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)
Jesus, thank you for reminding me that the most important thing is to love you in others. Maintaining a personal relationship with you in prayer should be the priority in my life. I believe, I hope, and I love you; illuminate my prayer so that love transforms me.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to Matthew 22:34-40
At that time, the Pharisees, upon hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, approached Jesus, and one of them, to test him, asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” He said to them, “”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.".
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
To summarize all of Scripture, to put God's entire message throughout history into one sentence... This is what Christ tells us in this Gospel. But it is not a magic formula that solves all problems; rather, it is the double horizon that gives meaning to life, the criterion for going in the right direction.
First, Christ speaks to us of a horizon from above. “You shall love the Lord your God…”. It is true that there are many responsibilities, needs, and problems in our lives. Sometimes too many, and sometimes as if they are pulling us in all directions… However, in the midst of that apparent disorder, there exists a firm, central point that puts everything else into proportion: «…with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.».
Lord, I want you to be the foundation and the meaning of everything I do. May my work, my friendships, and my hobbies be for you and because of you, first and foremost. I want to love you with all my heart, and therefore I offer you everything in it: my interests, my desires, my needs, and also my sin…
Secondly, we have the people around us, all those men and women we encounter. Christ invites us to love them too, in our brothers and sisters, seeking their well-being as if it were our own. Do we love our own interests more, or the needs of others? «You shall love your neighbor as yourself...» True love makes us feel the joy of others as our own, and grieves for the sorrow of our brothers. Just as Christ, who built the Kingdom of Heaven by loving His Father above all things and by loving us to the very end, giving Himself completely for our salvation.
Lord, help me to love as You love, extending my heart to the two horizons You show me. Teach me to love a little more today, to give myself a little more, and thus to contribute to the building of Your Kingdom in my life.
«These words remind us above all that love for a person, and also for the Lord, is shown not with words but with deeds; and “keeping the commandments” should also be understood in an existential sense, so that one's entire life is involved. Indeed, being Christians does not mean primarily belonging to a certain culture or adhering to a certain doctrine, but rather linking one's life, in all its aspects, to the person of Jesus and, through Him, to the Father.
(S.S. Francis, Angelus, May 15, 2016).
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.
Examine my conscience and honestly assess the spontaneity, depth, and extent of my charity towards others, especially towards those I supposedly love the most.
Farewell
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.
