Thursday, April 20, 2017

He Came for All



Our Lord Jesus Christ came for all mankind.  He gathered together male and female, the learned and he unlearned the old and the young and taught them his saving doctrine.  He summarized his teaching on the mystery of eternal life and its meaning, and eternal life is this: to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent.
 Listen Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.   This is the first commandment.  The second is like it: you must love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depends all that is contained in the law and the prophets.  On another occasion the Lord said: Always treat others as you would like them to treat you: that is the meaning of the law and the prophets.
God taught us to pray not only by his words, but also by his actions.  He often prayed on our behalf.  He went into the hills to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God.
Was the sinless Lord praying for himself?  No, he was praying and interceding on our behalf.  He explained this to Peter: Behold Satan demanded that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.  Later on he prayed to the Father for everyone: I am not praying for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their preaching, that they may be one; just as you Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us.
God loves us; for the sake of our salvation he is generous toward us.  He is not satisfied with redeeming us by his blood.  He also prays to the Father on our behalf.  Consider the love exemplified in that last prayer.  The Father and Son are one; we too are to abide in that oneness.  That oneness can change the world.  Just as prayer enabled Peter to keep his faith after his denial of Jesus, so we should pray for our leaders and our nation, for all our friends and relatives who are wandering lost because they have not kept the faith.  Our prayers and those of others can change the world.
Thank you to St. Cyprian, bishop and martyr.  kvs

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