Listening to God is far more important than giving Him your ideas

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. -  Ernest Hemingway: (1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and sportsman)

Gospel Text: (JN 6:44-51)

Jesus said to the crowds:
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:

They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

Reflect, today, upon how well you listen to God.  Try to find at least a few minutes (or more) of silence today.  Close your eyes and listen.  Listen to God speaking to you.  When He draws you, respond to Him with much generosity.  This is the best choice you can make each day!

Believing the right things about Jesus isn't enough. Your not "saved" until you confess and turn away from your wrongdoing and receive the freely offered gift of forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus purchased with his death on the cross. Until you do that, you'll always be on the outside looking in.

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. – St. Francis of Assisi: born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco (1182 –  1226) was an Italian Catholic friar deacon and preacher.

Gospel Text: (JN 6:35-40)

Jesus said to the crowds,
“I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
But I told you that although you have seen me,
you do not believe.
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Reflect upon these words of Jesus today.  Say them over and over.  “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”  Know that He wants you to come to Him and to open your heart to Him completely.  Doing so will allow Him to manifest His love for you and enable you to trust Him beyond what you ever imagined possible.

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"We are often guided by the arrogance of domination, possession, manipulation, exploitation. ……..What rules today is not man, it is money [and] an economy and financial system lacking in ethics. Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of money and consumption. That some homeless people freeze to death on the street, that is not news. On the other hand, a drop of 10 points in the stock markets of some [countries] is a tragedy. That is how people are thrown away. We, people, are thrown away, as if we were trash."

But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish desires and schemes that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For love of money is the root of all of evil and some having pursued its power, fall from faith and end in sorrow. - Saint Timothy: (was an early Christian evangelist and the first Christian bishop of Ephesus, who tradition relates died around the year AD 97)

Gospel Text: (JN 6:22-29)

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

This Scripture goes straight to the heart of our priorities in life.  What are you working for?  Are you working hard for the “food that perishes” and only working slightly for the “food that endures for eternal life?”  Or vice versa?

For some reason, we can easily become obsessed with working for the “things” of this world.  In the passage above, people were looking for Jesus because He had fed them the day before and they were hungry again.  They were looking for food, literally.  Jesus gently rebukes them, taking this as an opportunity to point out the real reason they should be seeking Him.  The real reason is that He wants to provide the spiritual food of eternal life.  What is the food Jesus wants you to seek?  That’s a question you must let our Lord answer in your heart.

There is no guarantee that life will be easy for anyone. We grow and learn more rapidly by facing and overcoming challenges. You are here to develop, to overcome, to be transformed. There will be constant challenges that cause you to think, to make proper judgments, and to act righteously. You will grow from them. However, there are some challenges you never need to encounter. They are those associated with serious transgression. As you continue to avoid such tragedy, your life will be simpler and happier. You will see others around you who don't make that choice, who do things that are wrong and evil and bring sadness. Thank your Father in Heaven that your pattern of life is different and that you have been helped to make choices guided by the Holy Ghost. That prompting will keep you on the right path….By the way, the door to this path is open to all!

Have you strayed from the path leading to heaven? Then call on Mary, for her name means "Star of the Sea, the North Star which guides the ships of our souls during the voyage of this life," and she will guide you to the harbor of eternal salvation. — St. Louis De Montfort: (1673 – 1716: was a French Roman Catholic priest and Confessor.)

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Gospel Text: (JN 3:31-36)

The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things.
But the one who comes from heaven is above all.
He testifies to what he has seen and heard,
but no one accepts his testimony.
Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.

Reflect, today, upon what your life would look like if you let God do whatever He wanted with you.  What would change?  How would your daily life, your relationships, your words, your actions and your future be different?  Intellectually speaking, we know it’s right to fully embrace the will of God in all things.  But when it actually comes to doing it, there is often much hesitancy. It may be fear of the unknown.  Or it may be that we do not fully want to change.  Whatever the case may be, God is offering you an unlimited amount of grace by the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  It’s up to you to decide if you will ration or not.

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