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God gave us the ability to think and plan, to see the
consequences of our actions, to count the cost of everything we
do. This ability is a form of wisdom, a calculating wisdom. Jesus
once stressed the importance of this calculating wisdom, when He
reminded us that in building a tower or in fighting a war we
should first sit down and calculate whether or not we have the
ability to finish what we began. Important though this ability is, however, it is not the fullness of wisdom, for there is another wisdom, a divine wisdom, the wisdom of the Cross. This wisdom goes far beyond calculating anything, for it is a wisdom driven by an unconditional love. There are many situations, spiritual situations, where the use of calculating wisdom is, not merely inappropriate, but essentially misguided and wrong. Thus, Peter's fault in today's Gospel was not that he calculated too little, but that he calculated at all. Forgiveness, like love, cannot be calculated. It can only flow from a life of grace, given to us when we strive to follow Jesus unconditionally, trying to live and love as He did. Father in Heaven, grant us the grace to follow Your Son with all our heart. May our lives reflect His unbounded kindness and infinite mercy. |
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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, with the committed help of all believers, the
scourge of poverty may come to an end, eliminating the
intolerable social and economic inequality in the world
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One might also say that poverty is the negation of economic and
social rights and that the poor who suffer from absolute poverty
are denied the most fundamental right which is the right to life.
The international community too is becoming progressively more
aware of the gravity of the problem and has declared solemnly to
fight and reduce extreme poverty by 2015. Besides, how can we not
realise the situation growing worse in spite of the increase in
available resources. The problem of unequal distribution of resources in its correct setting is an ethical one, since it is a problem of justice: the poor are in the first place victims of injustice. In the era of globalisation we can no longer tolerate a world in which the very rich live side by side with the poor, the property less who lack even the essentials with people who shamelessly waste what others desterately need. One of the more evident worrying consequences of this phenomenon is in fact the progressive increase instead of the decrease of inequalities, in both poor countries and rich countries, and between the North and South. Let us pray that the scourge of poverty may come to an end | |
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