Daily Prayer
August 1st, 2010
“Watch and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by
what he owns, even when he has more goods than he needs.”
Luke 12: 15
General theme today: our thoughts must be on heavenly things, rather than on earthly things,, for
without Christ all is vanity. Life is not made secure by what one owns.
Jesus tells the parable of the rich man who, having a good harvest, wanted to build bigger barns and
store up enough to allow him to have a good time, rest, eat and drink. But God warns him that this
very night the demand will be made for his soul, and asks him: Whose will this hoard be then? And
the parable concludes: better to make oneself rich in the sight of God.
It is not the mere possession of riches which is the problem for people, rather, it is the undue concern
about having more materials goods than we need, and getting so caught up in them that we are in
danger of forgetting the things of God, ie eternal life.
Prayer
Lord, help us not to be too preoccupied with the things of this life but to work rather for the
things of eternal life. We ask this through Christ our Lord, 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.”
