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Sangath, www.sangath.com, is looking to build a centre for services, training and research and seeks to buy approx 1500 to 2000 sq mtrs land betweeen Mapusa and Bambolim and surrounding rural areas. Please contact: contac...@sangath.com or yvo...@sangath.com or ph+91-9881499458 http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-July/180028.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 02-Aug-2009 Dear Friend, It has been said that there are many things that we want but few that we really need. When people go shopping they see many things that attract their attention and sometimes they are tempted to buy what they are drawn to. But we also have the experience of realizing that what we thought was good soon looses its appeal. We get bored of what we have acquired and look for something new. What is it that gives lasting satisfaction? Material possessions can never fulfil our deepest need, only God can! Have a reflective weekend discovering your deepest need! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Eighteenth Sunday of the Year ‘Bread of the Lord given to eat!’ 2-Aug-2009 Exodus 16: 2- 15; Ephesians 4: 17-24; John 6: 24-35; In today’s first reading we see on the one hand the Israelites grumbling and complaining against God because they are missing the flesh post of Egypt, and on the other we see God caring for his people and providing for their daily needs. The manna and the quails that they received in plenty have become the classic example of God’s bountiful blessings showered on his people. Moses ordered the people to collect enough for each day and for some to be preserved as a memorial of this event. This feeding with quail and manna was not meant to merely satisfy their physical hunger but to be a symbol of God’s active love. The feeding with manna is, in a sense, part of Israel’s birthright, the result of God’s covenant relationship with his people. The Obstacle in Our Path In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand! Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition. Anonymous In today’s gospel St. John tells us that after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes the people came running back to Jesus. But they were not looking for Jesus, they just wanted more bread, more of the material things that Jesus could offer them. They had seen the sign but were blind to its significance. Jesus attempted to explain the significance of the sign, and indeed of all that he was doing and saying, but they refused to understand. Jesus was ready to offer them food that endures but they preferred food that perishes, food that would give them instant but not lasting satisfaction. The hearers were dense and refused to accept the spiritual food Jesus has to offer them. Instead they ask what miracle can he do comparable to the miracle Moses performed in the desert to feed his people. Firstly, Jesus points out that it was not Moses who worked the miracle but God; secondly, he indicated that the ‘bread from heaven’ was only so in a relative sense and it would not last; thirdly, Jesus points out that the true bread is the bread from God, which comes down from heaven and which gives eternal life. Awe-struck the people cry out ‘Give us that bread that lasts forever.’ And Jesus replies, “I am the bread of life.” The reply of Jesus causes consternation among his listeners. They do not understand and don’t want to accept what Jesus is saying. The full impact of his saying can only be found in the context of the Eucharist. Just as the full meaning of the Eucharist can only be understood in the acceptance of the full mystery of Christ- who he is and what he has done for us. Father They Just Don’t Believe….. Grief is the price you pay for love. If you never want to cry at a funeral, then don’t ever love anyone. If you have a capacity for love, then you should have the tissues convenient. Jesus cried when he overlooked Jerusalem. ‘Salvation was within your grasp, and you would not accept it.’ He spent many a long night alone on the mountain, being in touch with his Father. ‘I never say anything unless my Father tells me’. I often imagine him crying there, because his heart was aching. ‘Father, I told them everything you told me, but they just won’t believe. I told them about the Prodigal Son, but they still doubt your love and forgiveness. I told them about the birds of the air, and the lilies of the fields, but they still worry, and are anxious. I told them all about eternal life, but they are terrified of dying. I told them about the eternal bread that will remove all their hungers and thirsts, but they seem to have some compulsion to horde and accumulate, and they are never satisfied. Father, they just don’t believe me …’ When the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on this earth? The sin of this world is unbelief in me. Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’ “After the multiplication of the loaves, the down-to-earth reaction of these people is understandable: they had been fed free of charge! Jesus had fled from the initial display of this equivocal enthusiasm. ‘You are looking for me because you have not understood what the sign of the multiplied bread was saying about me,’ he begins, by way of reproach. Then, referring to one of the main preoccupations of Jewish religion, he continues: ‘The work which you have to do is not to run after a food that cannot last, but rather to see in the sign that I have given the actions of my father who has sent me. What you have to do is believe in me.’ To believe in him? The crowed is stupefied: what a claim to make! They were quite prepared to give Jesus the task of filling empty stomachs; but filling the void in men’s hearts and lives, that’s another matter. Besides, the bread he multiplied was made of ordinary barely: it was not manna, the bread come down from heaven, which Moses had obtained from God in the desert of the Exodus. ‘I am the bread of life!’ Here finally is the great affirmation, the ultimate claim, what Jesus had wished to reveal in the sign of the multiplied bread. While Wisdom declared, ‘those who eat me will hunger for more’ (Sirach 24:21), Jesus, for his part, can say: ‘come to me and you will never be hungry; believe in me and you will never thirst’. Yes, you who have hunger for something other than bread, you who have thirst for that which cannot be expressed in words, do not be content to look to Jesus for food and drink that cannot last. He is the key to your future, he and no other! It is to him you must come, and no longer to mere bread!” –Glenstal Bible Missal The Secret of Happiness A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for 40 days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived. Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention. The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, and suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours. "Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something", said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. "As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill". The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was. "Well", asked the wise man, "Did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?" The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him. "Then go back and observe the marvels of my world", said the wise man. "You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house". Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen. "But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?" asked the wise man. Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone. "Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you", said the wisest of wise men. "The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon", Paul Coelho in ‘The Alchemist’. Our Many Hungers In 1885 Vincent van Gogh visited a museum in Amsterdam in order to see Rembrandt’s famous painting, ‘The Jewish Bride’. Having seen it he said, ‘I would give ten years of my life if I could sit before this picture for a fortnight, with nothing but a crust of dry bread for food. My first hunger is not for food, though I have fasted over so long. The desire for painting is so much stronger, that when I receive some money I start at once hunting for models until all the money is gone.’ Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ May we nourish and sustain others with our words and deeds! Fr. Jude Botelho judebote...@netforlife.net PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my remodelled web site www.netforlife.net Thank you. Love Cricket? Check out live scores, photos, video highlights and more. Click here http://cricket.yahoo.com
