Skip to main content

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, AND PRAY FOR THEM

SATURDAY 1ST WEEK OF LENT: Universalis
You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect

First Reading Deuteronomy 26:16-19 
You will be a people consecrated to the Lord

Moses said to the people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 

‘You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.’

Responsorial Psalm: They are happy who follow God’s law!

Gospel Matthew 5:43-48 Pray for those who persecute you

CDR: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

Father they are happy who follow your law. Your law is perfect. You are perfect. You are Holy Lord. Help me Father as I strive to obey your law. As human it is difficult, with your grace I can. Give me your Holy Spirit, Lord make me perfect as You my Father in heaven is perfect. Lord make me know Your way, make me walk in your truth.

Lord Jesus I trust in you. Lord how can I love my enemies, and pray for those who persecute me. As human it is impossible to love those who persecute me. By Your grace it is possible. Virgin Mary, full of grace pray for me. Saint Joseph pray for me. God’s Angels and Saints pray for me, My Angel Guardian pray for me.

Pray the Holy Rosary: Ave Maria.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TRUST GOD, TRUST IN ME

Fifth Sunday of Easter  'I am going now to prepare a place for you' First Reading  Acts 6:1-7  They elected seven men full of the Holy Spirit About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom; we will hand over this duty to them, and continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.’ The whole assembly approved of this proposal and elected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these to the apostles, who prayed and laid th...

THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN

Tuesday week 3 of Eastertide -   ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ First Reading 7:51-8,1  'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit' Stephen said to the people, the elders and the scribes: ‘You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had the Law brought to you by angels are the very ones who have not kept it.’ They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they ...

YOU MUST NOT KILL

First Reading Ezekiel 18:21-28  I prefer to see the wicked man renounce his wickedness and live Thus says the Lord: ‘If the wicked man renounces all the sins he has committed, respects my laws and is law-abiding and honest, he will certainly live; he will not die. All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practised. What! Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man – it is the Lord who speaks – and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live? ‘But if the upright man renounces his integrity, commits sin, copies the wicked man and practises every kind of filth, is he to live? All the integrity he has practised shall be forgotten from then on; but this is because he himself has broken faith and committed sin, and for this he shall die. But you object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright ma...