Shalom

30 Apr Tue	5th Week of Easter St Pius V, Pope
	Acts 14:19-28 Ps. 145:10-11, 12-13,21 Jn. 14:27-31

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"Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might." After the resurrection of Jesus, these words from Psalm 145 mean something very different for us than they did for the author and the people of Israel who read them through the ages. The life and death of Jesus has taught us to see how great and true was the vision of Isaiah, that vision which he expressed in his "Songs of the Suffering Servant". Isaiah saw, and Jesus lived out, this great truth that God's might is not the might of earthly kings and their armies. God's might is the power of love, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power which raised Jesus from the dead.

The glory of God's kingdom is the glory of love triumphant over death. The Risen Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon the Church, to ensure that it would be a community of love and joy. The Church and individual Christians may from time to time have failed to reach this ideal. God's kingdom, however, is "a kingdom for all ages" and it "endures through all generations". God's kingdom is the eternal sovereignty of God's love.

Lord, may the power of Your love continually transform us into ever better instruments of justice and peace, joy and love.

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 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
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 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
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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