We know how important prayer is, but it seems so hard to find time for it. If we love God with heart, mind, and strength, we'll discover the heart of prayer is love of God, who constantly caresses us.
A heart filled with God's love can make even a silent thought or a small gesture a moment of prayer. Ask for the gift of the Spirit who teaches us to pray and grow in God's love. Parents, teach your children to pray, to read the bible, and to make the sign of the cross. Through prayer, we give time back to God, find the peace that comes from appreciating important things, and encounter the joy of God’s gifts. Through prayer may our homes become places where Jesus finds warm welcome.
1 Thes 2:9-13Recall our toil and drudgery. We proclaimed the Gospel of God to you, working night and day to not burden you, You and God know how we behaved toward you, treating you as a father treats his children, exhorting you to walk in a manner worthy of the God. So we give thanks to God that you received the word of God as it truly is, the word of God, now at work in you who believe.
Ps 139:7-12ab"You have searched me and you know me, Lord." Where can I flee from your presence? Wherever I go, you're there guiding me and holding me fast. For you darkness is not dark, and night shines as day.
Mt 23:27-32“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You're like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and filth. On the outside you appear righteous, but inside you're filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. You build prophets' tombs, adorn memorials, and say, ‘If we'd lived in our ancestors' days, we wouldn't have shed prophets' blood like they did,’ bearing witness that you're children of those who murdered the prophets....”
Reflect
Creighton: The scribes and Pharisees were religious in outward appearance, but it didn't match what was inside; they were ritually pure but with impure hearts. Jesus' harsh words for them provide us an opportunity to examine our own hearts. How do my actions match what's in my heart and vice versa?
One Bread One Body: "Our only worthiness": The Lord commands us to lead lives worthy of Him, the Gospel, and our calling. Will the Lord be able to declare our lives "worthy"? We pray, "Lord, I am not worthy [that you should enter under my roof...]." How can we be worthy? Jesus alone is worthy, and we have been baptized into him. In Jesus, our lives are worthy of God, the Gospel, our calling, and eternal life.
Passionist: “What would Jesus have to do if you let him into your life?” If everything were in its place, what would I need him for? Jesus experienced the messiness of suffering and death so we might know that our suffering and messiness can be redeemed and healed....
DailyScripture.net: Appearances can deceive. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would not judge by appearances but with righteousness and equity. Attitudes in the heart form how we treat others. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for their vanity and pretense. Many scribes and Pharisees showed zeal and piety to win honors, privileges, and favors but were intolerant and neglected the poor and weak. Jesus called them hypocrites because they were set on pleasing themselves rather than God; he warned that bad attitudes corrupt, leading to sinful habits, speech, and acts, but true beauty is a heart set on God, love, and goodness. He warned the leaders not to condemn them but to call them to examine their hearts.
Bl. Dominic Barberi,Passionist priest, missionary. priest, house founder, zealous preacher, warm to non-Catholics, received Anglicans into full communion.
St. David Lewis, convert, Jesuit priest, “Popish Plot” martyr: “discover the plot I could not, as I knew of none; and conform [=recant] I would not, for it was against my conscience.”
We know how important prayer is, but it seems so hard to find time for it. If we love God with heart, mind, and strength, we'll discover the heart of prayer is love of God, who constantly caresses us.
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