P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
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INTENTION : |
That all Christians may cultivate a deep and personal friendship with Christ, in order to be able to communicate the strength of his love to every person they meet.
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It is obvious that experience and knowledge cannot be separated: the one refers to the other. Moreover, it is essential to emphasize that true knowledge of God's love is only possible in the context of an attitude of humble prayer and generous availability to share His love to every person. "By this we know love, that he laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 Jn 3:16; N.38 Haurietis Aquas)
Faith, understood as a fruit of the experience of God's love, is a grace, a gift of God. Yet we will only be able to experience faith as a grace to the extent we accept it within ourselves as a gift on which we seek to live. The love of God we experience personally should be lived as a "calling" to which we must respond positively.
Thus, when we gaze at the Sacred Heart of Jesus with devotion, we should not only recognize God's love with gratitude, we should also be compelled to pattern our lives upon this love with openness to the suffering and need of others. This experience of God's love protects us from the risk of withdrawing into ourselves and makes us readier to live for others. Only in this way can we become credible proclaimers of Christ's love to communicate the strength of His love for every person we meet in our daily living.
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