Burning

The WORD today reminds me that I should be burning with God's love so I can share him to others. 

I personally believe that coaches should be good inspirational speakers. They should be able to give inspirational messages to players, especially during games. This affects the players. They would feel inspired, they would feel their purpose, And it would lead them to play well and give their all. This is similar to our spiritual life as well. We should be filled with inspiration, with purpose, and with God's love before we go out into the world. 

"If you are not burning with God's love, you cannot inspire others"

Makes sense, right? Because truly, we cannot give what we do not have. We cannot love others and inspire others if we do not experience love from God, if we are not full of it, and if we are not burning with God's love. 

In the gospel, we see the disciples felt this. Jesus has just risen, so he was burning with the love of and for God the Father. He was filled with God. And as he was speaking to the disciples while they were walking, as they were talking and while he was explaining things to them, he was able to pass this on burning love to others. 

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”

We also see this In the first and second readings. The apostles, led by Peter, spoke about God. Peter proclaimed God to others. He was filled with God's love, and this enabled him, this inspired him to proclaim God to others. He shared God's word, God's message to others. 

We should also aim to be burning with God's love. We should allow God to love us so we can experience his love. We should also do our part, like praying, reading the bible, and partaking of the sacraments. These would help us be aware and conscious of God's love. 

Now is a good time to be burning with God’s love. Now is a good time to spread him to others. With all the bad news, sad news, fake news and the extended ECQ, it is a breathe of fresh air to have people proclaim God - his positivity, his obedience, his goodness to others. We should do this. 

How do I feel God's love in my life? What was the moment i felt God's love in my life the most? Am I burning with God's love? Am I able to share this to and inspire others? With the corona pandemic, am I burning with God’s love and spreading him to the world? Am I an instrument of God’s love to the people around me? 

May we do our best to be filled with God's love. May we ask God to continue to love us and fill us. And as we are filled, may we be generous enough to pass on his love to others. 

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another Sunday. Thank you for all your blessings. Thank you for loving me. thank you for being so generous. Lord, sorry for the times your love is not enough for me. Sorry for looking for love and affirmation somewhere else. Sorry for the times I ignore and refuse your love. Lord, I allow you to love me. I allow you to fill me with your love, your blessings, your presence. I ask you to fill me so I may be able to share you to others. Help me feel and be sensitive to your love. As i do so, may I inspire others. May I bless others. Use me Lord for your purpose and glory, especially with the corona virus. Amen.

Blessed Sunday!

In Christ,

-g-

April 26, 2020

3rd Sunday of Easter; St. Zita

FIRST READING

Acts 2:14, 22–33

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words. You who are Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it. For David says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. 

“My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Psalm 16:1–2, 5, 7–8, 9–10, 11 (11a)

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life. or R. Alleluia. 

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge; I say to the LORD, “My LORD are you.” O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. 

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life. or R. Alleluia. 

I bless the LORD who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. 

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life. or R. Alleluia. 

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. 

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life. or R. Alleluia. 

You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. 

R. Lord, you will show us the path of life. or R. Alleluia.

SECOND READING

1 Peter 1:17–21

Beloved:

If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. 

He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

ALLELUIA

John 10:27

R. Alleluia, alleluia. 

Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us; make our hearts burn while you speak to us. 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL

Luke 24:13–35

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.