H. Erick Flores, L.C.
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)
Give me the grace, Lord, to have an experience that renews me in love for You, for others and for myself; to have a real experience of your Love. Come, Holy Spirit, and infuse your grace into my mind and heart!
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 5, 17-37
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fill them up. Truly I tell you, heaven and earth will pass away before the smallest letter or comma of the law will cease to be fulfilled. Therefore whoever breaks one of these least precepts and teaches men so, he shall be least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps them and teaches them, he shall be great in the kingdom of heaven. Verily I say unto you, Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall certainly not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
You have heard it said to the ancients: Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever killeth shall be brought before the court.. But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother shall also be brought before the judgment seat; he who insults his brother shall be brought before the supreme judgment seat, and he who despises him shall be brought to the fire of the place of punishment.
If, therefore, when you are about to place your gift on the altar, you remember there and then that your brother has a complaint against you, leave your gift by the altar and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then come back and present your gift. Make an early reconciliation with your adversary, while you go with him on the way; lest he deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the policeman, and you be put in prison. I assure you that you will not get out of there until you have paid the last penny.
You have also heard it said to the ancients: Thou shalt not commit adultery; But I say to you, whoever looks at a woman with evil desires has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Therefore, if your right eye is to you an occasion of sin, pluck it out and throw it away, for it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for it all to be thrown into the place of punishment. And if your right hand is to you an occasion of sin, cut it off and cast it far from you, for it is better for you to lose a part of your body than for the whole of it to be cast into the place of punishment.
It was also said before: Whoever divorces should give his wife a certificate of divorce.; But I say to you that he who divorces, unless they live in an illegitimate union, exposes his wife to adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
You have heard it said to the ancients: Thou shalt not swear falsely, and thou shalt perform unto the Lord what thou hast promised him with an oath.. But I say to you, do not swear by any means, neither by Heaven, which is the throne of God; nor by the Earth, for that is where He sets His feet; nor by Jerusalem, which is the city of the great King.
Do not swear by your head either, for you cannot make a single hair black or white. Say simply yes, when it is yes; and no, when it is no. Whatever is said too much, comes from the evil one”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
At the end of his life, during the Last Supper, Jesus gives us a new commandment, the commandment of love, the full commandment, which shatters every complaint, displeasure, difficulty, denial of the commandments of the Lord, the commandment of love, the commandment of the Lord. no, i.e., to the no lies, no commit impure acts, no you will steal, no kill, no you will swear falsely, no, no & no. The commandment of love is the greatest and most important for God. Let us only think that, by loving our fellow men, we bring the presence of God through our actions, because God is love. Better yet, if we think big, today we have the grace of going to the Eucharistic Celebration where, more than feeling God's love, we see it incarnated in the bread consecrated by the priest of Christ.
The language of the Christian is love, whoever complains about the Church is either a stutterer, deaf or mute in the language of love. We are called to live a dignity and nobility of kings, prophets and priests. I believe that God gives the «nos» to those who begin a life of faith, but the commandment of love is for all those who have a meek and humble heart like that of Christ.
Let us ask this heart to inflame ours with divine breath, being available to live love in our own life, home, community, family, friends and the whole world.
«The first thing is to go to the essential. It does not mean “to break with everything”, to break with that which does not suit us, because Jesus did not come “to abolish the law, but to bring it to its fullness”. To go to what is essential is rather to go to what is profound, to what counts and has value for life. Jesus teaches that the relationship with God cannot be a cold attachment to norms and laws, nor a fulfillment of certain external acts that do not lead to a real change of life. Neither can our discipleship be motivated simply by a habit, because we have a baptismal certificate, but it must start from a living experience of God and his love. Discipleship is not something static, but a continuous journey towards Christ; it is not simply the attachment to the explicitness of a doctrine, but the experience of the friendly, living and working presence of the Lord, a permanent learning through listening to his Word.»
(Homily of H.H. Francis, September 9, 2017).
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 think about and be grateful for the love received from God through others.
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.
