Daily Prayer
June 7th, 2010
The Lord has been my strength, he has led me into freedom. He saved me because he loves me.
(Psalm 18)
John O’Donohue said that mountains have great souls full of memory. What memories the Mount of the Beatitudes must hold! Today’s Gospel is referred to as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. In the Beatitudes or ‘Blessings’ we have the first of five great sermons in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus speaks of nine blessings. There is a challenge for us within each blessing. We need to realise the blessings in concrete action towards the poor, the marginalised, the oppressed, the needy, the victims of explolitation by others. Before the Beatitudes were preached on the Mount, they were lived by Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their home at Nazareth.
We become disciples of Jesus when we let the Spirit root the Beatitudes in our own life. As we journey to the depths of our own soul we must allow the Kingdom to take root there, so that we can receive the blessings promised by Jesus. We are to put aside ruthless ambition, “to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God” as we read in the prophet Micah.
We need not be afraid of the challenge: today’s psalm reminds us that “our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Prayer
God our Creator we thank you for your constancy and protection.
May we serve you with joy and peace. 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.”
