15Jun
Sat 		10th Week in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs. 19:19-21
Ps. 16:1-2,5, 7-8,9-10
Mt. 5:33-37
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"I set the Lord ever before me" proclaims the Psalmist. This is indeed a high ideal. If every one of us lived our lives consciously in the presence of the Lord, how different would our world be! We cannot, of course, pay immediate and rapt attention to the presence of God every moment of our lives. But we can have the intention of living in the presence of God. With God's grace we can live in such a way that our conscience will not condemn us. We can act out of love, even if that love is rather limited and even fragmented. It is possible for us, in Christ, to live in a way that is pleasing to God. Indeed, for us setting the Lord before us finds its deepest meaning in the phrase "in Christ".

God is merciful and did not leave us to find our way through life in darkness. God has spoken to us to guide us: through our conscience, through the prophets of Israel, but most of all through His Son Jesus. Jesus is God-with-Us, Emmanuel, and so by accepting Jesus we set the Lord always before us.


Lord, I desire to live in Your presence. Bless me with a growing sense of Your presence, so that I may always do what is pleasing to 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 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

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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 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.



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