Rogelio Suarez, 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)
Jesus, I ask You to increase in my heart the desire to love You more and more each day. May everything I do always be for your greater glory.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to John 14:21-26
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “He who accepts my commandments and keeps them, he loves me. He who loves me, my Father will love him, and I will love him and manifest myself to him”. Then Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, why is it that you will show yourself to us but not to the world? Jesus answered him, ”He who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode in him. He who does not love me will not keep my words. And the word you are hearing is not mine, but the Father's, who sent me. I have spoken these things to you now that I am with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father will send you in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.“.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
The identity of every Christian is love. This Easter, Christ invites us to intimacy with Him. He wants our love for Him to be more and more intimate, not just attending Mass on Sundays and that's it. What Christ wants is for our heart to grow in love for him. In this intimacy, Christ wants to give Himself to us and wants us to give ourselves to Him, to have a true love.
We are called to intimacy with God, and we can ask ourselves first of all, why are we called to intimacy? Simply because we are all called to love and to be loved. We all have in our hearts the desire to be able to love without limits and, at the same time, to be loved. This desire can only be satisfied completely, in God. He is the true love who gives himself completely to us, even giving his life, for love alone.
Our second question would be, how does one arrive at true intimacy? By seeking to love, rather than to be loved. This is called disinterested love, that is, one that seeks only to love without expecting anything in return. To love Christ every day is to deny myself and to fulfill his will at all times. In love, the one who loves dies for the beloved. He does not care what may happen to him, just by the simple fact of loving. May this desire to be able to love God above all things, even myself, be present in our hearts every day.
Finally, our question would be, why does God want this intimacy with us? Because he wants to manifest himself in our lives, “I will manifest myself to him”. He wants to reveal to us the desires of his heart, he wants us to experience his great love for us. What God wants is to give himself completely to us, and he has already done this by dying for us on the cross. He has given himself to us on the cross, only out of love, and this is the greatest love.
May we be able to enter daily into that intimacy to which we are called. Whoever gives himself completely to God, loving Him, He will come to dwell in his heart. Let us open the doors of our hearts and let God do with us what He wants most.
«God manifests himself in your personal solitude, as well as in the solidarity that unites you to the members of the community. You are alone and separated from the world to enter the path of divine intimacy; at the same time, you are called to make known and share this spiritual experience with other brothers and sisters in a constant balance between personal contemplation, union with the liturgy of the Church and the reception of those who seek moments of silence to be introduced to the experience of living with God.».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, September 23, 2017).
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 make a visit to Christ the Eucharist asking Him for the grace to love Him more and more with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength.
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.
