Shalom

6 Dec Thu	1st Week of Advent
	Is. 26:1-6 Ps. 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27 Mt. 7:21, 24-27

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A popular praise and worship song goes: "Jesus, you're my firm foundation . . ." Our reading for today makes use of the same imagery. God is "the everlasting rock" on which we are to build our individual and communal lives. It is a striking metaphor. But what does it mean concretely?

What it does not mean is just to speak or sing about the Lord. For "it is not those who say to me, `Lord, Lord', who will enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus tells us that two things are required. We need to listen to his words and to act on them.

Today's Gospel passage comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus describes the values of the Kingdom. "Blessed are the poor in heart . . . blessed are the peacemakers . . . pray to your Father in secret . . . when you give alms do not let your right hand know what your left is doing . . ." To listen to His words is to allow ourselves to become immersed in these values, such that we can see how they apply to the situations we encounter daily. What are we, as individuals and communities, doing to make the Lord's values our own?

And it is not enough just to listen. We also have to act. For when we pray for the coming of God's kingdom in Our Father, we are really also committing ourselves to hastening its coming. What must we do today, to make Christ's presence more deeply felt in our lives, families, society and world?

Lord, be the firm Rock on which my life is built.

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 Christians may free themselves from the subtle forms of cultural conditioning which prevent them from recognising the dignity and rights of others
Elaboration

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

INTENTION :	That Christians may free themselves from the subtle forms of cultural conditioning which prevent them from recognising the dignity and rights of others
Our vocation and mission as Christians is to bring the light of Christ to the world in order to preserve the world from corruption by permeating it with the values of the Gospel. We need, ourselves, first and foremost to be enlightened by Christ. We do not generate light, we only refract, reflect and radiate. It is His light that we must cast on the world. The more transparent our lives are with the values of the Gospel, the better is the light of Christ reflected and the less we are seen. The world in which we live is mixed with wheat and weeds. There is good and evil. Consumerism is but the logical sequence of a materialistic way of life. Spiritual values are forgotten. Our wants are made to appear as our needs and we are forced to get so immersed in the joys of this world as to forget the joys of the world to come. We are admonished to be aware lest we be trapped by these and other forms of cultural conditioning that mark this world. Awareness is the first step to change. We pray that this awareness may help us to be delivered from the cultural conditioning that hinders and hampers our vision and prevents us from recognising the dignity and the rights of others.
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