David Mauricio Sánchez Mejía, 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 your love for me, because you allow me to wake up every day, to see the sunlight and the smile on the faces of those I love. Increase my faith to discover you in everything that happens to me. Increase my hope to trust you in difficult moments. Increase my love so that I may be your faithful witness before my brothers and sisters, men and women.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 18, 9-14
At that time, Jesus told this parable about some who thought they were good and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed inwardly, ‘My God, I thank you that I am not like other men, thieves, unjust and adulterers; neither am I like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay tithes on all my earnings’. The tax collector, on the other hand, stayed far away and did not dare raise his eyes to heaven. He beat his breast, saying, ‘My God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner. Well then, I tell you the truth, this man went down to his house justified, and that man was not; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Jesus does not want the sinner to die, but to convert and live. He wants to help him return to grace and communion with God and his fellow men. At the end of the parable, however, there is one who is justified and one who is not.
God ardently desires to wrap us in his mercy and restore what we have lost because of sin. It is enough to say like the tax collector: ”My God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner”, for the Lord to reach out to us and begin to guide us on our way.
His love reaches the point of giving his life for us, for each one of us, and he wants us to accept it freely, recognizing that we need him.
At this point the difference between the righteous and the sinner is erased. Everyone, everyone, needs God, his love and his mercy.
«I consider it necessary to take an important step: we cannot analyze, reflect and even less pray about reality as if we were on different shores or different paths, as if we were outside of history. We all need to convert, we all need to place ourselves before the Lord and renew our covenant with him and say with the tax collector: My God, have mercy on me a sinner. With this starting point, we are included in the same “part” - not separated, but included in the same part - and we place ourselves before the Lord with an attitude of humility and listening. Looking at our families with the gentleness with which God looks at them helps us to put our conscience in the same direction.
(Homily of H.H. Francis, June 16, 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 always try to speak well of others and, if possible, I will make a gesture of kindness to someone.
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.
