The Word of Life

 

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On 2nd May 2025 [VM2]

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures 

Blessed are the peacemakers, they are the children of God 

Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognized as children of God[1] Lord is asking us to be the peace makers with all our adversaries. Jesus is promising us, he will give us his peace. And he says again that he is giving the peace to us, that means he has given the peace to us. The worldly peace is not permanent, and it may waver; the peace our Lord Jesus is giving us is the eternal peace. Peace, I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.  (John 14:27, NJB)

Late Pope Francis always says to make peace with the people with our neighbors, enemies and between nations. In his own words: “Peace, according to the Bishop of Rome, “is the first gift that the Lord has given us, and it is the first duty that the leaders of nations must fulfil: peace is the fundamental condition for the respect of the rights of every human being.”

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ (John 20:19, NJB) In another time at once after Jesus encountered with the disciples of Emma-us he was not left from those scenario. While the desciples of Emmaus talking about the encounter, immediately Jesus fcame to Emmaus and were explaining what had happened. Jesus came into their midst, and They were still talking about all this when he himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ 3 (Luke 24:36–37, NJB)

Pope Francis: “On the day of New Year 2025 At the dawn of this New Year given to us by our heavenly Father, a year of Jubilee in the spirit of hope, I offer heartfelt good wishes of peace to every man and woman.”

 

 

 

[1] The New Jerusalem Bible. (1985). (Mt 5:9). New York: Doubleday.

The Word of Life

 

On 30th April 2025 [VM1]

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures

Lord, bless us with a pure heart 

Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8, NJB, https://ref.ly/Mt5.8;njb) Lord, haw can I keep my heart pure and holy. Lord, only by You can be is possible, not by my human effort. Jesus says: What goes into the mouth does not make anyone unclean; it is what comes out of the mouth that makes someone unclean (Matthew 15:11, NJB) Any dirty words coming out of the tongue are a sign of a corrupt heart. Thus, the Lord commands us to purify and sanctify our hearts. After then, the Lord will cause our tongues to speak His Word. He reiterates in the Gospel of Matthew that everything that comes out of our mouths originates in our hearts, and that if we ponder bad thoughts, they will manifest in our mouths as wicked words and deeds, rendering us filthy and causing us to commit numerous crimes.  But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and it is this that makes someone unclean. 19 For from the heart come evil intentions: murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. 20 These are the things that make a person unclean. But eating with unwashed hands does not make anyone unclean.’ (Matthew 15:18–20, NJB, https://ref.ly/Mt15.18-20;njb) Lord Jesus, make our hearts humble and holy.   

    Reason should be the basis for every activity, reflection must come before any undertaking. 17 Thoughts are rooted in the heart, and this sends out four branches: 18 good and evil, life and death, and mistress of them always is the tongue. 1 (Sirach 37:16–19, NJB Our hearts are filled with both good and wicked thoughts. Our Lord will talk to us when we reflect on Him or think about His statutes and laws found in the Bible. We are always able to join our Lord in His eternity when we pray with profound devotion. A pure heart is the source of the positive thoughts. Our innermost beings die as a result of our wicked ideas. We become impure in our souls and talk about bad practices when we think about them Controlling our tongue is crucial to our spiritual lives since it is one of the most dangerous things in our bodies, like a sword. The devil is quite alluring when it comes to his wicked ways, which include pride in material belongings, lust, worldly pleasures, and many more.

 

The Word of Life

Happy Feast of Divine Mercy 

On 27th April 2025

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures 

Lord, teach us to be in mercy and compassIon on everyone 

Blessed is the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them[1]Mt 5: 7When we are merciful to everyone, including the neighbors our enemies, God will reciprocate our generosity. The Lord is so gracious as to show us his love and compassion.

Or are you not disregarding his abundant goodness, tolerance, and patience, failing to realize that this generosity of God is meant to bring you to repentance? The Lord is merciful. Rm 2: 4(NJB)   The Lord shows us mercy because He is aware of our weakness and how it leads to sin. We must be humble before the Lord in order to receive his mercy.  We are commemorating the feast of Devine Mercy Sunday today, April 27, 2025. From the pierced Heart of Jesus our Lord, God lavishes us all with his kindness in the shape of water and blood, as well as beams of crimson and white light. Jesus showed St. Maria Faustina the rays of Red and White to demonstrate the richness of God's mercy.

We can see how our Lord was merciful to the people of Nineveh, and it was a big city and hundreds of thousands of people were living there. God told Jonah to prophecy the Up!’ he said, ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to it as I shall tell you.’ 3 Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare; to cross it took three days[2]and the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.[3]  The Prophet Jonah spoken to people of Nineveh about the destruction of their land as per the order from the Lord. All the people took it seriously and they were repented wholeheartedly about tear sins and were reconciled to God. Who knows? Perhaps God will change his mind and relent and renounce his burning wrath, so that we shall not perish.’ 10 God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring it.  (Jonah 3:9–10, NJB) God relented because all the people of Nineveh plead for God;s mercy  by humbling themtselves and renouncing their sins. Lord, teach us to be in mercy and compassIon on everyone 

[1] The New Jerusalem Bible. (1985). (Mt 5:7). 

[2] The New Jerusalem Bible. (1985). (Jon 3:2–3).

[3] The New Jerusalem Bible. (1985). (Jon 3:5–6).