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Saturday before Ascension Sunday or Saint Carthage, Bishop

May 15th, 2010

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes ref in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until the destroying storms pass by.”
Ps 57:1

This week’s readings have for the most part spoken of God’s tangible love and our response by our love for others. Such reflections can lead to some complacency unless we also experience the difficulties we may have to overcome to first of all, be confident in God’s all embracing love, and be selfless in passing on this love to others.

There are times when perhaps I fail to see others needs or respond to them; at other times, I may be the one who needs a helping hand and there appears to be no one to help. At these times I may give up—what is the use, I might say to myself? But the love of God is still with us, like a parent calming or protecting a child. Just as a bird takes its young under its wing when there is danger or fear, so God is always there in our times of trouble or distress. All we have to do is call on him.

Prayer


Prayer I cry to you O God Most High, to you who will fulfil your plans for me, for your love and faithfulness are always with me in spite of my own failings.

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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

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