20 October
October 20th, 2010
"Love one another just as I have loved you"
John 13 : 34
Are we looking for miracles? The real meaning of miracle is transformation, that is inner change. Christ never spoke of miracles, but always of healing. Inner healing brings peace, peace of mind. The closer we come to God, the deeper our love for God and for one another.
As part of the Body of Christ, we help one another, the Saints, the sinners, the great unwashed, all of us who are seeking to climb the mountain of the Lord together. It is God’’s will that we help each other as we travel together in hope and love on our pilgrim journey towards the promised land.
Pope Benedict XVI says, “Love is God’’s greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope.” St. John Viannay, the Curé of Ars says, “It is always springtime in the heart that loves God.”
Prayer
Prayer : Lord, I bring to you the sick and those who are seriously worried about their state of health. Some may, be terminally ill. In these days of economic depression, many have financial difficulties and problems making ends meet. We all share in each other''s pain and come to you for healing and the strength to carry on. In you, O Lord, we put our trust. Amen.
The prayer for each day has been prepared by various members of the Holy Family Association. All who visit our website are remembered in prayer. If you would like us to pray for a particular need, simply complete and submit the form on the right hand side of this page. You may wish to leave a comment in the space below.
Just a Thought
How the Holy Family prayer: A Reflection by Pope Benedict XVI
“I would like to invite you to reflect on the place of prayer in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The home of Nazareth, in fact, is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, to ponder and to penetrate the profound meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
Pope Paul VI during his visit to Nazareth said “we come to understand the need for a spiritual discipline, if we wish to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ.” And he added: “First, it teaches us silence. Oh! That there would be reborn in us the esteem for silence, that wonderful and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit: while we are deafened by so many noises, sounds and clamorous voices in the frantic and tumultuous times of modern life. Oh! Silence of Nazareth, teach us to be resolute in good thoughts, intent upon the interior life, ready to listen well to the secret inspirations of God and the exhortations of the true masters.”
We can glean several insights on the Holy Family’s prayer and relationship with God from the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ childhood. We may begin with the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. St. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph, “when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, brought the child up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord”(2:22). Like every observant Jewish family, Jesus’ parents go up to the temple to consecrate the firstborn son to God and to offer sacrifice. Moved by fidelity to the law’s prescriptions, they set off from Bethlehem and go up to Jerusalem with Jesus, who is now forty days old. Instead of a one-year-old lamb, they present the offering of simple families; that is two young pigeons. The Holy Family’s pilgrimage is one of faith, of the offering of gifts, a symbol of prayer, and of encounter with the Lord, whom Mary and Joseph already see in the son Jesus.”
