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 us hope, wisdom, compassion,
courage and peace for our daily life     Chinese text

  Reading:  Exodus 8 

After seven days, God told Moses and Aaron
to go to Pharaoh again,
this time causing a plague of frogs to cover the land
when Pharaoh again refused to let the Israelites go.

Then God got Aaron to strike the ground
and the dust turned into mosquitoes
which attacked people and animals throughout Egypt.

But still Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go.

Next there was a plague of flies which afflicted every place
except the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived.

Pharaoh then said the Israelites could go
and he asked Moses to pray for the flies to stop.

But once the flies stopped
Pharaoh changed his mind and would not let the Israelites go.

Reflection:
The Israelites in the land of Goshen were not affected by the plagues.
The Goshen Israelite were protected by God.
Many examples in history of this sort of thing ...a special group of people protected from a "plague" all around them. 
c.f. How Rosary saved 8 Jesuits at Hiroshima in 1945

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for so often protecting us from "plagues" around us

Reading: Psalms 47, 48

All peoples, clap your hands, cry to God with shouts of joy.
For the Lord, our Creator, we must love and honor,
great king over all the earth.

Especially in his holy city is the Lord worthy to be praised.
Praise is fitting in Mount Sion, our earth's most sacred site.

O God, as we pray in your temple,
our hearts meditate on your love.

May peoples and rulers everywhere
acknowledge and love you as Creator of the Universe

Reflection:
Jerusalem is the most sacred place on earth.
Sacred for the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
My hope: someday the Pope will be based in Jerusalem, not Rome 
(Rome readers....please be at ease...he could visit Rome a few times a year for special occasions)

Prayer: Let all the peoples praise you,  Lord. Let all the peoples praise you

Reading:  Ephesians 4 

Do not go back to living the aimless kind of life that many non-believers live

Intellectually they are in the dark, because they have shut the door on God's grace

They have a poor sense of right and wrong, and have abandoned themselves to reckless living

Reflection: 
Christians have a duty to help people know the meaning of life

Prayer: Jesus, help people who are confused about the meaning of life

Reading:  Luke 5

God's power was on display when Jesus healed people.
People came from far and near to hear him teach, and to ask for healing

One day some people carried  a paralyzed man through a crowd to Jesus. The man was on a stretcher

Jesus knew that these people believed he could help them,
so he said to the paralyzed man "My friend, your sins are forgiven"

Some religious leaders in the crowd were thinking to themselves
that Jesus was wrong to say he could forgive sins

So Jesus said to the leaders "Which is easier:
to say 'Your sins are forgiven', or to say 'Get up and walk'?"

Then to prove that he had authority to forgive sins, he said to the paralyzed man "Get up, pick up your bed and go home"

The man got up, picked up his stretcher and went home.
The crowd praised God for what they had seen

Reflection:
"Jesus knew that these people believed he could help them" - not always, but nearly always, there's a link between people's belief/faith and Jesus' healing

Prayer: Jesus, please give me more faith  in your power to forgive,  your power to heal