22 October
October 22nd, 2010
"In you, Oh Lord I put my trust. Let me never be confounded"
Ps. 56
Our world to-day is greatly in need of an outpouring of Divine Mercy. Like the prodigal son, many have turned their backs on God. However, God never abandons us. He offers us the hand of friendship and a reconciling hug. He is ever ready to forgive the sinner.
We know from the Gospels that Christ’s special friends apart from his Apostles were publicans and sinners. Christ said to the woman taken in adultery, “Has no one condemned you.” When she answered “No,” he said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go away and don’t sin anymore.” Jn. 8 : 10 – 11
It must be said “where sin abounds grace abounds much more.” Rom. 5 : 15 – 20 There is no one outside of God’s merciful love. The greater the sinner, the greater God’s mercy. All the time God is drawing us towards himself. Only we can respond to such love and forgiveness. We will never have peace and happiness in our lives till we turn with confidence to God’s merciful love.
Prayer
Prayer : May God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give us grace, mercy and peace now and always. 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.”
