OCTOBER 20, 2012 : SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 472

Reading 1 Eph 1:15-23

Brothers and sisters:
Hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and of your love for all the holy ones,
I do not cease giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory
in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power
for us who believe,
in accord with the exercise of his great might,
which he worked in Christ,
raising him from the dead
and seating him at his right hand in the heavens,
far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion,
and every name that is named
not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the Church,
which is his Body,
the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 8:2-3ab, 4-5, 6-7

R. (7) You have given your Son rule over the works of your hands.
O LORD, our LORD,
how glorious is your name over all the earth!
You have exalted your majesty above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
you have fashioned praise because of your foes.
R. You have given your Son rule over the works of your hands.
When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars which you set in place?
What is man that you should be mindful of him,
or the son of man that you should care for him?
R. You have given your Son rule over the works of your hands.
You have made him little less than the angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
putting all things under his feet.
R. You have given your Son rule over the works of your hands.

Gospel Lk 12:8-12

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I tell you,
everyone who acknowledges me before others
the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.
But whoever denies me before others
will be denied before the angels of God.

"Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,
but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will not be forgiven.
When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities,
do not worry about how or what your defense will be
or about what you are to say.
For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "The Holy Spirit will teach you what to say"

What is the unforgivable sin which Jesus warns us to avoid? Jesus knows that his disciples will be tested and he assures them that the Holy Spirit will give them what they need in their time of adversity. He warns them, however, that it's possible to reject the grace of God and to fall into apostasy (giving up the faith) out of cowardice or disbelief. The scriptural expression to deny someone means to disown them. Jesus also speaks against blaspheming the Holy Spirit. What is blasphemy and why is it reprehensible? Blasphemy consists in uttering against God, inwardly or outwardly, words of hatred, reproach, or defiance. It's contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. Jesus speaks of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin. Jesus spoke about this sin immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his miracles to the work of the devil instead of to God.
A sin can only be unforgivable if repentance is impossible. If someone repeatedly closes his heart to God and shuts his ears to his voice, he comes to a point where he can no longer recognize God even when God makes himself known. Such a person ends up perceiving evil as good and good as evil (Isaiah 5:20). To fear such a sin, however, signals that one is not dead to God and is conscious of the need for God's grace and mercy. There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who refuses to accept God's mercy by repenting of wrongdoing, rejects the forgiveness of their sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. God gives grace and help to all who humbly call upon him. Giving up on God and refusing to turn away from sin and disbelief results from pride and the loss of hope in God.
What is the basis of our hope and confidence in God? John the Evangelist tells us that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus' death on the cross won for us our salvation and adoption as the children of God. The love and mercy of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit are freely given to those who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Is your hope securely placed in Christ and his victory on the cross?
"Lord Jesus, you are my hope and salvation. May I trust you at all times and rely on your grace in times of testing and temptation. Let the fire of your Holy Spirit burn in my heart and fill me with a consuming love for you."
www.dailyscripture.net

Fidelity to the Holy Spirit’s Inspirations

Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Father James Swanson, LC  Listen to podcast version here.   Luke 12:8-12 Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say." Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are present here as I turn to you in prayer. I trust and have confidence in your desire to give me every grace I need to receive today. Thank you for your love, thank you for your immense generosity toward me. I give you my life and my love in return. Petition: Grant me, Lord, the grace to stand up for my beliefs today. 1. Too Cowardly for Martyrdom: Sometimes it’s very difficult to acknowledge Jesus before others. We think of the possibility of martyrdom, and we all wonder if we would be able to be faithful to Jesus if it meant death. We may think that we witness to him pretty well in our everyday lives, but do we really? We listen to attacks on Jesus and his Church without objection. Sometimes we even kind of nod or smile as if to let on that we agree. We would never say such things ourselves, but we don’t really stand up for Jesus even when there is no possibility of martyrdom. How many of us have a terrible time just making the sign of the Cross in a public place? It’s a simple thing, something I do every time I come to the table to eat, but somehow, it can be incredibly difficult in a restaurant, where the only burden is that “people might think I’m a Catholic.” 2. Accepting the Truth: Christ’s teaching about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit may be worrisome because we may think that there exists some unforgivable sin. Yet, there is no unforgivable sin. God’s love and mercy is all-powerful against sin. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has been understood by the Church to mean final impenitence -- that the Holy Spirit is trying to convince us of our sins and we won’t accept them. If we are finally convinced, there is no blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. However, if we die without having accepted his truth, then we will be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Do I let the Holy Spirit convince me of my sinfulness? Are there things that the Church teaches as wrong that I don’t want to accept? Are there sins that I think aren’t too bad because I want to make them a part of my life? Sins cannot be forgiven if they are not accepted as sins. 3. Witnessing with My Life: Maybe we don’t worry too much about being hauled into court for our Christianity, but we still have to testify to it every day with our lives. No matter where we go or what we do, we are witnesses to our belief in Christ. The Greek word “martyr” means “witness.” I need to let the Holy Spirit speak through me when I am in front of others. People will be judging not just me, but all Christians by my actions, so I need to live charity as the mark of a genuine Christian. I need to foster the humility of a person who looks at the greatness and holiness of God the Father and yet recognizes his own pettiness and sinfulness. I need to live all the virtues in the concrete circumstances of my daily life. The only way I can do all these things is by letting the Holy Spirit speak through the actions of my life, so that my life is the testimony that others need it to be. Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, I can hear your call to a deeper intimacy with you. I want to draw closer, yet at times, I also feel reluctance. Help my weak will. Inflame my heart with a greater love for you so that I can be a true “martyr”, a witness to your faithful love. Open my heart to your Holy Spirit so that I live as a true Christian. Resolution: When I am in front of others, I will foster the awareness that I am a witness to the truth of Christ’s revelation and try to let the Holy Spirit speak through my actions.

www.regnumchristi.com

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20
LUKE 12:8-12
(Ephesians 1:15-23; Psalm 8)
KEY VERSE: "For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say" (v 12). 
READING: Jesus encouraged his disciples to be fearless in their proclamation of the gospel. The disciples need not worry about how they should defend themselves whenbrought before the authorities. The Holy Spirit would enlighten and strengthen them as they bore witness to their faith. Jesus did not promise to save them from suffering or even death, but he did guarantee that he would testify to their fidelity before God. Jesus warned his followers of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. These are sins that despair of salvation, presume on God's mercy, envy another's spiritual good, resist known truths of faith, and are obstinate in sin and impenitent at death. Although each sin put an obstacle in the way of God's mercy, God's grace could overcome even these sins. But if the unrepentant refused God's power to save them, they also denied the possibility of mercy and forgiveness in Jesus. 
REFLECTING: Do I thank God for the grace of faith. 
PRAYING: Holy Spirit, strengthen me when I am weak.

Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross, priest 
St. Paul of the Cross (Paul Francis Danei, 1694-1775) was born at Ovada in the Republic of Genoa, January 3, 1694. He was inspired in a vision to found a congregation known as the Passionists because of their dedication to the preaching of the passion and death of Jesus Christ. His life was devoted to bringing this message to all. On November 22, 1720, the bishop vested him with the habit that had been shown to him in a vision, the same that the Passionists wear at the present time: a long, black tunic on the front of which is a heart surmounted by a white cross, and in the heart is written "the Passion of Jesus Christ." The Passionists take not only the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, but a fourth vow to promote devotion to the passion of Jesus. Paul of the Cross built his first monastery near Obitello. Sometime later he established a larger community at the Church of St. John and Paul in Rome. For fifty years Paul remained the tireless missionary of Italy. Although he had supernatural gifts, he treated himself with great rigor, and believed that he was a useless servant. His death occurred at Rome in the year 1775, at the age of eighty-one. He was canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1867. His feast day is October 20. 

"In naked faith and without images, clothe yourself always in the sufferings of Jesus. It is love which unites and which makes our own the sufferings of the one we love. It is through love that you will make the sufferings of Jesus your own. (In the Heart of God: The Spiritual Teaching of St. Paul of the Cross).

www.daily-word-of-life.com

Meditation On Luke 12:8-12

Fidelity to the Holy Spirit’s Inspirations

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are present here as I turn to you in prayer. I trust and have confidence in your desire to give me every grace I need to receive today. Thank you for your love, thank you for your immense generosity toward me. I give you my life and my love in return.

Petition: Grant me, Lord, the grace to stand up for my beliefs today.

1. Too Cowardly for Martyrdom: Sometimes it’s very difficult to acknowledge Jesus before others. We think of the possibility of martyrdom, and we all wonder if we would be able to be faithful to Jesus if it meant death. We may think that we witness to him pretty well in our everyday lives, but do we really? We listen to attacks on Jesus and his Church without objection. Sometimes we even kind of nod or smile as if to let on that we agree. We would never say such things ourselves, but we don’t really stand up for Jesus even when there is no possibility of martyrdom. How many of us have a terrible time just making the sign of the Cross in a public place? It’s a simple thing, something I do every time I come to the table to eat, but somehow, it can be incredibly difficult in a restaurant, where the only burden is that “people might think I’m a Catholic.”

2. Accepting the Truth: Christ’s teaching about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit may be worrisome because we may think that there exists some unforgivable sin. Yet, there is no unforgivable sin. God’s love and mercy is all-powerful against sin. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has been understood by the Church to mean final impenitence -- that the Holy Spirit is trying to convince us of our sins and we won’t accept them. If we are finally convinced, there is no blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. However, if we die without having accepted his truth, then we will be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Do I let the Holy Spirit convince me of my sinfulness? Are there things that the Church teaches as wrong that I don’t want to accept? Are there sins that I think aren’t too bad because I want to make them a part of my life? Sins cannot be forgiven if they are not accepted as sins.

3. Witnessing with My Life: Maybe we don’t worry too much about being hauled into court for our Christianity, but we still have to testify to it every day with our lives. No matter where we go or what we do, we are witnesses to our belief in Christ. The Greek word “martyr” means “witness.” I need to let the Holy Spirit speak through me when I am in front of others. People will be judging not just me, but all Christians by my actions, so I need to live charity as the mark of a genuine Christian. I need to foster the humility of a person who looks at the greatness and holiness of God the Father and yet recognizes his own pettiness and sinfulness. I need to live all the virtues in the concrete circumstances of my daily life. The only way I can do all these things is by letting the Holy Spirit speak through the actions of my life, so that my life is the testimony that others need it to be.

Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, I can hear your call to a deeper intimacy with you. I want to draw closer, yet at times, I also feel reluctance. Help my weak will. Inflame my heart with a greater love for you so that I can be a true “martyr”, a witness to your faithful love. Open my heart to your Holy Spirit so that I live as a true Christian.

Resolution: When I am in front of others, I will foster the awareness that I am a witness to the truth of Christ’s revelation and try to let the Holy Spirit speak through my actions.

www.spreadjesus.org

You gave your Son authority over all your creation.

He has put all things under his feet.
God, who is great, loves and upholds life, and is our constant example, our hope. Paul reminds us that Christ, installed by God in heaven, is above earthly rule, authority, dominion. Christ’s reign is beyond our human notions of power. His greatness is all-encompassing, all-embracing, for all time.

And we, the church, his body, are one with him. We learn also that we need to place our trust in the Holy Spirit, who guides us. In faith we experience the fullness, the totality of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in all and for all time. 

Lord, we wonder at your greatness and trust in your unending love.
www.churchresources.info

THOUGHT FOR TODAY
THE KITCHEN TABLE
There are lots of things wrong with Australia today, And I'd like to have something to say if I may. You know that, forsooth, our problem with youth, Untidy, ill-mannered, untamed and uncouth, Is the fact that their home life is so often unstable And it's all for the lack of a kitchen table. Remember how once we would sit down as one, And Dad would say grace when the carving was done. Our own serviettes from our own special rings, And we all knew our manners and etiquette things. Then our elders would tell us of custom and fable, When we all sat about at our kitchen table.
Now they're building new mansions with four-car garages. Our working lives mortgaged to interest and charges. There's less time at home for the tea to be made, And it's seldom today that a table is laid. There's room after room under gable and gable, But there's not enough room for a kitchen table.
At weekends the parents are chauffeurs unpaid, No wonder they're tired and their tempers are frayed, As they ferry their broods to arenas of sport, Where the culture of winning's intensively taught, And there's more on the tele both free and by cable, So there's no room for talk around the kitchen table.
Karl Marx called religion the drug of the people, But there's scant regard now for the church or the steeple, Just give 'em more sport and don't let 'em think, And keep 'em away from the kitchen sink.
We'll give 'em more sport and the culture of Babel, The throwaway culture that threw out the table. With the culture of rap and their baseball caps, There'll soon be no fellers, no blokes and no chaps. When they all dress the same then it's little surprise That the girls swear as much and as foul as the guys. So we grandparents must, just as long as we're able, Keep our culture alive around the kitchen table.
From A Canopy of Stars: Some Reflections for the Journey by Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ [David Lovell Publishing 2003]
www.churchresources.info

MINUTE MEDITATIONS
Living the Gospel          
The most important thing in the sacrament of reconciliation is what Jesus does: he welcomes us, assures us of forgiveness, and encourages us to continue living the values of the Gospel.

— from Catholic Update Guide to the Sacraments of Healing
www.americancatholic.org

October 20
Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza

(c. 1200-1271) Dominicans honor one of their own today, Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza. This was a man who used his skills as a preacher to challenge the heresies of his day.

Bartholomew was born in Vicenza around 1200. At 20 he entered the Dominicans. Following his ordination he served in various leadership positions. As a young priest he founded a military order whose purpose was to keep civil peace in towns throughout Italy.
In 1248, Bartholomew was appointed a bishop. For most men, such an appointment is an honor and a tribute to their holiness and their demonstrated leadership skills. But for Bartholomew, it was a form of exile that had been urged by an antipapal group that was only too happy to see him leave for Cyprus. Not many years later, however, Bartholomew was transferred back to Vicenza. Despite the antipapal feelings that were still evident, he worked diligently—especially through his preaching—to rebuild his diocese and strengthen the people’s loyalty to Rome.
During his years as bishop in Cyprus, Bartholomew befriended King Louis the Ninth of France, who is said to have given the holy bishop a relic of Christ’s Crown of Thorns.
Bartholomew died in 1271. He was beatified in 1793.
October 20
Blessed James of Strepar
(d. 1409?)

James was a member of a noble Polish family. He entered the Franciscan friars at an early age, serving as guardian at a friary in Lvov and alleviating tensions between the friars and the local diocesan clergy. He showed special interest in working with the Orthodox, ministering among them for a full decade. Sent to western Russia, he served as vicar general of the Franciscans there, preached the gospel and worked to sustain the faithful in their beliefs.

Around 1360, he played a role in the organization of a special group of Franciscan missionaries, Travelers for Christ, made up of Franciscan and Dominican friars. James's work as a missionary preacher and organizer was decidedly successful. In due time he was appointed Archbishop of Galich, and took it upon himself to build new churches in remote districts and to staff them with experienced priests from Poland; he also founded and built religious houses, schools and hospitals. He had such a flair for the practical needs of his people that he often took his suggestions directly to the Polish parliament; such actions earned him the title of "protector of the kingdom."
He was an archbishop unlike many in his day, preferring to wear a simple Franciscan habit rather than ostentatious attire and to travel on foot.
He was especially devoted to the Blessed Mother. Her image was engraved on his seal and was on his pastoral ring. Each evening devotions were held in her honor at the cathedral or wherever he was visiting.
After serving 19 years as bishop, James was called to his eternal reward. He is buried in the Franciscan Church at Lvov.

Comment:

The Church today could use a lot more people like James. He reached across the only division in Christianity of his time, the split between East and West, to tend Orthodox Christians. Franciscans, Dominicans and diocesan clergy competed with one another for the hearts of believers, but James eased the tensions among them. In today’s world he might smooth the relationships between conservatives and liberals. Or perhaps we need to follow in his footsteps and take on the task.

October 20
St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin
(1888-1922)

If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, it was today’s saint. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him.

Born in Italy in 1888, the young girl lived in fear of her father, a violent man prone to jealousy and drunkenness. Her schooling was limited so that she could spend more time helping at home and working in the fields. She showed few talents and was often the butt of jokes.
In 1904 she joined the Sisters of St. Dorothy and was assigned to work in the kitchen, bakery and laundry. After some time Maria received nurses’ training and began working in a hospital with children suffering from diphtheria. There the young nun seemed to find her true vocation: nursing very ill and disturbed children. Later, when the hospital was taken over by the military in World War I, Sister Maria Bertilla fearlessly cared for patients amidst the threat of constant air raids and bombings.
She died in 1922 after suffering for many years from a painful tumor. Some of the patients she had nursed many years before were present at her canonization in 1961.
www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO: LUKE 12,8-12

Lectio: 

 Saturday, October 20, 2012  

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer
Lord,

our help and guide,

make your love the foundation of our lives.

May our love for you express itself

in our eagerness to do good for others.

You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12,8-12
Jesus said to his disciples: 'I tell you, if anyone openly declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, the Son of man will declare himself for him in the presence of God's angels. But anyone who disowns me in the presence of human beings will be disowned in the presence of God's angels.

'Everyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but no one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven. 'When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.'

3) Reflection
• Context. While Jesus is on the way toward Jerusalem, Luke in chapter 11, that precedes our passage, presents him as having the intention to reveal the abyss of the merciful acting of God and at the same time the profound misery hidden in the heart of man and particularly, in those who have the task of being witnesses of the Word and of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. Jesus presents such realities with a series of reflections which provoke effects in the reader: to feel attracted by the force of his Word to the point of feeling judged interiorly and detached from all desires of greatness which shake and agitate man (9, 46). Besides, the reader identifies himself with various attitudes that the teaching of Jesus arouses: above all, he recognizes himself as follower of Christ in the disciple and sent to precede him in the role of messenger of the kingdom; and also in the one who hesitates somewhat in following him; in the Pharisee or Doctor of the Law, slave of their interpretations and life style. In summary, the course of the reader in chapter 11 is characterized by this encounter with the teaching of Jesus who reveals to him the intimacy of God, the mercy of God’s Heart, but also the truth of his being a man. In chapter 12, instead, Jesus opposes the perverted judgment of man to the goodness of God who always gives with superabundance. Man’s life enters into play here.  It is necessary to be attentive to the perversion of the human judgment or better to the hypocrisy that distorts values in order to privilege only one’s own interests and advantages, more than being interested in life, that life which is accepted gratuitously. The Word of God launches the reader an appeal on how to face the question regarding life: man will be judged on his behaviour at the time of threats. It is necessary to be concerned not so much of the men who can “kill the body” but rather to have at heart the fear of God who judges and corrects. But Jesus does not promise the disciples that they will be free from threats, persecutions, but he assures them that they will have God’s help at the moments of difficulty.

• To know how to recognize Jesus. The courageous commitment to recognize the friendship with Jesus publicly implies as consequence personal communion with Him at the moment of his return to judge the world. At the same time, the betrayal “who will deny me”, the one who is afraid to confess and recognize Jesus publicly, condemns himself. The reader is invited to reflect on the crucial importance of Jesus in the history of salvation: it is necessary to decide either with Jesus or against Him and of his Word of Grace; from this decision, to recognize or to reject Jesus, depends our salvation. Luke makes it evident that the communion that Jesus gives at the present time to his disciples will be confirmed and will becomes perfect at the moment of his coming in glory (“he will come in his glory and of the Father and of the angels”: 9, 26). The call to the Christian community is very evident: even if it has been exposed to the hostility of the world, it is indispensable not to cease to give a courageous witness of Jesus, of communion with him, to value and not to be ashamed to show oneself a Christian.

• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Here Luke understands blasphemy as offensive speaking or speaking against. This verb was applied to Jesus when in 5, 21 he had forgiven sins. The question presented in this passage may give rise in the reader to some difficulty: is blasphemy against the Son of man less grave or serious than the one against the Holy Spirit? The language of Jesus may seem rather strong for the reader of the Gospel of Luke: through the Gospel he has seen Jesus who showed the behaviour of God who goes to look for sinners, who is demanding but who knows how to wait for the moment of return to him or that the sinner attains maturity. In Mark and Matthew blasphemy against the Spirit is the lack of recognizing the power of God in the exorcisms of Jesus. But in Luke it may mean the deliberate and known rejection of the prophetic Spirit that is working in the actions and teaching of Jesus, that is to say, a rejection of the encounter with the merciful acting of salvation with the Father. The lack of recognition of the divine origin of the mission of Jesus, the direct offenses to the person of Jesus, may be forgiven, but anyone who denies the acting of the Holy Spirit in the mission of Jesus will not be forgiven. It is not a question of an opposition between the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, or of some contrast, symbol of two diverse periods of history, that of Jesus and that of the community after the Passover, but definitively, the evangelist wants to show that to reject the person of Christ is equal to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

4) Personal questions
• Are you aware that to be a Christian requires the need to face difficulties, deceit, dangers, and even to risk one’s own life to give witness of one’s own friendship with Jesus?

• Do you become embarrassed of being a Christian? Are you more concerned about the judgments of men, their approval, are these more important for you or that of losing your friendship with Christ?

5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh our Lord,

how majestic is your name throughout the world!

Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens,

even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms. (Ps 8,1-2)

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