14Jun
Fri 		10th Week in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs. 19:9a,11-16
Ps. 27:7-8a,8b-9, 13-14
Mt. 5:27-32
How To Pray With Shalom
Home Page of Shalom
Index of This Month
 

We are often told to seek and find God in all things. There are some who wait for great signs and wonders. There are those who go chasing after the latest reported apparition of Our Lady or a saint. People wondered where God was in the rubble of New York's World Trade Centre. But very often we are looking in the wrong place. In today's first reading Elijah leaves his cave to greet the Lord as he passes by. A hurricane wind destroying everything in its path went by, but the Lord was not there. Then came a fearsome earthquake, but the Lord was not there. And there came a mighty fire, burning everything around, but the Lord was not there either. Then came the sound of a gentle breeze and Elijah covered his face because he knew immediately he was in the presence of his God. For us it will be the same. It is easy to go looking for God in the big happenings of our life. But we so often miss His presence in the small things, in the most ordinary things. And so He passes by and out of our life. Similarly, following the Gospel, it is often only in small things, for example, a look, that can reveal the corrupting tendencies in our heart. It is in taking care of the small things in our lives that the big things will be looked after.


Grant, O Lord, that all my thoughts, intentions, actions and responses may be directed solely to Your love and praise.

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 the leaders and members of different religions may co-operate in their search for world peace, based on conversion of hearts and brotherly dialogue.
Elaboration

- END -








P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H    

INTENTION : That the leaders and members of different religions may co-operate in their search for world peace, based on conversion of hearts and brotherly dialogue.

While respecting others' beliefs, all religions are called on to form a spiritual United Nations under the common denominator of belief in God who unites us all. We as believers are asked to place our particular faith at the service of the common human good.

This religious goal of humanism should manifest itself in healthy co-operation and not mere coexistence among all the men and women in the world. The universal criterion for achieving a basic common denominator among all the religions is moving from instinctive and sentimental dimensions to social and spiritual ones. And the influence of religions on millions of people is so deep it can be said that without religious peace there cannot be world peace. "Religion and peace go together: unleashing a war in the name of religion is an obvious contradiction". (John Paul II).

Therefore, we must neutralise our disorderly inclinations: selfishness, pride, ambition, lust for money and power, self-sufficiency, a superiority complex. We cannot be at peace with ourselves if we are not at peace with God.



- END -