19 May
Sun 		Pentecost
Acts 2:1-11
Ps. 104:1ab,24ac,29bc-30, 31,34; 1 Cor. 12:3b-7, 12-13
Jn. 20:19-23
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The central theme of today's three readings is the Holy Spirit. The different texts show us that behind the many different gifts, there is only One God, who is the source and giver of all good things including life itself. In these texts we are reminded that our gifts are never given for our own selfish pleasure or vain glory but rather they are to be used for the good of all. Yes, we are to pray and to use our talents and gifts according to the will and purposes of God and for His glory alone. Only then can we say that we have been good stewards of His many gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 tells us how we have all been baptized into the one body by the same spirit. Pentecost is the wonderful manifestation of this great truth. Here in this phenomenal event we see how Christ with His own body has broken down the walls that separate humankind to create one new people in union with Himself, in this way making peace (Eph. 2:14-15). He is doing this even more powerfully after September 11, 2001. Bringing peace at Assisi for all and giving us a new law for peace - the Assisi Decalogue.

Yes, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God is always a gentle and peaceful spirit who has come to dispel fear and extends friendship to all so that as God's own children we can experience peace and joy, never otherwise.


Holy Spirit, be our teacher and our guide that we may know how to discern Your way from any other and walk always in Your way.

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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