Twentieth Week In Ordinary Time

Reflection based on this Sunday’s Gospel Matt 15: 21-28:

There are 4 type of people who pray:

  1. The one who prays to win the lottery, but doesn’t even buy a ticket.
  2. The child who prays for a bike, but puts Mama Mary in a drawer.
  3. The one who prays and waits, saying Jesus will answer them in God’s time.
  4. And Mother Theresa who prayed for a cease fire at 12:05pm so that she could help evacuate orphans in a war zone.

Jesus encourages our persistence as shown by the woman asking for her daughter’s healing. When ignored, and told to not take food from the children, she told Jesus that even the dogs feed off the master’s scraps, showing that Jesus’ message is for the multitude and not one group of people. When Jesus heard what she said, he told her her that she had great faith and healed her daughter.

God wants us to always seek to deepen our faith and remain persistent in our prayers.

Nineteenth Week In Ordinary Time

3 teaching moments to reflect on from this weeks’s Gospel (Matt 14:22-33):

1. We are going to experience storms in our lives.
2. Jesus may ask us to take risks such as walk on water during a storm, but He will not ask us to do something we cannot do, and will save us if we are scared and ask for His help. He answers every one our prayers no matter what (even if it seems he hasn’t).
3. When Elijah from the book of Kings climbed Mount Horeb he heard God’s voice in the quiet stillness. We need God’s reaffirmation and should always seek it.

If everyone went up Mount Horeb to listen to God’s voice in the quiet stillness like Elijah did, there would be no wars.

Seventeeth Week In Ordinary Time

Reflection based on Matt 13:31-35:

The field is our human heart and the treasure is the presence of the blessed trinity. The treasure is hidden, some people don’t even know it exists. When we experience it, we want more, and the way to getting more of this treasure, is to remove the barriers that stop us from coming to know Jesus and all his graces.

The pearl of great price is the life giving relationship with God.

People are looking in the wrong place for the pearl of great worth. It is not in the news or wars.

The pearl of great worth can be found in contempletive prayer and Father Gerry will teach us how to pray contempletively in the coming months and during special events.