18 Jun
Mon 		11th Week in Ordinary Time
2 Cor. 6:1-10
Ps. 98:1-4
Mt. 5:38-42
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Say the daily
Novena to the Sacred Heart

'Revenge is sweet' seems to be a prevailing philosophy among some people. Yet we see the misery caused when individuals or communities constantly meet violence with violence. It becomes a never-ending cycle of misery with no satisfactory outcome. Battles are won but wars are lost. More than 50 years of tit for tat in the Middle East and no peace; more than 30 years of sectarian bitterness in Northern Ireland. There must be another way. And there is. It is the way of Jesus. It involves turning the other cheek. This is not weakness. The weak person hits back; the strong person does not need to. Paul in the first reading speaks of the terrible sufferings and abuse he went through proclaiming the Gospel. There is not a trace of bitterness. On the contrary "we prove we are God's servants by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by a spirit of holiness, by a love free from affection; by the word of truth and the power of God". The more he is abused, the more he can rejoice. Having nothing, he enriches others. To return hatred and abuse with love is a sign that God's love is truly active in us.


Jesus, You have assured us by Your own suffering and death that God loves us. Help us to return that love by extending it to all without reservation.

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 our every activity may have its beginning and its end in Christ present in the Eucharist
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 our every activity may have its beginning and its end in Christ present in the Eucharist

In this month, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we are encouraged to contemplate the Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist. It will spur us to seek in that Heart the inexhaustible mystery of the priesthood of Christ and of the Church. It will enable us to taste the spiritual sweetness of charity at its very source. It will make us rediscover our baptismal promises and thus be made more aware of having to live our apostolic dimension by spreading love and participating in the mission of evangelisation.

We pray the Lord of the harvest to grant the Church "shepherds after His own Heart" who will be ready to go out into the highways of the world to proclaim that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We pray that today's young people, docile to the voice of the Holy Spirit, will let the great expectations of the Church and of humanity resonate in the depths of their hearts and respond to Christ's invitation to consecrate, themselves enthusiastically and joyously with Him "for the life of the world".

The entire devotion to the Heart of Jesus is rooted and finds its summit in participation in the Holy Mass where we fraternally assembled, listen to the Word of God and learn to offer with Christ our lives.



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