Good morning, good people. May the Risen Lord bless you with peace and happiness.
It is on 17th April 2024. We reflect on Acts 8:1-8 and the Gospel from John 6:35-40.
Wings of prayer and preaching begin to grow in the womb of persecution, pain, and repression.
Whenever we are crushed in the jaws of pain, suffering, and sickness, there is a fresh rush from within to reach or preach to God. The Martyrdom of Stephen moisturized and manured the infant church to spread. Wings of prayer and preaching begin to grow in the womb of persecution, pain, and repression.
The first reading expounds in detail how Saul curtailed viciously the Church’s wings of expression while a new stream named Philip watered the hearts and homes of the poor and the second-class citizens of Samaria through Good News. The Church grows with a new vigor, evangelizing, and vitality when faced with oppression. God never rejects us nor abandons us despite the absence of miracles and healings.
God trusts us, accompanies us, and assures us to rise again.
God puts us through a situation just because God trusts us, accompanies us, and assures us to rise again. There is nothing we face and go through for futility.
Every challenging and painful moment is an opportunity to meet God in the vacuum of mind, heart, and spirit.
The Gospel assures us that our faith and love pull us towards God. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and him who comes to me I will not cast out.” (Jn.6:37).
We are born to live with God.
Our starting point, destination, and travel companion is God alone. The inner longing of knowing and loving God takes us through. God is determined to save and secure us through God’s only Son Jesus. God forgets no one even when we choose to forget God.
The eternal life is the final offer to all who believe in truth that God is our sustenance and security.
May we continue to spread God’s love through our thoughtfulness and caring.
God bless you.
Fr. Peter Fernando, OFMCap.
Director, Office of Family Ministry, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA).Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.♣Website:https://reflectionsofpeter.org/.♣Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/samarpet
St. Mary’s Catholic Church Dubai belongs to the Vicariate of Southern Arabia Arabia (AVOSA). Please follow this LINK to learn more about AVOSA: https://avosa.org/vicariate
To follow AVOSA’s Ordo, the annual calendar containing abbreviated directions for each day’s Mass and Divine Office, please follow this LINK: https://avosa.org/ordo