Prayer of the Day
Feast of St. Canice, Abbot
October 11th, 2014
“As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said; ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked.’ But He replied; ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it.'” (Luke 11 : 27-28)
Jesus was speaking to people who put extremely high value on family ties. Their genealogies were important guarantees that they were part of God’s chosen people. A man’s value came from his ancestors and a woman’s value came from the sons she bore. Jesus response to the woman meant that a person’s obedience to God is more important than his or her place on the family tree. The patient work of constant obedience is even more important than the honour of bearing a respected son.
In to-day’s reading, Galatians 3 : 22-29, God knew we were sin’s prisoners, but he provided a way of escape – faith in Jesus Christ. Without Christ everyone is held in sin’s grasp and only those who place their faith in Christ ever get out of it. Look to Christ – he is reaching out to set you free.