16 Aug
Thu 		19th Week in Ordinary Time
St Stephen of Hungary
Josh. 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17
Ps. 114:1-6
Mt. 18:21-19:1
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Is it possible to take a group of weak, simple people, devoid of weapons and other resources, and lead them from slavery in a powerful country to a Promised Land? No human leader could have accomplished this feat. It is God and God alone who accomplishes good things for His people. The story of the parting of the waters in the first reading should make us realize that God had been at work for the benefit of His people. God loves and cares for His people.

Whereas the first reading is about God's power, the Gospel is about His forgiveness. God is like the King who wiped out the huge debt owed him by his servant. Wiping out the debt is a symbol of forgiveness. God's forgiveness like His power, is beyond our powers to imagine. He absolves us, that is, He completely wipes out the debt of sin. He forgives us by the Blood of His Son shed for the forgiveness of sins. The giving up of His Son Jesus is also beyond what humans are willing to do. But as Christians we are called to forgive not just once but repeatedly and from the heart - from sincere dispositions of love and mercy.


Dear God we want to forgive others as You forgive. Help us to leave to You the sighting of wrongs and to accept Your peace. 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
The awareness that only God is the master of human life may orientate the decisions of the legislators and leaders of nations
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 : The awareness that only God is the master of human life may orientate the decisions of the legislators and leaders of nations

Evidence shows with increasing clarity how policies and laws opposed to life are causing societies to decline morally, demographically and economically. The encyclical Evangelium Vitae makes the urgent appeal "that we offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilisation of truth and love".

Thus there is no reason for a defeatist mentality which claims that laws opposed to the right of life are inevitable. On the contrary, they are a seed of corruption for society and its foundations. The civil and moral conscience cannot accept this false inevitability. The relationship between the civil and moral law deserves great attention because of the growing importance they are destined to have in the restoration of social life.

Lawmakers are asked to renew their commitment to change unjust laws that legitimise or tolerate such violence. The changing of laws must be preceded and accompanied by the changing of mentalities and morals on a vast scale. The Church cannot spare any effort nor can she accept negligence or guilty silence.



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