Shalom

5 Oct Fri	26th Week in Ordinary Time
	Bar. 1:15-22 Ps. 79:1-2, 3-5, 8-9 Lk. 10:13-16

How To Pray With Shalom

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St Thomas Aquinas teaches us that God seeks His glory on this earth, not for any good that might accrue to Him but for the good of humanity. The response to today's Psalm sums up that doctrine neatly. If God delivers us from evil, that is an infinite grace and consolation for us, while at the same time it will be a manifestation of God's power and love and so proclaims the glory of God.

The Psalmist also calls upon God not to remember our past sins but to remember the divine compassion and mercy. Even without our asking, this is precisely what God generally does. The Holy Spirit has been called "the memory of the Church". The Church remembers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What is true of the Church is true in an infinitely greater way of the inner life of the Holy Trinity. In the Old Testament, God's memory is always a loving, compassionate memory. God remembers with love. God does not generally remember our sins. God remembers rather, the covenant of love established with Israel. How much more will God our Father remember the New Covenant established in the blood of Jesus. In the memory of Jesus' sacrifice, God will glorify His sacred name in us.

For the glory of Your name, O Lord, set us free from all that is evil.

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 we may recognise and revere the cultural and spiritual riches of the different ethnic groups and religious minorities present in every country.
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 we may recognise and revere the cultural and spiritual riches of the different ethnic groups and religious minorities present in every country.
This month we are invited to give thanks to God for the variety of gifts he has given to humankind. There is hardly a country in the world today which is not marked by the coming together of different cultural traditions. It ought to be recognised that religion has influenced cultures and is the soul of a particular culture. Vatican II also mentions the good that is to be found in the rites and customs of peoples, recognising this as having been sown by God's Word (LG 17). In fact, Christians belong to many different cultures which have been deeply marked by the Christian faith. In order to appreciate these cultural and religious riches we are called to make an effort to understand and appreciate all that is good in another person and in that person's culture. We are invited to look upon our fellow human beings with the eyes of God who created man in his own image and likeness and who saw all that he had made and found it very good. We are therefore encouraged to consider prayerfully how God is at work in all peoples. In this context our prayer will be that the ongoing dialogue between the Gospel message and cultures may produce fruits of true freedom, joy and peace for the whole of humanity.
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