A Christocentric experience.

the God who saves, nourishes and gives life

Let's experience His love and live surrendered lives.

God will never leave us nor forsake us because this is His promise.

 

First Scrutiny of the Elect.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15

Moses pastured

The sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him by means of a flame of fire in the middle of a bush.

Moses saw that although the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Moses thought,

"I will go and see this amazing sight, why is the bush not burning up?"

 

The Lord saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush,

"Moses! Moses!" He replied, "Here I am." The Lord said to him, "Do not come near;

take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground."

And God continued, "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

 

Moses hid his face lest his eyes look on God. The Lord said,

"I have seen the humiliation of my people in Egypt and I hear their cry when they are cruelly treated by their taskmasters.

I know their suffering. I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up

from that land to a beautiful spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites,

the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites."

 

Moses answered God, "If I go to the Israelites and say to them: 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' they will ask me:

'What is his name?' What shall I answer them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel:

'I AM sent me to you.'" God then said to Moses, "You will say to the Israelites: 'LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me'. That will be my name forever, and by this name they shall call upon me for all generations to come.

 

Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11 The Lord is kind and merciful.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, about our ancestors. All of them were under the cloud and all crossed the sea.

All underwent the baptism of the land and of the sea to join Moses; and all of them ate from the same spiritual manna;

and all of them drank from the same spiritual drink. For you know, that they drank from a spiritual rock following them,

and the rock was Christ. However, most of them did not please God, and the desert was strewn with their bodies.

 

All of this happened as an example for us, so that we might not become people of evil desires, as they did.

Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were cut down by the destroying angel.

These things happened to them as an example, and they were written as a warning for us,

as the last times come upon us. Therefore, if you think you stand, beware, lest you fall.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 13:1-9

One day, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the temple:

Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus asked them,

"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this?

No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.

 

And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell,

do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem?

I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did."

 

And Jesus continued, "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard,

and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener, 'Look here,

for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree, and I have found none.

Cut it down, why should it continue to deplete the soil?' The gardener replied, 'Leave it one more year,

so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer; perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn't, you can cut it down.'"

 

Lectio Divina

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"We are called to bear fruit."

 

Read: Moses encounters God on Mount Horeb and is sent to rescue God's people from slavery.

Christ is the spiritual rock from which the Israelites drank and from which we drink on our pilgrimage through life.

We are sustained by God and called to bear fruit, like the fig tree. Jesus also points to God's patience,

as he gives us more time to bear the fruit of good deeds.

 

Reflect: Both the first and second readings relate to the same place,

as the passage to which Saint Paul is referring, about Moses drawing water from the rock,

also occurred on Mount Horeb (Ex 17:6). Thus, from this mountain Moses is sent to save the people from slavery,

and on the "Mountain of God" they are saved from dying of thirst.

Saint Paul describes Christ as a spiritual rock "following" his people.

 

So, symbolically, Christ is Mount Horeb. He is the rock, the solid point in shifting sands,

the God who saves, nourishes and gives life. He patiently follows us through life,

because he wants to give us this salvation, even if we have ignored him in the past.

 

Pray: Meditate upon Christ as your rock who follows you through life, giving you living water.

 

Act: Think how you can do more good works as a response to God's loving care.