gospel invite me to ask: Who is one person whom I could help?

“Self sacrifice is never entirely unselfish, for the giver never fails to receive.” ~ Dolores McGuire

Reflection Credits: Fr. Mark Link, SJ, Daily Homilies, slightly adapted

Prayer Response

Lord Jesus, look on us with the same mercy you had for the sick and hungry. Thank you! Teach us also to share our blessings to those around us.

GOSPEL READING TODAY: HEALING AT CAPERNAUM - Matthew 8:5-11

5 When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” 7 He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 8 The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”

TODAY’S

BLESSING

LIST

THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - By:Fr. Joel Jason

A parishioner who had an attitude approached her pastor and said, “Father, I want to go on a pilgrimage and climb to the top of Mt. Sinai. I’m sure God will be pleased to have me visit the place where He gave the Ten Commandments.”

The pastor replied, “Frankly, I think He will be more pleased when you begin obeying the Ten commandments.”

Sometimes we have this simplistic notion that if I go to a holy site, I become automatically holy by osmosis. Not necessarily. A person’s sanctity is not determined by one’s presence in a holy place. A person’s sanctity is determined by his capacity to make a place holy.

The antiphon of today’s Psalm proclaims: “I rejoiced when I heard them say: let us go to the house of the Lord.” The house of the Lord goes beyond the confines of the walls of Jerusalem. The house of the Lord is where people gather and celebrate and create the Shalom (peace) of God. The psalmist proclaims: “May peace reign in your walls, in your palaces peace.” He who brings peace, builds the house of the Lord. He who keeps peace sustains the house of the Lord. This peace is not simply the absence of conflict. This peace is the fruit of a life lived in observance of God’s life-giving law.

Are you sad that you’re not financially blessed to visit the Lord’s house in Jerusalem? Why not make your own home an experience of the house of the Lord? Make peace, keep peace and work for peace, then you will always be in the house of the Lord! 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Is your idea of sanctity geographical? Is your awareness of God’s presence confined to a place, a time or an activity?

 

“Where can I run from Your love? If I climb to the heavens You are there. If I fly to the sunrise or sail beyond the sea, still I find You there. Amen!”

Liturgy for the First Sunday of Advent (First Week of Advent)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEyInT3i14&feature=sharehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEyInT3i14&feature=share

Life is a Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some... expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."