Easter 3rd Week, Saturday, May 2

Acts 9:31-42 / John 6:60-69 

Many people leave Jesus: Peter stayed with Jesus.

A popular poster shows a loaf of bread and a goblet of wine. On the poster are the words, “Jesus of Nazareth requests the honor of your presence at a dinner to be given in his honor.” The poster underscores two important points. First, the Mass is a meal to which Jesus invites us personally: “Do this in memory of me.”

Jesus, the Bread of Life- Prayer -5

This time of isolation and separation, we hunger and thirst for your abundant life

God of healing and transformation, at this time of isolation and separation, we hunger and thirst for your abundant life. We bring you our sorrow and ask for the bread of joy; we bring you our despair and ask for the bread of hope; we bring you our weariness and ask for the bread of inspiration. Meet us, Lord, here in this time and place of frustration. We need the bread of heaven to sustain us as we journey to find our way, that we may be one with you.

May 1st: Feast of St. Joseph, the Worker - Prayer

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labour, obtain for us the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above our many concerns; to work with thankfulness and joy, responsibility and commitment, considering it an honour to employ and develop, by means of labour, the gifts received from God; to work with order, peace, prudence and patience, never surrendering too quickly and too long to weariness or difficulties; to work, above all, with purity of intention, and with detachment from self, having always the gift of God before our eyes and the account which we must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all after your example, O Patriarch Joseph. Such shall be our motto in life unto death.  

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus, the Bread of Life- Prayer -4

Jesus, the Bread of Life- Prayer -4

Jesus said, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.' This is the promise of God to whom we now pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Bread of Life for the world.  Forgive us for elevating earthly appetites above devotion to you.  Feed us with the knowledge of Christ so that we recognize our sin and gladly repent in his name.

St . Joseph, the Worker, May 1 - Liturgy

SOLEMNITY OF ST. JOSEPH     

Patron of the Church     

Introduction     

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.