Prayer of the Day

Prayer

Here, on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Christ appoints Peter to be head of the Church, he had come to establish. For, the Church is the Body of Christ – the eternal presence of Christ with us. Peter with Mary, the Mother of Christ and with the other apostles retired to the upper room in Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Spirit, the apostles went forth to spread the Good News of the Gospel. We too, are called like the apostles to continue Christ’s work on earth by making disciples of all people. Being a human as well as a Divine Institution the Church is always in need of spiritual renewal. Those charged with the management of the Church sometimes lose their way. The present structures are out of touch with to-day’s problems. But, we must not let anything come between us and the Church of Christ, which is his Body. As we look forward in hope to the International Eucharistic Congress, we thank the Lord for this great gift of himself to us. May the love with which he gives himself to us in the Eucharist be a unifying force in the Church. For as Vatican II told us the Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth. St. Rita of Cascia, 1386-1457, was married for eighteen years to an ill tempered and abusive man, who was murdered.  Rita then entered the Augustinian Convent in Cascia and spent forty years in prayer and charity,  and working for peace in the region.