Comments on: Thursday 6/15/2017 Encountering Jesus Beyond the Veil https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/ DAILY MASS READINGS AND REFLECTIONS @ ACATHOLIC.ORG Sun, 18 Jun 2017 03:20:46 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: tessie mallari https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7611 Fri, 16 Jun 2017 09:28:32 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7611 Thank you for including our country in your prayers. May God bless you !

]]> By: J.P. https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7605 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 14:27:21 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7605 Thank you Mary for this great reflection. You mentioned that math is one of the things you don’t get, well for me it’s many of the readings and today’s first reading is a good example. I read and reread it and it says nothing to me till I read your reflection. Thank you Mary and to all the contributors for helping people like me understand our Faith better.

]]> By: Mary Ortwein https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7604 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 11:45:08 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7604 It is always very interesting to me to read the comments readers make–what my reflections bring forth from you. Mostly I just read and reflect, but today I would like to tell the reader from the Philippines that our prayer group prays already regularly for Christians caught in ISIS attack zones, but I will add special prayers for the people in the Philippines. To Don from Bethesda, I know your church! I used to come often when I worked some with a mental health agency across the street in Topaz House. I still come when attending an annual conference. Thank you for naming the power of the Eucharist and small Christian groups in your life. Blessings to all,
Mary Ortwein

]]> By: Uche Uju https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7603 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 09:38:24 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7603 A very wonderful reflection, I must add. Deep and insightful, especially about the Blessed Sacrament. God bless you.

]]> By: Don Purcell https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7602 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:39:47 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7602 First Friday Prayer Group
Our Lady of Lourdes, Bethesda, Maryland
In August 1980, a group of men were having coffee and donuts following Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda, Maryland. The discussion focused on what the group could do to develop a closer relationship to God through Christ. Following discussion, the group decided to meet on the first Friday of each month in the Parish rectory house to discuss and reflect on the scripture readings of the following Sunday. The First Friday prayer group had their first meeting following the 7:00 am Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, Bethesda, Maryland, in September 1980. On the First Friday of September 2016, the group will celebrate its 36th anniversary of meeting together on the First Friday of the month. After the first few years of meetings, the group extended the meetings to include each Friday of Advent and Lent (except for Good Friday). It is estimated that from September 1980 to present approximately 45-50 men have participated with this group. Participants have represented a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Two young men, Greg Shaffer and Michael Lavin, became Priests; one participant became a Deacon, John Shewmaker. Several Priests participated in the meetings, and one Priest became a Bishop, Most Reverend Mario E. Dorsonville-Rodgriguez. In the February 8, 1998, Church bulletin, Monsignor Thomas Wells, Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes, wrote the following comments about the group: “About fifteen years ago, a group of men started meeting in the rectory after the 7:00 am Mass on the first Friday of the month. The format of their meetings, which continues to this day, is very simple: the Scripture readings for the coming Sunday are read and then, until exactly 8:30 am, a discussion of what those readings say to the individuals takes place. The coffee and the big, fat, immoral doughnuts are added blessings of the hour. This group has no structure and its membership varies from month to month, though, in recent months it does seem to be growing a bit — sometimes to fifteen or so. I write about this group, not because I am recruiting new members, but because of how the meetings help me. While the discussions are on Scripture readings, they invariably move into the ways in which these men are challenged to live their faith in the marketplace. Those who come run the gamut from single, young adults to retirees and so their reflections give me a glimpse into the way Catholics make decisions in a law office, construction site or business place. I first started participating with this group when I was as Lourdes as an assistant in 1987, and from that time, the thing that has most impressed me is what a tremendous struggle it is to live an integrated Christian life. The temptation is to compartmentalize our lives. This part of my life is affected by religion: I will be faithful to my spouse; I will go to church on Sunday and I will help elderly neighbors across the street shovel their walks in the winter. On the other hand, when I go to work and the pressure for sales is so great, maybe I do have to fudge the truth a little bit in order to make a quota. After all, people should have the sense to read fine print. How much insurance is too much for this customer? The have the money; they should know what they need. I know, for example, that when I came to Montgomery County as a pastor, bids I receive for major car repairs were much higher than those to which I was accustomed at St. Mark’s. For example, a local car dealer gave me a bid of $750 for repairs to air conditioning in a parish car. A dealer I trusted replaced the freon for $50 and the car would still chill an Eskimo. Recent public opinion polls seem to say that Americans believe that a person can be effective in one area of life and immoral in another. In one sense, I guess that can be trust: Is a greedy bus driver less effective than one who is generous? Ultimately, though, faith tells us that the Spirit of Jesus penetrates every dimension of our being. In fact, I believe that (mechanical skills being equal) the moral bus driver will be the better. The men who participate in our first Friday group show me what a struggle it is to live morally in the marketplace; but I also recognize that, tough as is their path, their attempts at honesty and integrity allow those who deal with them to get just a hint of the truth that is God’s Word. That is what each of us is called to do as we take the Gospel into the world.” It is noteworthy that the devotion of receiving Communion on the first Friday of the month was given great impetus by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90) whose mystical experiences centered on the Sacred Heart. (Taken from The Little White Book, a book of reflections on the Easter Gospels, published by the Diocese of Saginaw Michigan. ) She wrote that in one of his appearances to her, Christ made 12 promises to those who attend Mass and receive Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays of the nine consecutive months:
• I promise you in the excessive mercy of my heart that my all-powerful will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments; my divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
• I will give them all of the graces necessary for their state of life.
• I will establish peace in their houses.
• I will be their strength during life and above all during death.
• I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertaking.
• Sinners shall find in my heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.
• Tepid souls shall grow fervent.
• Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
• I will bless every place where a picture of my heart shall be set up and honored.
• I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
• Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my heart, never to be blotted out.
It is also noteworthy that when the first Friday group was formed at Our Lady of Lourdes there was no discussion of the value of first Friday devotions revealed by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. We were all merely guided by the Holy Spirit, and wanted to do something special to improve our prayer life and relationship with God. During the past 35 years, several participants have commented how wonderful it has been to have a Church forum where one can discuss their prayer life, the Church, various religious issues, personal issues on occasion, and have the benefit of other participants respond to one’s comments. An important conclusion of these meetings has been that this Church forum has helped all participants come to a much better, more personal and comprehensive understanding of their Faith and the Church.

]]> By: Alice https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7601 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:20:34 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7601 Thank you Mary Otwein for your humbling reflection about the Holy Eucharist.
May God bless you and be with you in your search of more information to provide us. You have really become a tool of strengthening me whenever I read your articles.May God help those who are suffering because of their choice of religion and may He grant them courage to endure the suffering

]]> By: Anonymous https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7600 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 04:12:33 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7600 I love the prayer of St Ignatius you have shared, this is my prayer after receiving Him in the Holy Communion.

Thanks. You affirm the practice of my faith. God bless!

]]> By: Anonymous https://www.acatholic.org/thursday-6152017-seeing-jesus-beyond-the-veil/#comment-7599 Thu, 15 Jun 2017 01:23:06 +0000 http://www.acatholic.org/?p=60725#comment-7599 A soothing reflections of today! Really, His presence always touch me when I go to communion.
Thank you Sis Mary Ortwein for this great reflections!

Inviting you too and all readers of this site, as you adore before His presence in the Holy Eucharist, to please pray for our country which is until now experience the war against the terrorist ISIS in Marawi City, Philippines. That those victims of war, the displaced, the children and the soldiers and their families may find strength from the Body and Blood of Christ. Include in your prayers our President, that he may come to bow down his head and fall his knees into prayer to submit his leadership to God!

May God always bless and keep us from danger!

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