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 God, remove from my prayer that pharisaical attitude that prevents me from seeing the wonders of the inspirations of your Holy Spirit. I am guilty of that severe judgment that tends to see only the negative. Prayer is your gift, grant it to me. Give me the grace to pray with a contrite heart that authentically seeks to renew itself spiritually.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 5:33-39
At that time the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "John's disciples fast often and recite prayers, as do those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. Jesus said to them, Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days. And he spake also a parable unto them; No man rent a new garment, that he might put a mending on an old; otherwise he would rend the new, and the mending of the new would not fit the old. Nor does anyone pour new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine would burst the skins, the wine would be spilled, and the skins would be spoiled; but new wine must be poured into new wineskins. No one, after drinking old wine, wants new wine, because he says, "The old is good".
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
We all wish for moments to be with the people or the person we like, we esteem, we love. Among friends, the boyfriend with the girlfriend or between spouses. And when someone comes to take those moments away from us, the more we long for them and the more we want them to come.
Something similar happens to the apostles in this Gospel because the Pharisees, no longer knowing where to make a nuisance of themselves, try to make Jesus see that his disciples do not behave like John's disciples who fast and pray a lot. But we could perfectly well have said to the Pharisees that phrase of St. Augustine that says: “fear the grace of God that passes and does not return”. And the apostles preferred to enjoy the company of the Messiah than to fast and be far from Him. Or we could also have answered them with the same phrase that Jesus said to the woman of Bethany: “Martha, Martha, many things concern you but only one is important and Mary has chosen the best”, which was to sit at his feet.
Here then is the key to this Gospel, the presence of Christ in our life. What is the use of fasting, praying a lot, doing penance if at the hour of the hour we do not accompany Christ where he really is, which is in the Eucharist.
We would be fasting and praying for sport. Therefore, if up to now our prayers or fasts are without a Sunday or more frequent presence of Christ, let us think that we are wasting the true grace of God for our soul, which is to be close to Him.
«Christian freedom is in docility to the Word of God. We must always be ready to welcome the “newness” of the Gospel and the “surprises of God”. The Word of God, which is living and effective, discerns the feelings and thoughts of the heart. And to truly welcome the Word of God, one must have an attitude of “docility”. The Word of God is living and therefore comes and says what it wants to say: not what I expect it to say or what I would like it to say. It is a free Word and also a surprise because our God is a God of surprises. Christian freedom and Christian obedience are docility to the Word of God, and we must have the courage to become new wineskins for this new wine that is continually coming. This courage to always discern: to discern, I mean, not to relativize. Always discern what the Spirit is doing in my heart, what the Spirit wants in my heart, where the Spirit is leading me in my heart. And obey. Discern and obey. Let us ask today for the grace of docility to the Word of God, to this Word of God, and this Word that is living and effective, that discerns the feelings and thoughts of the heart».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, January 20, 2014).
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.
Fasting of judgments towards others and offering positive comments.
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.
