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They will rebuild the ancient ruins

~ and restore the places long devastated

They will rebuild the ancient ruins

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Come, buy and eat without money and without price

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 28 February 2016  (3rd Sunday of Lent; Mass in celebration of Brandon-Lee Davies)

Come, buy and eat without money and without price by Fr. Dana

Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13: 13:1-9

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1QnPbiN

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Do you want what you want, or do you want what you need?

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 28 February 2016  (3rd Sunday of Lent)

Do you want what you want, or do you want what you need? by Fr. Dana

Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13: 13:1-9

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1oSCdTS

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Strive to enter through the narrow gate

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 21 February 2016  (2nd Sunday of Lent)

Strive to enter through the narrow gate by Fr. Dana

Genesis 15; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:22-35

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1QvtkoT

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A relationship of mutual giving

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 14 February 2016  (1st Sunday of Lent, St. Andrew’s CEC Mission, Edinburgh, Scotland)

A relationship of mutual giving by Fr. Dana

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91; Romans 10:5-13; Luke 4:1-13

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1TGFHoM

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Turn to Me with all your heart

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 10 February 2016  (Ash Wednesday)

Turn to Me with all your heart by Fr. Dana

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1O3tlyH

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In God’s Presence we are changed

07 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 07 February 2016

In God’s Presence we are changed by Fr. Dana

Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:13-21; Luke 9:28-36

Exhortation after “Shine, Jesus, Shine”:  http://1drv.ms/1K6Cb3X

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1K6Cfkj

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Why do we celebrate Ash Wednesday?

05 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Followers of Jesus, Scripture

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Immediately after his baptism – in fact, right after God the Father spoke the words, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” – “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” (John 4:1-2)  Jesus spent forty days in the desert, fasting and disciplining Himself.  At the end of the forty days the devil came to Him to tempt Him.

The Church celebrates Lent so that we may voluntarily unite ourselves to Jesus in the same discipline: forty days of fasting (Sundays are not included as they are feast days celebrating the Resurrection, not fast days) and warring against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We do not commit to a complete fast (no food), as  we are not Jesus and Lent is not a contest to see who can give up the most.  The key is to be “led by the Spirit” as Jesus was; to fast those things that the Holy Spirit brings to our minds as the things we run to or depend upon instead of Him.

In the Old Testament ashes were used to express grief and sorrow for sins. Job, when confronted by God after declaring his innocence, responds: ” I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5–6)  The Church uses ashes made by burning completely the palm leaves blessed and waved on Palm Sunday the previous year.  This reminds us that the same people who cried, “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” shortly thereafter cried, “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!” just as loudly.  We are no less vulnerable to sin than they.

Dear Father, guide us through this holy Lent that we may be conformed to the image of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to put on the full armour of God, and lead us in the power of Your Holy Spirit to put to death the lies of satan, the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches which so often keep us from being the people You have called us to be.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen!

Remember, o man [or woman], that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Repent, and believe the Gospel!

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Then on the third day

04 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Followers of Jesus, Scripture

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(A portion of today’s Old Testament reading, Genesis 22:1-18, from the NKJV):

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

 

We all know the story of Abraham and how he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac when God asked him. Isaac was the son of promise, the one through whom God specifically vowed to make Abraham’s descendants like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore.  Abraham believed, he held nothing back from the Lord, and the New Testament tells us he was a type – a foreshadowing of what God the Father Himself did in giving His Son to be sacrificed for the world.

Today in this reading I noticed another parallel I hadn’t seen before. Abraham took his son and two servants and headed off to the destination God had appointed.  “Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.”  Abraham journeyed during those days … days of uncertainty, of doubt (or at least strong temptation to doubt), of dread, of sadness; heading toward an outcome he could not see … and arrived on the third day.

Jesus was crucified on a Friday … and on the third day He rose from the dead. For the disciples and the women who were with them, those days were filled with uncertainty, of clear and definite doubt, of dread, of sadness, and of fear.  They were heading toward an outcome they couldn’t see, and though Jesus had promised them He would arise again they just didn’t understand … so they didn’t grasp the certain promise in the way that Abraham had.  They had no journey, they merely sat in a room and waited … for what?

The point is that we don’t always know the outcome of the trials we are facing. Even if we know God’s promises by heart, we do not know exactly how He will bring them to pass.  We have Abraham’s example of strong faith, and the disciples’ example of weak faith, but in both instances God was faithful to do what He had promised, and everyone involved was overjoyed to see the result.

We can build our lives on this fact. God’s sufficiency is not dependent upon the strength of our faith.  God’s sufficiency is Truth, and we can depend upon it and take hold of it.  Whether our grip is strong or weak, He is faithful and He will come through.

Thanks be to God!

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Lord, give us this bread always

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Scripture

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(A portion of today’s Gospel reading, John 6:32-35):

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.

When the people heard about the true bread from heaven that gives life to the world, they asked that it be given to them; not just on that day, but from that day onward and always.  Jesus did not act on their request that day, but He did not treat it as a rhetorical or theoretical question.  He explained what the answer would be (verses 50-58).

Not too long after, on a hill called Golgotha, on a Friday afternoon at about 3 o’clock … He gave them this bread.  We still eat of this bread today.

Request granted.  Completely.  In full.  Forever.  Alleluia!

Today’s Gospel passage, John 6:27-40, may be found at
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A27-40&version=NKJV

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The Walk of Faith: stepping out when you can’t see

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Fr Columcille in Homily, Scripture

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Sermon 31 January 2016

The Walk of Faith: stepping out when you can’t see by Fr. Dana

Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-17; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4: 21-32

Recording:  http://1drv.ms/1Pt80Eq

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