10 Oct
Wed 		27th Week in Ordinary Time
Jonah 4:1-11
Ps. 86:3-4, 5-6, 9-10
Lk. 11:1-4
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Whenever we see the more human face of God, as it were, we are touched and delighted. The man who wrote the story of the reluctant prophet Jonah has a sense of God's "humanity". The closing words of the story in particular seem to be very human: "people who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not to mention many cattle". God is speaking a profound truth: "should I not be concerned?" but is using a teasing tone of voice, designed to assuage Jonah's hurt feelings and to bring Jonah to accept God's own point of view.

"Should I not be concerned over Nineveh?" God's question is designed by the writer to give us a glimpse of God's kindness and sympathetic love. God sees our weakness and our limitations; we cannot always distinguish our right hand from our left hand. In religious matters we may not always be absolutely clear in distinguishing right from wrong, making only the best decision possible for us under the circumstances. Yet it is in such circumstances that we can truly experience God to be understanding and accepting, loving and caring.


Lord, You are our God, have pity on us in our weakness. Show Yourself full of tenderness and 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 we may recognise and revere the cultural and spiritual riches of the different ethnic groups and religious minorities present in every country.
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 we may recognise and revere the cultural and spiritual riches of the different ethnic groups and religious minorities present in every country.

This month we are invited to give thanks to God for the variety of gifts he has given to humankind. There is hardly a country in the world today which is not marked by the coming together of different cultural traditions. It ought to be recognised that religion has influenced cultures and is the soul of a particular culture. Vatican II also mentions the good that is to be found in the rites and customs of peoples, recognising this as having been sown by God's Word (LG 17). In fact, Christians belong to many different cultures which have been deeply marked by the Christian faith.

In order to appreciate these cultural and religious riches we are called to make an effort to understand and appreciate all that is good in another person and in that person's culture. We are invited to look upon our fellow human beings with the eyes of God who created man in his own image and likeness and who saw all that he had made and found it very good. We are therefore encouraged to consider prayerfully how God is at work in all peoples.

In this context our prayer will be that the ongoing dialogue between the Gospel message and cultures may produce fruits of true freedom, joy and peace for the whole of humanity.



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