6 Apr Fri 5th Week of Lent Jer. 20:10-13 Ps. 17:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7 Jn. 10:31-42 How To Pray With Shalom Home Page of Shalom Index of This Month        In today's Gospel, Jesus is rejected by the Jews because of His claim to have a personal relationship with God. Jesus calls God 'Abba', Father, and goes on to say that His own lifestyle is prove enough that He has won the privilege of being called son of God. We who follow Jesus participate in this privilege of being called children of God. However, this privilege is bestowed upon us only if our own lifestyles correspond to a life permeated by God's presence. It is no longer sufficient for us simply to lay claim to an ancestral right or belief. As Jesus emphasizes, it is our way of life, our decisions and actions, that will concretely make real our close relationship with the Father and be truly worthy of being called children of God. If we do the will of the God then all will be able to see that the Father is in us and that we are in the Father.      Today, we are reminded that our lives must express God's life if our Christian beliefs are to possess any valuable truth to them. Otherwise, our beliefs would simply be made up of empty words.           Lord, let my life be a concrete manifestation of Your life. Amen! DAILY OFFERING Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen. PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH INTENTION That consecrated people, answering the call of their particular vocation, may radiate the spirit of the Gospel beatitudes in the present-day world Elaboration
- END - P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H     INTENTION : That consecrated people, answering the call of their particular vocation, may radiate the spirit of the Gospel beatitudes in the present-day world In the world of today there is a widespread search for joy, happiness, serenity, liberty. That is why the consecrated religious is called on to remind every person that the life of a human being comes from God. Religious give outstanding and striking testimony that the world cannot be transformed and offered to God without the spirit of the Beatitudes which proposes a way of living and for people to relate to each other. The consecrated life is for all the faithful a luminous sign of the common vocation to holiness, a model on which to draw inspiration and courage. Besides, the religious community based on motivations of faith, on mutual love and on sharing presents itself as a call to the constant reform of ecclesial communities. The commitment asked of consecrated people needs the support, awareness and prayer of the entire Christian community, so that human weakness may not prevail but may always allow itself to be led and transformed by God's action. In fact, the attitudes indicated by the Beatitudes not only point a sure way towards fulfilment and charity, but also lead directly to the Person of Christ who came so that men and women not only might have life but have it to the full. - END -