Jesús Alberto Salazar Brenes, 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)
Teach me, Lord, to live as You do, to be detached, generous and to set my eyes on the treasures of heaven rather than on those of this world.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 12:13-21
While Jesus was in the midst of a crowd, a man said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share with me the inheritance. But Jesus said to him, ”Friend, who made me a judge in the distribution of inheritances? And addressing the crowd, he said, “Avoid greed of every kind, for a man's life does not depend on the abundance of the goods he possesses.” Then he told them this parable: “A rich man had a great harvest and began to think, ”What shall I do, because I no longer have any place to store the harvest? I know what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones to store my harvest and all that I have. Then I will be able to say to myself, “You have enough to last for many years; rest, eat, drink and live well. But God said to him, ‘You foolish man, you are going to die tonight. This very night you are going to die, for whom will all your possessions be? The same thing happens to him who amasses riches for himself and does not become rich from what he is worth before God.’.
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Today the Church invites us to turn our gaze to the life of a great saint of our time, St. John Paul II. He was a man who brought to life the Gospel we meditate on today. His life was a complete gift of self, wearing himself out for people out of love for Christ, teaching that the greatest richness is to give true love with a gaze full of purity.
Jesus teaches us to live the true meaning of poverty as Christians. We are all called to live the evangelical poverty that consists in living detached from the goods of this world and from ourselves, because our greatest treasure is heaven and there we go for the definitive encounter with our love. To live facing God and with hope in the riches of Heaven is for us a source of freedom and inner peace.
If today were the last day of your life and God called you into his presence, where would your treasure be? What would be the riches you have accumulated? The Word today invites you to stop and set your heart's gaze on what is truly important. From today you can accumulate riches with your ingenious charity with your neighbor, with your sincere and kind smile, helping to comfort those in need, showing your family how much you love them, making your life the Gospel. True richness lies in trying to love as God has loved us. Let us ask Mary to be able to say like St. John Paul II All is yours so that she may lead us on the sure path to holiness.
«We know that love is what God dreams for us and for the whole human family. Please never forget that. God has a dream for us and asks us to make it our own. Do not be afraid of that dream. Dream it big. Guard it as a treasure and dream it together every day anew. In this way, you will be able to support each other with hope, with strength, and with forgiveness in the moments when the road becomes hard and difficult to travel.».
(Address of H.H. Francis, August 25, 2018).
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 dedicate some time to help, with a lot of love, someone in need.
Farewell
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.
