Daily Prayer
September 25th, 2010
"The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men"
Luke 9: 44
In today’s gospel we see Jesus preparing His disciples for the future – a future which will bring Him rejection, suffering and finally death. Jesus is under no illusion about the suffering He has to face. This is a suffering, which cannot be avoided if He is to remain true to His mission. And so he willingly accepts it. He will allow himself to be handed over, trusting that his heavenly Father will be with Him in His forsakeness. In the garden of Gethsemane He will pray, ‘Father if it be possible take this cup of suffering away from me,yet, not my will but thine be done’ (Matt. 29:39)
God answers the prayer of His Son, not by saving Him from the passion, but by saving Him through it. The Resurrection will be the answer to that heartfelt plea in the Garden.
The disciples, especially Peter, can’t accept that their master should suffer. They want their Messiah to be strong; victorious; invincible. That is why Jesus has to speak to them often about the forthcoming passion. Even so it is only after the Resurrection, that the Apostles, enlightened by the Holy spirit understood that it is through His obedient acceptance of suffering and death that Jesus saved the world.
Prayer
Lord, you saved us through your Passion, Death and Resurrection. Help us to unite our suffering to yours, to take up our cross daily and follow you. 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.”
