21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Short Reflection for the 21^st Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Isaiah 22: 19 – 21; Romans 11: 33 – 36; Matthew 16: 13 – 20

Selected Passage: He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16: 15-16)

Meditation: Today, Jesus is asking each and every one of us: "But who do you say that I am?"  Our answer determines the faith and values we stand by. Is Jesus for us a simple miracle worker? Is he a carpenter’s son?  With Peter we confess that He is the Son of God who gave his life as a ransom for our sins that we may have life to the full. He is now RISEN and he has become the source of life and pardon for our sins. www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

In Safer Hands than ours

IN SAFER HANDS THAN OURS

The truth of those words can be particularly consoling when the deceased is a young person, someone whom we feel still needs the hands of an earthly mother and father and whom we would want to trade places with because we feel that he or she is too young to have to leave us and go off in death, alone. That is also true in the case of someone who dies in a far-from-ideal manner, suicide or a senseless accident.

Nothing can be more consoling than to believe that our loved one is now in far safer and gentler hands than our own.

Is this simple wishful thinking, whistling in the dark to keep up our courage? Fudging God’s justice to console ourselves?

Not if Jesus can be believed! Everything that Jesus reveals about God assures us that God’s hands are much gentler and safer than our own.

God is not a God of punishment, but a God of forgiveness. God is not a God who records our sins, but a God who washes them away. God is not a God who demands perfection from us, but a God who asks for a contrite heart when we can’t measure up. God is not a God who gives us only one chance, but a God who gives us infinite chances. God is not a God who waits for us to come to our senses after we have fallen, but a God who comes searching for us, full of understanding and care. God is not a God who is calculating and parsimonious in his gifts, but a prodigal God who sows seeds everywhere without regard for waste or worthiness. God not a God who is powerless before evil and death, but a God who can raise dead bodies to life and redeem what is evil and hopeless. God is not a God who is arbitrary and fickle, but a God who is utterly reliable in his promise and goodness. God is not a God who is dumb and unable to deal with our complexity, but a God who fashioned the depth of the universe and the deepest recesses of the human psyche.

Ultimately, God is not a God who cannot protect us, but is a God in whose hands and in whose promise we are far safer than when we rely upon ourselves.

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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Short Reflection for the 20^th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

Readings: Isaiah 56: 1. 6-7; Romans 11: 13-15; Matthew 15: 21-28

Selected Passage: Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. (Matthew 15:28)

Meditation: Great FAITH WORKS MIRACLES! Yes, Miracles still happen, today and they are NOT the exceptions. But to experience miracles, we need to believe. In the gospel, Jesus gives in to the request of the Canaanite woman, because of her great faith, Jesus cures her daughter.  Visit: www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

Badal is an Arabic word for “Substitution” or “Ransom”.  Louis Massignon had “discovered” the reality of BADAL – Substitution/Ransom for the reparation of injustices and for witnessing to the poor and victims of injustices.  Substitution/Ransom demands an offer of the total self – similar to the test of martyrdom or shahid.  Badaliyya is the movement began by Fr. Louis Massignon in Egypt.

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Short Reflection for the 19^th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

 Readings: 1 Kings 19: 9. 11-13; Romans 9: 1-5; Matthew 14: 22-33

Selected Passage: When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once (Jesus) spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." (Matthew 14: 26-27)

Meditation: When we find ourselves in turbulent waters or when we are afraid, Jesus also appears to us in various ways telling us: “take courage, it is I and do not be afraid.”

Courage is one of the gifts of the Spirit.  For us to receive this gift, we need to TRUST the Lord. It is believing with our heart that whatever happens and whatever the challenge, the Lord is there at our side and he shares the load so we can dispel our fear, because with him we can carry our cross, too. Visit: www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.