COVID Prayer - #22

You have Transformed the Face of the Earth

Lord, our God, you have brought us into the middle of a battle: a battle fought with an almost invisible enemy – a virus; a battle fought not by soldiers but by doctors and nurses; a battle not fought by guns and tanks but by simple soaps and medicines; a battle fought not on the battlefield but in our homes and hospitals; a battle fought not as a battalion, but in isolation and self-distancing. You have taught us, Lord, discipline and contentment with little essentials in this battle. You have made us realize, Lord, that the enemy is within and not outside.

Easter 3rd Week, Thursday, Apr 30

Acts 8:26-48 / John 6:44-51 

Jesus talks about the Father: “Only the Son has seen the Father.”

A college student said to his theology professor, “I cannot believe in God any longer.” The professor stunned the student by saying, “Maybe I should congratulate you for no longer believing in God.” “What do you mean by that?” said the student. His professor replied, “Perhaps the idea of God that you have in your mind is so distorted that you should reject it.”

Jesus, the Bread of Life - Prayer -3

The Bread from Sweat, Tears and Blood

Lord, you have designed that for every drop of sweat, a seed is taken and planted, for every drop of tear, the ground is watered and the seed is germinated and for every drop of blood that is shed, the seed of conversion is produced. Wasn’t it your design, Lord, that Stephen’s blood become the seed of Saul’s conversion? Let not, Lord, no drop of sweat, no drop of tear and no drop blood of your people be shed without making your mission in this world accomplished! Without making it your Bread of Life in this hungry, thirsty and starving world.

Easter 3rd Week,Wednesday, Apr 29

Acts 8:1-8 / John 6:35-40 

Jesus speaks about eternal life: “Whoever believes in me will have eternal life.”

When Wernher von Braun died, Time magazine called him the 20th-century Columbus. Before he died, von Braun gave this testimony concerning life after death: “I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics....Nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation....“Everything science has taught me— and continues to teach me— strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death.”

I am the Bread of life - Reflection

'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.' - John 6:35-51

Bread is a wonderfully sustaining foodstuff. We could look at the individual ingredients and concoct a sermon simply on those, the yeast, the salt, the grain which yields the wheat flour, the water which binds them all together - they all can have a spiritual significance which Jesus himself used in the stories that he told. But let's look at the finished product and how we an relate that to the meaning that Jesus was inferring to the crowd who had so eagerly followed him all day, and seen him perform a culinary miracle with a few fish and some loaves of bread.

Bread of Life: Somewhere a Miracle Occurs - No. 2

Jesus, the Bread of Life- Prayer -2

Somewhere a Miracle Occurs 

Somewhere, Lord, a miracle occurs, when a seed is sown in fertile ground, germinates, grows, ripens and in due season will be harvested. Grains of wheat.

Jesus, the Bread of Life- Prayer -1

Jesus, the Bread of Life: I Am the Bread of Life

‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Easter 3rd Week - Weekday Reflections

Apr 27- May 2: Monday: John 6:22-29: 22 On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 However, boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Easter 3rd Week, Tuesday, Apr 28

Acts 7:51 - 8:1 / John 6:30-35 

Jesus speaks about the Eucharist: “I am the bread of life.”

There’s a story about a poor immigrant family in the 1800s who spent almost their entire life’s savings for boat tickets to the United States. To save what little money they had left, they ate cheese and bread in their cabin rather than go to the ship’s dining room with its more expensive food. According to the story, it wasn’t until they docked in New York that they discovered that the meals on the ship were included in the price of their tickets.

A prayer during the time of COVID-19

A prayer during the time of COVID

When human life is disturbed, disrupted, and threatened by the novel coronavirus, we pray to you, God of life. Grant us the compassion, humility and self-discipline to value, care about and protect each life.