Activity: Mass
Celebrant: Parish priest Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Thein
Location: Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Comments: ~
12 October, Sunday
Activity: Mass
Celebrant: Parish priest Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Thein
Location: Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Comments: My takeaway for the sermon is, Surrender. Wonderful contemporary choir who sang the psalm, the Lord is my shepherd. And here's a nice song that we sang that really touched me :).
19 October, Sunday
Activity: Mass
Celebrant: Parish priest Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Thein
Location: Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Comments:The lady next to me was late and I passed her my hymnal and she was really appreciative and thanked me for it. The whole mass was very enjoyable as we kept smiling to each other each time we helped each other, for example when laying down the kneeling bench etc. She was an amiable old lady, visiting the church for the first time with her friend :).
20 October, Monday
Activity: Prayer
Comments: I've decided to also include my daily prayer reflections on Sacred Space here :).
Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Reminder for me given that I've been storing up activewear albeit for a business idea that I'm working on, but still, to be less obsessed about the external (since everyone commented on my abs), and to instead always turn to God in prayer, and realign my values, intentions and tune my heart to His.
21 October, Monday
Activity: Prayer
Comments: Gospel from Sacred Space
Jesus said to his disciples, "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves."
Today's gospel for me is about preparing a room for the Lord in my heart and availing myself to him at all times. That my body is a holy temple and sanctuary of God. Also, to start by serving one person at a time. And to start with those closest to me in my life, my husband for one. Being more appreciative and loving towards him, and committing to doing so on a daily basis.
Reflection from Living Space
In our relationships with God, it is always the present which counts. The prepared servant lives constantly in the present and seeks and finds God there. A life so lived takes care of itself – and its future.
26 October, Sunday
Activity: Prayer
Comments: Gospel from Sacred Space
Inigo became convinced that experiencing God in a direct and immediate way was not a special favor reserved for a few select mystics. If God was willing to speak directly to a sinner like him, God would speak to anyone—anyone, at least, who was willing to take the time to be still, listen and pray.
- Ronald Modras, Ignatian Humanism*
Today's gospel:
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the
greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."*
Today's reflection on Sacred Space:
Jesus calls us to more than mindfulness; paying attention is not enough. He wants to us to be where he is, drawn fully into the life of God. Heart, soul and mind show me just how fully Jesus thinks of love. Nothing is to be left out nor is anyone to be excluded as the love of God draws me beyond myself into loving contact with those around me.*
27 October, Monday
Activity: Prayer
Comments: Gospel from Sacred Space
Luke 13:10-17
Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Today's reflection on Sacred Space:
This woman had: never able to look anyone in the eye, unable to take her place among any ordinary crowd. She was likely to have been looked down on or overlooked, denied her dignity as a person. Jesus wants to free me of any improper lmpediments, ligatures or restrictions. He does not ask me what I can bear, what I am used to or what I can settle for. He wants to restore me to my proper stature and to let me see as he sees.
My prayer:
Father, help me to see myself in terms of how You see me, and do what You want me to.
28 October, Tuesday
Activity: Prayer
Comments: Gospel from Sacred Space
Luke 6:12-16
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Today's reflection on Sacred Space:
Jesus called people to follow him, but not all in the same way. The disciples lived their calling by following Jesus on his journeys, by accompanying him in his mission. There are not grades of discipleship; each of us strives to live the call of Jesus as fully as we can in a way that is appropriate to our situation.
2 November, Sunday
Activity: Prayer
Comments: Gospel from Sacred Space
Matthew 11:25-30
At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."\
On this All Souls Day we are in communion with the millions who have gone to the Lord. Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the human heart to conceive what God has prepared for those who love him. The more I learn of you, Lord, the less I fear death.
