Computer Cud    Vatican II asks us to read the Bible every day,   'to have a burning love'   for the Word of God           Resolution

This plan follows the Sunday liturgy:  reading + psalm + reading + gospel               From  www.simplebible.info              Previous Bible Blogs 

O Holy Spirit, may these passages give me hope, wisdom, compassion, courage and peace for my daily life     Chinese text

  Reading:  Genesis 47-49 

Pharaoh met Jacob and Joseph's  brothers
and welcomed them to be shepherds in the land of Goshen.

Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 
Pharaoh humbly received Jacob's blessing.

Joseph provided food for his family during the famine.

As the famine got worse
the Egyptians sold their livestock and their farms to Joseph
in return for grain.

Joseph  made the Egyptians promise
that when the famine was over
they would  give one fifth of their produce to Pharaoh.

Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen more years
before he died in Joseph's arms.

Before his death,
Jacob blessed all his sons.

Jacob adopted and also blessed Joseph's two sons
Ephraim and Manasseh

Reflection: 
One of many beautiful parts of this beautiful story:
Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 
Pharaoh humbly received Jacob's blessing.
This was a time when Egypt and Israel (Jacob's new name) were friends.
May the memory of this time help both nations deepen their friendship

Prayer: Dear God, please bless Egypt and Israel,
 and help them be friends

Reading: Psalm 33

Ring out your joy to the Lord, all good people,
for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

For the Lord loves justice and right;
he fills the earth with his love.

By his word the heavens were made,
he spoke and the universe came into being.

They are happy, whose God is the Lord,
he is the source of all true  joy.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,
since we place all our trust in you.

Reflection:
Not just the earth is filled with God's love. The whole universe is filled with his love. This is what people who have had near death experiences say:
love is the cement, the basic building block, the basic principle, the centre, of the whole universe  ....and ....everyone is loved by the God of love...who is LOVE!
Which is why Teilhard de Chardin wrote:
The most telling and profound way of describing the evolution of the universe
would undoubtedly be to trace the evolution of love

Prayer: Lord, please help us notice your love everywhere
- flowers, birds, music, sun, moon, starts, ocean, mountains,
smiles, acts of kindness

Reading:  Ephesians 1

God the Father has let us know his sacred plan:
the whole show, everything in heaven and everything in earth,
is one big orchestra with Jesus as the conductor

We Jews are special instruments in the orchestra.
We were chosen to put our hope in Jesus before he came

And you non-Jews are also on the stage,
now that you have believed the truth of the Good News

All of us have been stamped with the Holy Spirit.
He's the composer whose music we are playing

Reflection: 
Every person can say "I play in an orchestra"!

Prayer: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank you for the gift of life
and the gift of faith. Help me play well!

Reading:  Luke 3

John the Baptist said to the people "I baptize you with water, but someone more powerful than I will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
I am not fit to undo the strap of the powerful one's sandals"

Jesus then came and was baptized by John. While Jesus was praying after his baptism, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit came down on him in the shape of a dove.

And a voice came from heaven "You are my Son, the Beloved. My favor rests on you"

Reflection:
A Trinitarian scene: The Father (voice), Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit

Prayer: Jesus, Beloved Son, please baptize me with your Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, please increase your influence in my life