Iván Yoed González, LC
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Christ, our King.
Thy Kingdom come!
Preparatory prayer (to put me in the presence of God)
With childlike simplicity I want to come to you. I place myself in your hands, to simply pray, to speak to your heart, to listen to you, my Jesus, my God.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to John 1:1-18
In the beginning there was already he who is the Word, and he who is the Word was with God and was God. Already in the beginning he was with God. All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing began of all that exists. He was life, and life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not receive it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but a witness of the light. He who is the Word was the true light, who enlightens every man who comes into the world. In the world He was; the world had been made by Him and yet the world knew Him not. He came to His own, and His own received Him not; but to all who received Him He gave power to become the sons of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the lust of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. And he who is the Word became man and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory, glory befitting him as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John the Baptist bore witness to him, crying out: “This is the one I meant when I said, ‘He who comes after me has precedence over me, for he was before me’ “. From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, while grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who has revealed him.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
There is nothing that causes more distress to nature than that which does not fulfill the purpose for which it exists. Of every thing that exists in the world, and which does not achieve its realization, it can be said with much pain, that it failed in its existence. Thus, a plant that does not photosynthesize, fails in some way in its existence. An animal that does not perpetuate its species, somehow fails in its existence. An instrument that does not perform its function, somehow fails to exist.
On the other hand, everything that achieves its end, that for which it exists, truly enriches creation. Thus, the plant nourishes the soil, the animal continues its species, the instrument serves a mechanical function. Each is realized according to what it is.
Faced with this apparently banal reality, an existential question arises in the human being: what must I do to reach my fulfillment? In the face of this mystery, the doubt arises as to whether I am even capable of realizing myself. Now, if I exist, it is because I have an end, therefore I can truly fulfill myself. The question is then to discover how, for which I must first discover who I am.
Who am I? The question on the solution of which my whole life depends. On the one hand I find in me aspects in common with the other species: the plants, the animals; but on the other hand I discover myself superior to all of them. I find myself endowed with intellect and will, with which I can reason and act freely and by which I tend towards truth and goodness. I discover in myself an identity distinct from that of every other creature in this world: I am a person.
In the deepest shelter of my being, I always find in me a desire to transcend, to be happy until eternity. And I wonder if one day I will know the name of this good, this truth, this beauty. Then a great light is revealed to me,
«And he who is the Word became man and dwelt among us.» God is born, becomes a child and comes into my life.
«There are others who walk but do not know where they are going: they are wanderers in the Christian life, vagabonds. Their life is a wandering around, here and there, and, thus, they lose the beauty of approaching Jesus in the life of Jesus. They lose their way because they wander around too much, and often this wandering around, wandering around, leads them to a life with no way out: too much wandering around becomes a labyrinth and then they do not know how to get out. So, in the end, they miss the call of Jesus, they have no compass to go out and they go around, around and around, searching».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, May 3, 2016, in Santa Marta).
Dialogue with Christ
This is the most important part of your prayer, prepare yourself to talk with much love with the One who loves you.
Purpose
Propose a personal one. The one that involves the most love in response to the Beloved... or, if you believe that this is what God is asking of you, live what is suggested below.
A resolution, a commitment, an attitude, for this new year that is beginning.
Farewell
We thank you, Lord, for all your benefits, you who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Christ, our King!
Thy Kingdom come!
Most prudent Virgin, Mary, Mother of the Church.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
