BREAD FOR YOUTH

  20th week Tuesday in Ordinary Time Year One Judges 6:11-24 In this passage, the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon while he is secretly threshing wheat in a winepress to hide from the oppressive Midianites. The angel calls him a "mighty warrior" and tells him that God is with him and will use him to save Israel. Gideon, feeling weak and insignificant, questions God's presence and power. As a sign of reassurance, Gideon offers a meal, and the angel miraculously consumes it with fire before disappearing. Gideon realizes he has seen the angel of the Lord and is terrified, but God speaks peace over him. You might see your flaws, fears, or failures. But God sees your potential and His purpose in you. What might God be calling out in you today that you don’t yet see in yourself? Year Two Ezek 28:1-10 Pride wrecks life! A warning to the rulers and those who are proud. Due to the wisdom, wealth and power, man can feel that he is a god. God indeed created humans...

  20th week Time Monday in Ordinary Year One Judge 2:11-19 Meditation The passage outlines a tragic and repeated cycle in Israel's history during the time of the Judges. After the death of Joshua and his generation, the Israelites begin to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshiping the Baals and turning away from the God who brought them out of Egypt. In response, God allows them to be oppressed by surrounding nations. Yet, in His mercy, He raises up judges to deliver them. But even then, the people do not fully listen, quickly returning to corruption after each judge dies. It becomes a cycle of sin, oppression, deliverance, and relapse. What practices help us remember and remain grounded in God’s truth? Two Ezek 24:15-24 Know that the Lord is Sovereign! The Lord tells Ezekial that he will take away the delight from his sight. He would give times of trouble and hardships for the people of Israel. His own wife would die, and many others would be put to death. We d...

  19th Week Ordinary Time, Saturday Year One Josh 24:14-29   “Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.   Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Josh 24:14-15 In the Old Testament, the concern of Moses, Aran and Joshua was to protect Israel from worshipping other gods. God made us. we belong to him. He is our beginning and end. We exist because of God and have our being. The God who created us has given us freedom to create our own false gods and find shelter under the false gods. In the history of Israel, they created their own gods to satisfy their need for projection and ego. Thus, they went away from God an...

  19th week Friday in Ordinary Time Rev 11:19-12:6,10 Meditation Mary Assumed into Heaven! A virgin birth is something impossible and only Divinely possible. Today the people of the AI generation do believe in the virgin birth. It is right and proper that God be born of a virgin. The woman is chosen and protected from original sin. The child to be born of her will rule the world. God becomes human through the mediation of women. God will protect the woman who gives birth to the Divine child. The mother who gives birth will be a privileged woman. She becomes the mother of the Divine child and the mother of God. The mother of God shares in the life of the Saviour and Redeemer. Her involvement is not over with the giving birth. She continues her mission, but her son wants her aid in his saving action. Jesus loved his mother and did not allow her body to be corrupted. He assumes her into heaven body and soul. Do we believe that we will be with God, Mother Mary in heaven? ...

  19 Week Ordinary Time Thursday Year One Josh 3:7-10a, 11,13-17 Have a Grateful Memory! When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan. (Josh 3:14-17). The ark of the covenant was carried by priests to the river Jorda...

  19th Week Ordinary Time, Wednesday Year One Duet 34:1-12 Meditation Correcting a Brother!   Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Duet 34:9). Moses dies, and he was buried as told. Joshua takes up the lead as the leader of Israel. Moses prepared him to be a leader. He was with him always in leading and guiding the people of Israel. He was prepared to take over the care of Israel. A nation, institute, mission is better led by its leaders who prepare the future leaders to take up the responsibility of leading the mission of God. If the leaders are not prepared, the mission is a failure. Most effective leaders prepare the leaders to carry on the mission. Those who love the mission they do not care of their satisfaction of power but the fulfilment of the mission to see it is carried on by the effective leaders who are prepared. Moses does prep...

  19th Week Ordinary Time Tuesday Year One Deu 31:1-8 At the age of 120, Moses is not able to move much.   The Lord tells him that he need not go to fight.   He tells him to send Joshua.   He will lead the armies, and they will win over the enemies.    The Lord promises through Moses to be strong and courageous.   For the Lord is going before you to fight for you. The one who goes in the name of God need not fear, for the Lord is going to be with us and guide us. Yet, when it happens, the Lord prepares for many places we visit.   The Lord places people before us to take care of us.   Every war we wage in life for good is not ours; it is the Lord's work, and so He takes care and He fights every battle.   We are to be his emissaries. Do you know God sends the right people to fight for you? Year Two Ezek 2:8-34 Meditation A Rebellious Heart! Ezekiel was asked to eat the scroll of lamentation, mourning, and woe. He was ...

  19th week Monday in Ordinary Time Duet 10:12-22  Listen to the Voice of God! So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.   Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. (Duet 10:12-16) The law of the Lord is very simple: To love God and to love the other. To do this one needs to have fear of the Lord. Fear is the beginning of wisdom. We do not love God out of fear. The fear of God is out of love. There is fea...

  18th Week: Ordinary Time Saturday Year One Duet 6:4-13 Meditation Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.   You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.   Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.   Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem[b] on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.(Deut 6:4-9) A prayer is given to Israel. They were told to recite it. They were told to talk about it. They were told to be in the constant presence of the prayer. This prayer is the Shema. This prayer expresses belief in the oneness and in the comparability of God. A command to follow, to recite, to keep the verse safe in heart, on forehead, on door posts and on the entrance. A scripture so impo...

  18th week Friday in Ordinary Time Year One   Deut 4: 32-40 Meditation Blessed are the Messengers of God! Moses reminds Israel, and us, of God's mighty acts: He created heaven and earth. He chose a people for Himself. He spoke from fire. He rescued with signs and wonders. He disciplines in love. And He calls us to obey, not just for our sake, but for the generations to come. This is the Lord who speaks, acts, and invites. He is: Above us in power, With us in presence, And for us in covenant love. There is no one like Him. We should submit to him. God is powerful and his ways are just and right.   God gave us freedom; we need to use with responsibility. Do we submit ourselves to God’s care? Year Two Nah 1:15; 2:2; 3:1-3, 6-7 Blessed are the Messengers of God! Blessed are those who bring the Good News. The Good News is the message of God. People who bring good news have to walk for a long distance. In the olden days, there was no existing transportation...

18th week Thursday in Ordinary Time Year One Num 20: 1-13 Meditation God Makes a New Covenant with Humanity. When Moses was asked to strike the rock for water and he strikes twice in week faith in God. As result he lost the chance of entering into promise land. Let us obey God as he guides us.   God is not just interested in outcomes — He cares about the way we obey Him. Even leaders like Moses are held to account, not for failure in results, but for failing to uphold God’s holiness and trustworthiness. You may be in a "wilderness" season, tempted to react in anger or despair, Pause. Trust. Listen carefully for God's voice. Speak when He says speak. Wait when He says wait. Strike only when He says strike. Where in my life am I being called to speak instead of strike? Year Two Jer 31:31-34 God Makes a New Covenant with Humanity. The Lord tells us that he will make a new covenant with humanity. The old convent confirms the new covenant. The Lord protecte...

  18th week Wednesday in Ordinary Time Year One Num 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26-29,34-35 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.” 35 I the Lord have spoken; surely, I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.( Num 13:34-35) Human memory of God’s great deeds are short lived. God had been doing wonders for the people of Israel. The people were forgetting and going back to worship other gods and living in sin. They were complaining and dissatisfied with God. God in his anger punished them but promised the entrance to them into the promised land; where they would die. Many did perish in the wilderness in the forty years long sojourn in the wilderness. God was faithful and as he promised them, he reached them to the land that was promised...

  18th week Tuesday in Ordinary Time Year One Num12:1-13 Do we talk ill of Others! When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous. Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us[c] for a sin that we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like one stillborn, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.” And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her.” (Num12:10-13) Miriam and Aaron grumbled against Moses for he married a cushite woman. The Lord called three of them to the tent and spoke to them. The Lord questioned for the grumbling they did. As the Lord moved from the cloud over the tent Miriam is found with leprosy. Aaron and Moses pleaded God to heal her. It is very common plague of humans to grumble and gossip against others. It is piousness to talk ill of others. It is the evil that make one to talk ill of others. Ti...

  18th week Monday in Ordinary Time Year One Num 11:4-15 Meditation The False Prophet Hananiah! The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat!   We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”( Num 11:4-6) Israel was complaining that they have no meat, fish and other delicious in the desert. The Lord gives them meat later on. It is worth taking note of Israel simplicity of complaining to God, that they have no desired food. The complain of food is found in every part of the world and by all sorts of people. God in his goodness gave Israel meat to eat in the wilderness. God does provide delicious food to his people. We need to be grateful to God for all the blessing we receive from his mighty hand. Let us not take the blessing of...

  17th week Saturday in Ordinary Time Year One Lev 25:1-17 Let Us Reform Our Ways! You shall count off seven weeks[a] of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years.   Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the day of atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces. ( Lev 25:8-12) God created the world in six days and on the seventh day he rested. God himself rested setting us an example.   Man ...