Computer Cud    Vatican II asks us to read the Bible every day,   'to have a burning love'   for the Word of God      Resolution

This plan follows the Sunday liturgy:  reading + psalm + reading + gospel       From  www.simplebible.info         Previous R-R-P 

O Holy Spirit, please guide me as I read these passages for today.                     
May these passages give me hope, strength, wisdom, compassion, courage and peace for my daily life     Chinese text

Please feel free to add  insights and prayers in the comment box below. 

 Reading - Reflection - Prayer   April 25, 2013 
With readers' comments, below  

Reading:  Isaiah 33-35

Strengthen all weary hands,
steady all trembling knees,
and say to all faint hearts
"Courage! Do not be afraid. The Lord is coming to save you."

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed.

Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy.

Exiles will return to Zion shouting for joy,
everlasting joy on their faces.

Joy and gladness will go with them.
Sorrow and lament will be ended.

Reflection: 
For the blind, the deaf, the lame and the dumb....the above words were Good News and gave them hope.
The same words give hope to today's blind, deaf, lame and dumb people....that healing is coming....in Heaven if not before

Prayer:  Lord, please heal the friends I know who are blind, deaf, lame and dumb

 

Reading:  Psalm 46 
 

All peoples, clap your hands, cry to God with shouts of joy.
For the Lord, our Creator, we must love and honor,
great king over all the earth.

Especially in his holy city is the Lord worthy to be praised.
Praise is fitting in Mount Sion, our earth's most sacred site.

O God, as we pray in your temple,
our hearts meditate on your love.

May peoples and rulers everywhere
acknowledge and love you as Creator of the Universe

Reflection: 
"Clap your hands" ....a joyful form of praise..... as in this 2011 Mass celebrated by Cardinal Bergoglio (Pope Francis)

Prayer: Let all the peoples praise you,  Lord. Let all the peoples praise you!

 
Reading:  Acts 17

In Athens, Paul was sad see so much idol worship.
Each day he talked to as many people as he could about Jesus

He was invited to a meeting of intellectuals.
He said to them "The Creator of the world does not make his home in shrines made by human hands

He wants everyone to know him as the living God.
It is in him that we live and move and have life"

Reflection:
In its mother's womb, a baby lives and moves and has life. 
The universe is like a giant womb, God's womb, in which we live and move and have life. 

c.f. The Universe - God's Womb

Prayer: 
Jesus, please help me understand how we live and move and have life in you

 
Reading:  Matthew 20

Jesus said to his disciples
The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire workers for his vineyard.
He agreed to pay them the normal daily wage.

Then about 9am he went again to the market place. He saw more men without a job.  
He got them also to go to his vineyard. He promised to pay them a fair wage.

About noon and again about 3pm he once more went to the market place and employed two more groups of men.

About 5pm he went one final time and employed one last group of men.

At sunset when the men came to be paid, the owner paid everyone a normal day's wage.
This made the dawn group unhappy.

They grumbled and said "We have done a full day's work in the heat. 
Yet we got the same as those who did only one hour's work. This is not fair!"

The owner replied "I am paying you what we agreed to. Why do you begrudge my generosity?"

Reflection: 
On this Anzac Day we remember soldiers who died in war....which is where the phrase "over the top" originated.
The phrase "over the top" is now sometimes used in a positive sense....as to describe the generosity of the above landowner (= God):
his generosity is "over the top" = way beyond what is normally done

Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for your "over the top" love and generosity. Please help me be more loving and generous towards other people

Comments welcome here