Today’s Readings:
Ezekiel 47:1-9,12
Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9
John 5:1-3,5-16
SEVENTY-ONE PERCENT OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE IS COVERED BY WATER. It is the presence of water on earth that makes it different from the other planets in our solar system. Without water all life dies. Imagine for a second that you possess the influence of water. With such influence you can determine the character, development, or behaviour of anyone or anything. Ezekiel’s prophecy (in Ezekiel 47) shows that we already have the capacity for such influence.
IN HIS VISION OF THE TEMPLE, Ezekiel sees water flowing from the right side of the temple and proceeding eastwards, in such a copious amount that it becomes a river impossible to cross. And wherever the water goes, it brings life, healing, fruitfulness and it purifies everything it comes in contact with. This vision foreshadows the waters of baptism in which all Christians are baptised. JESUS, SPEAKING to the Samaritan woman in John 4, said that this water will well up in a person so that they are filled with eternal life and never thirst again. In Baptism, we receive new life by our union with the Holy Trinity. We are healed of the wounds inflicted by sin and are purified of our faults.
WHEREVER YOU GO, as a baptized person, God’s spirit goes with you. The Spirit of God is the water of influence we carry with us into our relationships with others, our work and every other aspect of our lives.
Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we can:
Treat others as persons created in God’s image;
Forgive others and ask for forgiveness;
Be present to those who mourn and comfort them;
Add value to others by the quality of our services;
Influence their thoughts by spreading truth in place of falsehood;
Pray for others and assist with material support as much as we can afford;
Use our gifts of art and science to raise awareness and prompt people to take action;
Spread the light of unity and dispel the darkness of division;
Dispel the weaponization of ethnic, religious and political sentiments;
Heal painful memories and create good ones.
BE LIKE WATER in the way you treat the people that God has put in your life; bring life, joy, fruitfulness and healing to them. You have received power from God to carry out this task.
JUDE-MARY OWOH
Prayer:
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing, in Jesus name.
God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble, deliver perishing souls, in Jesus name.
Dear Lord, may your Holy Spirit renew your grace in me today. Bless and protect me, in Jesus name.
Lord and make me a source of blessing to others in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Create in me a pure heart and renew a right and teachable spirit in me, in Jesus name.
Lord guide our youths in all nations of the world to know you as the Almighty, All-knowing God that can do all things, in Jesus name.
Guide our youths in Your way of truth and righteousness, in Jesus name.
Father, fulfil your plan for our nation in Jesus name.
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