Prayer Prompt before reading LK 19:45-48 Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray well, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father is and God the Son so that I may know who I am.
“MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER!” LK 19:45-48
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Jesus enters the holy city of Jerusalem today where Passover celebrations will take place. He will change the Passover to the first Mass on Holy Thursday with His Apostles. First, He must cleanse the temple and challenge the religious authority who has made His Father’s House a “den of thieves”.
The Jews are getting kickbacks from the sellers in the Temple (much of what is being sold is from the poor and it is to buy lambs that are being sacrificed to atone for sins). When Jesus pushes everyone out He really upsets the chief priests and scribes. They plot to kill Him.
How reverently do we enter God’s house, the Church? Jesus stays hidden behind a piece of bread and in the wine so we can approach Him in the Church. It is important to read and reflect on the readings before the Mass. As you enter the Church, take time to bless yourself with the Holy Water and remember your baptism (your venial sins are washed away).
This water is different than other waters. Your sin is washed away and the gates of heaven are open for your soul because Jesus died on the cross and resurrected. Take time to genuflect properly on your right knee recognizing Jesus is in the tabernacle. This is a sign of reverence, take it serious. Kneel before the God that created you and your Savior, praying in silence to prepare yourself for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Ask God for forgiveness and mercy in the Introductory Rite to prepare your soul to receive Jesus in the Word and in the Eucharist. Pay attention to the readings which you have read and reflected on before Mass. What is Jesus trying to tell you? His Word has transforming power!
If a priest would have not suggested this to me, I would have never started writing this blog. Next, go through the 5 sorrowful mysteries from the time the gifts are taken up to the consecration. Use your imagination. God is bringing all of us back to the foot of the cross at the altar.
After the words of consecration, you can say the words of St. Thomas the Apostle when Jesus returns after the Resurrection. Thomas doubted that Jesus had resurrected so Thomas said he had to put his fingers in Jesus’ hands and his fist in Christ’s side. Jesus appears and Thomas puts his fingers in Christ’s hands and fist in His side. He then says the words, “My Lord, and My God”.
I say these words at the consecration then I bow my head and tell Jesus I believe He is truly present. It reminds me He is physically present, Thomas touched the physical glorified body of Jesus. I also thank God for allowing me to be in His presence. What a gift!
Next, St. John Bosco recommends we think of our sins during the Eucharistic Prayer. We receive Jesus and our venial sins are forgiven, we have the grace to fight mortal sin stronger, we are unified with Christ and the believers all over the world, and Jesus increases our anticipation for the Kingdom of heaven.
Last, we should think of resolutions to the sin we struggle with and have offered up during Mass. We should also praise and thank God for all He has given us and offer it up with the gifts on the altar.
Last, Jesus gave us right worship. Mass isn’t boring, Jesus is dying on the cross and offering up all of our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings through Him to the Father. God doesn’t need us. He is complete in Himself. The Sacrifice of the Son to the Father is continually happening until His return so that we can stay connected to Him.
This everlasting covenant required God’s blood. Ponder that every Mass! He is not a slot machine that gives us whatever we want. He is love straight through (Bishop Barron). He is waiting in every tabernacle in the world for us to come to Him, so He can give us this love and forgiveness. Then, we are called to go forth and do something with these wonderful graces and gifts we have received. Love is meant to be shared, it’s what made us!
Today’s challenge: Next time you go to Mass, try to remember where you are at and be reverent, you are in the house of God! How unworthy are we to enter but He allows us to and receive His Son in Word and Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity! Give us this day our daily bread!
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; we will live again!)
Jesus Cries for Jerusalem because he knows they would choose not to repent. As a result Jerusalem will have to be invaded and destroyed. Jesus would rather them repent than be destroyed but they chose not to and because of this Jesus is sad. Let us not be like Jerusalem and repent and reconcile yourself with God.
“How unworthy are we to enter but He allows us to and receive His Son in Word and Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.” And: “He is waiting in every tabernacle in the world for us to come to Him, so He can give us this love and forgiveness. Then, we are called to go forth and do something with these wonderful graces and gifts we have received. Love is meant to be shared, it’s what made us!” These stood out to me because even though I had learned this a while ago I had never really applied this in my life, but this year I have tried and it has made me a better person and stronger in my faith.
God is good! Good for you Beckett! I am proud of you.
Today the Gospel was telling me that if you don’t recognize that God is there waiting for you then God will be sad. God is always waiting for us especially in Heaven. He is always going to be waiting and keep leading us to do the right thing even when we don’t think so.
What really stuck out to me was ” Mass isn’t boring, Jesus is dying on the cross and offering up all of our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings through Him to the Father. God doesn’t need us. He is complete in Himself.” Often times I think we zone out during Mass and think about other things, or say it’s boring. But this scripture reminds us that’s not the case. God gave us a right to worship and that’s beautiful. Love is meant to be shared. Focusing on what Mass is really about and what’s actually happening is really important.
This is saying that we need to be prepared for when satin will tempt us because if we are not then it will hit us harder than we can handle.
Today in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that we need to stay with Him throughout our whole life. Our eyes have been closed the whole time. We need to open them to see the wonders of God. The Kingdom of Heaven is waiting for us. We just need to be ready. Jesus shows us His compassion and love for us in this Gospel. Jesus tells us that the path to true peace is hidden, and we need to find it. Going to Mass will unlock the path, saying your daily prayers, keeping God in your life! We need to open our eyes and our hearts to Jesus, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you”
This part stuck out to me because its saying we do not know when we will die and go to eternal life. We do not know if we will go to eternal life.Its also saying that only God knows when and if we are going to eternal life. We all wish for eternal life. Though we must act like we want to go to eternal life. Some people don’t act like it =, and when they die… i have no clue actually because only God knows where they are going. We do not know when we are going to die, whether we are going to eternal life or not. We can only trust that the Lord has a wonderful plan for us.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is crying at the sight of a city who will be destroyed not literally, but their faith is terrible. What we should do is to invest in the kingdom of God and realize that about eighty years of fun is totally not worth eternity in hell. We need to know that Jesus is our only hope so we have to lock in and start praying to God because it will all be worth it in the end. Just think, maybe once you’re in heaven, you might look back on your life and say “Hey, I guess it was all worth it.” Because it will definitely be worth it.
Today’s gospel reminds me of when Jesus says to us ” If the world hates you remember they hated me first.” This verse always reminds me of how no matter what you do people will hate you for it, but this same world killed a perfect man. There will be a day when everyone rises against you but Jesus is always for you. “For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you.”
“MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER!” LK 19:45-48. This stood out to me because Jesus is saying that his house will be a house of prayer. Another reason why this stood out to me is because Jesus is saying that his house will not be a house of relaxing, or any other types of things that we like to do, but it will be a house of prayer
I think ¨Take time to genuflect properly on your right knee recognizing Jesus is in the tabernacle.¨ is hint towards a bigger problem. Over time we get more used to doing stuff at church like kneeling or the sign of the cross. This makes us take it less seriously and makes our movements more sloppy over time. I think it is important from when we walk in to walk out of the church for us to be in a specific midset ready to be apart of the hoiy ceremony of mass.
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
I think Jesus is trying to tell us that what is there is covered like a veil because we have sin that is making us blind. It tells that we need to find who we truly are so we can know it was God who saved us and not “magic” because God loves us and he believes in us and He is there and will never leave your side because He loves YOU so much that we don’t need to think about our appearances because you shouldn’t need to look nice for others. You shouldn’t have to look nice to God because he doesn’t care WHAT you look like, He will always love you!
I think what this means is that the image of God is hidden from their eyes and that´s what’s happening to us we are starting to not care about Jesus and we are forgetting to pray and we are just being so blind that Jesus is right in front of us and i think he just wants us to care more and stop giving all your attention to electronics an give all the attention to God and start praying more because he loves that and we cant give that up.
It was telling me to be more reverent to God and when I kneel, kneel in a reverent way that makes God my only attention!
In today’s Scripture it is talking about how Jesus is entering the Holy Town of Jerusalem where the Passover will take place. Jesus said to himself I must cleanse the temple because the authority has made it to the house of den of theives. He will turn over the Passover to Holy Thursday. We enter the church and end up not focusing in mass and we don’t sometimes reilize that God is hidden in Bread and Wine. The holy body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. The water is different and your sin is washed away and the gates of heaven are open unto you. They are open to your soul to enter the Kingdom of God because he died and resurrected from the dead for you and your sin. You are saved without blemish, ask God for mercy and forgiveness and let your mind, soul and heart be ready to receive Jesus in holy mass and holy Communion. Jesus is truly and physically present with you all the time in church, school, work anywhere you can think of. Thank Jesus that he allows you to be in his presence every single day of your life. When you receive holy Communion your Venial sins are forgiven and you are able to fight the mortal sins by going to confession. You have received so much from God and thank him for everything he has given you. Have a good rest of your day!!! God loves you!!! God Bless!!!!