04 | March | 2013 | Paroxysm of Giggles / Critical Mass

Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the Good Shepherd,
And you never leave your flock untended.

You gave your life that we may live,
And you appoint shepherds after your own heart
To lead your people by word and example
To likewise give themselves away in love.

We thank you for the ministry of Pope Benedict XVI,
And for his service to the Church and the world.
We ask that you now give him a fruitful period
Of rest and prayer, of gratitude and praise.

We ask you, Lord Jesus, with the Father,
To send the Holy Spirit on the Church once again.

In particular, guide the Cardinals who will shortly exercise
The obligation and privilege of electing a new Pope.
Guide their deliberations and decisions
With divine wisdom and insight.

Even now, Lord Jesus, give to the new Pope,
Whom you have already chosen,
An abundance of holiness and strength,
To carry out the mission you have entrusted to him.

May your Word reign supreme in his life,
And may his every word and action point the Church to You,
The supreme and eternal Shepherd,
And the only mediator between God and humanity,
For you live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

[From OLGC Parish Bulletin 2/24/13]

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament

Okay, new fun activity…. To reflect on the daily readings! 🙂 In the parish bulletin, they have a page where they list not only the daily readings for Mass, but also include a little blurb about them. I thought that I’d provide the link to “Take Five for Faith” for the daily reflection for your reading pleasure, as well as my [amazing, insightful, colorful] commentary and personal thoughts on the readings.

I was originally going to provide the text of the reflections in my post, but I don’t want to step on anyone’s copyright privileges, so if you are reading this post on the day I posted it, you can click on the link to read it there. If you are reading the post on a different day, you can access the parish bulletin and read them there. This week’s reflections are found on page 9 of the bulletin.

Are you ready?! Let’s go! 🙂

Today’s readings:
2 Kings 5:1-15b
Luke 4:24-30

The reflection written notes how we tend to create divisions between people: it is “us” and “them,” but that this is contrary to how we are to live as the Body of Christ. These divisions are due to a lack of charity, many times. Even so far as to have the townspeople drive Jesus out of town in the Gospel of Luke! We should work to break down some of the divisions which have been created between us and reach out to those on the other “side.”

The other thing that struck me about these readings came from 2 Kings, and how Naaman reacted when he was told to wash himself in the Jordan. He was angry.

Why?

Because he had expectations of how God would intervene in his life.

It wasn’t that he didn’t think that God *would* do something; it was that he had a different idea of *how* God should fix the problem. And don’t we do this ALL. THE. TIME??? And then we have the audacity to be angry with God because He didn’t do things the way that we wanted or expected them to be done? Instead of being grateful that He intervened at all?

Amazing, really, that God loves us so much that He heals us, protects us, guides us, and forgives us — despite the incredible ingratitude that we often show Him every day.

For me, I know that I’m going to spend a few extra minutes in prayer today, just thanking Him and praising Him, instead of asking for Him to do yet one more thing.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your unending love and mercy!