4 May
Sat
5th Week of Easter
Acts 16:1-10
Ps. 100:2,3,5
Jn. 15:18-21
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Jesus tells us in the Gospel, that we do not belong to the world, that His choice withdrew (us) from the world. This separation from the world is demonstrated by the way in which Paul makes decisions in the first reading. We see that he listens attentively to what the Spirit of Jesus tells him, and so holds back from preaching in Asia and Bithynia. But once he is convinced that he is to go to Macedonia, he sets off at once. This total devotion and obedience to the voice of God is clearly contrary to the way in which the world makes decisions.

On the other hand, the readings also show us that Christians have to be engaged in the world. This engagement is clearly shown in the description of Paul's missionary travels in the first reading. It is in living this tension between separation and engagement, that Christians can expect hatred and persecution from the world. For either total separation from or complete conformity to the world would not result in persecution. To live the tension is to be true to the call and choice of the Master, who was persecuted before us. As we come to the end of this fifth week of Easter, perhaps we might examine our own relationship with the world. How do we live this tension between separation and engagement in our individual and communal lives?



Lord, engrave in my heart a sincere love for You so that I may know the art of living for You always.

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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