22 May
Wed 		7th Week in Ordinary Time
James 4:13-17
Ps. 49:2-3,6-7,8-10,11
Mk. 9:38-40
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To follow Jesus, to accomplish the mission received from Him, does not give any exclusive right about the message. This is the key idea of today's Gospel: to give oneself to His message from love to the Father and to our sisters and brothers. Therefore it should be accomplished with magnanimity accepting everything which is good and, even admitting that others who externally and according to our standard do not follow Jesus ("do not follow us"), may also proclaim the message.

The magnanimity, which the Gospel asks for, can only be understood by deepening our understanding of the message of Jesus, which does not have exclusivism, narrow-mindedness, limitations, classification of sects. At times in our Christian communities we tend to adopt positions which are exclusionist, closed, lacking comprehension. This is anti-evangelical. In our prayer and celebration today let us ask for what St James invites us to today, that is, to do always what God wants from us. Only God should be the norm and the standard for our life, so that all of us will be united with the same mind and the same purpose.


Lord, may we all agree to what You say without division among us because we have the same mind and purpose.

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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