Shalom

28 Apr Sun	5th Sunday of Easter (A)
	Acts 6:1-7 Ps33:1-2,4-5,18-19 1 Pt. 2:4-9 Jn. 14:1-12

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We are grateful to Thomas and Philip for the questions they ask in today's Gospel. Thomas always comes across as somewhat cantankerous and argumentative but he drew from Jesus one of his most significant sayings, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" To which Jesus replies: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." Yes, Jesus is the Way. All who accept His understanding of what life is about, in our relations with God, with each other and with the world, know the way. And that Way is Truth not just in terms of 'doctrines' but in making me a truly human person in touch with and in harmony with God and His creation. And that Truth is also Life, helping me to be a person fully alive at every level of my existence. And that is so because, as Jesus said in answer to Philip's question, Jesus (including His whole life and teaching) is the perfect expression, in human form, of God Himself. To know Jesus is to be in touch with God. To go through Jesus, to walk His Way, is to go to God.

Give me the light and strength, Lord, always to walk in Your Way and to find in all the experiences of my life Your presence and 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 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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