delete
«
»

Daily Prayer

June 23rd, 2010

"By their fruits you will know them”
Matt. 7:16

You can tell who the false prophets are, because in their teaching they minimise Christ and glorify themselves. We should evaluate teachers’ words by examining their lives. Just as trees are consistent by the kind of fruit they produce, good teachers consistently exhibit good behaviour and high moral character as they attempt to live out the truths of Scripture. This does not mean we should have witch hunts or stand in judgment over others. Every one of us is subject to sin, and we must show the same mercy to others that we need for ourselves. When Jesus talks about bad trees, he means teachers who deliberately teach false doctrine.

Jesus often uses symbols from nature to reveal his message. In another instance Jesus speaks of the fig tree that bore no fruit. Later, Jesus would invite to dinner the tax collector, Zaccheus who had climbed a sycamore – that is a wild fig tree – to get a better view of him. Here indeed was a fruit-bearing fig tree!

Prayer


Lord, help me today to be aware of the goodness in others and to see it as a reflection of your love for me.

«
»

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.”

Daily Prayers

    • Themes for Reflection

    Request a Prayer