Podcast appearances and mentions of Saint Gabriel

Delivered by Gladys from the Parish of Saint Gabriel in the Diocese of Bandung, Indonesia. 2 Corinthians 4: 7-15; Rs psalm 126: 1-2ab.2cd-3.4-5.6; Matthew 20: 20-28INVERTED POWER The theme for our meditation today is:Inverted Power. What we mean by this term is that Jesus reverses humanunderstanding in general about power, authority and office which puts intoconflict relationship between master-servants, leader-members, and  the first-the last. If this relationship is followedaccordingly and correctly, the results would be orderliness, obedience to thelaw and the process goes well. But the negative effects of this relationshipwould be discouraging, namely selfishness, unhealthy competition, abuse ofpower, unavoidable discrimination, oppression of subordinants, corruption andviolence. Jesus worried if this would happen tothe apostles who were undergoing training of discipleship with Him. A specialrequest by John and his brother James whose feast we celebrate today, is anexample of desire that must be opposed by the principle of inverted power. WhatJesus wants to emphasize is to forget search and desire to be special, thefirst and in power. It would be very dignified and helpful to use revertedpower in the way of the Lord Jesus. In the reverted power, the veryimportant element is the power that contains love of the one towards othersdriven by sacrifice and service in humility. There are many examples for us.One of them is the man named Anthony. This elementary school teacher has beenworking at the very remote corner of Indonesian archipelago. He spent one fullyear at the beginning of his service to get to know each of his studentspersonally, their families and their backgrounds. He intended give attention to eachstudent appropriately and fairly. This young teacher committed to postpone hisintention to get married before his dream came true. Thus he could spend allhis energy, time, mind and faith to serve his students. In order for him to beclose and united with his students and their families, Anthony tried to speakthe local language, became friend to the children and making himself loved bythem, and ate with the children and their families. For this humble teacher, the LordJesus Christ became his source of life. Anthony always wanted to follow  the Master Jesus Christ who was willing tosuffer in all forms, for the sake of those He loved so much. Anthony would be agood example for us as we are celebrating today the feast of the Apostle James. Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... Almighty God, may through the intercession of the apostle James, we continueto grow in our perseverance to become truly your committed servants in your Kingdomin this world. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... Inthe name of the Father ...

Delivered by Joanna from the Parish of Saint Gabriel in the Diocese of Bandung, Indonesia. Genesis 32: 22-32; Rs psalm 17: 1.2-3.6-7.8b.15; Matius 9: 32-38.RISK OF LOVE The title for our meditation today is:Risk of Love. Someone who is famous is not spared from various kinds ofcontroversy. A good fame, for example as a generous person, does notnecessarily satisfy everyone. A good and sincere intention to love is notalways pleasing to everyone. Even a devout and strong believer can be acontroversy between people who like him and those who are jealous or dislikehim. In other words, the love we do toanyone, even to ourselves, always has risks. The light or heavy risks arevaries. For example, I am very tired and want to stay away from the crowd torest and reflect on myself about everything that has happened to me. That is aconcern and love for myself. But this is not well understood and accepted tothe people around me. Some might misunderstand and assume that I am selfish andavoid the opportunity to be together or work together. The risks of love are many. WithJesus' act of healing miracles, the general response of those around him waspraise or admiration for God's great work, and ridicule or rejection ofunbelievers. They alleged that Jesus performed a miracle with the power of theleader of the Satan. From this incident we can describe the various risks oflove we mean here. Our first and easiest risk of love isto obey God's command by avoiding evil deeds and to do good. For example, wesuppress evil intention to insult a friend, then replace it by greeting him asa friend as usual. The next level is that we do good and are not cared forappreciation from others. When you take care of a job properly and thoroughly,but there is no word of thanks given to you, or there isn't even a statementfrom someone: "Who did this work?" The third risk requires a great spiritof love, that we do good in secret, meaning that we don't need to tell anyone,which means we do not need to be appreciated by others. The fourth, evenharder, is that we do good and right, not only intending to be recognized byothers, but also preparing to accept their rejection because of the good we do.And the highest risk, is that we really want to do good and love those who hateor dislike us. This is Jesus' own action and He wants us to be able to do itnow and here. Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... O Lord, bless us that can we love as You always love us. Our Fatherwho art in heaven ... In the name of the Father ...