Hi everyone, just a note to share that the new site is up and running. To get the weekly reflection go to www.livingtheword.org.nz. If you wish to continue receiving the weekly document in your inbox you will need to subscribe again. It just takes a couple of clicks
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Happy Lenten Journey
Fr Frank Bird
download: 1st Sunday Lent of Year C
Reflection question 3: The book of Deuteronomy shares one of the most important statements of faith in the Old Testament. It was spoken every time a person gave their offering to the priest in the Temple. It reminded them of their identity and how God ‘saved’ them. Bringing the tithe (tenth) of the harvest to the temple acknowledged God’s care and provision. How could you express this religious practice of ‘tithing’? Dt 26: 12-15 invites giving to the levite (priest), the foreigner (refugee), the orphan and the widow (those without family and financial support). This is at the heart of the Lenten practice of ‘almsgiving’. How generous will you be in giving of your time, talent, money, compassion… this Lent as a way of ‘thanksgiving’ for what God has given you?
download pdf 6th Sunday of Year C
Reflection question 5: Jesus has just spent the night in prayer, chosen ‘the twelve’ (his team!) and he sits them down. The stage is set for his most important teaching. Nowhere in Luke does the Gospel challenge us so severely. What are my ultimate pursuits? What world order am I living for? What measurement system of ‘success’ am I committed to? Am I on the side of the ‘poor’ and ‘hungry’ or the ‘rich’ and the ‘full’? What does your lifestyle and actions show? Are you ‘good news to the poor’? (note Luke means primarily economically poor not the tame version of ‘poor in spirit’ of Matthew)
download pdf 5th Sunday of Year C
reflection question 6: Isaiah, St Paul and Peter all share their human experience of frailty, guilt, unworthiness. Paul even refers to his feeling ‘abnormally born’! God uses this painful self-awareness positively and is not afraid of our human weakness. In God’s eyes, only those who have tasted personal frailty are ready for pastoral leadership. “Do not be afraid.” Imagine what it would be like to live and make decisions not based in fear. What would you do, how would you live? What new possibilities would exist for you?
Download (pdf) 4th Sunday of Year C
Reflection question 6 : Jesus identifies himself with the mission of the great prophets of Elijah and Elisha who were sent out to nearby gentile lands (Sidon) and people (Naaman the Syrian) which infuriates them. They react violently to the idea that God’s favor is also for the gentiles and not exclusively to Israel. Why do you think removing barriers and cultural walls meets resistance? What is beneath the categories of right / wrong, clean / unclean?
download (pdf document) 3rd Sunday of Year C
reflection question 5: In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus begins his ‘public’ ministry to the most difficult group – his hometown! Jesus is clear and bold in his vision. Do you have a clear sense of mission and purpose in your life and service of God? Jesus uses 50 words, what would you write in 50 words for your personal mission statement as you begin the year?
(just a note if you have recently registered for a weekly download that this will now arrive in your inbox on Tuesday afternoons…. enjoy. Fr Frank)
Welcome to ‘livingtheword’. This site is receiving a new image just in time for Lent 2010. On Ash wednesday a new site for livingtheword will be found at http://www.livingtheword.org.nz. Happy Lenten Journey!
Download for January 17 (pdf) 2nd Sunday Yr C
Download (word) 2nd Sunday Yr C
reflection question: Mary encouraged her son Jesus into ministry. But Jesus reminds ‘this woman’ his ‘hour’ is something deeply personal and between him and the Father. Have you reached a point in life when your ‘hour’ is near to commit to a public witness of your faith, to ministry, single life, marriage, religious life, priesthood? Will you listen to the Father?
Download pdf: 6th Sunday of Easter Yr B
Download doc: 6th Sunday of Easter Yr B
Going Deeper: Open to the spirit?
Leading up to Pentecost we spend time in pondering the Gospel of the Spirit (the nick-name for the Acts of the Apostles reading). Every year during Easter-tide I spend time reading all of the Acts of the Apostles and I constantly get suprised and inspired by the activity of the Holy Spirit and the profound openess that the disciples have. A few weeks ago we had the story of Philip (Acts 8) waking up and being told to stand out on the road and wait for some instructions. He was then inspired to go up to the cheif treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia! A modern equivalent would be standing at the lights of a busy intersection and knocking on someone’s window. The story flows on to getting in the car and heading off to a cafe for a chat with baptism being asked for. What if Philip had other plans for his day… his timetable, to do lists etc. How free our early disciples were. The lived for the work of the Holy Spirit.
Peter and Cornelius are further examples today. Both at prayer, both seeking God’s will, both seeking to be completely open for the inspiration of the spirit. With such openess God manages to do profound things, life-changing things, church changing things, history changing things. Being open to the Spirit requires a certain sensitivity to ‘knowing’ what is ‘of the spirit’. It seems to be the most identifiable characteristic of the early disciples in Acts. All the best. Perhaps the best start is to pray to the Holy Spirit for openess and that some suggestions be made startlingly clear. My own Easter-tide experience is to dedicate 30 mins in prayer to ask for the Holy Spirit to come more powerfully into my life and to do whatever the spirit wants to do in me!
See under Resources section for help in beginning some reflective practises. A discernment resource will be added this week.
Download pdf: 5th-sunday-of-easter-yr-b
Download doc: 5th-sunday-of-easter-yr-b
Going Deeper: getting a bit more radical
The pattern of Easter-tide is the movement from the crucified Christ to the risen Christ gifting the presence and power of the spirit and at work in his disciples. Jesus reveals God, now the Church is called to reveal Jesus.
Today we have the incredibly important figures of Barnabas and Paul (Saul). Both filled with the spirit and disciples who pushed the church forward in mission. What went on in Barnabas that he was not afraid and frightened of Saul? What went on in Paul that almost everywhere he went, his zeal caused him to get in debates with the consequences that people ‘tried to kill him’? The movement of the Holy Spirit met with the courageous obedience of a disciple who has allowed himself / herself to be completely won over by the message and now mission of Christ.
Radical discipleship means saying yes to a bit more intensity of obedience. The Holy Spirit is allowed to make a claim on our timetable, our daily decisions, our middle class life-style. Perhaps this Easter-tide and in the year of St Paul its time to get a bit more radical in our following of Jesus. As an elderly American Bishop wrote a number of years ago while reflecting on his life: how is it that everywhere I go I get offered cups of tea, everwhere St Paul went he was stoned, chased, lowered down in a basket in the middle of the night to get out of some village before he was killed! The Church requires, in fact has always depended on, disciples radical in following and living Jesus’ message. What will it mean for you to take a few more steps in radically following Christ?
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