Shalom

31 Jan Thu	3rd Week in Ordinary Time St John Bosco, priest
	2 Sam. 7:18-19, 24-29 Ps. 131:1-2, 3-5, 11, 12, 13-14 Mk. 4:21-25

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Index of This Month

The readings for today can be read as a whole and are all supporting one central idea. God is very near to us and it is He who provides all that we need in this life to make us happy. Paul in Philippians reminds us that God wants us to be very happy. However, to achieve this, we must always do what He has taught us, that is be noble, good, virtuous and pure. If we want something, it is all right to pray for it, and God will take care of what we are praying for in His own time and if He thinks we need it. This is interesting as the Responsorial Psalm indicates that we should thank the Lord for all His blessings. In fact, we probably do not need to pray for anything extra as God has provided us with all we need to be happy. If we truly become like a little child as the Gospel indicates then we would trust the Lord implicitly and we would have all that we need to make us happy. Surely our ultimate aim in life is to reach the Kingdom of heaven. I believe that it is the trusting nature of the child that Jesus is speaking about and not simply whether we have become adults or not. Have you ever noticed that is is only as people get older that they become cynical and doubting and find it difficult to trust completely in the Lord?

Lord, fill us with Your love and help us to trust 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 Christians may intensify their efforts to announce together Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world.
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 Christians may intensify their efforts to announce together Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world.
In the Apostolic Letter At the Beginning of the New Millennium Pope John Paul II looks towards the future and exhorts the members of the Church not to be afraid to leave the coastal waters "where there is nothing to fish" and move into deep waters. If we are prepared to do this, our catch will be abundant. The Pope particularly exhorts Christ's disciples to intensify their efforts to bring greater unity in the Christian Community. The invocation "Launch out into the deep" is a binding imperative, the strength that sustains us, and a salutary rebuke for our slowness and closed-heartedness. It is on Jesus' prayer and not on our own strength that we base the hope that even within history we shall be able to reach full and visible communion with all Christians. Our trust that we may succeed in attaining the full and visible communion of all Christians, "rests on Jesus' prayer, not on our own capacity". The Lord calls us to unity and will not fail to pour forth His grace on us. But in this context also, as in all our relations with God's salvific grace, we too must do our share. God does not save us against our will; God does not save us if we do not collaborate towards our salvation.
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