My Family Prayer Book

 2026-02-01 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Welcome We will be discussing the readings for fouth Sunday in ordinary time on pages 40 and 41   Opening Prayer in the Spirit of the Beatitudes   Leader : Blessed are the poor in spirit. Lord, we ask you to take of our time, treasure and talent to serve  the poor and suffering. All : Empty us of selfishness and pride and fill us with Your grace to reach out to those on the edges of society Leader : Blessed are those who mourn. We bring before You our sins that causes sorrows and the suffering in the world. All : Comfort us in our grief, O God, and make us instruments of Your consolation. Leader : Blessed are the meek. Teach us to forgo our ego and find strength in gentleness and courage in humility. All : Empty our hearts and reshape it to trust in Your ways, not our rely on our own wisdom and power. Leader : Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Awaken in us a deep desire for justice and truth that bri...

    2022-Jul-17: Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time   Opening prayer Heavenly Father, send forth your Spirit to enlighten our minds and prepare our hearts to accept your truth. Help us to listen to one another with openness and honesty, eager to learn from the insights and intuitions that you have given each of us.  Never let differences of opinion diminish our mutual esteem and love. May we leave this meeting with a deeper understanding and love for you and your Son. In the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Genesis 18:1-10a Today's reading takes place among t he terebinths ( Pistacia palaestina ), a shrubby tree with red foliage and berries, at  Mamre - the very place  where Abraham built the sacred altar to Yahweh after the covenant was renewed (Genesis 13:18).  Tradition also holds that the 99-year-old Abraham was resting here after his circumcision and that of all the male members of his household, including his son by Hagar, Ismael (17:26-27), when t...

  Twenty-second Sunday Laws are made to preserve and protect what we behold to be valuable and sacred The 613 mitzvot or laws of the Torah are all derived from the 5 books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). According to the Talmud (meaning a study of the Torah published around the year 200 CE by Rabbi Judah the Patriarch), they can be characterized as 365 prohibitions (don’ts) and 248 prescriptions (do’s) covering opinions (ideas), acts, virtues (traces of character) and speech.  Jesus also says it's not the rituals that draw you closer to God but what comes from within (the heart). Nothing from outside can defile a person, it is the evil from the heart that takes one away from God. Jesus clears away the rituals and gives one overarching commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." 1st reading - Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8 The book of Deuteronomy ...