“Love one another as I have loved you”(John 15:11) August 11-17, 2014 Objective of the week: To be aware and conscious that as we live our revision of life contentiously, we are helping each other to grow and persevere in our charism, at the same time we are mutually forming each other as disciples.
IntroductionLast week we were reminded that “We are HIS children that are made apostles” (Isaiah 54:13) and “Whoever remains with ME bears fruit in plenty.” This week, we are invited to live our revision of life contentiously in order to bear much fruit. It is essential to know what is Revision of Life, its foundation, how it is done and what it is for. And so, having a deeper knowledge of it, we could enjoy living it out and at the same time it is there we are mutually forming each other as disciples. Revision of Life, according to our founder, Jaime Bonet “is the most effective weekly means in order to live our communitarian commitment, helping each other to defend, multiply and potentialize to the maximum the values and talents that bring the following and the mission in order that it can bring us to the same Jesus who has called us and convoked in common ideal and charism.” Our objective to the participation in a revision of life is our transformation in Christ and for this we revise four exercise: PRAYER, FRATERNAL LIFE, CROSS or HUMILITY and MISSION. “The name ‘family’ expresses certain common roots from the Trinitarian source of love, a sense of identity and belonging and a certain closeness in relationships. This signifies friendship, … committed, and unconditional love; it entails environments of trust in which each one may grow as a person and as a disciple of Jesus, where the closeness of the other and the gift that each one is for the whole VDMFa can be enjoyed. The term “missionary” introduces this family in the dynamism of charity that is always open, passionate for the world, in a tension toward what not yet is, and yet knowing how to rejoce with gratitude over what already is, as Jesus himself.” (VDFa Statutes # 53) “The personal and communitarian living of the Trinitarian love is, for the VDMFa, the source of communion, making present His Kingdom among us. This is, in effect, the distinguishing mark of the VDMFa, as a Christian community: ‘The multiple of belivers had but one heart and one soul’ and ‘there was no one among them in need.” (VDFa Statues # 54) “The members of the VDMFa feel co-responsible for one another, living the fraternal love that Jesus proposes, mutually helping each other to discover and develop to the maximum their human vocation to love and their baptismal consecration. The charity of Christ brings us to welcome and value the individuality and diversity of each one, promoting their personal and communitarian response.” (VDFa Statues # 61) What is revision of life for you? Why it is important in your growth? How is it forming you? Monday“The common life of sharing”“They were faithful to the teaching of the apostles the common life of sharing, the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) “An Authentic revision of life, guided and tested from the perspective of Christ, will keep the same love of Christ alive and keep it growing among us. As such, we can live among us, the same life of the Trinity and the life of the Mystical Body of Christ , revealing the authentic face of God to the world.” (VD Stat. # 273) Our lives are not meant to be kept by ourselves. We need to give ourselves to others and to God in order to live a full, joyful and peaceful life. To be guided, we need to live, dialogue and listen to the Holy Trinity. Today, share your joys, work, gifts, prayers and difficulties to bless and redeem others. How do you break and share the bread today? Tuesday“Spiritual gifts and harmony” “There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all. The Spirit reveals his presence in each one with a gift which is also a service. To one is given to speak with wisdom, through the Spirit. Another teaches according to the same Spirit. To another is given faith, in which the Spirit acts; to another the gift of healing, and it is the same Spirit. Another works miracles, another recognizes what comes from the good or evil spirit; another speaks in tongues, and still another interprets what has been said in tongues. And all of this is the work of the one and only Spirit, who gives to each one as he so desires. So God has appointed us in the Church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers. Then come miracles, then the gift of healing material help, administration in the Church and the gift of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Can all perform miracles, or cure the sick, or speak in tongues, or explain what was said in tongues?” (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-30) “The fraternal love is translated in mutual help to live the Verbum Dei charism from the concrete reality of each one. This implies, according to the different ways of belonging, a communion of material and spiritual goods, necessary so that all may live the charism from their possibilities. Our commitment in the help to form and capacitate ourselves to carry out faithfully the mission to live and announce the Kingdom is translated also in gestures and in co-responsibility with our brothers and sisters in the various dimensions of human life and of growth in the community.” (VDFa Stat. 2) We have been given gifts to help feed others. Each Christian is called to be responsible for the gifts and talents received. At the end of our lives, each of us will be accountable for how we have invested our talents. Is love the motive of your quest to multiply the talents you received? Wednesday“Members of the One Body of Christ” “As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us whether Jews or Greeks, slaves of free men, have been baptized in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit. “The body has not just one member, but many. Even though the foot says, “I do not belong to the body for I am not a hard’, it continues to be part of the body. Go has arranged all the members, placing each part of the body as he pleased. If all were the same part where would the body be? Still more, the parts of our body that we most need are those that seem to be the weakest; the parts that we consider lower are treated with much care, and we cover them with more modesty because they are less presentable, whereas the others do not need such attention. God himself arranged the body in this way, giving more honor to those parts that need it, so that the body may not be divided, but rather each member may care for the others. When one suffers, all of them suffer, and when one receives honor, all rejoice together , NOW, you are the body of Christ and each of you individually is a member of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-15, 18-20, 22-27) A true community is such that each member shares his time, talents and treasures at the service of others. If we pay attention to the riches of our brothers and sisters and awaken in them the consciousness of their dignity and responsibility, we shall experience a true community. We need to create spaces in which all may be heard and where each person is valued; whether they have an active role in the community or it for various reasons they are less presents. Do you see the potentials/ gifts of your brothers? How do you share your gifts to the community in order to bless others? Thursday“Children of the Kingdom” “Do not judge and you will not be judged. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and the measure you use others will be used for you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and not see the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother: ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ as long as that plank is in your own? Hypocrite, take the first the plank out of your own eye, then you will see clear enough to take the speck out your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5) “To work actively our defects and limitations in an atmosphere of mutual help, creating at the same time, channels for building-up and fraternal correction” (VDFa Stat. 63) We must exercise good judgment to distinguish between the good and evil around us. We must not make ourselves judge of our neighbor, as if we were better than he and had to condemn him. When we look at our own lives; we realize that those who helped us grow were those who supported and understood us, not those who judged and condemned us. How are we to judge the wrongdoing of our neighbor in order to correct him? Friday“Love one another” “Now I give you’re a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another.” (John 13:34) “The whole community of believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed any of their possessions as his own; but rather they shared all things in common.” (Acts 4:32) “To cultivate fraternal relationships among different persons and groups that make up the VDMFa, taking care of the communication and mutual knowledge among members, sowing relationships based on transparency, trust, and openness.” (VDFa Stat. 83) Love of God is shown through love of our neighbor and love of our neighbor depends on love of God. Love of God is not to feel God. Likewise, Christian love lies not in sentiment or feelings. To love God is to be determined to do what God wishes at each moment of our lives. And what God wish of us regarding our neighbor is that we render loving service and forgiveness. Where there is love, there is sharing and there is mission. What are the ways to love God and neighbor today? Saturday“Many believers were added to the Lord” “Many miraculous signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. The believers used to meet of one accord in Solomon’s Porch. None of the others dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. . The people carried the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and on mats, so that when Peter passed by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.” (Acts 5:12-16) “The members of the local VDMFa, in the different ways of belonging, live their itinerary of faith and mission from this sense of family, at the service of a local and universal community, avoiding any individualistic attitude that is closed-in on itself. Their identity and mission is realized in a communitarian project, integrating the development of the individual or specificity of each group with the communitarian dimension and the common projects. The VDMFa will promote encounters among the different groups that constitute it in order to favor important aspects of communion: mutual knowledge, living our fraternal love, common deepening in the charism, praying together, a sense of shared belonging, a growing missionary capacitation, harmonizing and projecting together, and communitarian celebration.” (VDFa Stat.64) Jesus says that if we want to minister to others, we have to do it as one body, working together helping one another and respecting the different gifts of each one. Likewise, for God’s work, God provides. HE will give the gifts and graces needed to get the job done. Let us examine our charism and mission today. How can we use it to empower others? Let us pray to the Lord for men and women capable to invest all their lives for the gospel and prudent enough to form and empower many others for the same task. Sunday20th Sunday in Ordinary TimeFirst Reading: Isaiah 56:1
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 Second Reading: Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 Gospel Reading: Mathew 21:28 Comments are closed.
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