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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

Reading:  Jeremiah 7

"You people of Judah who come here to worship,
amend your behavior and actions,
and then I, the Lord, will meet you here in this Temple.

Do not exploit the stranger, the orphan and the widow.
Do not follow alien gods, do not break the Commandments.

If you don't care about bad behavior
and yet keep on coming to my Temple for worship,
your worship is useless
and you are turning this Temple into a robbers' den.

This nation refuses to listen to the Lord.
Sincerity has vanished since worship and behavior are not related."

Reflection: 
Imagine someone standing at the front door of a cathedral and speaking the above words
....before being taken away to the local police station.  Poor Jeremiah ....he had a tough job!

Prayer: Lord, please help me "practise what I preach"

Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer
for I am poor and needy.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving,
full of love to all who call to you.

All the nations shall come to adore you
and glorify your name, O Lord,
you who alone are God.

Show me, Lord, your way, and guide my heart
so that I may walk in your truth.

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart
for your love to me has been great.

O give your strength to your servant
and save your handmaid's son.

Reflection: 
This psalm twice mentions God's love.  Gratitude for God's love grows as we get older, just like gratitude for our parents' love.
As we get older and our prayer becomes simpler.... it often boils down to "thank you Lord for your love".
DV these words will be in our hearts and on our lips at the end of our lives

Prayer: Thank you Lord for your love

To find out why the Jews were attacking Paul, the captain arranged a meeting of the religious leaders, and allowed Paul to speak to them.

Paul realized that the leaders had two groups: 
Sadducees (who didn't believe in angels or an after-life) 
and Pharisees (who did believe in angels and an after-life)

So Paul called out "I am a Pharisee. It is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial".
This caused the Pharisees and Sadducees to begin a violent argument that put Paul's life in danger

The captain ordered Paul to be taken back into the barracks.
The next night, the Lord appeared to him and said
"Courage! You have born witness for me in Jerusalem. Now you must do the same in Rome"

Reflection: 
Jesus says to every Christian: "Courage! You have born witness for me in (old place) Now you must do the same in (new place).
"Place" might mean area/factory/office/school/neighborhood/parish etc

Prayer: Jesus, please give us courage to bear witness for you wherever we are

After the Roman soldiers scourged Jesus, they made fun of him:
- they put a red cloak on him.
- they made a crown out of thorns.
- they put a reed in his right hand.

Then they knelt in front of him saying "Hail, king of the Jews".
They spat on him.
They took the reed and hit him with it.

When they had finished making fun of him,
they dressed him  in his own clothes and led him away to crucify him.

Reflection:
How often we have hurt other people's feelings when we made fun of them
...including times when they didn't show they were hurt

Prayer: Jesus, please don't let me hurt other people by making fun of them