Rubén Tornero, 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, thank you for this moment you grant me to be in your presence. You know me. You know well the deepest desires, fears, and hopes of my heart. I place everything in your hands. I desire to feel and know myself loved by you. Give me the grace to have a deep and personal experience of the infinite love you have for me. I want to be an instrument of your love. Give me the grace to be so filled with you that those around me can see reflected in me, at least, a small spark of the love you have for us. Amen.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to Matthew 14:13-21
At that time, when Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he got into a boat and went to a secluded and lonely place. When the people heard of it, they followed him overland from the villages. When Jesus disembarked, he saw the crowds, took pity on them and healed the sick. When it was getting late, his disciples came to him and said, “We are in a deserted place and it is getting dark. Send the people away, so that they may go to the villages and buy something to eat. But Jesus said to them, ”You need not go. You give them something to eat. But they said to him, “We have only five loaves and two fish. And he said to them, ”Bring them to me. Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said a blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate their fill, and with the pieces that were left over, twelve baskets were filled. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting the women and children.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Jesus, today in the Gospel you tell me that you saw the crowd and felt compassion for them. I would like to pause and contemplate your gaze. It is neither inquisitive nor accusatory. Those who are looked at by you do not feel intimidated; on the contrary, they feel that your gaze protects them. Your gaze towards the crowd is not like that of a spectator watching a mass on television, almost as vast as it is anonymous. For the disciples, it was a crowd… for you, each one had a name; a unique story; a concrete past, full of colors, of lights and shadows; real wounds that needed to be healed. You look at the crowd, you look at each person, and you feel compassion for them. You love each one and it pains you to see their wounds, their disappointments, their sins. Everything. Your loving gaze reaches the deepest part of the heart and heals it from within.
I want to experience the same thing. I want to feel looked at and loved by you. I long to experience that warm, welcoming gaze that you give me every day, every moment of my life. You don't reproach me for anything; you simply look at me and love me. You look at my inner self: that problem I have, that situation that prevents me from being happy, that wound that hurts me... you know it all already. Heal me, Jesus, with your gaze. Grant me the grace to look at myself as you look at me: accepting the good and the bad within me, without exaggerating either one or the other. Grant me the grace to look at myself as you look at me, and may that experience of love, which your gaze reveals to me, be so powerful that I begin to see everything and everyone with the same love with which you see them.
«Indeed, God also turns his gaze of love to every man and every woman, with their names and surnames! His gaze of love is upon each one of us.
(Homily of H.H. Francis, May 8, 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.
Today I will try to see everything that happens to me and those around me as God sees them.
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.
