Javier Castellanos, L.C.
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)
Take, Lord, my eyes, and use them as your own. Use them to transmit your light-filled gaze; use them to express a love without deceit, without reserve, without selfish interests. May your gaze, Lord, transform this world and extend your Kingdom. So be it.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 5, 27-32
At that time Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ”You shall not commit adultery,' but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman with evil desires has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Therefore, if your right eye is to you an occasion of sin, pluck it out and throw it away, for it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for it all to be thrown into the place of punishment. And if your right hand is to you an occasion of sin, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you to lose a part of your body than for all of it to be thrown into the place of punishment. It was also said before: Whoever divorces, let him give his wife a certificate of divorce; but I say to you that whoever divorces, except in the case where they live in illegitimate union, exposes his wife to adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.".
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
In this Gospel, Christ speaks to us about the greater meaning of the Christian virtue of purity. Until the coming of Christ, infidelity was measured only on the basis of acts. He, on the other hand, proposes a new measure: holiness is not only “not doing evil,” but orienting one's whole being toward the good. This is the only way to attain authentic happiness.
Christ invites us to a radical love. Just as his love for us was total, he offers us a life in which we give ourselves without reserve. It is in this context that the chastity of Christian marriage makes sense: my whole being belongs to my partner, including my intentions. This is a priority relationship, because it must give meaning to all my other relationships with the world: who do I think of when I walk down the street, at work, at rest?
To love means to direct my whole being towards another person, starting with my gaze. Not only a look of “eyes”, but above all the look that means interest in the other, in an absorbing and exclusive way. It is necessary to make sacrifices, but these are only the necessary investment to gain something much more valuable: a full love.
«Let us look, brothers and sisters, at our Mother, who is in the heart of God. The mystery of this young woman of Nazareth is not foreign to us. It is not “She is not there and we are here”. No, we are in communication. In fact, God directs his gaze of love also to every man and every woman, with names and surnames! His loving gaze is upon each one of us.»
(Homily of H.H. Francis, May 8, 2017).
Dialogue with Christ
Jesus Christ, I want to conform my whole being to the program of life proposed by your Word. I promise to spare no effort to know the moral implications of the Gospel in order to conform all my actions to them, and to banish from my life everything that could be an obstacle to my growth in love for You and for others.
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.
Today I will make a particular detail of affection towards my spouse or another family member, seeking to love without personal interests.
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.
