Axel Hernandez, 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)
Lord, when a person meets me, may they meet you today.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 17:26-37
In those days, Jesus said to his disciples: “What happened in the time of Noah will also happen in the time of the Son of man: they ate and drank, men and women married, until the day Noah entered the ark; then came the flood and caused them all to perish. So it was in the time of Lot: they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they sowed and built, but on the day Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and caused them all to perish. For so shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed. On that day, whoever is on the housetop and has his things in the house, let him not come down to get them; and whoever is in the field, let him not look back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed: one will be taken and the other left; there will be two women grinding together: one will be taken and the other left.” Then the disciples said to him, “Where will that happen, Lord?” And he answered them, “Where there is a carcass, the vultures gather.”.
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Sometimes, in the midst of our daily projects, dreams and struggles, we come up against an unavoidable reality: we are not in control of everything. We cannot decide that a loved one will not die in an accident, that a disease will attack us or simply that the sun will keep shining as long as we want. It is when we recognize our limits and how vulnerable we are.
Today, Jesus invites us to be able to surrender to Him our talents and defects, strengths and limits, so that we can be His instruments.
Jesus wants our actions not to be transient and sterile like eating and drinking what this world offers us. Rather he desires that whatever we do, we do it with a sense of love that transcends, that makes us go out of ourselves and give ourselves to him through our prayer and unconditional love for others. The Lord desires that we remain with Him and that we eat and drink what He offers us: His body and blood, so that we may always live in communion with Him.
In other words, Jesus calls us to be his apostles. That is, to remind each person of his worth and, thus, to build with his help and our works a Kingdom that will have no end, unlike things in the time of Noah and Lot, and that will come to fullness once the King comes again into this world. Until then, every day in our hearts, we renew our response to his love by saying: Christ, our King, Thy Kingdom come!
«It is the wisdom of the years: when you grow up, do not forget your mother and grandmother, and that simple but strong faith that characterized them and gave them the strength and tenacity to go ahead and not give up. It is an invitation to give thanks and to vindicate the generosity, courage and disinterestedness of a “homemade” faith that goes unnoticed but that little by little builds the Kingdom of God. Certainly, faith that “is not quoted on the stock exchange” does not sell and, as Eduard reminded us, may seem to be «good for nothing». But faith is a gift that keeps alive a deep and beautiful certainty: our belonging as children and beloved children of God. God loves with a Father's love. Each life, each one of us belongs to him. It is a belonging of children, but also of grandchildren, spouses, grandparents, friends, neighbors; a belonging of brothers and sisters. The evil one divides, scatters, separates and confronts, sows distrust. He wants us to live “detached” from others and from ourselves. The Spirit, on the contrary, reminds us that we are not anonymous, abstract, faceless beings, without history, without identity. We are not empty or superficial beings. There is a very strong spiritual network that unites, “connects” and sustains us, and that is stronger than any other kind of connection. And this network is the roots: it is the knowledge that we belong to each other, that the life of each one is anchored in the life of the others».
(Address of H.H. Francis, June 1, 2019).
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.
To make a spiritual communion and ask for the people who do not know Jesus and are looking for Him.
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.
