Guidelines for prayer: September 12-18, 2016 - Jesus lived under the authority of His parents9/12/2016
General Theme: Verbum Dei – Proclaim the Lord’s year of favour. General Objective: - To be full of gratitude to God for all the work He has done in the past 3 years of the VD Family. - To trust and place in the hands of God all what lies ahead for the VD Family. - To learn to entrust under the care of our Mother Mary the growth of our charism. Objective of the week: To place our lives in the hands of our Mother Mary
INTRODUCTION
This week we are reminded to entrust our discipleship to Mother Mary. Our following of Christ will never grow and develop without a mother in the faith and that is Mary the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of the whole human race. Mother Mary is the best and perfect disciple, because she kept the word of God in her heart. By that, Jesus was molded and grew up through her discipleship. That is why it is very important that each one of us, missionary disciples of Verbum Dei , will place our lives in the hands of Mother Mary; in order to be molded by her and be able to grow in our discipleship. A true missionary disciple must be trained and formed by a teacher. Mother Mary is our best and true teacher in our discipleship. Our discipleship entails being “God bearer” and it is only Mother Mary who is the true model of being “God bearer” as she was declared by the Church in the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 432) as “Theotokos” (God Bearer). That is why we are also invited to be like her. We too are called to be “God bearers” and no other person can teach us “how” - it is only Mama Mary. Let us fix our eyes on her in order to learn from her, she is a mother whose life is totally filled by the word of God. How wonderful if we too will be open to the teachings of Mama Mary for we too are called to be shaped up by the word of God. Let us remember that the Verbum Dei charism and mission is a gift coming from above. With Mother Mary who is our mother in Verbum Dei, she knows how to make it grow and to guides us in order to live it. Mama Mary is our parent in Verbum Dei. We can live under her care and authority as Jesus did. MONDAY Jesus lived under the authority of his parents and he grew not only spiritually but in favor with God and men (Memorial of the Holy Name of Mary) Luke 2:51-52 51 He went down with them then and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people. Philippians 2:6-11 6 Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. 7 But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, 8 he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. 9 And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name which is above all other names; 10 so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus 11 and that every tongue should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Thank you Lord for your love. Teach us how to be obedient to your love. How obedient are you to the love of God in your life? When do we say we live in the Glory of God? Are you willing to give up everything for the sake of obeying to the love of God? TUESDAY Jesus was born of a woman (St. John Chrysostom) Galatians 4:4-7 4 but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, 5 to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons. 6 As you are sons, God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son crying, 'Abba, Father'; 7 and so you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir, by God's own act. Jesus, thank you for sharing your divinity by becoming man like us. Teach us to value our human nature as we fix our eyes on you as you allow yourself to become human as we are. How can you show that you appreciate your dignity as a child of God? Have you ever asked yourself, what is your life for? Are you willing to let Jesus use your life to redeem others? How? WEDNESDAY He gave him to His mother (Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross) Luke 7:11-17 11 It happened that soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. 12 Now when he was near the gate of the town there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her and said to her, 'Don't cry.' 14 Then he went up and touched the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, 'Young man, I tell you: get up.' 15 And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Everyone was filled with awe and glorified God saying, 'A great prophet has risen up among us; God has visited his people.' 17 And this view of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside. Thank you, Lord for your merciful love. How wonderful it is to experience your deep concern to us whereby you entrust to us a mother. Are you aware of the mercy of God in your life? In what way? Are you willing to work with Jesus in building his Kingdom on earth in order to save God’s people? How? THURSDAY Mary at the foot of the cross (Our Lady of Sorrows) John 19:25-27 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman, this is your son.' 27 Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. Jesus, thank you for giving Mama Mary to us and thank you Mama Mary for allowing yourself to live with us. How much time do you spend each day in order to be close to Jesus? Are you willing to open up your heart and mind in order to allow Mama Mary to live in you? In what way? FRIDAY A sword will pierce your heart (St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian) Luke 2:33-35 33 As the child's father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about him, 34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed- 35 and a sword will pierce your soul too -- so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.' Mother Mary, thank you for showing us the sweetness of suffering for the sake of the love of God. How are you willing to be formed by Mama Mary in order to bring salvation to many people where you are? (Family, workplace, neighborhood, etc.) SATURDAY Trust in the word, give the word and let my servant be cured (St. Robert Bellarmine) Luke 7:1-10 When he had come to the end of all he wanted the people to hear, he went into Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a servant, a favourite of his, who was sick and near death. 3 Having heard about Jesus he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus they pleaded earnestly with him saying, 'He deserves this of you, 5 because he is well disposed towards our people; he built us our synagogue himself.' 6 So Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him by some friends to say to him, 'Sir, do not put yourself to any trouble because I am not worthy to have you under my roof; 7 and that is why I did not presume to come to you myself; let my boy be cured by your giving the word. 8 For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' 9 When Jesus heard these words he was astonished at him and, turning round, said to the crowd following him, 'I tell you, not even in Israel have I found faith as great as this.' 10 And when the messengers got back to the house they found the servant in perfect health. Thank you Lord for the gift of your word. Thank you for being so faithful in our lives. Heal us through your words. Are you aware of the gift of faith that God has given you? Have you seen the heart of God when he gave that gift to you? Are you willing to work with Jesus in the evangelization where preaching is healing? SUNDAY 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Amos 8:4-7 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 113 2nd Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8 Gospel: Luke 16:1-13 Comments are closed.
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