12 May
Sun 		7th Sun of Easter (A)
Acts 1:12-14
Ps. 26:1,4,7-8a
1 Pt. 4:13-16
Jn. 17:1-11a
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Today we read from the great prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper. He prays for 'eternal life' for all His followers. And 'eternal life' consists in this: to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. To 'know' here is not just to recognise. It is to know deeply and intimately and, with the knowing, goes a total acceptance of all that God and His Son stand for. To base our lives on their way of seeing things is to experience life at its fullest. Our Christian calling and our mission is not only to know Jesus ourselves but to help others to know Him in the same way. That is what evangelisation is about. But, as we read in the Letter of Peter today, we can expect negative reactions to our efforts. However, as he says, it is better to be insulted 'for bearing the name of Christ' than to suffer for having done criminal acts. If we should suffer for being a Christian, it is a matter not for shame but for thanks and praise. It only means that we are even closer to Jesus our Lord.


Lord, help me to know You and to experience fullness of life in walking Your Way.

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 Christians may live their faith coherently and so be credible witnesses of the hope of the Gospel
Elaboration

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P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H    

INTENTION : That Christians may live their faith coherently and so be credible witnesses of the hope of the Gospel

That we may live a "coherent faith" that is a faith which produces the testimony of good works is the ecumenical intention of the Holy Father. In the Joint Declaration on the doctrine of justification signed between the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation in 1999 it is stated that "only through grace, by means of faith in Christ and his salvific work, and not through any merit of ours, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit which renews our hearts, enabling us to perform and leading us to good works".

It has to be understood that no human effort is capable of buying salvation. It is fundamentally a gift of God for which we have a duty to respond and co-operate through "faith-in-action" or "practised faith".

Hence, the strengthening of one's inner faith through prayer and the sacraments will assist in the growth of charity which leads us to live the new commandment of love more fervently. Now is the time to look at charity in a new way. It is not a matter of doing the same thing in the same way. It is a time to seek and find new expressions of love for every human being. Then we become "credible witnesses of evangelical hope"



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