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, grant me the grace to live your Word with joy.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being procurator of Judea; Herod, tetrarch of Galilee; his brother Philip, tetrarch of the regions of Ituraea and Trachonitis; and Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene; under the pontificate of the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came upon John, son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. Then he began to go through the whole region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of penance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the preachings of the prophet Isaiah: A voice has sounded in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled up, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the crooked shall be made straight, the rough ways shall be made smooth, and all men shall see the salvation of God.
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Today we can reflect on the call to discipleship, this call that God makes to us to follow him more closely; like John the Baptist, we are called to announce the Good News.
We can ask ourselves where we should announce if we are not priests or religious nor missionaries, but that is precisely what we are called to do, to be missionaries in the midst of the world, to take the Gospel to our work, school, workshop, in short, to the world around us. Let us not wait for a special opportunity, every day is an opportunity that God gives us to be his disciples, to be true missionaries in the midst of the world, with our example, with our coherence of life, bringing mercy, bringing the joy of the Gospel.
We must be that voice that cries out in the desert, that voice that carries the message of peace; we must transform ordinary life into extraordinary, sanctify our daily chores. And we will achieve this if we do it facing God, if at the beginning of our work we offer it and we do it with responsibility, with commitment, and with the true desire to please God.
Let us ask Mary, who is Queen of Apostles, to help us to be more and better disciples of her Son and to prepare ourselves in the best way to receive Christ in our hearts on Christmas Day.
«It does us good to know that we are not the Messiah! It frees us from believing that we are too important, too busy - it is typical in some regions to hear: “No, don't go to that parish because the priest is always very busy” - John the Baptist knew that his mission was to point the way, to initiate processes, to open spaces, to announce that Another was the bearer of the Spirit of God. To be rememberful frees us from the temptation of messianism, of believing that I am the Messiah».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, January 20, 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.
To seek a space of peace in order to thank God for his graces poured out in my life as an apostle.
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.
