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According to St Paul love is patient. In that case Jesus must have drawn on the depths of His patience when He found His followers so slow to accept the fact of His resurrection. Though He was Risen and alive they preferred to remember Him as crucified. Mary of Magdala was in tears and the apostles were unprepared for the mission to which they were being called. The two who returned to Jerusalem with the news that Jesus had walked with them on the road met with a cool reception. On all sides among the followers there was a lack of enthusiasm and a tendency to remain in grief. The Apostles had good news for the world and later we find that Peter and John were unable to restrain themselves from sharing this news with everyone. Christ wants us also to make Him known. We have to convince ourselves that it is through us, His people, that others will come to a relationship with Him. Our faith is not meant to be kept 'under a bushel' but to be shared. Lord, make me an instrument of Your love. Help me to accept my responsibilities as one who has the Good News for others. |
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P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
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That in the many rapid changes taking place in today's world, the importance of the family may be recognised in its fundamental vocation as cradle of life and school of faith and right values
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The family as a domestic Church and cradle of life is the appropriate setting in which faith can increase. It is here that faith can be nourished through an attitude of appreciation of the treasure which parents are called on to transmit to their children through personal words and testimonies of life. This attitude must then be nourished with a sense of wonder and hope and it must be contemplated as Mary contemplated it in the face of the Word she received and the events of her life. This deep sense of faith helps parents and their children to fulfil the vocation received from God. Parents, teaching their children and bearing witness to the true sense of suffering and dying, lead the young to be more attentive to all forms of suffering. They, thus develop positive attitudes of assistance and sharing with others, especially with weaker people like the sick and the aged. This life of faith must be continually nourished through individual and family prayer. On the strength of this foundation the family becomes a place for training in justice, self-control, temperance, respect for the personal dignity of each individual and the service of the poor and needy. | |
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