Saints Joachim and Anne
H. Vicente Toledo, 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)
Lord Jesus, there are many voices that I hear within me, sometimes I let myself be carried away by the voice of others, by the voice of the enemy. I come before You to listen only to what You want to tell me. Grant me the grace to discover and understand the treasure that is in your words.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 13:44-52
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. He who finds it hides it again and, full of joy, goes and sells what he has and buys that field.
The Kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant in fine pearls who, finding a very valuable pearl, goes and sells all he has and buys it.
The Kingdom of heaven is also like the net that fishermen cast into the sea and gather all kinds of fish. When the net is full, the fishermen take it out to the beach and sit down to choose the fish; they put the good ones in baskets and throw away the bad ones. The same thing will happen at the end of time: the angels will come and separate the bad from the good and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and despair.
Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes. Then he said to them, ”Therefore every scribe who is instructed in the things of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who brings out of his treasure new things and old.“.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Christ becomes all things to all people. He uses the language we need to understand. He gives us comparisons of the Kingdom of heaven to make us see that it is not something distant, unattainable, very difficult to achieve. On the contrary, he shows us that the Kingdom of heaven is present here and now, in our day to day, in the ordinary of life in the present situation. But it depends on us where we have our attention.
What are our treasures, where is our treasure, what are our pearls, where are our nets, where are our securities, what are we looking for at every moment of the day, what is our treasure? The world can show us this very distorted; I can arrange things to make us see that our treasure is bigger every day. But in reality every day we move further away from the true treasure.
There is only one treasure in this life, and that is Christ. The most valuable pearl we can find is Christ. The fisherman who can catch the most fish is Christ. It is Christ who is in our life,
speaks to us at every moment. Our plans are not the same as Christ's, but many times He adapts Himself to our situation in order to always bring out the best in each moment. Let us allow Him to speak in our lives. Let us not be afraid to listen to His voice, to ask Him what He wants from each one of us. Let us seek to listen, not to our voice or to ourselves, but to Him. We should not be afraid of what He asks of us, even if it means giving up everything, He knows what He is doing. And the best reward we can seek in life is to attain eternal life.
«It is not enough, therefore, to find a new language to proclaim the faith as always; it is necessary and urgent that, in the face of the new challenges and perspectives that are opening up for humanity, the Church be able to express those novelties of the Gospel of Christ that are contained in the Word of God, but have not yet seen the light. This is the treasure of the “new and old things” of which Jesus spoke when he invited his disciples to teach the new things he had established without neglecting the old.»
(Address of H.H. Francis, October 11, 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.
Lord I know that you are present in my ordinary life, I propose at the end of each day to dedicate a moment to reflect on which moments of my day I have sought you and which moments I have sought myself.
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.
