Friday of the 7th week of Eastertide
or Saint Christopher Magallanes and his Companions, Martyrs
May 21st, 2010
"And God said, "Let there be light and there was Light"
Genesis 1 : 3
From the beginning human beings have wondered who are we and where did we come from? Brilliant scientists from Aristotle to Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein have been studying the origin of the universe for centuries. They tell us the universe came into being about 13.7 billion years ago with a “big bang.” And so light began. From that “big bang” everything in the cosmos began – matter, atoms, stars, chemicals, all life forms and you and I, eventually. Science does not contradict our Christian spirituality. God manifests his glory in the beauty, grandeur and immensity of our universe which is expanding all the time. God is not a far off figure in a distant heaven. All creation comes from God and God is present in his creation, which is evolving all the time. Creation is holy because God is in it. As God said to Moses on Sinai, “The ground you are standing on is holy.” Exodus 3 : 5.
Creation is not static. It is on-going. We experience one-ness, not only with each other but with the whole Universe. We are one with the stars, and with everything else, rocks, plants, animals, etc. This is mind boggling! And we humans only appeared on the scene 7 million years ago!
“The Lord’’s is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples. It is he who set it on the seas; on the waters he made it firm” Ps. 23
Prayer
Prayer : Lord God, creation is the outpouring of your spirit, your Pentecostal Spirit. This spirit is Divine life, which makes us a vital part of your universe. You, Lord our God are spirit, life and light. You are actively and eternally at work in us. In wonder and awe, we contemplate your creation. May our new understanding of the cosmos challenge us to change our thinking and our understanding of creation and our place in it. This we ask 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
The Eucharist
The manner in which we celebrate Eucharist and the reverence we give to it speak greatly of the sort of people we are. The following is a lovely story from the early Church which I came across recently: it might help us to understand what it means to be a member of the Church:
Cyprian of Cathage, wrote to his friend, Donatus: “It’s a bad world, Donatus, in which we live. But right in the middle of it I have discovered a quiet and holy group of people. They are people who have found a happiness that is a thousand times more joyful than all the pleasures of our sinful lives. These people are despised and persecuted, but it doesn’t matter to them. They are Christians, Donatus, and I am one of them.”
St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, describes how those people, the early Christians, bore witness to Christ and celebrated the Eucharist – i.e. the Mass; “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions;… There was not a needy person among them…. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes…”
The Eucharist has consequences for the way we should live our lives. St. Augustine tells us that the Lord gave us these gifts of his Body and Blood so that we, too, might become these very things – i.e. his Body and Blood for the life of the world.
During the celebration of the Last Supper Jesus said, “I have given you an example, that you also should do what I have done to you.” Through us Christ is made present to our world. Our sharing in the Eucharist bonds us together with our brothers and sisters who have also been immersed into the life of Christ through the waters of Baptism.
