Adrian Olvera, 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)
Lord, I place myself in your presence. Give me the grace of silence, especially that of my heart and my thoughts, so that I may listen to what you want to say to me today.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 14:12-14
At that time, Jesus said to the chief Pharisee who had invited him to eat: “When you give a meal or a supper, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; for they may invite you in turn, and you will be rewarded. On the contrary, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind; and so you will be happy, for they have nothing to repay you with; but you will be repaid when the righteous are raised”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
What is most fulfilling for man is to put into action his capacity to love.
For this reason, Jesus always invites us to live a more concrete, freer love... he invites us to live a love that is more and more real.
Selfishness is the opposite of love, for it makes us slaves of ourselves; it leads us to use others, to objectify them even when we perform the greatest acts of charity. It leads us to «love» in order to be seen, in order not to look bad, which, at the end of the day, is not authentic love.
We may be afraid of not being reciprocated, of not being thanked or not receiving a good comment. And this may be normal, because most of the time it does not come naturally to us.
However, Jesus invites us to live a love like his. A love that simply and simply gives itself, that does not seek correspondence, does not seek gratitude, is not contaminated by the gaze of men... A love that consists in loving for the simple fact of loving.
«Jesus» words underline completely different and opposite attitudes: the attitude of the one who chooses his own place and the attitude of the one who lets God assign it to him and expects from Him the reward. Let us not forget: God pays much more than men! He gives us a much more beautiful place than the one men give us! The place that God gives us is close to his heart and its reward is eternal life".
(Homily of H.H. Francis, August 28, 2016).
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 do an act of hidden charity, with the sole motivation of doing it out of love.
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.
