by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Sep 5, 2022 | Evangelium
Tuesday 06th September 2022
St. Eleutherius
Pope Eleutherius was the Bishop of Rome from c. 174 to his death in 189. According to the Liber Pontificalis, he was a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Anicetus (c. 154–164), and remained so under Pope Soter, whom he succeeded around 174.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 118: 137, 124
You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
Collect
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
How dare one of your members take up a complaint against another in the law courts of the unjust instead of before the saints? As you know, it is the saints who are to ‘judge the world’; and if the world is to be judged by you, how can you be unfit to judge trifling cases? Since we are also to judge angels, it follows that we can judge matters of everyday life; but when you have had cases of that kind, the people you appointed to try them were not even respected in the Church. You should be ashamed: is there really not one reliable man among you to settle differences between brothers and so one brother brings a court case against another in front of unbelievers? It is bad enough for you to have lawsuits at all against one another: oughtn’t you to let yourselves be wronged, and let yourselves be cheated? But you are doing the wronging and the cheating, and to your own brothers. You know perfectly well that people who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God: people of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, sodomites, thieves, usurers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers will never inherit the kingdom of God. These are the sort of people some of you were once, but now you have been washed clean, and sanctified, and justified through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.
Psalm 149:1-6,9
R/ The Lord takes delight in his people.
- Sing a new song to the Lord, his praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel rejoice in its Maker, let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
- Let them praise his name with dancing and make music with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the poor with salvation.
- Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, shout for joy and take their rest. Let the praise of God be on their lips: this honour is for all his faithful.
Gospel Acclamation : Ph2:15-16
Alleluia, alleluia! You will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 6:12-19
Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor. He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who give us the gift of true prayer and of peace, graciously grant that through this offering, we may do fitting homage to your divine majesty and, by partaking of the sacred mystery, we may be faithfully united in mind and heart. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 41: 2-3
Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
Prayer after Communion
Grant that your faithful, O Lord, whom you nourish and endow with life through the food of your Word and heavenly Sacrament, may so benefit from your beloved Son’s great gifts that we may merit an eternal share in his life. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Meditation
There is a reason behind each call, vocation or task. Behind this lies a responsibility to carry out an assignment in a manner that is satisfactory both to those who are served and to the one who called us. The reason for the call of the Apostles was ‘to be with the Lord’. But they all had a task. That is why Jesus, after selecting those He wanted to be with Him, showed them the assignment reserved for them. Bishops, priests, and religious men and women are equally called to be with the Lord and heal in different ways those who come from far and wide. We too, by virtue of our baptism, are called to join forces and cooperate with the Apostles of today and give in our own quota, for that is part of our task. We can do that through our different vocations; teachers, engineers, carpenters, farmers, etc.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Sep 4, 2022 | Evangelium
Monday 05th September 2022
Mother Teresa
of Calcutta
(1910 – 1997)
Born in Macedonia, she became a missionary in India. Teresa had an encounter, in which she heard Christ tell her, “Come be my light.” She formed the Missionaries of Charity, who set up hospitals and homes for the dying. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified in 2002.
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 118: 137, 124
You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
Collect
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 Corinthians 5:1-8
I have been told as an undoubted fact that one of you is living with his father’s wife. This is a case of sexual immorality among you that must be unparalleled even among pagans. How can you be so proud of yourselves? You should be in mourning. A man who does a thing like that ought to have been expelled from the community. Though I am far away in body, I am with you in spirit, and have already condemned the man who did this thing as if I were actually present. When you are assembled together in the name of the Lord Jesus, and I am spiritually present with you, then with the power of our Lord Jesus he is to be handed over to Satan so that his sensual body may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. The pride that you take in yourselves is hardly to your credit. You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be. Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Psalm 5:5-7,12
R/ Lead me, Lord, in your justice.
- You are no God who loves evil; no sinner is your guest. The boastful shall not stand their ground before your face.
- You hate all who do evil; you destroy all who lie. The deceitful and bloodthirsty man the Lord detests.
- All those you protect shall be glad and ring out their joy. You shelter them; in you they rejoice, those who love your name.
Gospel Acclamation : Ps118:105
Alleluia, alleluia! Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 6:6-11
On the Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The Scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the Sabbath, hoping to find something to use against him. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up! Come out into the middle.’ And he came out and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I put it to you: is it against the law on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?’ Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was better. But they were furious, and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who give us the gift of true prayer and of peace, graciously grant that through this offering, we may do fitting homage to your divine majesty and, by partaking of the sacred mystery, we may be faithfully united in mind and heart. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 41: 2-3
Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
Prayer after Communion
Grant that your faithful, O Lord, whom you nourish and endow with life through the food of your Word and heavenly Sacrament, may so benefit from your beloved Son’s great gifts that we may merit an eternal share in his life. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Meditation
It is a big contradiction to assume the right to kill or harm or destroy life in the name of religion (which is even falsely interpreted just to suit our desires). We live in a world where those who do good are ridiculed, disgraced, left aside, insulted, harassed, and even tortured, while those who perpetrate evil are praised, raised, and acclaimed. While some are building, others are destroying. In a similar manner, the subjects of morals and religious studies have been taken out of the academic programmes of our schools today. Children are no longer taught what they should to build their character and be closer to God. Are we part of those who build or those who destroy? Something must be done by you and me.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Sep 3, 2022 | Evangelium
Sunday 04th September 2022
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Psalter III
Entrance Antiphon : Ps 118: 137, 124
You are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
Collect
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : Wisdom 9:13-18
What man indeed can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the will of the Lord? The reasonings of mortals are unsure and our intentions unstable; for a perishable body presses down the soul, and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind. It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth, laborious to know what lies within our reach; who, then, can discover what is in the heavens? As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from above? Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened and men been taught what pleases you, and saved, by Wisdom.
Psalm 89(90):3-6,12-14,17
R/ O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.
- You turn men back to dust and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’ To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night.
- You sweep men away like a dream, like the grass which springs up in the morning. In the morning it springs up and flowers: by evening it withers and fades.
- Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart. Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever? Show pity to your servants.
- In the morning, fill us with your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days. Let the favour of the Lord be upon us: give success to the work of our hands.
Second reading : Philemon 9-10,12-17
This is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him back to you, and with him – I could say – a part of my own self. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has brought me. However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous. I know you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any more, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me.
Gospel Acclamation : Jn15:15
Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’
Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who gives us the gift of true prayer and of peace, graciously grant that through this offering, we may do fitting homage to your divine majesty and, by partaking of the sacred mystery, we may be faithfully united in mind and heart. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Ps 41: 2-3
Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
Prayer after Communion
Grant that your faithful, O Lord, whom you nourish and endow with life through the food of your Word and heavenly Sacrament, may so benefit from your beloved Son’s great gifts that we may merit an eternal share in his life. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Meditation
Three elements that can constitute a barrier in following Jesus closely as His disciples are: relationships (in the sense that close persons hinder us from doing and saying the things we ought to do and say), lack of perseverance (in terms of lack of patience in doing things, acting from pressure so that we leave out essential steps and leave out Jesus whom we should invite in trying times) and possession (by turning to things that make us lose focus, the wealth we gather which get our attention more than Christ Himself), as Jesus shows us in the Gospel. What are those things that hinder us from being close to Christ? Are we so busy with running businesses and errands that we have no time for family, let alone God? Is it because of sports that we don’t care about the welfare of others around us? Whatever those walls may be, we must pull them down.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Sep 2, 2022 | Evangelium
Saturday 03rd September 2022
Pope St. Gregory
the Great
(540 – 604)
He was elected Pope on 3 September 590, the first monk to be elected to this office. He wrote extensively on pastoral care, spirituality, and morals, and designated himself “servant of the servants of God.” He died on 12 March 604.
Entrance Antiphon
Blessed Gregory, raised upon the throne of Peter, sought always the beauty of the Lord and lived in celebration of that love.
Collect
O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 Corinthians 4:6-15
Take Apollos and myself as an example and remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not? Is it that you have everything you want – that you are rich already, in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside? Indeed I wish you were really kings, and we could be kings with you! But instead, it seems to me, God has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death; it is true – we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are celebrities, we are nobodies. To this day, we go without food and drink and clothes; we are beaten and have no homes; we work for our living with our own hands. When we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we put up with it; we are insulted and we answer politely. We are treated as the offal of the world, still to this day, the scum of the earth. I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, as my dearest children, to your senses. You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News.
Psalm 144(145):17-21
R/ The Lord is close to all who call him.
- The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds. He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts.
- He grants the desires of those who fear him, he hears their cry and he saves them. The Lord protects all who love him; but the wicked he will utterly destroy.
- Let me speak the praise of the Lord, let all mankind bless his holy name for ever, for ages unending.
Gospel Acclamation : cf.Ps26:11
Alleluia, alleluia! Instruct me, Lord, in your way; on an even path lead me. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 6:1-5
One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant our supplication, we pray, O Lord, that this sacrifice we present in celebration of Saint Gregory may be for our good, since through its offering you have loosed the offences of all the world. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Lk 12: 42
Behold a faithful and prudent steward to give them their allowance of food at the proper time.
Prayer after Communion
Through Christ the teacher, O Lord, instruct those you feed with Christ, the living Bread, that on the feast day of Saint Gregory they may learn your truth and express it in works of charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Apart from those in essential services (when possible), for many of us Sunday has almost become an ordinary day. It is now the best time to go and watch or play a game of football, basketball, to attend to our various businesses, to accomplish one project or another, or even to go to nightclubs, all the while neglecting to recognise our Creator and Redeemer. We no longer worship God; we do not spend as much as a moment to offer a prayer in thanksgiving for our lives. Every Sunday is a celebration of our reconciliation with God. Going to Mass on Sunday to worship God, therefore, is not only a fulfilment of an obligation but also a joyful experience of the resurrection event. We are brought closer to God and to one another. Breaking the law is acceptable when there is an urgent basic human need to satisfy, such as hunger, life, etc. (especially when it is not made up). Otherwise, it must be observed and kept holy.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Sep 1, 2022 | Evangelium
Friday 02nd September 2022
Blessed André Grasset
(1758 – 1792)
He was born in Montréal on 3 April 1758 and ordained priest in 1783. In the face of persecution he took shelter with the Eudist Fathers in Paris. He was executed in 1792 together with almost 200 other priests. He was beatified by Pope Pius XI on 17 October 1926.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Ps 85: 3, 5
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of mercy to all who call to you.
Collect
God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
People must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge. There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God.
Psalm 36:3-6,27-28,39-40
R/ The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
- If you trust in the Lord and do good, then you will live in the land and be secure. If you find your delight in the Lord, he will grant your heart’s desire.
- Commit your life to the Lord, trust in him and he will act, so that your justice breaks forth like the light, your cause like the noon-day sun.
- Then turn away from evil and do good and you shall have a home for ever; for the Lord loves justice and will never forsake his friends.
- The salvation of the just comes from the Lord, their stronghold in time of distress. The Lord helps them and delivers them and saves them: for their refuge is in him.
Gospel Acclamation : cf.Ps18:9
Alleluia, alleluia! Your words gladden the heart, O Lord, they give light to the eyes. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 5:33-39
The Pharisees and Scribes said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast. He also told them this parable, ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old. And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’
Prayer over the Offerings
May this sacred offering, O Lord, confer on us always the blessing of salvation, that what it celebrates in mystery it may accomplish in power. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Ps 30: 20
How great is the goodness, Lord, that you keep for those who fear you.
Prayer after Communion
Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that, being the food of charity, it may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you in our neighbour. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
There will always be tensions between the old and the new because the Christian life is always marked by renewal and a constant effort to understand the Gospel; the ever ancient, ever new. As a matter of fact, that’s God’s nature; He is always old and new. Walking with Jesus is a new experience, an opportunity to enjoy a joyful relationship. The old wine skin of our mind resists it. The teaching of Jesus presents a new way of looking at God and religion and/or worship. Pope Francis reminds us: “Whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world. Every form of authentic evangelization is always ‘new.’” (Evangelii Gaudium no. 11). Let us experience things in newer ways.
by Jude Thaddeus Langeh | Aug 31, 2022 | Evangelium
Thursday 01st September 2022
- Giles,
Abbot
St. Giles was a seventh century Athenian of noble birth. His piety and learning made him an object of much admiration. He spent many years in solitude with God. He founded a monastery with an excellent discipline therein. St. Giles died in about the year 724.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Ps 85: 3, 5
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of mercy to all who call to you.
Collect
God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
Make no mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As Scripture says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
Psalm 23:1-6
R/ The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.
- The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples. It is he who set it on the seas; on the waters he made it firm.
- Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things.
- He shall receive blessings from the Lord and reward from the God who saves him. Such are the men who seek him, seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Gospel Acclamation : cf.2 Thess 2:14
Alleluia, alleluia! Through the Good News God called us to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 5:1-11
Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
Prayer over the Offerings
May this sacred offering, O Lord, confer on us always the blessing of salvation, that what it celebrates in mystery it may accomplish in power. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Ps 30: 20
How great is the goodness, Lord, that you keep for those who fear you.
Prayer after Communion
Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that, being the food of charity, it may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you in our neighbour. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
We all have a certain voice (inner or outer as coming from someone else) which tells us what to do in a particular situation. Sometimes, that voice of the Lord might not appear very meaningful to us when we begin to apply human wisdom to it. Peter tried to do so when he said, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing!” (Luke 5:5a). But he was able to allow his faith to carry him beyond the place his reason stopped and so added, “But at your word I will let down the nets for a catch” (Luke 5:5b). That is what the Church teaches us about faith and reason. And Thomas Merton reminds us: “Reason is in fact the path to faith, and faith takes over when reason can say no more.”
