18 Jan Thu 2nd Week in Ordinary Time Heb. 7:25-8:6 Ps. 40:7-8, 8-9, 10, 17 Mk. 3:7-12 How To Pray With Shalom Home Page of Shalom Index of This Month        In Jesus we have the ideal high priest, a high priest who is not a figure of the past but one who continues His priestly ministry now at the right hand of the Father in heaven, where He stands pleading for the salvation and the perfection of those whom He has redeemed by His blood. He is now at the very heart of things, so to speak, at heaven's own centre, where He is mediator of a new covenant. This new covenant which He has inaugurated by His own blood becomes a reality in the hearts of believers as they are interiorly transformed under the power of the Holy Spirit, receiving a new heart and a new spirit. Our high priest is thus always active bringing this new covenant into being down through the ages. And as the new covenant in the hearts of men and women becomes a reality, creation itself is changed and transformed. In the Gospel reading we have a further example of this transformation, as Jesus heals the sick and as the unclean spirits are forced to confess the presence of the new power of God at work in the person of Jesus. The power of Jesus to save is utterly certain. The unclean spirits admit it.      Lord, heal me and transform me into the image of Your love. 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 favour the evangelisation of the new generations through the constant search for the unity wanted by Christ. Elaboration
- END - P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H     INTENTION : That Christians may favour the evangelisation of the new generations through the constant search for the unity wanted by Christ. The question of full Christian unity and evangelisation led to the beginnings of the ecumenical movement. The Holy Father decries the negative consequences of division among Christians and calls them to search for full Christian Unity as inspired by the Lord's Prayer. As evangelisers we must offer Christ's faithful an image of people who are mature in faith and capable of finding a meeting point beyond all tensions. The destiny of evangelisation is bound up with the witness of unity given to the Church. The urgency of preaching and displaying unity to the world arises from the fact that Christians can impair the vitality of proclaiming the Gospel and even become a scandal to the world, particularly when the churches appear to proclaim "a kingdom against itself". It is clear that the proclamation of the Gospel by divided Christians becomes counter- itness. As Christians we ought to give collaborative common witness which is founded in the common baptism in Christ and faith in the Triune God. Pray for the courage to work positively with other Christians for the purpose of promoting evangelisation. - END -