11 Mar Sun 2nd Sunday of Lent (C) Gen. 15:5-12, 17-18 Ps. 27:1, 7-8, 9, 13-14 Phil. 3:17-4:1 Lk. 9:28b-36 How To Pray With Shalom Home Page of Shalom Index of This Month        Look towards heaven and count the stars... We are the descendants of Abraham. It is amazing to contemplate that the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham thousands of years ago is still being lived out. Paul has us looking backwards, forwards, and beyond our earthly condition. This is not to say that we deny that we are human or that we have human desires and needs. Rather, it is a question of priorities. Do we set our minds so much on earthly things that we forget that we are part of a community that began with the covenant to Abraham? Or do we remind ourselves daily that, in the sweep of the history of salvation, we too can have moments of deep connectedness with the Lord of life - Jesus, the Lord? Peter, John and James had the same human desires and needs that we have, yet they set their priorities straight when they decided to follow Jesus. Following Jesus led them to the top of the mountain where Jesus was transfigured in the presence of Moses and Elijah. The Transfiguration was a moment of looking backward, forward and beyond. It was an experience of the reality of who Jesus is - yesterday, today and always. This experience is open to all believers who choose to follow Jesus, and who, like Abraham, Paul and the apostles, understand that faith transcends our human needs and desires.           Lord, You are my Lord, there is no other God besides You. Help me to be true to You. 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, with the committed help of all believers, the scourge of poverty may come to an end, eliminating the intolerable social and economic inequality in the 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, with the committed help of all believers, the scourge of poverty may come to an end, eliminating the intolerable social and economic inequality in the world One might also say that poverty is the negation of economic and social rights and that the poor who suffer from absolute poverty are denied the most fundamental right which is the right to life. The international community too is becoming progressively more aware of the gravity of the problem and has declared solemnly to fight and reduce extreme poverty by 2015. Besides, how can we not realise the situation growing worse in spite of the increase in available resources. The problem of unequal distribution of resources in its correct setting is an ethical one, since it is a problem of justice: the poor are in the first place victims of injustice. In the era of globalisation we can no longer tolerate a world in which the very rich live side by side with the poor, the property less who lack even the essentials with people who shamelessly waste what others desterately need. One of the more evident worrying consequences of this phenomenon is in fact the progressive increase instead of the decrease of inequalities, in both poor countries and rich countries, and between the North and South. Let us pray that the scourge of poverty may come to an end - END -