The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.
Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.
How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?
{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.}
Gospel
Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that I am?"
They said in reply,
"John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets."
And he asked them,
"But who do you say that I am?"
Peter said to him in reply,
"You are the Christ."
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."
He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it."
Think
What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.
~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Pray
"Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and whilst nursing minister to you. Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you and say: ‘Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you.’ Lord, give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will ever find joy in humoring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers. O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you. Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience. And, O God, while you are Jesus, my patient, deign also to be to me a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my intention, which is to love and serve you in the person of each of your sick. Lord, increase my faith, bless my efforts and work, now and for evermore. (Daily prayer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
Act
Mothers and fathers every day have an opportunity to lay down our lives for each other and for our children. We find our irritable, our exacting, our unreasonable and our sick--not in the streets of Calcutta--but in the halls of our own homes. These children God gave especially to us? They are the path He wants us to follow to heaven. In order to follow Him, we have to recognize that our primary vocation is to be good spouses and good parents. It's easy to be distracted, to think that there are bigger and better blessings (and crosses) to scurry after, but we have to be focused. There is no doubt that these children are entrusted to us alone. We are called uniquely to be the parents in our families. That is the only ministry that is ours alone. These are turbulent times. We all want to work for peace. As mothers, our first steps towards world peace is to create peace in our homes. Then, we step out into the world with our children to work for justice. In doing so, we guard our souls and the souls entrusted to us and we begin to change the world and claim the peace of Christ. This is serious business. There is no doubt that we must lay down our lives for those God has given to us (family and then neighbor), lest we lose our lives forever.
