Cristian Gutierrez, 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)
Thank you, Lord, for the life you grant me, for the opportunity to enter into relationship with you. Thank you for each and every one of the blessings you grant me. I ask for forgiveness for my faults and sins, and I ask you to help me be ever faithful to you, to never leave you alone. Increase my faith so that I may believe in you with greater strength. Increase my trust in you so that I do not place it in fleeting things. I love you, but increase my love. Grant me, Lord, the grace of prayer.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to Matthew 3:13-17
At that time, Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River and asked John to baptize him. But John resisted, saying, “I should be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so for now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” So John consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he immediately went up from the water, and at that moment the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Today is a special day to thank you for the gift of my baptism. It's a gift I don't often stop to consider, and yet it's one of the greatest mercies you've given me as a Christian.
There are many gifts included in this gift of baptism. It makes me your child, a member of your Church, it cleanses me of my sins, and it makes me an heir of heaven. Thank you, Lord, because through baptism you have made me your child. Grant me the grace to feel a healthy pride in this reality. I am a child of God! I am baptized!
Baptism is a particular grace that you grant me and that depends on me, to a certain extent, to increase and bear fruit. Baptism goes beyond a simple fact. It is the beginning of a life. You wanted to begin your public life with baptism in the Jordan. Thus, too, my life, from baptism, is a life of surrender, of grace, of struggle, of love.
In my baptism, just as in yours, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and made my soul a dwelling place. I am a living temple of the Holy Spirit. This should lead me today, Lord, to meditate on how much I listen to and allow the Holy Spirit to act in my life. Grant me the grace, Lord, to always be docile to your voice, which guides me and tirelessly seeks what is best for my life.
«Are we aware of this great gift? We are all children of God! Do we remember that in Baptism we received the “seal” of our heavenly Father and became his children? Simply put: we carry God's last name, our last name is God, because we are children of God. Here is the root of the vocation to holiness! And the saints we remember today are precisely those who have lived in the grace of their Baptism, have kept the «seal» intact, behaving as children of God, trying to imitate Jesus; and now they have reached the goal, because finally they “see God as he is.”.
(Angelus of H.H. Francis, November 1, 2015).
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 recite a creed in thanksgiving for my baptism and as a renewal of my faith.
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.
