Edgar Maldonado, 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)
The Lord has told us, Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you; if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and dwell with him.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to Mark 10:1-12
At that time, Jesus went to Judea and to the region beyond the Jordan. Crowds gathered around him again, and as he was accustomed, he taught them. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, to test him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He replied, “What has Moses commanded you?” They answered, “Moses permitted divorce by giving the woman a certificate of divorce.” Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment for you. At the beginning of creation, God ‘made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.” At home, his disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Perhaps the greatest difficulty of our times is that of delegating the dynamics of love to human law. We inevitably judge love with overly human criteria that dehumanize people, so love becomes based on benefits, on profits, on how much such-and-such a relationship benefits us, as if it were a business, an investment from which we can withdraw the moment the risk of a possible loss appears. This is not love; it is trafficking.
True human love is divine. The love of the Father, divine, transcendent, infinite, reaches us through His Son, true God and man, human, concrete, finite, but who has managed to communicate to us an eternal love, which does not think in a personal capacity, because the love of the Father triumphs when human beings triumph over selfishness and individualism. Divine love humanizes our hearts and endows us with a new logic, that of giving ourselves for the benefit of the person we love.
«This is very important, we must not be afraid of crisis. Crisis helps us to grow and what we need to be careful about is not falling into conflict, because when you fall into conflict, you close your heart and there is no solution to the conflict, or there is almost no solution; on the other hand, crisis makes you dance a little, it makes you feel bad sometimes, but you can get out of the crisis, as long as you come out better. We cannot come out the same: we either come out better or worse. This is important. And it is difficult to get out of a crisis alone, we must always come out of a crisis together.». (H.H. Francis, ).
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.
How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. The Lord heals you, fills you with grace and tenderness, and satisfies your days with good things. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on 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.
When was the last time you told your loved ones “I love you”? There's no need to wait for the “perfect moment” to tell them how much you love them. You should express love even when there's “no reason” to say it.
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.
