6 Oct
Sat 		26th Week in Ordinary Time
Bar. 4:5-12, 27-29
Ps. 69:32-36
Lk. 10:17-24
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Baruch tells us to take courage. We are the creation of God who loves us. That love is greater than passing misfortunes.

Though many of us are taken up in the darkness of suffering and worry, today's readings give us hope that even in the darkest days, we have not been forgotten by God. Reality goes further than we can see. Knowledge of the love of God is not something learned with the head. It is the knowledge of the heart, offered to us by Jesus. He places it before us, but we have to make the choice... so that we can accept the invitation to holiness offered by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Those people who have been graced with gifts from God are reminded that their achievements are worked by the Spirit of God, who often chooses what is weak. Yet we should not be discouraged by our weakness. If God asks us to do great things even though we limp, it is so that we may lean all the more on His shoulder.


Lord, You are my strength and my hope.

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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