Daily Mediation - Sunday 6th. Jan. 2008 Epiphany - To desire ardently and to pray

[BarbaraTherese]

I may not have the time to comment on the Meditation, but I will try to post it daily. I am a bit concerned at this point that once school is in late in January, my spare time will be even more limited.
All comments on thoughts are very welcome! Very welcome!!!

Most welcome!:coffeeread:

St. Therese has been called “the saint of ardent desires” and we now know that God indeed did fulfill all her ardent and lofty desires though she was a humble ordinary (it seemed to appearances) sort of nun in a then unknown small Carmelite Convent…He can fulfill ours too and that is one of the things God has spoken through the life of St. Therese. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world could ever dream of!!!”

DAILY MASS READINGS
usccb.org/nab/010608.shtml

Meditation
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=01&day=06&year=2008&x=13&y=5

If the frantic pace of the Christmas season has dulled your spiritual instincts, try meditating on the Magi. They were completely caught up with looking for Jesus. They weren’t even Jewish, but they pored over the Scriptures to find out where he would be born. They didn’t have cars or maps, so to get to Bethlehem, they rode camels and navigated by the light of a star. After traveling thousands of miles, their first thought was not to find a good place to rest. They wanted to give their gifts to the newborn king right away!

Perhaps the enthusiasm of these Wise Men can give us a jump start today. Before attending Mass, we can reflect on the fact that we too are going to see Jesus. Unlike the wise men, however, most of us will only have to travel a short distance to reach him, and we’ll meet with few hardships along the way—usually nothing worse than traffic tie-ups or rowdy children!
As you enter your church today, think about what a privilege it is to come to Mass. The Wise Men saw Jesus face-to-face—but *

through the miracle of the Eucharist, he comes to live inside of us!

• So many people are searching for God right now, and whether they know it or not, *

they’re looking for just what you have:

• “Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it” (Matthew 13:17).

After you receive Communion, thank God for making you his child, and for giving you his joy and his peace. But don’t forget to pray for those who are still seeking him: your friends and co-workers, and all those who are looking for the truth. Pray that you will be a witness to them. Pray that your actions, words, and attitudes will help lead them to Jesus.* The*

best gift you can give the Lord today is a heart open to spreading his love!

“Jesus, just as the Wise Men did, I kneel before you, gazing on your glory in the Eucharist. May I become a tabernacle of your mercy, shining your light everywhere I go.”

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Lectio Divina for today gives a much deeper insight into today’s Readings, from the aspect of:

The Star
The Journey
The Adoration

…it is more than worth a read:
ocarm.org/lectio/anno_a/naa04eng.htm

Lectio Divina usually gives much deeper insight into the actual Readings than any of the meditations. Lectio Divina is posted daily into the “Daily Prayer and Liturgy Thread” in this Spirituality Forum. A new thread is started monthly and is updated on a daily basis:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=208058

Whenever I do post the daily meditation, I will try to remember to post a Lectio Divina link also.

Blessings - Barbhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/3/3_8_9.gif

 

[InLight247]

Let me share with you the summary of two sermons from our two priests in the year of 2007 Epiphany:

The Lord Jesus is revealed to all the nations as a baby in arms, powerful and glorious in his weakness. The celebration of coming of the Magi to baby Jesus is a leap of faith and humility. The three kings were rulers. It took humility for them to take the long journey and worship the baby Jesus. They brought gifts – gold, incense, and myrrh. As we look at the wise men, following the star to Jesus and present gifts to him, what gifts are we going to bring to Jesus in this New Year? Can we go to God with humility and generosity?
Can we practice unselfishness and have an attitude toward God that all my joy, success, work, pain, suffering, failures are Yours? We are called to be Jesus for one another. Can we be kind to each other? We can only do this by God’s grace – love and service. What gift can we bring to God and to one another?

If we look at the Magi who brought gifts to Jesus, they brought things to do with healings.
Gold is standard commodity to help the poor, incense we burn during Mass represent our prayers go up, myrrh is the healing balm.

There are questions we need to answer. What part of our gold is needed by another person? What myrrh should be put on another’s wound and bring comfort? To whom do we need to offer love and acceptance? To whom do we need to offer our gifts?
We are God’s hands. It is up to us to take the gifts of Magi and offer to the world.

Both priests emphasized Christmas season was over yet the Christmas message and spirit should be kept and carried on.

These are from my notes written down a year ago.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Thank you InLight for the (name removed by moderator)ut and excellent reflections…
…Barb

 

[InLight247]

Here are two sermon summary from the year of 2008 Epiphany, one from Saturday evening’s Mass, the other from this morning, by our two priests:

In today’s Gospel, the Magi brought special gifts to Jesus. They wanted to manifest the glory of God. And King Herod had all the power to do evil to our Lord. The Magi didn’t know the evil of Herod, but in their dreams God revealed it to them. The Magi were able to turn away from evil and proclaim the glory of almighty God.

In our lives, when we see evil, we can recognize it. We should not only turn away from the evil as the Magi, we also should proclaim almighty God to the world. We do this by God’s grace. Our gift to Jesus isn’t gold, frankincense or myrrh, but ourselves as we live our lives in service to others, in welcoming others, and in what good we do for others.

The Magi represent the king of the nations. We see their adoration and submission to the divinity of Christ. In our lives, we continue to struggle the temptation of putting other things above Christ. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” His kingdom is beyond this world. We should remember the claim of Christ comes first before any other claims of this world. The claim of Christ should always be the first.