General Theme The Missionary Zeal of Jaime Bonet in the encounter with God and the efficiency of Hacer-hacer General Objective: To deepen and follow the same missionary zeal of Jaime to encounter God. To live out the efficiency of ‘hacer-hacer’ Objective of the week: To learn from Jaime how he kept the fire of his encounter with Jesus alive.
INTRODUCTION
Last Week’s guidelines reiterate in us the desire to encounter Jesus mainly because we want to be transformed, contented and be happy, and this encounter stirs up our inner being to do something better, that we never done before and discover the beauty hidden from our senses. The moment we step out of our comfort zone, we are awakened and we unlock our built-in potentials beyond our imagination in the midst of our struggles and limitations. This encounter with Jesus will mark the start of our discipleship and zeal for the mission. This week, is the next stage of keeping this encounter with Jesus alive and keep it burning within us. The example of our Mother Mary is the profound demonstration of a continual and fruitful encounter lived in faith. Since the Annunciation, Mary is always discerning and seeking the LORD every moment, making her more sensitive to God’s will. Upon recognizing that God did exactly what the angel told her that she and Elizabeth will bore a son, she was amazed. In awe, she visited Elizabeth to experience the mutual joy of God’s unfathomable grace and when this happened, Her Joy overflowed and she proclaimed the greatness of the LORD. This encounter strengthens and marks another milestone of her faith and it keeps on increasing. MONDAY Encounter Jesus all the more (Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Continue reading…….) Luke 1: 39-45 The first encounter of Jesus paves way to another encounter, to constantly seek for a new encounter with Him. Our eyes are more open to see the possibilities of an encounter with Jesus in the people around us. Like Mary, he recognizes God in the greeting of her cousin Elizabeth and made her proclaim the greatness of the LORD. Is our encounter with the LORD urge us to proclaim HIS Greatness and look forward to a new encounter? TUESDAY Speak, Act, Get affected by the Universal Language of LOVE (San Roque) 34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, scholar of the law tested him by asking, 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. Matthew 22:34-40 This invites me, with a seductive and possessive love to a new awareness, to a turning back to Jesus of Nazareth, to a re-reading of his Gospel, to a passing through his mysteries, to a revision of his steps and criteria, to a joyful remembrance of his signs and gestures so as to faithfully reproduce, represent, reincarnate and relive him in me. (Jaime B. Bonet) Nothing more, the main reason of looking forward to a constant encounter with Jesus is the love we tasted from our prime encounter with HIM. We want to savor again and again the love that we are looking for ever since and it always satisfies our desire to be loved. WEDNESDAY Work for the LORD in HIS vineyard “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ 5So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ (Continue Reading…..) Matthew 20:1-16 It doesn’t really matter how big or how small our contribution of work for the glory of the LORD, HE will always reward the way He wants to reward each one of us. One thing is for sure, so long as we work for the LORD in his vineyard, happiness and contentment will we reap, working outside His vineyard leads us to a wary life. THURSDAY Eat all you can buffet for FREE prepared by the LORD for each one of us 1 Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, 2“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3 He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. 4A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’ 5Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. 9Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ 10The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. (Continue Reading……) Matthew 22:1-14 The LORD has prepared everything, a vast banquet for us to take in whatever we like to and at any time of the day just to be with HIM. A lot of churches celebrate the holy Eucharist several times a day, a numerous adoration chapel to visit and encounter the LORD, a bible passage to read and pray, a magisterium to read and reflect on, etc. Do we choose to eat the first class and nutritious buffet of the LORD or we are consumed only by the concerns of this world and we still prefer the Junk foods prepared by the World? FRIDAY Rekindle the fire of the encounter in the community of the faithful (St. John Eudes & St. Ezechiel Moreno) “30 and it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. 32 Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us? ”33 So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them. Luke 24:30-33 50 Then he led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them.51As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.52They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53and they were continually in the temple praising God. Luke 24:50-53 Keeping the fire of Jesus’ encounter in solitude is futile and incomplete and soon it will fade. The wisdom and experience of God through other believers will do matter a lot, in this manner we will see in so many ways how God works in the lives of the faithful, this give us strength and sustain the encounter we have with HIM. SATURDAY Continue to Get involved in missionary work (St. Bernard) 15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,* “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”* He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”16He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” John 21:15-18 Mission makes us more united and closer to Christ in anyway, whatever the result of the mission we are in. Precisely, Jesus has something for us to treasure, and whatever it is, Certainly, it would be a completion of the Joy we are seeking. Nothing compares to the Joy God is letting us experience every time we do HIS Mission. SUNDAY 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Isaiah. 66:18-21 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117:1-2 2nd Reading: Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13 Gospel: Luke 13:22-30 Comments are closed.
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