12 Apr
Fri 		2nd Week of Easter
Acts 5:34-42
Ps. 27:1,4,13-14
Jn. 6:1-15
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In today's Gospel reading, the people, astonished by the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him king. In the Acts, the apostles rejoice for the opportunity to bear witness to Christ by undergoing persecution for Him.

The readings for today show us what discipleship is all about. Discipleship begins with an experience of Jesus in our lives. Just as the people's witness of the miracle of the multiplication, we must seek and deepen those encounters with Jesus that impel us somehow to proclaim Him in our own lives. Further, there is a cost to our discipleship of Jesus because it is often counter-cultural. This cost of discipleship takes on many forms from the little sacrifices that we must make in our own lives if we are to follow Jesus more faithfully, to the actual physical persecutions as experienced by the apostles. Let us pray for the grace that our experience of Jesus will be continually deepened so that we may be strengthened to bear more and more the cost of discipleship in order to become more and more like Him.


Dear Lord, deepen my experience of You so that I may follow You more faithfully. Amen.

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 in the many rapid changes taking place in today's world, the importance of the family may be recognised in its fundamental vocation as cradle of life and school of faith and right values
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 in the many rapid changes taking place in today's world, the importance of the family may be recognised in its fundamental vocation as cradle of life and school of faith and right values

The family as a domestic Church and cradle of life is the appropriate setting in which faith can increase. It is here that faith can be nourished through an attitude of appreciation of the treasure which parents are called on to transmit to their children through personal words and testimonies of life. This attitude must then be nourished with a sense of wonder and hope and it must be contemplated as Mary contemplated it in the face of the Word she received and the events of her life.

This deep sense of faith helps parents and their children to fulfil the vocation received from God. Parents, teaching their children and bearing witness to the true sense of suffering and dying, lead the young to be more attentive to all forms of suffering. They, thus develop positive attitudes of assistance and sharing with others, especially with weaker people like the sick and the aged. This life of faith must be continually nourished through individual and family prayer.

On the strength of this foundation the family becomes a place for training in justice, self-control, temperance, respect for the personal dignity of each individual and the service of the poor and needy.



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