15 May
Wed
7th Week of Easter
Acts 20:28-38
Ps. 68:29-30,33-35a, 35b-36c
Jn. 17:11-19
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"There is more happiness in giving than receiving". We must thank St Paul, and St Luke as the author of Acts, for recording this "word of the Lord Jesus". This saying is not recorded in the Gospels, but we instinctively know that it is the kind of saying that fits in very well with Jesus and His value system. The saying is actually a "beatitude" and has the same power to challenge us as the other beatitudes do such as "Blessed are the poor in spirit".

In a world where there is so much greed and acquisitiveness, these words will strike many as being far too unrealistic, just as the other Beatitudes are considered utopian and unrealistic.

Jesus, of course, did not elaborate on His beatitudes. Here, He did not explain what the happiness precisely consists of. All Jesus' sayings are open-ended and so can be applied in quite a variety of situations. Even if we confine our consideration of these words to a spiritual level, we can see how revealing they are. Whenever we try to use our limited resources to guide, or counsel, or console anyone on a spiritual level, we discover how much more we receive than we could ever give. It is almost as if giving increased our capacity for receiving.



Lord Jesus, teach us to be generous, to give and not to count the cost.

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 live their faith coherently and so be credible witnesses of the hope of the Gospel
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 Christians may live their faith coherently and so be credible witnesses of the hope of the Gospel

That we may live a "coherent faith" that is a faith which produces the testimony of good works is the ecumenical intention of the Holy Father. In the Joint Declaration on the doctrine of justification signed between the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation in 1999 it is stated that "only through grace, by means of faith in Christ and his salvific work, and not through any merit of ours, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit which renews our hearts, enabling us to perform and leading us to good works".

It has to be understood that no human effort is capable of buying salvation. It is fundamentally a gift of God for which we have a duty to respond and co-operate through "faith-in-action" or "practised faith".

Hence, the strengthening of one's inner faith through prayer and the sacraments will assist in the growth of charity which leads us to live the new commandment of love more fervently. Now is the time to look at charity in a new way. It is not a matter of doing the same thing in the same way. It is a time to seek and find new expressions of love for every human being. Then we become "credible witnesses of evangelical hope"




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