7 Jun
Mon
10th Week in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs. 17:1-6
Ps. 120(121): 1-2,3-4,5-6,7-8
Mt. 5:1-12
(Ps Wk II)
How To Pray With Shalom
Home Page of Shalom
Index of This Month
 
 

Today we begin reading from Matthew's gospel and begin with chapter 5 and the Sermon on the Mount. It begins with Jesus seeing the crowds and going up a hill to teach. Moses, too, delivered God's law from an elevated place, Mount Sinai. In the traditional way of a teacher, Jesus sits down. The Sermon consists mainly of the qualities which are expected of a follower of the new Law and the new Moses, Jesus. It begins with what we call the Eight Beatitudes. It would seem that Matthew is presenting the Beatitudes as taking over the role of the Commandments and this is indicated by the prominent place they have in forming the opening of this first discourse. They are, as it were, a manifesto of Jesus' message and his call to see the world in his way. They express the necessary attitudes of those who belong to the Kingdom. Those who have these attitudes already have entered that Kingdom. Some people have seen in these Beatitudes a portrait of Jesus himself and certainly they should be the portrait of every Christian and of every Kingdom person. They go far beyond what is demanded in the Ten Commandments. The Commandments are not so difficult to follow and, in so far as several of them are expressed in the negative ('Thou shalt not¡K'), they can be observed by doing nothing! There is no way, however, that people can ever say they observe any Beatitude to the fullest. They always call us to a further and higher level to grow more in the likeness of Jesus.



Lord, let Your will be done on earth, especially in us.

Say the daily
Novena to the Sacred Heart

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 every national and international institution may strive to guarantee respect for human life from conception to natural death.
Elaboration

- END -


© Copyright Shalom 2010. All rights reserved.