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 learn to follow Jesus and move forward as a Family.
INTRODUCTION
After all these weeks of gratitude to God, of learning to entrust everything in His hands and in the care of Mother Mary, we are invited and called to move forward together as a Family towards where the Lord wants to bring us. We have been given precious gifts from the Lord. One of those is a family to journey with. Together we move forward following Jesus in the charism we are called to live. Though we are different and with different gifts, we all work together in building up the Body of Christ. This is our aim, we knit lives towards forming apostles so that we can help build His Kingdom. Along the way, we are challenged, we persevere, we strive and fight the good fight. Every day we are striving, yes, we are running for something and ask these questions, What are we striving each day? In what race are we bringing people to run? As we journey and move forward as a family, people come to join us. They start to walk with us and learn from the example we show them. We ask the Lord and Mama Mary, to teach us to welcome them joyfully and follow Jesus properly. We pray that we not only encourage each other by words but to be constantly present for each one as Jesus did. “I am always with you until the end of the age.” MONDAY Knit God’s holy people together in building up the Kingdom. (Memorial of St. Cosmas and St. Damian) Ephesians 4:7, 11-13 7 On each one of us God's favour has been bestowed in whatever way Christ allotted it… 11 And to some, his 'gift' was that they should be apostles; to some prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; 12 to knit God's holy people together for the work of service to build up the Body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and form the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself. Teach us Lord how to be aware of the gifts of each one so that we can journey together in the work of service to build up your Kingdom. Teach us to knit each one so that we can all reach to the fullness of Christ’s stature. TUESDAY Fight the good fight of faith (Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul) 1 Timothy 6:11-16 11 But, as someone dedicated to God, avoid all that. You must aim to be upright and religious, filled with faith and love, perseverance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith and win the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses. 13 Now, before God, the source of all life, and before Jesus Christ, who witnessed to his noble profession of faith before Pontius Pilate, I charge you 14 to do all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no human being has seen or is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen. What is our aim? What are we striving for and fighting for as a family? Teach us Lord to fight the good fight and aim for what is upright and heavenly, above all the worldly concerns. WEDNESDAY Welcome anyone along the way (Memorial of St. Lorenzo Ruiz & Companion Martyrs) Luke 9:46-50 46 An argument started between them about which of them was the greatest. 47 Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child whom he set by his side 48 and then he said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. The least among you all is the one who is the greatest.' 49 John spoke up. 'Master,' he said, 'we saw someone driving out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.' 50 But Jesus said to him, 'You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.' As we move forward faithful in living out the charism and mission we are called to, people come to join us and encounter Jesus. Teach us Lord not just to focus on our own growth and concerns but to welcome those who come along our way joyfully. THURSDAY Learning to follow Jesus as a Family (Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael Archangels) Luke 9:57-62 57 As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' 58 Jesus answered, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.' 59 Another to whom he said, 'Follow me,' replied, 'Let me go and bury my father first.' 60 But he answered, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.' 61 Another said, 'I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good -- bye to my people at home.' 62 Jesus said to him, 'Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.' For those who join us in the journey, many things will be very new as we were at the start. The deep and authentic desires are there but also questions and doubts can arise. Let us learn to follow Jesus together as a Family in faith. FRIDAY Keep your eyes fixed on the goal and follow those examples with you. (Memorial of St. Jerome) Philippians 3:14-21 14 I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. 15 So this is the way in which all of us who are mature should be thinking, and if you are still thinking differently in any way, then God has yet to make this matter clear to you. 16 Meanwhile, let us go forward from the point we have each attained. 17 Brothers, be united in imitating me. Keep your eyes fixed on those who act according to the example you have from me. 18 For there are so many people of whom I have often warned you, and now I warn you again with tears in my eyes, who behave like the enemies of Christ's cross. 19 They are destined to be lost; their god is the stomach; they glory in what they should think shameful, since their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But our homeland is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transfigure the wretched body of ours into the mould of his glorious body, through the working of the power which he has, even to bring all things under his mastery. We don’t only journey together and move forward but we also influence each other a lot. We pray that we can learn to be good examples for one another in following Jesus. SATURDAY Let us be present for each other (Memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus Mission Day for Religious Sisters) Hebrews 10:23-25 23 Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is trustworthy. 24 Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works. 25 Do not absent yourself from your own assemblies, as some do, but encourage each other; the more so as you see the Day drawing near. Our presence not only add numbers in the Family but as a clear sign of love, support and encouragement for one another. People grow in their following and in their discipleship being helped by our visible presence in the journey of faith. Teach us Lord to support each other firstly by our attendance in the community. SUNDAY 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Hebrews 1:2-3 & 2:2-4 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95 2nd Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-8 & 13-14 Gospel: Luke 17:5-10 Comments are closed.
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