Gospel Thoughts

2018

4/29 Become perfect and then come to God, NO!  The other way around: first come to God. He will take care of the pruning. Just say: Here I am.
4/22  Who is your shepherd? TV, a star, a guru, a CEO, your mom, your own genius, Jesus? Where is your shepherd taking you? Happiness now and forever?
4/15  Our job here, on Earth, is to learn to love God, others and ourselves. This place is not our final destination but a learning environment. Suffering is part of it.
4/9 Jesus called Thomas, with his personality. Jesus calls you with yours. Not science but Jesus has the answer to our deepest questions.
4/1 What if it is true that there is Resurrection? See more about it in our bulletin. Halleluyah!
3/25 Jesus shared my life in everything except sin. He even had to cry: "My God, why have you abandoned me?" When I feel like that, Jesus is with me.
3/18  Whoever clings to this life will lose it. If we die to our envy, new life will sprout. I will bless someone whose possession I am envious of.
3/4  Jesus is a challenge to every culture, every age, or every personality. Just in a different way. What does it mean to you and for you?
2/25  This week God will show you something or someone that you need to let go of. You will do it out of love. God understands your pain. You will harvest joy.
2/18  What is your main temptation? Are you addressing it in Lent? God is on your side in it.
2/11  God will never find you disgusting. Ask him: Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean. If you wish, you can help me love myself and the lepers around me.
2/4  My Christianity starts with my receiving from God. I respond with good deeds. God is the giver of my mission. My mission starts with my listening to God. 
1/28  What is your „demon” that turns you into someone you do not want to be? Ask God humbly to heal you from it. 
1/14  Here I am. Speak to me, Lord. Your servant is listening.

2017

12/31  The Holy Family encountered God in their poverty. What is the poverty of your family? God is waiting there for you
12/25  God becomes one of us. He comes as a poor and helpless baby. He comes to these parts of our life where we feel weak and poor. Let’s look for him there.
12/17 God does not want to use you. He wants your happiness. Do you believe it? God sends you messengers who do not want to own you but to lead you to God. Follow them.
12/12 This week God is sending messengers to you to pave the way for his coming. Listen to them. They may be ordinary but God with his power will follow them. 
12/5 ​Advent. Millions of Christians started listening to God. 5 min a day. The Book of proverbs. No music. Or Christian music. Listening. God responds.
11/28 Who is the least important brother around you? How do you know he is really hungry? He needs just a piece of bread. No need to marry him.
11/21 ​What treasures has God placed in your hands? Take stock, use them and enjoy life. This is how you will respect God, be a good Christian and become happy.
11/17 ​Have you been gathering your oil this week? Appreciate the gift of time and get on it before it is too late.
11/7 Priests can be good or bad but God will come into your life with his peace, joy and healing when YOU let him in. Just follow Jesus' teachings.
11/1 You have friends who want you to come to joy and peace – the saints in heaven. Which one is your favorite? Do you ask for help? ​
10/29 Are you worried now? Does it have anything to do with loving God, your neighbor and yourself – all at the same time? How have you received God’s love today?
10/22 Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. So: what does belong to God in my life? Do I repay it to Him?
10/3 Sad thing is we misunderstand God and walk away missing out on good stuff. Wrestling with Him clarifies things. Wrestle with God this week. You will find peace.
9/26 My reward is happiness: now partially, in heaven fully. I cannot compare my happiness to others’ happiness. I’d better focus on doing my best in my own life.
9/19 Healing in my relationships starts with my embracing God’s forgiveness. Wait. No. It starts with my realization that I need His forgiveness.
9/12 The gift of conflict: I can deepen my relationship or I can finally walk away. This week I am invited to do one of the two.
9/8 So, what gifts has God placed in your moments of pain and boredom this week?
9/6 ​Life according to Jesus: joy and pain, awe and boredom. His advice: discover God’s gifts in all of them–in joy and in pain, in awe and in boredom.
9/6 ​ Life according to TV: fun, shopping, flat stomach, likes on FB. Its advice: Run from pain and boredom.
8/20  I owe God everything. God owes me nothing. I owe God my thanks. He does not owe me even if I go to church. How is this thought going to shape my next 5 min?​
8/6  What daily activity of mine seems to have nothing to do with God? This week I want to be aware that God is with me in those moments. He wants to be with me.
8/6  What daily activity of mine seems to have nothing to do with God? This week I want to be aware that God is with me in those moments. He wants to be with me.
7/23 God, you gave me another day to live: a chance to focus on fostering the wheat and walking away from the weeds. Thank you, God.
7/20 ​The little ones have the ultimate wisdom about happiness. One of the ways to become like them is to praise God.
7/18 ​God, I want to offer you fertile soil and bear fruit hundredfold. Please, help me do it.
7/11 ​If God is in the first place, all the rest will be in its proper place. Who or what is in the first place in your life? Can you see the results?
6/27 ​Jesus says: Don’t be afraid. Nobody can take God’s happiness away from you. But then: Do you want God’s happiness?
6/4 ​The resurrected Christ empowered the apostles with the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel reading, how does Jesus connect this gift with the forgiveness of sins?
5/21 ​Occasional experience of disorientation or loneliness is normal. Jesus sends us the Spirit of truth to guide us. How will I listen to the Spirit this week?
5/14 In ​what area of my life do I have the temptation to reject Jesus? Maybe I misunderstood his message? How can I get to know him better? Is 5 min a day possible?
4/23 God is not shaken if you lose faith. Just keep wrestling with him. Just keep walking. He will guide you through the dark days to peace and joy. 
4/19  God can turn darkness into light and death into life. What is dark or dead in your life? Invite Him into it. And let Him be God. 
4/12 It is ok to pray: „God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus prayed like this. But now: Let us listen
4/5 ​What is dead in your life? Cry about it. Invite God into it. Get ready for the stench when God rolls the stone away. Get ready for the joy he has for you.
3/28  Jesus can let me see his simple presence in my life. Why not ask for it? What stops me from it? How is Lent?
3/21 - Do you believe that God can enter your life and give you healing, wisdom, peace and joy? Did you invite him?
3/12 - Christian faith is knowing: God is with me in my ordinary life even if I do not feel him. How is your Lent?
3/7 - ​Which weakness of yours hurts your family most? What is your commitment for Lent? Make it specific and doable.
2/26 - ​Jesus asks us this week: Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
2/21 - Step away from venom. Save your life from it. Pray for that person and for yourself but step away. Choose joy.
2/16 - Through anger God teaches us 1 not to put our peace in the hands of others 2 to re-evaluate our expectations.
2/7 - ​We are called to be the light of the world. But first we need light from God. How will I get it this week?
1/31 - ​Happiness comes when you embrace the strong and shiny as well as the painful and weak within you. Jesus did.
1/24 - ​Who offers me junk food? Who offers me wholesome food? A combination of knowledge and trust. Do I know Jesus?
1/15 - ​Who are my advisors!  Do they care about me?  Do I trust them?  Is Jesus my advisor?  Where does he lead me?
1/11 - ​Wisdom finds happiness in simplicity.  Jesus shows the way.  How do you live simplicity?  Do you admire?
1/1 - ​Mary pondered all these things in her heart in front of God.  This is how we gain wisdom.  Let us follow her.
12/25 - The angel said: Do not be afraid. What is your fear this year? God tells us: the baby on hay is enough.
12/18 - God has a gift for you.  But on His schedule and according to His textbook.  Just like with Joseph.
12/11 - Jesus came to heal, will you let him heal you?
12/4 - Follow John the Baptist and simplify your life.
11/27 - ​Advent is the time when we want to listen to God. How are you going to listen to God this year?
11/20 - ​Jesus reached out to the poor and the weak.  Are you sure he is your King?  Whom do you admire and listen to?​
11/13 - ​We love others not to be loved back but because God loved us first. Bless one persecutor this week.
11/6 - ​Is your God a life-giving God? How can you tell? What is most life-giving for you in your religion?
10/30 - Zachaeus got another chance and responded. Did you ask for one for you? Will you respond? How?