Presence

The peace of God is the treasure of treasures, “the pearl of great price” – Lord, may I experience this peace right now, in Your holy presence.

Freedom

I ask for the grace to believe
in what I could be and do
if I only allowed God, my loving Creator,
to continue to create me, guide me and shape me.

Consciousness

Heavenly Father, thank You that Your love never fails and that Your mercies are new every morning. May I never fail to turn to You with my needs, with my love.

The Word of God

¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.

⁷When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, ⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. ¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹²He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Inspiration

The greatest among you must be the servant of all. ‘The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ Do I seek to be honoured by people instead of by God? The opinions of people about us will always be varied, and, in the end, they simply don’t matter.

‘Lord, teach me to be generous, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to labour and not to look for any reward save that of knowing that I do your will’  (St Ignatius).

Conversation

Jesus often asked questions of those who came to Him.
Let me sense Him close to me now,
listening to my prayer and asking
“How can I help you?”
“What can I give you?”
“What do you need?”

Conclusion

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

Amen