10 Aug
Fri
Feast of St Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr
2 Cor. 9:6-10
Ps. 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9
Jn. 12:24-26
How To Pray With Shalom
Home Page of Shalom
Index of This Month
 

At the Last Supper, Jesus taught us that there is no greater love than to lay down our life for a friend. He affirmed that we are His friends, and thus we see His death was motivated by love. We apply these words of Jesus to the death of the martyrs: like Jesus, they died for love, love of God, love of Jesus, love of the Church and the true faith. Yet the words of Jesus cannot belong to only one class of people in the Church. All of us who follow Jesus have the capability of living out this "greatest love" even if we do not shed our blood in martyrdom. Reflection on the lives of the saints lets us see how loving service marked their lives. Before they were called to lay down their lives in martyrdom, they spent themselves each day, laying down their lives in loving service, especially the service of the poor. This is the story of St Lawrence. Before he was a martyr, he was an ardent lover of Christ, especially in the poor. As the Opening Prayer reminds us, he was called to serve the Lord by love. Such love expressed in service entails an endless sacrifice, another kind of martyrdom.



Lord, help us to be like St Lawrence in loving You and serving You.

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
The awareness that only God is the master of human life may orientate the decisions of the legislators and leaders of nations
Elaboration

- END -









P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H    

INTENTION : The awareness that only God is the master of human life may orientate the decisions of the legislators and leaders of nations

Evidence shows with increasing clarity how policies and laws opposed to life are causing societies to decline morally, demographically and economically. The encyclical Evangelium Vitae makes the urgent appeal "that we offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilisation of truth and love".

Thus there is no reason for a defeatist mentality which claims that laws opposed to the right of life are inevitable. On the contrary, they are a seed of corruption for society and its foundations. The civil and moral conscience cannot accept this false inevitability. The relationship between the civil and moral law deserves great attention because of the growing importance they are destined to have in the restoration of social life.

Lawmakers are asked to renew their commitment to change unjust laws that legitimise or tolerate such violence. The changing of laws must be preceded and accompanied by the changing of mentalities and morals on a vast scale. The Church cannot spare any effort nor can she accept negligence or guilty silence.




- END -