H. Leonardo Parada, 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, give me the grace to abandon myself totally to You.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 4, 12-17.23-25
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee, and leaving the town of Nazareth, he went to live in Capernaum, by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what the prophet Isaiah had foretold might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and Naphtali, on the way to the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the heathen. The people who lay in darkness saw a great light. On those who lived in a land of shadows a light shone.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and healing people of every disease and sickness.
His fame spread throughout Syria and they brought to him all those afflicted with various diseases and ailments, the possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he cured them. Great crowds followed him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and Transjordan.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Fourteen days have passed since the birth of our Lord and the first six days of the beginning of this year; days that have already passed and will never return. It is convenient to start this new year without many worries, resolutions or new things, but let us begin this new year opening our hearts to the preaching of Jesus who tells us: «repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand». Let us open our hearts wide to Jesus Christ, so that his Kingdom can really be established in us and we may always have that Kingdom of peace, justice, holiness, love, joy, etc.
The Gospel also tells us that Jesus went all over Galilee teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the Kingdom, healing sicknesses, and this is precisely what Christ wants to tell each one of us today, that in this year that we are beginning we should leave everything in His hands, that it is really He who cures my sicknesses, alleviates my ailments, that it is His eternal Word that sounds and resounds in my heart.
Let us never forget that we are nothing, and that He is everything, but if we do not put our nothingness, He will not be able to put His everything. Let us live then with these sentiments similar to those of the Virgin Mary who, knowing that she was nothing, simply by giving her Fiat to the service of the Lord, the Lord was able to work great wonders in her.
«Jesus does not want to push people to convert by sowing the fear of God's imminent judgment or the feeling of guilt for the evil committed. Jesus does not proselytize: he simply announces. On the contrary, what he brings is the Good News of salvation, and from it he calls for conversion. All are invited to believe in the «gospel»: God's dominion has come near to his children. This is the Gospel: God's dominion has come near to his children. And Jesus announces this wonder, this grace: God, the Father, loves us, is close to us and teaches us to walk the path of holiness.»
(Homily of H.H. Francis, March 6, 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.
May I let, this day and always, God do what He wills in me.
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.
