Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin
Br. Alvaro Garcia, 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)
Lord, I place myself at your feet imploring your love. I want to weep for my sins and cleanse You with my tears, hoping that You will look at me with Your Fatherly eyes and enlighten me in this meditation today. Give me the grace of the pure, true and disinterested love that you have had for me.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 11:20-24
At that time, Jesus began to rebuke the cities that had seen his many miracles, because they had not been converted. He said to them:
“Woe to you, O Chorazin, woe to you, O Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been done in Tyre and Sidon that have been done in you, you would have done penance long ago, covered with sackcloth and ashes. But I assure you that the day of judgment will be less severe for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
And you, Capernaum, do you think that you will be lifted up to heaven? No. You will be plunged into the abyss, for if the miracles had been performed in Sodom that have been performed in you, perhaps it would be standing to this day. But I tell you that the day of judgment will be less severe for Sodom than for you”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
What hard words, Lord! I am Chorazin. I am Bethsaida. What has happened to me? How did I get here?
This Gospel is not to depress us nor to distress us about hell. This Gospel is just another reminder from the Lord that just because we call ourselves Christians, we are not going to get to Heaven. «Watch and pray.» How easy it is to criticize this world and all its errors. We often point to Tyre and Sidon as pagan and sinful cities, and we self-righteously rejoice that we are part of God's chosen people.
And we are the Chosen People of God! We are Capernaum. But Capernaum must not forget that in order to climb to Heaven one must work hard. Especially, it must work humility to implore forgiveness and help from God.
How many people from other cultures, religions and social strata would not have been great saints if they had had the opportunity to live our life and circumstances! How many miracles has God not done in our lives and yet we continue to live coldly!
Let us ask the Lord for the grace to recognize the miracles he has worked in us so that we may go out and preach them as true apostles.
«It is surprising to see how, after 28 centuries, these warnings are still relevant today. In fact, even today the “culture of well-being [...] leads us to think of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cry of others, [...] leads to indifference towards others, or rather, leads to the globalization of indifference” [...] But as Christians we cannot remain indifferent to the drama of old and new forms of poverty, of the darkest loneliness, of contempt and discrimination against those who do not belong to “our” group. We cannot remain insensitive, with anesthetized hearts, in the face of the misery of so many innocent people. We cannot but weep. We cannot but react. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to weep, the grace of that weeping that converts the heart in the face of these sins. If we want to be men and women of God, as St. Paul asks Timothy, we must keep “the commandment without spot or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”; and the commandment is to love God and to love our neighbor. We cannot separate them. And to love one's neighbor as oneself also means to commit oneself seriously to building a more just world, where all can have access to the goods of the earth, where all have the possibility of fulfilling themselves as persons and as families, where fundamental rights and dignity are guaranteed for all.»
(Homily of H.H. Francis, September 29, 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.
I will pause in my work and collect myself in a fervent spiritual communion of 10 minutes. There I will thank the Lord for the benefits and miracles of the day and quench his thirst for love.
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.
