2 May
Thu 		5th Week of Easter
St Athanasius, bishop & doctor
Acts 15:7-21
Ps. 96:1-3,10
Jn. 15:9-11
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Whatever acts of piety that I do, I must not expect others to do likewise. I must not impose my own standards or preferences on them, no matter how noble those acts of piety are to me. I should not judge others according to my own standards, but let God look mercifully on each of us.

Whatever I do, it should be done for love and out of love. Since God has loved us first, I am able to love myself and hence others. This is important. If I have a poor self-image, I am unable to accept myself and believe that God loves me. It will be difficult for me to reach out and love others genuinely. I must learn self-acceptance because God has created me and all that He creates is good. When I do God's will, it must be done with love and I am to remain in that love as St John reminds us in the Gospel reading.

God want us all to accept others just as He has accepted us and loved us. There can be no exception. It is towards the least that we must show the most care and concern. Let us pray for this grace to be welcoming to all.


Lord Jesus, help us to realize that we have no control over the Holy Spirit and to know that You love us very much and want us to do likewise to all others.

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 live their faith coherently and so be credible witnesses of the hope of the Gospel
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 live their faith coherently and so be credible witnesses of the hope of the Gospel

That we may live a "coherent faith" that is a faith which produces the testimony of good works is the ecumenical intention of the Holy Father. In the Joint Declaration on the doctrine of justification signed between the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation in 1999 it is stated that "only through grace, by means of faith in Christ and his salvific work, and not through any merit of ours, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit which renews our hearts, enabling us to perform and leading us to good works".

It has to be understood that no human effort is capable of buying salvation. It is fundamentally a gift of God for which we have a duty to respond and co-operate through "faith-in-action" or "practised faith".

Hence, the strengthening of one's inner faith through prayer and the sacraments will assist in the growth of charity which leads us to live the new commandment of love more fervently. Now is the time to look at charity in a new way. It is not a matter of doing the same thing in the same way. It is a time to seek and find new expressions of love for every human being. Then we become "credible witnesses of evangelical hope"



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