 | Daily Bible Reflections
for March 27, 2011 |
|  Dear Lordie,
This Sunday, remember that you are hidden in His heart.
Praying for you,
Bo Sanchez
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| | No Strangers The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) – John 4: 9 My friend Toto was stranded at the Kia Branch along Sumulong Highway during the Ondoy flooding in 2009. He was with around 20 people, stuck amidst the raging flood, all worried — and terribly hungry. No one had anything to eat for hours. At around midnight, a man braved the waters and went out across the street for food. He brought with him a pack of crackers that he distributed around. Seeing that it was not even enough for all, he gave up his share and let the others relieve their hunger pangs. Toto didn’t even know what the man’s name was. And it seemed that the man didn’t know anybody there either. Yet, he went out of his way to help, even giving up his share of biscuits. The unknown man’s example of giving didn’t depend on his being friends with people or even just knowing them. He knew what was right and did it. He even sacrificed his share to those who needed it, not thinking about his own needs but the needs of others. REFLECTION: Do I choose to love and serve only those I know? Do I intentionally not see the strangers who need my help? Lord, open my eyes and my heart to see You in all the people I meet. Let me love them as You have loved me. Amen. | |
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
| | COMPANION | 1st READING It is hard to blame the people for grumbling about their situation – wandering through the desert without much water is not an enjoyable task. Yet, at the same time, faith is all about submitting our lives to God’s will with trust. While we may question what God is doing, ultimately it is an act of entrusting our lives into the hands of our merciful God. Exodus 17:3-7 3 In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” 4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” 5 The LORD answered Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel. 7 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?” P S A L M Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 R: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalm to him. (R) 6 Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us. 7 For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. (R) Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 8 “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” (R) 2nd READING There can be no substantiated doubts about God’s love for us. Any struggle or experience we may have of doubts ought to be immediately reconciled and cancelled out by reflecting upon the fact that God chose to send His Son to die for us while we were sinners. This ought to be sufficient and inscrutable evidence of the depths of His love for us. Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 1 Brothers and sisters: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. G O S P E L The story of the Woman at the Well reminds us that Jesus did not come to judge us but to free us from the power of sins so that we are capable of judging ourselves and thus repenting of our sins. Let us take time out today to reflect upon our lives and the sins we have committed. Then, let us all resolve to confess our sins before Easter so that our celebration of Easter will be a celebration of freedom from sin. VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world; give me living water, that I may never thirst again. John 4:5-42 5 Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” — For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans. — 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ 18 For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” 27 At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, 29 “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 They went out of the town and came to him. 31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” 39 Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” 40 When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”in one year my reflections t h i n k : Ultimately faith is an act of entrusting our lives into the hands of our merciful God. God’s special verse/thought for me today________________ _________________________________________________________
T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________ _______________________________________________________ READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR 2 Samuel 21-24 SABBATH PAUSE My weekly time with God THANK YOU LIST Things to be grateful for from the past week ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ SPECIAL NEEDS Things to ask God for in the coming week ________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ HIDDEN TREASURE Most important word God told me this week _______________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ | |
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
| | SABBATH | DRINKING LIVING WATER The story of the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well is worth reading in its entirety as there is a lot to reflect upon. I want to focus upon the line where Jesus tells us that His food is to do the will of the one (His Father) who sent Him. I think the reason I like this text is that it mentions food, something that is quite dear to all of us. In fact, without food, we die. And here, Jesus tells us that His food is to do His Father’s will. We need to reflect upon this idea often. If we do, dare I say that we will find ourselves drawn into a deeper and deeper walk of discipleship. We live in a world that extols individualism and self-sufficiency. This is not what the Christian life is all about. The Christian life is all about realizing that we have to place our lives in the hands of God and that if we desire fulfillment, then the only way we will gain it is through obedience of the Father’s will. Whether we like it or not, this is the reality that we are forced to accept if we want to be disciples of Jesus. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that anyone who drinks the water drawn from the well will have to come back for more water at a later time. If they drink from the water He provides they will never be thirsty again. It is quite obvious that Jesus is speaking of our spiritual thirst for truth and God. This is something the ordinary world will never be able to satisfy and hence we will have to keep coming back to the well to draw some ideas. However, if we embrace God’s will for our life, things can and will be very different. Furthermore, Jesus hints that His Father’s will is more often than not focused upon evangelization. The talk about harvest has nothing to do with literal food; it is a metaphor for evangelization. The sooner we realize this, the better, as we will be more easily drawn into the service of the Gospel that God requires of all who believe in Him. Let us pray that we will be able to let go of the attractions of the world and embrace the will of God — the only thing that can fulfil our empty lives. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL Reflection Question: What is the focus of my life? Am I living for myself or do I have a healthy level of service in my life? Jesus, help me to know Your will for my life so that I can pursue it and seek to satisfy the longing in my heart for Your love. St. Augusta, pray for us. | |
Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top
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