Meditation
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace”
By Admin Webmaster 2/1/2024 6:43:06 AMThe Holy Spirit had assured Simeon “that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord” (Lk 2, 26), and today, led by the Holy Spirit, he has gone into the Temple. He is not a levite, nor a scribe, nor a doctor of the law, he is just a “righteous and devout man, awaiting the consolation of Israel” (Lk 2, 25). But the Holy Spirit blows where it wills (cf. Jn 3, 8).
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two (…).”
By Admin Webmaster 1/31/2024 8:47:15 AMToday, the Gospel refers to the Apostles' first apostolic mission. Jesus Christ sends the Twelve to preach, to heal the sick and to prepare the ways of our definite salvation. This is the mission of the Church, and our mission, too. The II Vatican Council asserted, “Christian vocation is by its very nature a vocation to the apostolate...
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DAILY MEDITATION:“Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him?..."
By Admin Webmaster 1/30/2024 8:20:34 AMToday, God also speaks to us through the Scriptures. At the synagogue, the Scriptures were read and, afterwards, the learned ones commented upon them and explained the sense of the message God wanted to transmit through them. The following thought is attributed to Saint Augustine: “As we speak to God through prayer, God speaks to us through reading.”
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/29/2024 8:09:28 AMToday, the Gospel presents us with two of Jesus' miracles that speak of the great faith of two entirely different persons. Whether Jairus —an official of the synagogue— or that poor ailing woman, both displayed much faith: Jairus is certain Jesus can cure his daughter, while that good old woman knows that just touching Jesus' robe will be more than enough to deliver her from her very serious bleeding.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”
By Admin Webmaster 1/28/2024 6:27:44 AMToday, we find a fragment of the Gospel that might induce someone to smile. Imagining a herd of some two thousand pigs rushing down a cliff and into a lake, is a sort of funny image. But the truth is that those herdsmen did not find any humor in what had happened; they were very angry and begged Jesus to leave their neighborhood immediately.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “What is this? A new teaching with authority”
By Admin Webmaster 1/26/2024 9:23:42 PMToday, Christ addresses us with His forceful cry, without doubts and with authority: “Quiet! Come out of him!” (Mk 1, 25). He speaks to the evil spirits that live within us and prevent us from being free, as God has created and desired us to be.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
By Admin Webmaster 1/26/2024 10:10:58 AMToday, we see how our Lord scolds his disciples for their lack of faith: “Do you not yet have faith?” (Mk 4, 40). They had seen demonstrations of His divine power that proved beyond doubt that Jesus Christ was God's Envoy. Nevertheless, some of His closest followers did not believe Him. They did not realize that they should fear nothing because the Lord was with them.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land…”
By Admin Webmaster 1/25/2024 8:11:44 AMToday, Jesus is telling people about an experience very close to His life: “a man were to scatter seed on the land…, the seed would sprout and grow… Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear” (Mk 4,26-28). With these words Jesus is speaking of the kingdom of God, consisting “of sanctity and grace, Truth and Life, justice, love and peace”...
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature”
By Admin Webmaster 1/24/2024 8:11:44 AMToday, the Church commemorates the conversion of St. Paul, apostle. The short fragment of the Gospel according to St. Mark contains part of the address on the mission bestowed to the apostles by Jesus, resurrected. His exhortation to go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News includes the thesis that faith and baptism are necessary essentials for salvation...
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DAILY MEDITATION: “The sower sows the word”
By Admin Webmaster 1/23/2024 10:21:38 AMToday, we hear our Lord teaching the “Sower's parable”. The example is very current. Our Lord is always “sowing”. Lots of people today also listen to Jesus through his Vicar —the Pope—, his ministers and... his faithful laymen and women: Christ has given a share in his priestly mission to all of us, who have been baptized.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “... Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother”
By Admin Webmaster 1/22/2024 11:08:03 AMJesus' answer is by no means a rejection towards His relatives. Jesus just moved away from them to follow the divine call and now, He also means that, intimately, He has given them up too: not because of lack of feelings or scorn of His family ties, but because He completely belongs to God the Father. Jesus Christ actually lived what He precisely expects from His disciples.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness”
By Admin Webmaster 1/21/2024 7:11:52 AMToday, when we read about this event in the Gospel we are more than a little surprised when “The scribes who had come from Jerusalem” recognize Jesus' compassion for the oppressed and witness the divine miracles with which He blesses them, but then say, “He is possessed by Beelzebul”, and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” (Mk 3, 22).
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/19/2024 9:39:19 PMEvery human action connects with God's eternal plan for us and the calling to listen to Jesus, to follow Him in everything and for everything, and to proclaim Him as the first disciples did, as millions have done and we strive to do.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “He is out of his mind”
By Admin Webmaster 1/19/2024 8:17:48 AMToday, we see how Jesus' own relatives react “He is out of his mind” (Mk 3, 21). Once again, the old proverb “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house” (Mt 13, 57), is seen to be true. It is unnecessary to say this complaint does not “taint” the Blessed Virgin Mary, because from the beginning to the last moment —when she was at the foot of the Cross...
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted”
By Admin Webmaster 1/18/2024 9:31:24 AMToday, the Gospel considers the theology of Christian vocation: “The Lord called those he wanted to be with him and sent them to be apostles” (cf. Mk 3,13-14). First, He calls them: For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy (cf. Eph 1, 4). God loves us, shaping us in Christ, encouraging us to develop the characteristics necessary for us to become His children.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “A large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,..."
By Admin Webmaster 1/17/2024 8:37:58 AMToday, with the baptisms by John in the Jordan still recent, we should all remember the kind of conversion brought about as a result of our baptism. We have all been baptized into one Lord, into one only faith, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1Co 12, 13). This is the aim of unity: to form a single body, to be a single unity in Christ, so that the world may believe.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”
By Admin Webmaster 1/16/2024 8:03:54 AMToday, Jesus tells us we must always do good: There is no such thing as a time to do good and a time to overlook our love for others. The love we receive through God brings us to the supreme Law that Jesus left us in the new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13, 34).
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DAILY MEDITATION: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”
By Admin Webmaster 1/15/2024 8:42:43 AMToday, as yesterday, Jesus has to contend with the Pharisees, who are distorting Moses' Law, by highlighting the letter of the law while ignoring the actual spirit of the Law. Indeed, the Pharisees accuse Jesus' disciples of violating the Sabbath (cf. Mk 2, 24). According to their annoying arguments, to pick the heads of grain means “to reap”,...
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?”
By Admin Webmaster 1/14/2024 8:15:38 AMThe Church has remained faithful to Christ's teaching on fasting which, though coming from the prophets and even being a natural and spontaneous practice in many religions, our Lord confirms with a new meaning. Fasting can be used as preparation; it strengthens prayer and contemplation. Jesus fasts in the desert as a preparation for His public life.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “‘Rabbi’ — which translated means Teacher —, ‘where are you staying?’”
By Admin Webmaster 1/12/2024 10:40:22 PMToday, we see Jesus walking along the banks of the Jordan: Christ is passing by! It was about four in the afternoon when, seeing two young men following him, he turned to ask them, "What are you looking for?" (Jn 1, 38). Surprised by the question, they responded, “‘Rabbi’ — which translated means Teacher —, ‘where are you staying?’ … 'Come, and you will see'" (Jn 1, 39).
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DAILY MEDITATION: “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners”
By Admin Webmaster 1/12/2024 9:25:54 AMToday, Saint Mark tells us how Jesus taught and how the crowd came to Him. In those days, they were as hungry for doctrine as we are today, ignorance being always our worst enemy. Let us not forget the expression: “They will hate no more when they ignore no more”...
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Child, your sins are forgiven.” (...) “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/11/2024 8:09:54 AMToday, we see the Lord surrounded once more by crowds: “Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door” (Mk 2, 2). His heart is melted by people's needs and provides them as much relief as possible; by forgiving, teaching and healing them at the same time.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “If you wish, you can make me clean (...) I do will it. Be made clean.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/10/2024 9:49:44 AMDuring our daily prayer we long for and hope to hear our Lord's voice. But, perhaps more often than not, we fill it with our own words without allowing time to listen to what the Lord may wish to tell us. Let us, therefore, take care of our inner silence, which —by avoiding distractions and centering our attention...
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed”
By Admin Webmaster 1/9/2024 8:13:51 AMToday, we are clearly shown how Jesus split His working hours. On one hand, He prayed; on the other, He consecrated time to His mission of praying with words and deeds. Contemplation and Action. Prayer and Work. Being with God while amongst men.
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DAILY MEDITATION: "The people were astonished at his teaching,..."
By Admin Webmaster 1/8/2024 8:24:50 AMToday, first Tuesday in Ordinary Time, Saint Mark presents Jesus teaching in the synagogue, and immediately he comments: “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mk 1, 21). This is quite an extraordinary comment.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/7/2024 6:05:46 AMToday, on the solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, the cycle of Christmas festivities concludes. The Gospel tells us that John had “appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1, 4). People went to listen to him, confessed their sins, and were baptized by him in the Jordan River. And among those people, Jesus also presented Himself to be baptized.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother...”
By Admin Webmaster 1/5/2024 8:33:10 PMJesus Christ crosses the paths of the lives of many people who are not interested in Him. A little effort would have changed their lives; they would have found the King of Joy and Peace. This requires a willingness to look for Him, to move around, to ask without losing heart —like the Three Wise Men— to leave our comfort, our routine.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/5/2024 10:01:03 AMToday, the Church celebrates the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That day, the world's waters were purified and were given the power to clean away sin. Although the Baptism administered by John had only the implication of our conversion and acceptance of our sinfulness, Jesus, solidary with all men, decided to go through it too, as the Leader of a renewed Manhood.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Come and see”
By Admin Webmaster 1/4/2024 8:34:31 AMWe cannot give what we do not have. So, before we can tell others about the Master, we must already have encountered Him and come to know Him. Only when we know Him well and have allowed Him to enter into and direct our lives, can we share Him with others, as Philip did, and as His disciples have done throughout history.
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DAILY MEDITATION: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”
By Admin Webmaster 1/3/2024 8:30:51 AMToday, the Gospel reminds us of the vocational circumstances of Jesus' first disciples. To get ready for the advent of the Messiah, John and his friend Andrew had listened to, and followed for a while, John the Baptist. One day, John the Baptist, points out to Jesus, by calling Him the Lamb of God.