9 Oct Mon 27th Week in Ordinary Time St Denis, bishop & martyr and Comps martyrs Gal. 1:6-12 Ps. 111:1-2, 7-10 Lk. 10:25-37 How To Pray With Shalom Home Page of Shalom Index of This Month        Christianity is a simple (though not easy) faith. We are to love God with all the strength and dedication we can muster and our neighbour as ourselves. Many people make religious and spiritual claims, but an examination of the quality and depth of their love for others is a reliable way of separating mere talk from reality. We can even measure our own spiritual maturity by examining our own commitment to the happiness and well being of others. But who is our neighbour? As the Gospel tells us elsewhere, it is easy to love those who are close to us, such as family or friends. It is more difficult to love strangers, those who are very different from us, or who in various ways are difficult to love. Jesus insists that it is these very people we must love unconditionally if we are truly His disciples. The Samaritan belonged to a group despised by the Jews of that time, and yet he is the hero of the story: he showed compassion and mercy. Which people or groups do we find it difficult to love? Is our love conditional? Our compassion and caring must know no boundaries or limits.      Lord, help me to love others unconditonally. DAILY OFFERING Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen. PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH INTENTION That young married couples may be sustained by the example and assistance of their parents and other families MORE
- END - P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H     INTENTION : That young married couples may be sustained by the example and assistance of their parents and other families The testimony and help that parents and other families must offer to sustain young married couples finds its place in the ambit of post-matrimonial pastoral care. Parents and other families are the most suited to offer this assistance to young spouses because clearly they have lived personally the values which they must transmit. These parents show faithfulness through living in the best possible way the commitments assumed during their marriage. One could ask, but why is it necessary for young couples to be sustained by the testimony of their parents and other families? The answer is, because today there are many negative attitudes which scandalise and discourage young people. Being new to the condition of matrimonial life they need advice, encouragement, moral support, correction and prayer. They cannot be left alone or abandoned in this phase of their lives. Couples need to take advantage of the wealth of the experience and wisdom of their parents. "The pastoral action of the Church must be progressive, also in the sense that it must accompany the family, following it step by step in the various stages of its formation and development," (Familiaris Consortio n65, 69). - END -