28 Mar
Wed
4th Week of Lent
Is. 49:8-15
Ps. 145:8-9, 13-14, 17-18
Jn. 5:17-30
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     'He is close to all who call on him from their hearts'. Here Jesus gives us a vision of the total love of the Father and the Son for each other. The Father withholds absolutely nothing from the Son. He wishes the Son to receive the same honour as He received Himself; a refusal to honour the Son is a refusal to honour the Father. The Son can do only what the Father does, so absolutely one are they. For either to will otherwise than as the other wills is impossible. Such total unity in love is hard for us to grasp.

     The Son is the source of life, as is the Father. To accept the Son's words and believe in the Father is to have eternal life. To hear His voice, to listen to His words is to partake of the salvation He won for us.

     The reading from Isaiah tells us yet again of the tender and compassionate love of God for His people. He loves us as a mother loves and cares for His children. He shows Himself motherly as well as fatherly in His concern, providence, love and compassion.
    

     Lord, You are the source of life and You are near to us despite our sinfulness.
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, 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
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, 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

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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