Shalom

18 Aug Sat	19th Week in Ordinary Time
	Josh. 24:14-29 Ps. 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 11 Mt. 19:13-15

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What does it mean to serve the Lord perfectly and sincerely? Israel remembers just as easily as she forgets. She remembers how the Lord has watched over her and guided her out of slavery. Is this enough to serve the Lord? No. Israel, like us, forgets that to serve the Lord is also about the lived witness to God; it is about listening to God today in the midst of our daily lives. This is the purpose of the reminder that Joshua invokes with the covenant in today's Old Testament passage.

In the passage from Matthew's Gospel, what is Jesus trying to convey? Children in comparison to adults, are obedient; they are not set in their ways or have created false gods that can lead them and others away from God. (False god's abound in our society today: money, power etc.) When the children come to Jesus it is with a pure heart and this is the 'key' to the Kingdom as far as he is concerned. At the same time 'a pure heart' is not something to be achieved alone, for just as Jesus lays His hand on the little ones, He is ready and waiting to lay His healing and consoling hands on each one of us. In essence, just as in the passage from the Book of Joshua, listening to God is also about being able to dialogue.

Lord, I want to serve You. Tell me how. Help me to listen with the openness of a little child.

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
The awareness that only God is the master of human life may orientate the decisions of the legislators and leaders of nations
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 :	The awareness that only God is the master of human life may orientate the decisions of the legislators and leaders of nations
Evidence shows with increasing clarity how policies and laws opposed to life are causing societies to decline morally, demographically and economically. The encyclical Evangelium Vitae makes the urgent appeal "that we offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilisation of truth and love". Thus there is no reason for a defeatist mentality which claims that laws opposed to the right of life are inevitable. On the contrary, they are a seed of corruption for society and its foundations. The civil and moral conscience cannot accept this false inevitability. The relationship between the civil and moral law deserves great attention because of the growing importance they are destined to have in the restoration of social life. Lawmakers are asked to renew their commitment to change unjust laws that legitimise or tolerate such violence. The changing of laws must be preceded and accompanied by the changing of mentalities and morals on a vast scale. The Church cannot spare any effort nor can she accept negligence or guilty silence.
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