BREAD FOR YOUTH

  31st Week Friday in Ordinary Time Year One Rom 15:14-21 Meditation Preach Christ! St Paul is given grace to be an Apostle of the Gentiles. Being a Jew, he became a preacher and teacher of Jesus to outside Jewish circles. St Paul was convinced that it was grace given to him to preach Christ. He boasts about his weakness and the power of God at work in him. He boasts about his ministry to the Gentiles. The work he did was for the name of Jesus. He is ambitious about preaching the Good News to the nations. St. Paul says, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Good News." He was full of Christ. He has nothing else to do than to preach and make known the message of Jesus. His knowledge and experience of Christ is so deep that he was able to communicate to the people so well in those days to form Christ in them. St. Paul encourages us to be transformed by Christ and to have the mind of Christ in each one of us. In what way would we like to proclaim Christ to the world? Yea...

  31st Week Thursday in Ordinary Time Year One Meditation Rom 14:7-12 We Belong to God! St Paul reminds us that our lives are not our own, they belong entirely to God. Every moment, from life to death, is lived in relationship to the Lord who gives us being and purpose. This truth frees us from the illusion of self-ownership and invites us to live with a deeper sense of responsibility, gratitude, and reverence. Standing before God’s judgment seat is not meant to instil fear, but humility. It reminds us that only God sees hearts perfectly. Our task is to live in such a way that, when our lives are laid bare before Him, they show love, mercy, and faithfulness. Do we love God? Year Two Phil 3:3-8 The Greatest Knowledge is to Know Christ! St Paul accepted that he was a practicing Jew and persecuted the church. He was righteous new and blameless by the law of Jews. After the encounter with Jesus St Paul considers everything as a loss except the person of Christ. Th...

  31st Week: Ordinary Time, Wednesday Year One Rom 13:8-10 Meditation True Love! No words can describe the true love of God and true love of the other. Love is the fulfilment of the natural law and Divine law. One who loves is in perfect harmony with God and the other. True love is above everything. Often it is said, love and do what you like. An authentic love is not fickle and for advantage but calls for responsibility and faithfulness in the sight of God and in the sight of men/women. Divine love in not strange to us. It is given to us by God himself and it is manifested to us by Jesus on the cross. Genuine love is seen in our parents, elders and those who sacrifice their life to be embodiments of true love. God, who is Love enables each one to participate in his Divine love to be holy, pure, joyful and happy in life. Let everyone entrust himself/herself to the Divine Love; which will lead one, on the right path to genuine love of God. How to check one’s love is genuin...

  31st Week: Ordinary Time, Tuesday Year One Rom 12: 5-16 Meditation God Gives Us Manifold Gifts! God gives humans manifold gifts. God gives to those whom he loves a Christian vocation. Christian vocation is holy and joyful. It is so because Christians are called to follow the teaching of Christ. The teaching of Jesus is loving God, loving oneself and loving others. It is very simple but difficult to practice. St Pual in today’s reading explains how to love.   “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.   Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but...

  31st Week Monday in Ordinary Time Year One Meditation Rom 11:29-36 Who can Know the Mind of God! We are called to obey God. Obeying God would mean following the commands of God. The written laws of God are available to all. The laws of God is taken by family, community and state. In keeping the law, we keep ourselves for good. Obeying God is obeying those around us, especially elders and those in authority. No one can know the mind of God. We do not completely understand the mind of God. One thing we can note is that God wants us to be happy.   All that does not keep us happy is not of God. It is the work of the devil to keep one sad. Be happy and be cheerful. Thank God and thank one another. A happy life will let us know the mind of God. Are we aware that humans are called to be happy? Year Two Phil 2:1-4 Consider Others Better than Yourself! St Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, feels that if the community has encouragement, consolation, compassi...

  30th Week Friday in Ordinary Time First Reading Rev 7:2-14 Meditation Do You Know for Certain Someone You Know is a Saint? Happy Feast of All Saints. It is a great feast indeed. A feast of all declared and non-declared saints. The ultimate aim and purpose of life is to be happy in the present life and life after. All the religions tell us the way to be happy is to attain salvation. To attain salvation in Christian terms means to be in heaven. Those who lived well and lived according to the will of God will be allowed in heaven. All those who are in heaven are saints for us. Saints pray for us before the Father in heaven. They are model to us. During the liturgical year we have celebrated many feasts of declared stains days but today in particular we think of many who reached heaven but were not declared saints. They may be many of our known people who lived holy lives and died certainly in heaven. They have set an example of a good Christian life, and we need to think o...