Pope's Intentions
Universal: That all who suffer loneliness may experience the closeness of God and the support of others.
For Evangelization: That young seminarians and religious may have wise and well-formed mentors.
Friday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Syriac liturgy
Prayer of Balaï (?-460), Bishop, for the dedication of a church
May their interior temple be as beautiful as this temple of stone
When three are gathered in your name (Mt 18,20) they already form a church. Watch over the thousands assembled here: their hearts have prepared a sanctuary before ever our hands constructed this one for the glory of your name. May their interior temple be as beautiful as this temple of stone. Be pleased to dwell in one as in the other; our hearts, like these stones, are signed with your name.
The mighty power of God might have raised up a habitation with as much ease as, at a gesture, it brought the world into being. But God has formed man so that man might form a habitation for him. Blessed be his mercy who has so loved us! He is infinite, we are limited. He builds the world for us; we build a house for him. How wonderful it is that man is able to build a dwelling for the All-Powerful, ever present One, from whom nothing can escape.
He dwells tenderly in our midst; he draws us with bonds of love; he stays among us and calls us to take the way of heaven that we might live with him. He left his dwelling and chose the Church that we might forsake our dwelling and choose paradise. God dwelt in the midst of men so that men might encounter God.